Poop-A-Doodle-Doo

Today marks another first in the Excellent Adventure of Reed and Meghan Jacobsen.   The nice City of Olympia people came and pumped the poop out of the sewer system right in front of our house!  As a kid I was enthralled when the septic guy came to pump our septic system.  We would rush outside and watch in sick fascination.  Mom also took us to the local sewage treatment plant so that we would have better knowledge of the systems of the world.  What an amazing process! So it is natural to expect that our very first septic/sewer pumping experience would be quite exciting for us.  And when I say us I actually mean me.  Reed didn't even look out the window.  ;-) 

Goodbye Poop! 

Driving In a Hurry

The other day I was headed home from work.  I was feeling rushed because I had zero time to go home, get Reed and then head to Rochester for our afternoon of volunteering.  I may or may not have gone slightly above the speed limit and may or may not have been passing many cars who were going too slow.  As I'm coming up the hill to our house I'm in the right hand lane knowing that I had to get over to the left one lane in order to turn in to our house.  I look ahead and decide that the black SUV ahead in the next lane is going slow enough that I can pass him but it will require me being rude and slightly cutting him off.  I decide that it's okay.  ;-)  So then I pull up next to the SUV and peek in the window. Wouldn't ya know it, it's our landlord and church leader.  I think to myself "well, pooooop!  I can't cut him off and then turn into our house because he'll know it was me" and then I realized that it would be almost as obvious if I suddenly dropped behind him and then turned.  So I chickened out.  I turned off onto a side street on the right and doubled back so that I would avoid the awkwardness.  hahaha  Moral of the story: if you may or may not be going a few mph over the speed limit then Heavenly Father may or may not place an obstacle to your infractions.  :-) 

No. 25

Reed had his first church basketball game since the days of the broken foot in 2011.  Playing for the Olympia 1st Ward team he scored lots of points and impressed the guys with his leaping prowess.  He's got a lot of amazing skills including blocking, stealing the ball and shooting under pressure.  He tells me that back in high school, he'd get fouled so often going up for lay-ins that he adapted to the point that he had trouble making the shot if he wasn't fouled. With time, he learned a good balance between the two, and I could see evidence of that today. :-)  Our team won and Reed seems excited to go back for another game!

Reed's Number 25

Going for the point

We won! 

Rice Cooker Magic

Reed and I are now the proud owners of a rice cooker!  Our friends Mikel and Kiah gave it to us last weekend and I've been dy-ING to use it.  So today when Reed asked for chicken alfredo for dinner I decided that we would have it on rice so that I could use our new cooker.  Yummm!  I just have no idea how rice cookers work but they are so magical.  Like unicorns.  Thanks Mikel and Kiah!  I get the feeling this will be one of our most frequently utilized pieces of kitchen appliances.  :-)

Isn't it Cuuuute! 

Hearts Aflame

Two years ago, Reed and I went on our first date together.  I'd say that date went really well....we went on another and then another and then we decided that we would not stop going on dates together. 

Today was a perfect celebration of our 'First Date-ivarsary'.  We got to sleep in and then while I was at work Reed got a surprise ready for me!  He knew that I'd been stressing out over the messy status of our apartment and decided to provide an act of service in the most meaningful way possible.  When Mom asked if she could come over then I mentioned that she must think we live in a pig sty because she only ever sees our house messy and then Reed was like "but our house isn't messy" and I looked around and realized he had taken out the trash, done the laundry, put away clutter, and taken care of some handyman jobs around the house.  What a husband!



Mom came over to deliver some delightful Valentines treats for us and we chatted with her for a bit.  She is feeling better from her illness (yay for modern medicine!) and it's good to see her energy level back up.  She made us a plate of chocolate dipped strawberries and even made pretty designs with the chocolate.  In addition to delicious hand-dipped fruit, she also brought our favorite Reese's peanut butter cups!  Thanks Mom!

Then Reed and I had our special date.  We made pizza together (Reed's the best cheese grater ever!) and then watched our favorite TV shows.  Survivor aired its pilot episode last night so we caught up on that and then watched Community.  In order to make our pizza extra special, I placed a stay-fresh silicone packet on the pizza.  We laugh about that because we accidentally left the packet on our First Date pizza and discovered it halfway through eating the delicious meal.  Don't worry, we've never actually consumed silicone stay-fresh packets.  haha 

So, as always, our date was a wonderful success.  I love Reed and the way that he makes every day feel like a special day.  I'm so happy that he's my husband!  

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!  We love you!

PS.  That is Reed's special copyrighted title on this post.  Part of his "intellectual copyright".  ;-) 

Doppleganger Day

The Wellock's think that I look exactly like Cosette on Les Miserables.  What do you think?

Cosette and Marius' Wedding Day

Meghan and Reed's Wedding Day

Since I've got a look-alike, let's pick Reed's celebrity twin....

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet....but even more awesome! 

Vuong's a Truck

I've mentioned my car named Vuong before.  He's a little Honda Civic who can do anything a big truck can.  He can drive in the snow, carry lots of cargo, and he attracts attention.  And today I have the pleasure of announcing that he has enough power to jumpstart a V-8 engine.  This skill makes Vuong basically an official truck.  Here's the story of how he earned this distinction....

Reed discovered that his truck named Samson was out of battery.  (A disease of cars that plagues our small family).  So we hook Vuong up to Samson's battery using our nice new jumper cables.  Vuong was already running and I asked Reed if I needed to do anything to get Samson's battery recharged.  He said that I'd more than likely have to rev Vuong's engine because there's no way he'd have enough power to jumpstart Samson. But we decided that we'd try it first without revving Vuong's engine.

