BYU Bowl Game

BYU was invited to play at the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, which happened to take place in Dallas! Convenient, huh? We went to the game with Dave's dad, brothers, and sister. It was a beautiful day and we were able to wear t-shirts and even got a little bit pink from the sun.

The Cougars were matched against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Even though Tulsa is just one state over, there were a lot of BYU fans in attendance and the cheering sections for each school were about even.

BYU struggled a bit during the first two quarters, but scored a touchdown with 12 seconds left in the half to cut Tulsa's lead to 10-14. After the half, things picked up and BYU and Tulsa traded touchdowns, until BYU scored with 11 seconds left in the game to win the game 24-21. GO COUGARS!

 

Glow Golf & TopGolf

Dave's dad's birthday is the day after Christmas. To celebrate we went to play glow-in-the-dark mini golf with the family. The glow part was cool (look at Dave's nice new white socks!) and the dark added an interesting twist. You couldn't see your club or read the slope of any of the greens so each hit really was a shot in the dark.

Surprisingly enough, I think we both actually played better than normal. Our foursome (Dave, me, Amy, and Jack) had the lowest team score, and I tied Cindy for the lowest individual score!

A few days later, the big kids (me, Dave, Tim, Cindy, Amy, and Liz) went to TopGolf - pretty much what happens when you combine a driving range with bowling.

There are targets spaced out at several different distances. Every section of every target has a sensor so the chip in your ball will tell the computer exactly where the ball went and assign points based on the distance and accuracy of your shot.

Your group all plays out of the same bay (like a lane in bowling), and each player gets 20 shots. If you hit a ball into a double zone, your next ball counts as double, (like a strike in bowling). It took me about 16 shots before I found my rhythm so I didn't score very high the first game, but did much better the second time around. It was really cool idea, the food was great, and we had a fun time!

 

Who Killed Frosty?

We are in Texas right now visiting Dave's family for Christmas. On Friday, Tim and Cindy hosted a murder mystery dinner at their house. Each member of the family received a different role to dress up as.

The Grinch & an Elf

We stopped at three different stores in search of costume items and had so much fun getting ready for the party! Dave covered his face, neck, arms, and legs in green body paint and we sprayed his hair. I am wearing Dave's Luigi Halloween costume from 2nd grade and some home made elf ears.

Also in attendance: Rudolph (Jack), Cindy Loo Who (Ally), a gingerbread girl (Amy), Mr. Scrooge (Greg), a nutcracker (Tim), a snowflake (Cindy), a yule log (Lincoln, who was sleeping when this picture was taken), Santa (dad), and Mrs. Claus (mom).

Who was guilty of murdering Frosty? Santa!

After the dinner we decided to spread Christmas cheer and went caroling in our costumes. At one point we had to stop for gas, so our group went in and sang to the attendant who thought we were crazy and refused to make eye contact.

Dave won the "best costume" award, although Elizabeth Christmas tree costume was fantastic. And I am pleased to report that after a long hot shower, with lots of soap and lots of scrubbing all the green eventually came off.

The Week before Christmas Break: the Good, the Bad, and the Unexpected

We've had a crazy week...

THE GOOD

Dave celebrated his 28th birthday, finished the 3rd semester of the MBA program, and submitted applications to 5 PhD programs. I survived the final week of elementary school, which is pretty much one big, exhausting, yet fun, party.

We had a breakfast with cousins living in Utah, a holiday dinner with other pre-PhD families, went out to dinner with my grandma, and got to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert (thanks Aunt Sue!).

THE BAD

Dave had a couple cavities filled and still has 6 applications to go. Our car also started making a squeaking noise when we turned left, which then turned into a horrible grinding sound so we took it into the shop where is stayed for 3 days and received  new axles, bearings, and sway bars. Hoo-ray.

