Between the Lines

Ellie & Awesome

Just hours ago, I shared this photo of Dayen with his favorite stuffed elephant. Tragically, not long after this picture was taken, Dayen went through a bout of toddler madness and stuffed Ellie, in quite a violent manner, in the dog's water dish. Dayen's mother, who shall remain nameless, was fixing dinner and did not see the event take place. Ellie was discovered some time later by the Master of the House (please burst into Les Mis tunes now), shoved grotesquely in the water dish, arms and legs all twisted about.
Dayen, at the moment, appears to be showing no remorse. However, knowing him as we do, we fear this will not be the case at bedtime.
I am no nurse. And I am certainly not an expert in Pachyderms. But I did my best bathing Ellie with a soft cloth (this is not the first time I've done this. My life has gotten so, so weird.) and then spent at least 15 minutes drying her with my hair dryer, and thinking about all the other fantastic things I could have been doing with that time. She is currently in the ICU (Intensive Counter Unit, Bathroom Division) drying the rest of the way. Our only hope for her now is that she will be ready to go home (to her crib) by bedtime. Things aren't looking good.
Always the cynic, I have been waiting for this day to come. The day when Ellie would fall apart for good. I remember well the day my favorite baby blanket came out of the wash in ruins. I cannot bear to see my child go through the same heartache.
Ellie has been with us for so long... since the beginning, really. Always just sort of there, the silent, ivory-toothed spectator.

Through long nights of teething and sickness, through giving up his binky, through bumps and bruises, tantrums and timeouts, Ellie has been Dayen's one constant source of comfort.

Every morning when he wakes up, every other animal and blanket has been tossed carelessly on the floor, but not Ellie. Ellie is squeezed, harshly but securely, in the chubby fingers of my toddler whose love and slobber knows no bounds. Ellie is covered in just about every germ Dayen has ever come in contact with. And she takes it like the strong, majestic mammoth that she is.

I know what you're thinking... "Why not just buy a back up Ellie if she means so much to you?" DON'T YOU THINK I'VE TRIED? (Sorry, emotions are high over here. I just spent 15 minutes drying a stuffed elephant with a hair dryer.) As soon as it became clear that Ellie was "the" toy, I tried to find her online. I was disappointed to find that she was out of stock.

Weeks went by. Then months. The pages of the calendar flew off one by one as Ellie grew slowly more and more grimy. (He thinks her trunk is a binky. Need I say more?)

And still, she is out of stock.

Today, as I felt Ellie's impending demise upon us, I grew more desperate. And, I was in luck! There she was for sale on Ebay, "slightly used"... for only $42.99!

Some sadistic person out there knew they had the only backup Ellie in the world and they are really trying to get every penny out of her. What kind of person tries to get rich off a stuffed elephant I ask you?!

But today also brought about a new discovery in Ellieland. I read her reviews on Carters.com, and they are nothing short of glowing.

"5 Stars! Please Restock! We have 2 of these elephants, one for home and one for daycare. My son cannot sleep without it and we need a backup! Please restock this item!!!"

"5 Stars! PLEASE RESTOCK!!! Just so happened to find this elephant at Burlington Coat Factory and my little guy fell IN LOVE with it. He is 4 months and has had it for 1 month now. He will NOT sleep without it. It is the perfect size for him! Went back to buy a second one the next day, we thankfully have two JUST IN CASE. But, we would love to have a 3rd one to keep at his daycare. Unfortunately, Burlington no longer has any in stock. PLEASE restock! We will but 3 more (2 to give as gifts for any future baby showers & 1 to keep)."

"5 Stars! This is my baby's favorite! This is my daughter's special elephant. She takes elephant with her for naps and bedtime. She is comforted by the elephant if she wakes in the night. We want to buy more! Please re stock!"

No, I am not making this up, and no, I did not write any of these reviews. (Although I was dying laughing reading them.) And that's when it occurred to me... this was an opportunity for my blog to do what I always intended for it to do... make a difference.

To all those fellow parents out there who are hand-washing their one and only Ellie's (or whatever you call her. If you named her anything other than Ellie you're putting way too much thought into this.) To the children, like Dayen, who can't imagine a world without her... this one is for you.

