Monday, March 30, 2009

The Barrister's Ball...AKA "Law School Prom"

Yes, just in case law school wasn't quite close enough to high school, we had our Barrister's Ball and Award Ceremony/Law School Prom last week. While that sounds like a mouthful, remember that attorneys are paid by the hour and that old habits die hard...even in academia.

So, the formal event was held in the historic Academy Library Building (original BYU campus). I wore a black lace and satin dress.

My husband wore a mohawk and red skate shoes.

Awesome.


My friend Marcie and I. We are snowboarding buddies and look significantly less hot in those outfits normally. Especially me (see frozen cheek smile faces in a previous post for any clarification).

We had a good time, especially since our whole study group made it out. Yeah for seeing folks outside of the law school... or just outside in general.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Holiday with Yoshi

Our good hometown buddy Chris visited last week (well, he was really visiting his fiance, but we like to think he was excited to see us too) and we had a good time doing all kinds of stuff.

Here the boys are looking up guns....sorry Chris, I mean "weapons".



Here is Jess with Chris's hot insulated pants at our quasi-campout. It was a lot colder than anticipated, hence the snow. Note to self - make sure there isn't any more snow before ascending to the mountains and planning to spend the night in tents.

Our campsite, the one area not covered in snow, but still covered in horse poo. Excellent.


Nature!


Hubby and I in smoky hoodies.



Chris and Tiff - cute!


Not so cute....no, it just took several shots to get Mike D out of the photo..shocker.


Us at the shooting range with Chris's new gun, a Glock .40.


Tiff shooting. With a little guidance from our neighborly West Point Cadet.




Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I heart Coeur d'Alene

We got a chance to go home the last weekend in February and had a blast. You know you are from Idaho when you pack up all of your snowboard stuff...from Utah...to go home for little more than 48 hours to get some more slope time in with your fam.

One problem though...and apparently this is a reoccurring issue...is that the mountain temperatures make it very difficult to happily photograph the memories. You see -- I can do a Derek Zoolander blue steel look here...



But this one looks like I belong on a short bus. Or that I have some gastrointestinal issues. At any rate -- my huge cheeks seem to act like giant ice packs that are incapable of responding to muscle stimuli and instead hang limp on the side of my face.


Hot.

See here...it isn't that cold, so we are totally kosher.


And this is just adorable -- while we were visiting the Ratelles our Aunt Amy came over to visit and let us see our newest cousin, little Mylie. And yes they are both napping in this chair.

Love it -- my husband should know better than to make cute poses with kids, or to let me go into a Baby Gap. Sigh.



Here is Mocha with little Tytan - such a heartbreaker. Thanks Suzie and Doug for flying us home - what a treat!

Friday, March 6, 2009

"...she inexplicably mails me a cactus every Valentine's Day, and I'm like, thanks a heap Coyote Ugly, your cactus-gram stings worse than your abandon

In the same vein - may I introduce this hilarious gift-faux-pas, the laughable gifts our First Family chose to exchange with our closest ally.

Hey Obama - did you not think you needed a Chief of Protocol? Couldn't find one without tax issues? Enjoy.

Obama's Blockbuster Gift for Brown: 25 DVDs

While the British prime minister presented Obama with uniquely historical gifts symbolizing America's relationship with England, the president gave Brown a set of movies.

FOXNews.com

Friday, March 06, 2009



Let's hope he's a Star Wars fan.

President Obama on Thursday gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a set of 25 classic American movies to mark his historic visit to the White House.

Brown, the first European leader to visit Obama since his Jan. 20 inauguration, was presented with a "special collector's box" of DVDs during his two-day visit to Washington.

Downing Street, which reportedly tried to keep the present a secret, declined to say what movies were included in the set.

"One reason for the secrecy might be that the gift seems markedly less generous and thoughtful than the presents taken to Washington by the Prime Minister," London's Evening Standard newspaper reported.

The Daily Mail, however, reported the movie set included ET, Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz and was produced by the American Film Institute on "special request" from the White House.

Brown, who is not known to be a movie buff, gave the president and his children several uniquely historical gifts.

The first of which is a pen holder fashioned from the oak timber of HMS Gannet, a Navy vessel that served on anti-slavery missions off Africa.

Another treasure given to Obama is a framed commissioning paper for the HMS Resolute, a Royal Navy ship that came to symbolize British-American goodwill when it was rescued by the U.S. from icebergs and given to Queen Victoria. It is the sister ship of the HMS Gannet.

Finally, Brown gave Obama a first edition of Martin Gilbert's seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill, whose World War II partnership with President Franklin Roosevelt symbolized the U.S.-Anglo alliance.

For Sasha and Malia, Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister's wife, gave each an outfit from Topshop, a British chain of clothing stores, and selected six children's books by British authors which have yet to be published in the U.S.

In return, First Lady Michelle Obama presented the prime minister's two boys with toy helicopters modeled after Marine One.

Obama was so touched by the gifts, he called Brown on board his plane on Thursday to thank him. The call was placed after Brown addressed a joint meeting of Congress, the White House said. The two reportedly spoke for 10 minutes.

The White House later issued a press briefing to put on record how much Obama appreciated the gifts.

"The pen set is being displayed on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and the books are in the President's personal study adjoining the Oval Office," the White House said in a statement.

During Brown's first trip to America in the summer of 2007, he was given a fur-trimmed brown leather bomber jacket by President George W. Bush.

The prime minister's reaction to the DVD set is not known.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Interesting study on childhood reading and house orderliness

From Slate...I confess I find their science and life sections addicting.

Essentially it finds a link between an orderly house and reading ability, even when socioeconomic status is controlled for. Personally, I believe the theory that you don't get to the nice cuddly reading sessions unless you can do the basics like have a clear couch or chair on which to cuddle.

:-)

Snaps to my own Mom always had a lot of books around and had an organized house -- I hope to be a mere shadow of that someday.