THE UNEXPECTED

While we were without a car for three days, so many people helped us get where we needed to be:

I got a ride home from an office friend, then a ride back with my brother-in-law Jeremy, then a ride home from the music teacher, then a ride back from a 4th grade teacher, then my boss lent me his car for the night to take home, and then I brought it back the next morning. And we borrowed my aunt's car to get to the choir concert in Salt Lake.

Our family, friends, and co-workers were all amazing, but I have never done so much ride coordination and hope I don't have to do it again anytime soon. Phew!

Now that that is all behind us, we can start our break and enjoy the holidays. Merry Christmas!

 

Oh Pomegranate

This bowl represents a good portion of my evening (and I haven't even done the dishes or wiped up the juice splatters yet). I don't care what method you use - a pomegranate is not easy to open. I think it's probably the only fruit that you spend more time preparing than you do consuming.

But when I am eating this as a snack tomorrow at work, all the cutting, peeling, picking, and retreiving of escaped seeds will have have been worth it...yummy!

One in a Million

We were not hit by lightening (thank goodness), nor did we win a big prize (dang!), but we were on the receiving end of gift card fraud, not once, but twice! Aren't we lucky?

It all started when I got a gift card to Macy's from my work in July 2010 before moving to Utah...

Timeline of Events:

November 2010 - Dave and I went shopping at Macy's. When I tried to use the gift card I was told the balance was $0.00. I said that wasn't possible because we had never used the card. The store told me to call customer service. Customer service told me the card had recently been used by someone in California. I told them that I was in UT and those purchases weren't made by me. Since I still had the receipt to prove ownership of the card, Macy's sent me a replacement card.

December 2010 - Replacement card with a different 18-digit number arrived loaded with loaded $150 and all was well... or so I thought...

December 2011 - I was at Macy's picking up a suit for my brother. While there I decided to do a little shopping. When I tried to use the replacement gift card sent to me earlier, I was told the balance was $0.00. So I called customer service again and learned that the card had been used a few weeks ago in California, running the balance down to $0.00. I explained my story, that this exact same thing had happened the year before. At first they were skeptical and called in the manager to look at my case, but since I still had the original card & receipt, and the replacement card, I was able to prove I was telling the truth.

So somewhere in California someone has $300.00 worth of Macy's merchandise, BUT  I should have my third, and hopefully final, gift card soon. And this time, I'm going to spend the money before someone else does. Oh the magic of Macy's!

School Spirit Day

The Friday before Thanksgiving my school had its first Spirit Day of the year. In the past we've had pajama day, crazy hair day, red shirt day, sports apparel day - all "normal" spirit days.

This year we let "Scholar Council" (3rd-6th graders elected to student government positions) choose the theme. What did they come up with??

Mustache & Talk-With-an-Accent Day!

I'm not that great with accent, but I can do a mustache. Rather than draw on my face, I ordered a 6-pack of stick-on mustaches online to share with the rest of the office.  During our calendar meeting on Friday it was impossible to get through our items of business without laughing. We looked so ridiculous - my boss looked just like Mario - and I wish we had taken a picture of us all together.

Modeling (if you can even call it that - I suck at modeling) my "Bandit" stache:

 

Some things I learned during my day as a mustached women:

• There were several parents that didn't get the memo that it was mustache day. When they came into the office, moms stared at me like I was a psycho. The first few times it happened I explained that it was spirit day, but after awhile I gave up, kept a straight face and just let them wonder...
• It's incredibly hard to eat or drink without making a mess. The 6th grade cooking class made smoothies, and I never knew drinking through a straw could be so difficult.
• If you're ever going to wear a stick-on mustache, make sure you are SMILING when you put it on or your face muscles will be frozen in a frown position like you've just had botox injections.

BYU vs. Idaho

Last night Dave and I went to the BYU football game. It was fun but f-f-f-freezing! Pretty much any child in attendance was dressed in a full snow suit. I came outfitted with pants, a shirt, a sweatshirt, a ski jacket, warm socks, boots, gloves, hat, scarf, hand warmers, two hoods, and....