Carter's, I am reaching out. I am here, on bended, graham-cracker crumb coated knee begging you to restock this ~~item~~ wonderful, beloved creature. We parents need you, we implore you, to consider the children. No, not the starving ones in other parts of the world. The spoiled ones in our homes who are going to make us crazy if anything ever happens to these toys.

I don't know why or how children pick their favorites. Maybe you've laced these things with the scent of cookies. Maybe they are the only toys that Toy Story was right about. I don't know and I don't want to know. What I want, is for Ellie to be back in stock. I want to go to sleep at night without the constant, nagging fear that tomorrow may be her last day with all her stuffing inside her.

Sincerely,

The League of Parents Whose Children Love Only One Of Their 10,000 Stuffed Animals (TLOPWCLOOOT1SA) ... or maybe it's just me.

P.S. If, by some unlikely chance, Carter's doesn't read my blog, do you think I can get away with buying him this Koala and, like, reattaching his tail as a nose...?

Enjoying Life + Baking Cookies

...Yes, they are the same thing.

Recently, I've been feeling really anxious and overwhelmed. I've been blaming it on this crummy weather, but it probably also has a little something to do with the new furry addition to our family, who effectively brought the number of little people I have to take care of on the daily up to THREE.

Now I know, all of you with 3+ kids would love to take this opportunity to tell me to just wait, it gets even harder, I don't know how easy I have it, etc., but I beg of you... don't. My little heart can't take it. I have to do this thing gradually and in ignorant bliss, or I swear, Dayen is going to stay an only child.

All that being said, I just haven't been that fun to be around. As a mom, as a wife, or even as myself. When you find yourself needing a break from yourself... well, something has got to change.

And I just kept telling myself, "If I could just get out of here for awhile, just go somewhere where the sun is shining and I don't have to wade through 5 feet of snow to get anywhere, I would feel better!" But, that isn't true. Ok, it kind of is, and if I have any secretly rich family out there who would like to pay for me to take a trip to Hawaii like, this weekend, now would be the time to reveal yourself.

But, since that probably isn't going to happen, I decided to make my own happy here. In my same old house, with two fur balls and a runny-nosed kid at my feet 24/7, and with the snow STILL piling up outside.

To all of you out there feeling the same, never fear: I have your solution! The recipe to happiness. (Is that too on the nose? Should I try not to be too cliche with this? Sorry, I probably don't care.)

The Recipe to Happiness (which ironically also results in cookies):

Step One: gather all the ingredients for your favorite recipe. Actually scratch that, your favorite treat. I don't want to see any of you out there making ribs. There needs to be at least an entire cup of sugar in whatever you're making, or this won't work.

Step Two: gather all the tiny humans in your house (please note, the fur babies should NOT take part in this activity. If they've recently pooped in the house like mine did, it would actually be better to ignore them altogether.)

Step Three: now this is a biggie! If you are a woman, let go of all obsessive, controlling impulses you have. I'm serious, do it. If you're a man, just keep bein' yourself. You weirdos never seem to have this problem.

Step Four: Make said treat with said tiny human(s). Have an internal struggle where you try not to worry about the mess their making, while still hurriedly cleaning up behind them. Oh, and if you're making Crisco cookies like we were, do the Crisco first. I rarely even let Dayen eat with a spoon because it makes such a mess, I'm not crazy enough to unleash him with Crisco.

Step Five: eat treats along the way. Because there is never enough sugar or enough time in the day to eat it all. (That's what you jerks are going to write on my headstone, isn't it?)

Step Six: soak it all in. I'm serious, this is the important part. The mess is still going to be there. And if you make a double batch like we did (always do. I have a problem.) then you're going to be cooking these suckers all day. So, take a moment to enjoy the moment.

And really, this is the point. The work is never going to be finished. Ever. And you can look around and be overwhelmed by that fact, or you can decide to be happy during the work. If you don't, then when do you ever get to be happy?

Step Seven: Enjoy the fruits of your labors. In this case, eat the cookies. In life, eat the hypothetical cookies. Whenever you can. They don't have calories or gluten or anything.

Saving this recipe for later. I'm going to need it again.