HOT CHOCOLATE!!

We have a skinny thermos that fits unsuspectingly inside Dave's coat. The people sitting next to us were very jealous. We would break out the hot chocolate about twice a quarter and it was a life saver! When we ran out at the end of the third, we decided to go home. BYU was winning 42-7 at that point, so we had already seen most of the action. Go Cougars!

Part way through the first quarter, Riley Nelson left with a broken rib and Jake Heaps took over at quarterback. Dave and I made a little bet - Dave thought he would fumble first; I thought he would score a touchdown. I won and now Dave has an appointment with this dish pile - oh ye of little faith :)

 

TUCANOS (aka Fast Track to a Meat Coma)

Because my brother is leaving on his mission in a couple months, he really doesn't need any "thing" for his birthday. We thought since he will be serving in Brazil, it might be fun to take him out to eat at Tucanos instead!

To make the bill a little more manageable, we signed him up for the birthday club. Only problem was September came and went and his birthday coupon never arrived. But we just  kept waiting and waiting and I'm pretty sure Derek thought we forget his birthday. Then last week I got my birthday coupon and tonight we went and ate ourselves into a long overdue meat coma.

Mmmmmmm.......

With my brother Derek, celebrating one late and one early birthday

  

BYU Basketball - 3 for the price of 2

Yesterday I told my sister we could babysit while she went out with her husband. Then we realized that the BYU basketball game was the same night. Rather than back out of either, we decided to just take little miss Anne with us - she's free as a lap child, although she ended up with her own seat anyway.

We had tickets to the BYU vs. Dixie State game from my grandma. Her seats are AMAZING - on row 5, close enough even for Anne to follow the game. For the first half she kept up a running commentary of "ball bye-bye" (on the other end of the court), "ball back" (back on our side), and "Hi Beast!" (whenever she saw Cosmo the Cougar).

She also took time to feed this beast...

Dixie State actually gave BYU a run for their money - it was a close game to the end. Because the game was so competitive, we didn't want to leave early even though Anne was begging us to go "bye bye" (she probably asked 100 times). In the end, however, we convinced her to stay to watch BYU pull out a win.

M&Ms make great bribes, just don't tell mommy :)

 

Howe Pumpkin 2011

We didn't make it out to a pumpkin patch this year, so this beauty is from the pumpkin bin at the grocery store. He's missing his stem, but otherwise looks pretty good - good color, good carving surface, and stands up nice and straight. I'm glad to have found him because decent pumpkins are in short supply when you wait until a couple days before Halloween.

I like to carve more than just a face, but I also like making up my own designs. Patterns you find online look cool, but they're just not very personal :) This year I decided to carve "HOWE" with some Halloween themed letters. The pumpkin was pretty thick, so some of the details were pretty difficult, but it turned out great!

Carving away!

Finished Pumpkin

 

A better shot of the letters - Happy Halloween from the Howes!

Rise and Shout the Lamberts are Out!

This last week my parents were in town, and it was a busy few days! We ate out (a lot), saw a movie, played games, and went through the temple with my brother who is leaving on his mission in January. We also took advantage of the fact that we were all in one place and had family photos taken. The pictures were taken up the canyon and hopefully worked out well (I haven't seen them yet).

On the way back, however, we changed into our BYU gear and had a passerby take our picture in front the cougar outside the stadium. It's so fun that we all went to, or are currently attending, the same school and have this tradition in our family!

As for the two of us, not much is new.  We are currently on track to watch season three of Psych in less than a week, we just bought a new TV remote so now we can change channels and adjust volume without having to get up, and Dave and I had a friend connection of only 68/100 the last time we played Wii party. We're both working hard (Dave is getting ready to apply to PhD schools), playing hard (hooray for intramurals), are healthy, happy, and loving life!