Facebook, the POTUS, and my Sunday rant

I, like most of you reading this, grew up in a small town. There wasn't a whole lot of diversity in Brigham City, Utah. My schools were always nearly 100% white, middle class families. And, being in Utah, a good percentage was LDS as well. As a result, I didn't grow up with a lot of diversity. The problem with that is now, with social media, we have access to nearly every race, religion, and political party you can imagine. We can be connected to over 1 billion people everyday on Facebook alone. And, surprisingly, not every person on there agrees with everything I think. Even if I am absolutely, for sure, without a doubt, right. Right?

Let's face it, we are spoiled. We are one of the first generations of humans who haven't had to work in the fields all day just to make sure our family is fed. We have access to all of the knowledge mankind has ever attained and it's at our fingertips. So, maybe all this arguing on Facebook is out of pure boredom. But, I can't be the only one who is tired of it, right?

I mean, I can't be wrong in assuming this is the worst it's ever been. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone seems to want to argue their opinion to death with random people we went to high school with.

But I think we can all agree that there is no chance we're ever going to all agree. And that's ok! If we all had the same opinions about everything, we would be a pretty boring race of people. Nothing would ever change, we would never progress. It's ok that we disagree. It's the way that we go about it that isn't right.

In the last week, I can think of two posts in particular that stood out to me. One was from a liberal, millenial female. She posted a long rant about how, basically, Republicans are bad, horrible people who do bad, horrible things. The second post was from a conservative, middle aged male. His post was about how Democrats are bad, horrible people who do bad, horrible things.

And the thing is, they may stand on completely different sides on every issue you can imagine, but their messages accomplished the same thing: absolutely nothing. Conservatives, in agreement with the conservative man, liked his post. They felt a little better about their own thoughts and beliefs being verified. Same thing happened with the liberal female.

I, in the mean time, just felt sort of sick reading both of the posts. For one thing, both posts contained references to articles and news that was misleading at best. (But we'll get to that.) But worst of all, both posts were just dripping with anger and hatred at an entire group of people.

Come on, everybody. How many wars do we have to go through as a civilization before we realize this gets us nowhere? Anger and hate only leads to more anger and hate. There is no light there. There is no forgiveness, no understanding. Are we really so naive as to believe our thoughts and opinions are the only truth out there? Do we really think all these people we argue with on Facebook are just the bad guys sent to star in our movie?

Who wins there?

I'll be honest, I didn't vote for either major party candidate. I am certainly not happy about Trump becoming our new POTUS. But, I feel like I was set up for this kind of let down a year ago. There was never, for me, really an option of a great outcome in this election.

And because of that, I have felt angry too. But I've felt more angry and involved in this election than ever before. And that isn't because I suddenly found that I have a deep sense of patriotism that cannot be quenched. It's because of social media.

It's because I am bombarded by it day after day after day.

It's because the world is becoming increasingly black and white, and there is no room or acceptance for people who live in areas of gray.

This morning, I read a post where a lady posted letters her children had written to Trump. Her young children, who apparently were sobbing and screaming after election day, were so upset that they felt they had to write Trump a letter telling him they didn't like him.

I'm not passing any judgment on this family. My point is, emotions are running high. Even among children. I think we all need to acknowledge that, well, we are all kind of acting like children. The problem is, we should know better.

The one thing I am so happy about in this election is that we are all so conscious and aware of our government now. Yes, we are deeply divided on all the major issues. Yes, it's caused riots and murders and horrible, horrible things. But as someone who was apathetic about these topics only years ago, I will say that I am grateful it seems that almost no one is sitting back, ignoring politics and just letting things happen anymore.

Our awareness is the most important tool we have. One voter can't change the outcome of an election. But is there a single person in this country who doesn't have one careful eye on the President right now, waiting for him to screw up? That is an amazing thing, and that is why I don't feel it's necessary to march for women's rights or whatever just to oppose the new POTUS. You can bet if he does one thing to hurt women's rights, he will be fought the whole way down. We are all aware and ready to fight. So, do it. Keep your boxing gloves on. Just stop using them to fight down friends who disagree with you.

And, on that note, I have to plead with you all: please, please be responsible about what kinds of posts you share on Facebook. It may seem so small and inconsequential, but it isn't. I hope we are all aware by now that the media is biased at best and should be taken at face value. But so often I see articles posted, from "legitimate" news sites, that are full of misleading arguments, facts that haven't been proven, and even outright lies.