Sheepish Lions - Family Kickball 2011

All my siblings are in Provo right now, plus a few cousins, so we decided to put together a Lambert-side family kickball team. Our team name was the 'Sheepish Lions' - if you haven't seen the Disney cartoon from the 50s, go here - it's a classic! We had fun, and for the most part, played well!

The Lambert Family 'Sheepish Lions' + a couple fans

From left to right:  cousins Katelyn & Kristen (cheerleaders), brother Derek, cousin Allison, cousin Kimberly, Kimberly's husband Michael, Me, Dave, sister Natalie, sister Amy, bro-in-law Jeremy, and Anne (cheerleader).

Not pictured: Dan (Allison's friend) and Bryan (Natalie's friend)

School Pictures & Me 20 Years Later

Part of working at a school means having your picture taken on school picture day. I had my mom send me my kindergarten photo for comparison. Below is my kindergarten self at 5 years old, and my present self at 25 years old.

How do they compare?

• Hair - still reddish and wavy, although now I straighten so you can't tell. Thank goodness the little wispy hairs up front either disappeared or grew into full length hair.
• Eyebrows - still dark and a different color from my hair. One of the most common questions my brother and I get is "Do you dye your hair? It doesn't match your eyebrows."
• Eyes - still brown, although now there's some green mixed in so they aren't quite as dark.
• Nose - exactly the same and still bleeds every time I get hit in the face, blow my nose, the weather's cold/hot/dry, or for no apparent reason.
• Freckles - I'm pretty sure I have more freckles now than as a kid. I don't really see any on my kindergarten self, but now after each summer I always have a good collection on my nose and cheeks.
• Teeth - improvement! Braces for a year & good dental hygiene have paid off!
• Skin - still pale
• Height - taller! but still on the short side. When we took the faculty picture I was on the front row, where I've always been my whole life.

Grab a photo of your kid self - it was fun to look at all the changes, or lack of changes. I guess I grew up alright :)

Bundle Up!

It SNOWED today! If you climbed up to the "Y" you could have a snowball fight! I'm still in denial... it was sunny and 80 degrees on Tuesday. Where did this come from?

Our poor 5th graders were on a field trip today at the zoo in Salt Lake and came back soaking wet and shivering. I am glad to be snug at home wearing sweats and drinking hot chocolate. It is supposed to get back to the 70s next week, but mom & dad, I still think you might want to bring some warm clothes for your visit just in case winter decides to stick around!

 

BYU vs USU

On Friday we went to the BYU football game with Amy and Anne (Jeremy couldn't make it). For this game we were sitting in my grandma's seats, which are actual seats, not bleachers! It was a beautiful, warm night and the Cougars put together an amazing 4th quarter to get the win. Go BYU!

Don't judge Dave's lack of team spirit here - he had to come straight from campus. At least his shirt had some little blue stripes :)

For the 3rd quarter I had this cutie on my lap, and she was just giddy with excitement. We weren't sure how Anne would handle sitting for so long, but she did awesome. She loved watching the game, when the crowd did the wave, whenever the cannon went off, and watching the band play at half time. We had to drag her home when it was time to leave.

 

Conference Tradition

Breaking out a puzzle during conference is one of my favorite traditions! On Saturday I did one of Temple Square and today was San Francisco. Both treasures were purchased on Friday at DI for $1.00 each. I love puzzles because they keep me alert and attentive, but don't take my focus away from the great speakers.

Although now I am a little stiff after sitting at the kitchen table for so long...

Fall Colors & My Colors

I haven't posted in a while... my laptop had a minor problem that I had just been living with for the past 6 months, but since my warranty expires in October I finally decided to send it in for repair. So I packed it up in a box, put it in the mail and said goodbye.

And now it's back!

On Monday my school had a half-day, and the staff went up to Sundance after the kids went home. We rode the chairlift up to the top for a picnic and some team building. It was a gorgeous day and the trees were just starting to change colors - so beautiful!