So before you share something political, ask yourself if the information is really correct. It may reaffirm what you believe, but that doesn't make it true. Read the entire article, at least some of the comments, and then research it from another angle. Fact check. Read the opposing arguments. Form your own opinion, don't just adopt one from some BuzzFeed writer who is paid to entertain, not inform.

It takes two extra minutes to search Snopes and see if the information you are sharing is true.

It takes even less time to ask yourself, "Is this logical? Would this really happen? Could this be false information?"

I am happy to see you all share. I read posts from both sides all the time, and I am certainly far from perfect when it comes to politics. I am so glad that we are all involved. But I think we need to acknowledge that becoming involved and interested in politics comes with a responsibility. (A Spiderman quote belongs here, doesn't it?) So, let's all take a collective deep breath. Let's all realize that one person in Washington DC is not going to ruin our entire lives. And let's all acknowledge that we may not have all the right answers all the time.

Birthday Parties and a Guest Post by Melissa!

Awhile back my cute friend Melissa asked me to write a guest post for her blog, The Frolics of Mama Llama. I immediately asked her to write one for my blog, and then... totally forgot about it like the unorganized disaster that I am.

It's ok guys, I bought a new planner today. I've got it under control, really.

Anyway, today on her blog she posted this hilarious tidbit and I just had to share!

Last year around this time I started stressing about Dayen's first birthday party and what theme to do. Seriously, I spent way too much time pinning ideas for a kid who had no clue what was going on the entire day. Oh, and then it rained. Because the weather is always against me.

Hop on over to her blog and follow her, she is so hilarious and fun, I promise you won't regret it.

And now, without further ado...

Once upon a time, we just had birthday parties. There were no themes. Just plain ol' music, cake, ice cream, and junk food. We had basic decorations, like helium balloons and streamers. We played games like "Pin The Tail on The Donkey," "Heavy, Heavy Hangover," hit piñatas with baseball bats, and did a "Cake Walk," if we were feeling fancy enough. We opened presents, sang "Happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too." Everyone went home sugar high and happy.

Ah, those were the days. I yearn for the same simplicity. Nowadays, you have to have a theme for your party and it has to be big. Points if it has to do with whatever your child is currently obsessed with. Extra extra points if it's good enough to pin on Pinterest. The food has to be organic, gluten free, soy free, with no GMO's or high fructose corn syrup in it. And the thing is, after all the time and money you spend on DIY-ing everything for the big event, your kids won't even remember you threw the party in the first place. Unless they look on Pinterest years later and see that you pinned every detail.

Don't worry-- I, too, have fallen into this trap. That's why, this year for Lil Spits' first birthday, I'm throwing a Mom-themed birthday party.

You heard me right. I have pooled my resources and realized that she doesn't like watching tv, she likes toys, but not any particular character, and I'm still figuring out her little personality. I do know that she likes me and binkies, though. And if I have to choose between throwing a binkie birthday party or a mom party, you know what I'm going to pick.

We shall start out by sending the invitations. They're going to be evites. We'll pretend that I'm trying to reduce my carbon footprint, but we all know the real reason behind sending an evite: They're free and I don't have to stand in line at the post office.

The evite will probably say something like this:

You are cordially invited to Lil Spits' first birthday party!

Date: on her birthday, unless that's a weekday, then we're going to ruin your weekend by throwing it on a Saturday.

Time: not too early and it won't go for too long, because, you know, naps. Not only for the kids, but for the mom throwing the party (aka me).

Location: Somewhere that doesn't require a deposit, doesn't mind screaming kids, allows me to bring my own food, and has a bathroom that can handle an army of toddlers. Bonus if I don't have to clean up after.

Attire: Sweatpants and no makeup. I'm talking to you, super moms.

Please bring: Cash, diapers, and wipes. That's it. We already have enough toys to pick up.

The evite will have a picture of me on it.

We will have cupcakes, because I've gotten really good at making them, but they take a while, which means I won't have time to cook anything else... so we're also going to have leftovers. Hope you don't mind.

We will play music that I like, but it'll spontaneously be interrupted by ads and we'll have to switch songs mid-play because somebody isn't going to like it.