Earlier in the week, the staff had all taken personality tests and were given a 20-page profile based on the results. It was very comprehensive - my personal style, how I interact with others, how I make decisions, my strengths & weaknesses, what value I bring to a team, my communication style, suggestions for development, what motivates me, how to manage me, etc...

I didn't agree with some of the results, but I was surprised by how accurate most of the profile was!

Some parts were great to read:  Melanie is logical and analytical, an ingenious think and long-range planner, and good at anything that requires rapid reasoning. She is a good decision maker and thinks clearly under pressure. Melanie shows loyalty to others and is a pillar of strength for those around her... 

Other parts were a little unnerving: Melanie dislikes being told what to do or how to do it. Her tendency to detach herself from her emotions allows her to retain objectivity, but can make her seem somewhat inconsiderate towards both herself and others. Melanie could benefit from being more open about how she is feeling...

It also gave you a summary of your "color" composition. My strongest "color" was red - competitive, determined, strong-willed, & purposeful. I am the only "red" at the school.  My lowest color was yellow - sociable, dynamic, enthusiastic & persuasive, but that's ok because I married a yellow and we make a great team :)

 

Called to Serve!

My little brother Derek got his mission call today! Since my siblings and I are all in Provo right now, we went over to Helaman Halls tonight to watch him open it. We had mom with us on Skype, but it was exciting to be there in person for this:

Please pardon the quality of this video - it's all I've got for now. There were others there with cameras so I hope to have some pictures soon.

Teresina Brazil!

Elder Lambert will report to the MTC on January 28th. He is the first (and potentially only) missionary to serve from our family, so we are really excited for him!!

Get off the couch & get your head in the game!

Lately Dave and I have had some trouble keeping busy at night. We've just been sitting around looking for somthing fun to do. 

Problem solved. This fall we are each going to play on four intramural teams. I'm playing women's soccer, women's volleyball, women's flag football and co-ed kickball. Dave is playing kickball, men's ultimate frisbee, men's flag football, and men's volleyball. Yesterday I got out the calendar

Behold our schedule for September - 25 games in 23 days

There are also 8 more games in October, and then the extra games for playoffs. Are you tired just looking at this? I am. We're not exactly in tip-top shape right now so this should help out. The next month will bring the end of sitting around, several loads of laundry, more showers, hopefully no injuries, and lots of fun!

Quiz Time

1. Pretend you are 10-year-old child. Your mom told you she would drop off a sack lunch for you because you forgot your lunch at home. What would you do when lunch time came?

a. Go check the lunch bin where all the other lunches live
b. Go ask your teacher if a lunch was delivered for you
c. Go ask the office if a lunch was delivered for you
d. Do nothing, say nothing, and eat nothing.


2. If you were the parent of a 10 year old that selected choice (d) from the list above, who would you choose to unleash your fury upon after school got out?

a. The office lady who wrote your child's name on the brown bag with a fat sharpie and hand delivered the lunch to the teacher
b. The teacher who placed the lunch in the lunch bin where all the other lunches live
c. The lunch manager who offered your child a lunch when she saw they had nothing to eat, but was turned down
d. The child who did nothing, said nothing, and therefore ate nothing

If you believe in yell first, ask questions later, then I guess (a) is a logical choice, but I hope you are more sensible/sympathetic/grown-up than some people...

NC Beach Trip 2011

We just got back from a great trip to Emerald Isle, NC with the Howe family. This was our fourth trip to this amazing beach since we've been married. Last year we weren't able to get a trip together and went camping at Turner Falls instead. That was fun, but this was so much better!

We all stayed in a house right on the beach and spent our time enjoying the water, playing in the sand, reading on the deck, playing games, eating food, staying up late, and getting up early (thanks to the cutest alarm clock ever).

At one point we had 21 people in the house for dinner - 18 adults, 2 kids, and one baby. I was a little relieved that our dinner night was over, and I wasn't responsible for feeding that many people! It's always amazing how fast a week can go by when you're having fun.

Below are some highlights of our trip.