We'll play games like, "Sorting the Laundry," and "the Quiet Game," and "Sleep Training."

We will end the party by sending everyone home with a goodie bag! It will be full of their own garbage from the party to throw away so that I don't have to do it.

I, for one, am super excited about this birthday party! It'll be a blast. If anyone wants an evite, hit me up.

Thanks for reading, and we'll see ya on the flip-flop.

Melissa

New Years Momsolutions

Does that work? Momsolutions? Should I have gone with Resolumoms?

Well, January 4th. The internet and, let's face it, my brain, are officially bursting with resolutions and newfound determination to actually accomplish them this year. It's funny to me that we always insist on making resolutions, and then we forget half of them by the second week of January.
I usually make a few resolutions in my mind and then ruin them all by making a batch of delicious cookies that night, but last year I actually wrote a list in the back of my planner and then... well, completely forgot about it until I stumbled across it like a week ago. The funny thing is, most of the resolutions I had written down actually seemed pretty impossible a year ago. But as I read through them, I realized most of them came true!

Caleb able to quit Maddox by Christmas This was the best one- he quit in April, and every day I am so grateful for his new job and how hard he works!

Me- do Photography full-time January is definitely my slowest month, but I would say 2016 was by far my busiest year with Photography. I also started trying out videography (also on my resolution list) and started working for one of the best photographers I know!

Learn Sign Language This is cool because the only reason I made the resolution was because I was watching Switched at Birth at the time. I downloaded a few apps and tried to teach myself, but gave it up fairly quickly. Then, when I started school this Fall, I ended up taking an ASL course. I love it- it is so much harder than I thought, but this is one of the resolutions I accomplished that I am most proud of!

Start working on the basement Ok I'm not even ashamed to admit that this is never going to happen. But thanks for pretending, 2016 Anndee. Our house was built in 1930 and our basement is terrifying and full of spiders and basically beyond hope. That's ok. Some dreams are ok to let go.

School loans PAID OFF This is another one to be proud of- those things have been hanging over my head for years, and even though we "share" finances, I really wanted to be the one to pay them off. It took until November, but that still counts!!

So after finding that list, I thought maybe there is some secret magic to writing down your goals and I should do it again this year. The thing is, we have a lot of big goals we want to accomplish this year, but I can also think of ten thousand little ones. And I am the kind of person that if I need to do something, I want to do it right now so it's not haunting me forever. So for example, if I notice that I need to vacuum, I will do it within twelve seconds of noticing it. (That's my vacuum guarantee!) Or, if I make a resolution to, say, floss more, I will go floss right that second and then forget for the rest of the year.

That's gross but still mostly true.

Anyway, a lot of these little things I keep thinking of have to do with motherhood. But they feel less like little pushes to do or be better, and more like anvils of guilt falling on my head when I realize I'm not doing something absolutely perfect.

For example: I should start taking Dayen to story time at the library because I think he would really enjoy it. Turns into: I am a horrible mother for not taking him to story time in months, I never take him anywhere or do anything he would enjoy because I am selfish and horrible.

Or, just barely, I put Dayen in his pj's after dinner and he went straight over to his books, and I thought, "I should really make it a point to read him a story every night before bed." And instead of thinking what a fun tradition that will be, I suddenly feel the weight of the next several years worth of nights and I start thinking how it's impossible to read to him every night so I'm going to wind up failing and I feel the guilt of the failure before it's even happened.

But let me ask you something. Does this look like the face of a kid whose family is failing him on a daily basis?

I only share my craziness because I have this feeling I'm not alone. We all do it to ourselves, and we do it to each other. We demand perfection in motherhood, and it just isn't possible. So instead of just enjoying all these fun stages, every day I question if I am doing everything I can to help him grow up to be smart and strong and healthy and somehow still make him love me enough to visit all the time and never put me in a nursing home.

You want to know what's amazing? This sweet little boy loves to learn. I don't even have to try. He knows all his letters and their sounds, and he loves to sound out words in books. He knows colors and numbers and shapes, and even the silly things like animal sounds. And two seconds ago, I heard him standing up on his rocking chair (because the kid also loves danger) and without even turning around I told him to sit and he did. Cause we get each other. We spend all day every day together, and I'm over here still questioning if it's enough. I'm still making a mental list of all the ways I need to improve and do better.