Successfully flying a kite - it was a windy day and it only landed on the roof of the house once</>

Normally the water at our beach is pretty calm, but thanks to the residual effects of Hurricane Emily, we had some decent sized waves at the beginning of the trip!

No hands!

Skip disc ultimate:  what you get when you play frisbee in the water with a disc that skips along the surface. You wouldn't believe what good exercise running in the water is - I was always exhausted by the end.

Racing cousin Shane for the skip disc. Watch out - Dave is a beast in the water!

Enjoying a sunset and a great trip!

 

Carolina Critters

Besides having beautiful beaches, North Carolina also has a lot of wildlife. All along the shore are sand pipers hunting for sand fleas. Sand fleas are not really "fleas", but actually little crab-type animals that bury themselves where the waves wash up on shore. Dave loved to hunt for these when he used to come here as a little boy, still does as a big boy.

Here is Dave showing Jack one of the smallest sand fleas ever (it's in the orange circle). This guy was the size of a tiny shell shard and I have no idea how Dave even found him

At night there are bigger crabs to hunt. These guys bury themselves in the sand during the day, and then emerge from their holes when it gets dark and make a break for the ocean. Armed with buckets, bowls, sand toys, hot pads, tongs, spatulas, and flashlights, we try to intercept them on this nightly journey. My weapon of choice this year was part of a salad spinner and it was very effective! Not to brag, but I am a top-notch catcher and managed to nab a lot of crabs this year.

Once a crab is spotted it gets crazy. A shout goes out, everyone comes running, and then we try to keep a light on the crab as we chase it around the beach in the dark. These little guys are super quick and can change direction so fast. There is normally a lot of shouting as we try to keep up, and occasionally some shrieking when it heads for some body's feet :)

This is one of my favorite parts of our trips to North Carolina.  I just love the thrill of the hunt!!

Part of our catch - once we're done for the night, we turn the pot on it's side and watch the crabs scurry back to the ocean

Also making a journey to the ocean this year were some baby sea turtles. There was a nest of eggs about a 1/2 mile from our place and we made it there just in time to see two little guys enter the water. The turtle patrol, who were there to help control the crowd and make sure the babies got to the water safely, told us there were 125 eggs and only 17 didn't hatch.

Go for it little guy and good luck!

This turtle had a bad flipper and will be taken back to the aquarium for rehab. I can't believe how small they are!

Yesterday we Buried Someone in the Sand...

... And that someone was me

Fishing Trip

We've been in North Carolina for the past few days with the Howe family - our third vacation this month. It probably would have been smarter to spread them out a bit, but it's made for fun times!

Deep sea fishing was our first adventure on this trip. Nine of us went out - six fisher people and 3 watchers. It was great to have the watchers there to cheer us on and take pictures. I never even got my camera out because my hands were so gross from baiting the lines, so these photos are all from Aunt Dee.

The group before heading out

After a bumpy hour and half ride out into the ocean, we arrived at our first fishing location. One of the crew members came around and slopped a pile of guts by each of our poles to use as bait. I made Dave bait my first hook, and then quickly realized that I just had to go for it and get my hands dirty. After just a minute, you'd either have a fish, or have your bait stolen. It was a lot of fun!

Dave and I both caught our first fish at exactly the same time - these were tiny guys that we threw back in

I think we all had dreams of catching something huge (I thought I'd catch something as big as myself), but our fish were just over a foot long. Most of the excitement came from those in our group that couldn't tolerate to the motion of the ocean. They were troopers though, and alternated between fishing, chumming the waters, and then back to fishing. Luckily Dave and I were in the strong stomach camp.

Passed out on the way back after a long, hot day

 

We don't have any pictures of us with our catch at the end of the day because we didn't wait around for them to get our fish out of the cooler (you see there was a snow cone truck just across the street from our boat that was way more enticing than dead fish), but the final count was Mel: 3 keepers; Dave: 1.