Resolutions are great. I think we should always be improving. But sometimes, I think we need to cut ourselves some slack. Sometimes we need to give ourselves a pat on the back and say, "You have done enough. You have done all that is necessary and more. Sit down, play with some legos, and enjoy the reward."

Just promise me something? Don't let your resolutions be an excuse to beat yourself up.
You are enough. You're doing great. Just keep truckin' along.

The Official List of the Best Board Games

In our house, we have a major obsession (bordering on psychosis, really) with board games.
It started out when we were first married, we would go to WalMart after work every so often and buy a board game. Eventually, we stopped buying typical WalMart games and started buying a little bit more obscure games online. Now, after a few years, our game closet is completely bursting and every year we add a few new favorites. (Ok, confession: in the last month, between our birthdays and Christmas, we got 7.)
I don't know if you could call us board game experts (although, go ahead) but we definitely know a lot of good games! Usually whenever someone comes over for game night, we get a lot of "What was that game we played called again??" the next few days.
SO, in an attempt to share some of my wealth of knowledge with you, I compiled a list of our absolute favorites (which I reserve the right to change or add to at any time...)
I separated them by category, but other than that they are in no particular order. Any of the games on this list are ones you should try!
Also, although some of these games may cause some elevated emotions among your friends, they are all guaranteed not to totally destroy your friendships like, say, Monopoly.
You're welcome.

Deception Games

The Resistance (Avalon)

This game starts you off with a secret identity- you're either good or bad, and the only person you can trust is yourself.
I put these two together because Avalon is basically The Resistance on steroids. (I'm not kidding. They're made by the same people and everything.) We loved The Resistance for a long time, and eventually got Avalon and liked it even more. I will say that although it's one of my favorites, some people at game night just don't love it. This is probably because we have played this game A LOT, and because it's generally the same-ish group and we've all gotten ridiculously good at reading each other, so there isn't much deceit involved in the game anymore. It definitely gets everyone at the table involved and usually ends in a heated argument. I would recommend starting with The Resistance, and although Avalon is fun, it's not totally necessary as they are extremely similar games. Avalon does add some fun new elements for players who already love The Resistance.

Number of Players:5-10

Love Letter

The point of this game is to sneak love letters past all the other characters to reach the princess- and earn those little red cubes.

Love Letter is easily one of the funnest games we own. It's simple, the rounds go quickly, and it's so addictive to play. This is another secret identity game, but not necessarily a "deception" game, but I put it here anyways because... it's my blog, I can do what I want!

There are also other versions of the game like Batman, Adventure Time, and The Hobbit, which are all inexpensive and all play the same, so this is a great game to start out with if you just want to test my game-choosing skills.

Number of Players: 2-4

Sheriff of Nottingham

The premise of this game is that you are villagers trying to run a market, and you have to get your bread, cheese, chickens, and apples past the sheriff... and possibly try to sneak through some contraband. Sheriff switches each round, so the game moves pretty quickly and is a lot of fun.
This is probably my current favorite game in this category. It is super creative and fun, and allows for a lot of interaction and communication between players, and those are my favorite kind of games!

Number of Players: 3-5

Bang!

Bang! starts you off with a secret identity, and only the Sheriff reveals himself. Everyone is trying to kill certain people and save certain others, and it gets really crazy and confusing- in a good way, of course.
We haven't played Bang! for so long, I almost feel like it doesn't belong on this list. BUT, it was one of the first "obscure" games we bought (if obscure means it's not as popular as Monopoly or Life... Bang! is actually a relatively popular game). It also allows for a lot of interaction between players, and is just a lot of fun!
I would say the only downside to Bang! is that it can take awhile to play, and once you're dead, you're dead. So if you die quickly, you spend the rest of the game sitting around not participating... which isn't fun.

Number of Players: 4-7

Strategy Games

Castles of Mad King Ludwig

In this game you get to buy rooms and build your own castle- who doesn't want to do that? The creativity and strategy to this game alone make it a lot of fun, but I also love that it works just as well for 2 player, so we don't have to wait for game night to play it.

Number of Players: 1-4

Agricola

The point of this game is to build a home and farm that is, basically, better than your opponents. There are a thousand different ways to get there, so the game can be different every time.
This is a really fun game if you prefer working on your own. It's fun to build your own little house and stables, and you can't always tell who is going to win until the end. But the best part of this game has to be the animeeples. Seriously, buy it and you'll see what I mean.
The one frustrating thing about this game is there is never enough of the wood supply to go around. We basically fight over it for the first several rounds. Maybe one of us just needs a new strategy.

Number of Players: 1-5

Keyflower

The point of Keyflower is to build a village by bidding on tiles and taking actions. Sounds simple, but it is pretty complex.

This one is still really new for us, and it's a really cool game but definitely not one I would recommend if you don't play a lot of board games. Even for us, it took quite awhile to learn and felt a little overly complicated the first time through. But by far my favorite part of the game is the little houses you fold together and stand up to hide your guys behind... I must still be five years old at heart, because they were like tiny little dollhouses and Caleb definitely wasn't as excited about that part as I was.

Number of Players: 2-6

Party Games

Codenames

In Codenames you start out with 25 cards in a grid on the table, and 2 people give one word clues to their teammates to try to get them to guess their team's words.
When we first found Codenames, it was listed as "The Best Party Game" and although it's not my favorite game overall, I have to agree that it is probably the best party game we own. Actually, it's so good that whenever we have game nights someone requests it and we always end up playing it all night. (With a closet full of other lonely games!) We've played it so much Caleb and I are frankly getting sick of it, but I think that's a testament to how great the game is.

Number of Players: 2-8+ (Technically you can play with as many people as you can seat around a table. Or standing on bleachers behind them.)

Letter Tycoon

Letter Tycoon is basically Scrabble (but, easier) mixed with Monopoly (but, minus the inevitable bloodshed.) You buy letters, spell words, and make money when other players use your letters.
This is another one of our newest ones, so we haven't had time to get sick of it yet, but I would say it is one of the simplest, funnest games we have. Great for when you are playing with people who don't like to spend a lot of time listening to the rules (ahem, MY family...) or even for playing with younger kids.

Number of Players: 2-5

If somehow you already have all these, here are some games that are still on our list that we haven't tried yet:

And finally, a brief list of the games you should already own (or else, what are you even doing here?):

Bang (yes, this belongs on both lists.)

And, if this list wasn't at all helpful to you, here is the source of all my powers: boardgamegeek.com We use this site a lot to find new games, and it helps that they are all ranked and reviewed. Go crazy.

NOW... Who wants to have a game night?

My Crazy Week

Just as a forewarning, for some of you, this might be one of those posts where I way overshare about medical stuff. Feel free to skip this one, if ya want.
Also, let me just say that this post is NOT intended to scare anyone, or sway you towards anything you do or don't want to do. When I got my IUD placed right after Dayen was born, I made it a point not to read all the scary stories online. I trusted (and still do trust) my doctor, and didn't want any reason to convince myself something was wrong when it wasn't. Turns out, I'm one of the unfortunate few.
So, this week was pretty crazy. If you read the last post, you know we were feeling pretty watched over and blessed this week. But, apparently I am a major pessimist, because the more wonderful things that happened to us, the more I felt like something really bad was coming.
So on Tuesday, which also happened to be my birthday, I was in a lot of pain from my period. For me, this is kind of the norm. But as it got worse and worse, I finally sheepishly asked my nurse friend if I should be coming in to be seen. She said with an IUD it was probably smart, so we scheduled an appointment for the next day.
That night it got worse and worse, so of course I did a Google self-diagnosis. By the time my appointment came around, I was fairly certain I knew what was going on. I was prepared to ask for an antibiotic and be on my way.
But, guess what guys? I didn't go to medical school. And I was totally wrong. Luckily, my midwife Annie (who happens to be one of my favorite people in the world) is a lot smarter than me and figured we should check my IUD. I told her I was planning on getting it out soon, but not for a few more months. She assured me we could just check it and she would only take it out if she needed to.
So, with my 18 month old sitting on the table with me, I prepared for a two minute procedure. I figured, I birthed an almost 10 pound baby a year and a half ago. I *think* I can handle a simple IUD removal.
Annie told me the IUD wasn't where it was supposed to be, so she was going to pull it out. But when she tried to remove it, I was in immense pain and the IUD broke into pieces, with only a few pieces actually coming out.

My IUD, not really resembling an IUD anymore.

She tried for awhile, while I sat there yelling and wondering if I really still wanted to try to go natural with the next baby, and finally she decided to ask the doctor to come look at it. After spending the entire morning and afternoon at the office, calling my mom to come babysit, and getting a cervical block, the doctor tried to remove it. The pain was so bad I couldn't stand it, so we decided to remove it surgically instead.
After how bad it hurt, I was honestly really relieved to not have to be awake through it. I could deal with the recovery, but not all the pain during.
So, we scheduled surgery for the next day. All of that was fine until he mentioned that the IUD was so deeply embedded, that there was a chance he would have to do a hysterectomy if I started bleeding too badly. He assured me he would only do that if it saved my life, but still, it's not something you want to hear at 26 years old with only one child. (And a cute one, at that.)

The other scary thing was that there was a chance he wouldn't be able to remove the whole thing. That meant after going through surgery, I would be living with this pain every day. This is a 5 year IUD, so in another 4 years when the hormones wore off, there was a chance I could get pregnant. A chance.

Needless to say, I had sort of a rough afternoon. I was trying to remain positive, but it was a really scary thought that one day I had the possibility of more kids, and in 24 hours that possibility might be gone forever. I can't even begin to explain everything that was going on in my head all day. I thought of everything from what it would be like to adopt, to what it would be like if Dayen was our only child. I thought of who I would be if the identity of "mom" was stripped away from me like that. I thought of how Caleb would feel down the road if he couldn't have any more children because of me.

Like I said, it was a hard day.

My doctor, who is also really awesome, went over the possibilities with me, and then asked, "Are you LDS?" I told him I was, and he recommended that I get a blessing before my surgery. This, of course, made me cry even more.

But that night, that's what we did. We asked one of our friends to come over, and they were quick to run over and help. I told a couple people, just in case I would need the support the next day. And, basically, I felt sorry for myself. In the moment, I couldn't imagine a much worse trial to have to go through than losing the opportunity of having more children. Especially over something as silly as an IUD.

So that night, me and myself had to have a serious talk. After I was basically done with my pity party, after I was all cried out over what might happen, I asked myself, "Anndee. Will it really be the end of the world?" And instantly I knew: no, it wouldn't. It would be a challenge, for sure. It would be a loss. But I would still have everything I have now. My wonderful husband, my darling baby, our home and dog and this whole life that I have. So what if it didn't turn out the way I always wanted, even expected? Does losing the idea of something really take away from what you already have?

After the blessing, both Caleb and I were feeling a lot more peaceful. I expected the blessing to assure me that things would be fine, that I would definitely get to have more children. But it didn't. Caleb knew that was all I wanted to hear, and it was probably all he wanted to say, but he didn't. I remember feeling peace from the blessing, but also frustration that I couldn't be assured of this one thing that was making me so anxious and worried.

But I think I understand now: that isn't how the Lord works. When does he ever just give us exactly the answer we want, right when we ask for it? Where is the trial of our faith in that?

Everything with the surgery ended up going really well. They expected it to only take about 20 minutes and it ended up being over an hour. I was really grateful to be asleep for that. The recovery hasn't been the easiest, but I will say our fridge and stomachs are full of delicious food, there are beautiful flowers on my table and my child was taken care of the whole time, and I feel so lucky to have all you wonderful people in my life! Through my very short trial with this, I never felt alone, and I am so grateful to all of you for that.

After everything, I just can't help but feel grateful. I think all this time I've just been trying to control everything. I was so concerned about when we would have our children, how close in age they would all be and how I could basically plan out every moment of the rest of our lives. Now, I just feel grateful for the chance to have another one, whenever it happens. I think it's the same way with a lot of our trials. We are all flawed humans, and for some reason we never appreciate what we have until it's nearly taken from us.

But we have a lot. We all do. This experience has made me realize how many people I have fighting in my corner with me. It has made me realize that if this is all I ever had, if life never got any better than this, I could and would be happy. Because what I have is really amazing.

Not to mention totally adorable.