Well, Reed turned his key and Samson goes "ruh ruh ruh VROOM!" and I was so excited because Vuong had enough juice to jump-start Samson quite easily!  Vuong's amazing!!!  Reed was pretty impressed, for sure.  I never doubt Vuong but it's nice when other people are able to notice it too.  ;-) 

Slam Dunk

I am no expert at basketball. I know the ball needs to get through the hoop and that's about it.  And there's a lot of drooling involved...or is it dribbling?  Either way, it sounds pretty juicy and spitty.  While perusing my old pictures I discovered this picture and figured out what I've been doing wrong this whole time.  Apparently I should be using a golf whacky stick thing.  Sports are so complicated, don't you think?!?

PS.  I am not as clueless about basketball as the above paragraph makes me sound.  haha

One, Two, Pick Up Poo

A long time ago, I came across this truck and had to take a picture because I almost peed my pants laughing.  It turns out that if I had, in fact, pooped my pants laughing then this person would pick up the poop so I wouldn't have to.  How considerate!  ;-)

Blind Date Success

Flashback! 

My sister is an awesome person.  She's very smart, multi-talented, dedicated and loyal.  I think she deserves every good thing in the world!  This is the story of how this very deserving woman found true love.  And, like any good story, Reed and I got to play a part in it.  Yay! 

Girls Camp! 

June of 2011:  Meghan went to girls camp and was the camp nurse.  While sitting around the campfire she chatted with a really nice lady who had lots of fun stories and a great sense of humor.  The really nice lady mused that she would love to set her son, Mike, up with a really nice girl.  I mentioned that I would love to set my sister, Leesa, up with a really nice man.  We both got scheming glints in our eyes and planned our dramatic set-up.  I mentioned the plan to Reed and he said he was friends with the man in question and definitely approves of the choice. 

Ensuing months:  We tried but never actually got them together.  But the thought never left our minds.  Reed asked Mike if he'd be interested in going on a double date with us and Leesa sometime and he said that it would be fun.

January, 2012:  Leesa had scheduled a visit to town (she is a successful doctor in her residency at an Emergency Room) and Reed and I absolutely leapt at the opportunity.  We checked Mike's schedule and then I approached Leesa and presented the plan.  She would meet us at Reed's house and we would make pizzas on a double date.  If it went badly then I had an escape plan and she would be able to depart gracefully with only a short bit of her life wasted.  She agreed.

Delicious Pizza

February 4, 2012:   Leesa went shopping for a new outfit and Reed and I went shopping for pizza fixings.  I don't know what Mike was doing but I am guessing it was something masculine like chopping trees or changing the oil in his truck.  Leesa arrived at The House first.  She looked beautiful and a little nervous.  Blind dates are kinda scary!  Then Mike arrived and he had a huge surprise....he had shaved his thick, winter skiing beard!!!  We went to the kitchen where we prepared the pizzas.  I felt so nervous and fretted that they hated each other or that things were going horribly.  Reed smiled and assured me that things were going really well.  I was too nervous to notice.  We ate pizza and I made sure to eat like a pig so that everybody else would look more polite.  Then we played Apples to Apples and had fun laughing at the results.  Leesa and Mike, I realized, were actually flirting!  Leesa hadn't indicated yet that she needed the escape plan so I figured I could relax a little bit.  After the game we went to the living room where we watched skits from BYU's Divine Comedy YouTube channel.  Laughter is a wonderful thing and it helps bond people together so I figured laughter was a must on the date.  Things kept going and going and finally at midnight I had reached my curfew.  So I said that the date was over and that I had to go home.  So Mike and Leesa said goodbye (not before she hugged him and he got her phone number). 

One of my Apples to Apples hands...unfortunate bunch! 

February 5, 2012:  They went on their first solo date together.  He asked her out and she said yes, of course.

Leesa and Mike and their parents

A few months later:  He asked her to marry him and she said yes.  Of course!

'Breakfast Never Tasted This Good!'

Riddle me this: What looks like poop but tastes like a sparkling rainbow?  Nutella!  If you guessed the answer right then that means you've tasted the substance of deliciousness.  If you guessed the answer wrong then that means you're missing out on the substance of deliciousness.  ;-)

Doesn't Taste Like Poop

So, the other day I'm on the phone with a sister whose tastes in food I trust implicitly.  Side note: implicit means unquestioning or unreserved; absolute.  Anyway, said sister was munching away quite happily and through the phone I could sense her delight at whatever it was she was eating.  She says "sorry about my mouthful but I'm hungry and eating Nutella" and I laugh.  She goes on to explain that Nutella is delicious on everything and is really addicting.  "What?!?" my mind says. It looks gross to me.  But I promise to her that the next time I see a jar of Nutella in the store then I will buy it and try it. 

Me and the Trusted Sister

Saturday finds me wandering around the store trying to waste time while I'm waiting for Reed to finish his test . And lo and behold!  There was a shelf of Nutella!  As I stare in wonder at the little brown jars I remember my promise to the trusted sister.  And I buy a jar.  In the car I examine its label and read the words concerning "The original hazelnut spread".  As my readers are aware, I do not have much self control so I opened the jar and dipped my finger in. 

Oh what flavor rushed across my tastebuds!  Mmmm, yummy!  The texture is smooth and creamy while the taste is nutty yet chocolate-y!  I had to have more.  So I dipped my finger in again.  And again.  Then I texted my sister and said "Oh my GOSH!!!!  I am going to get sooooo fat on Nutella!  It is deeeelicious!  :-D". 

The moral of this story is that when my sister says to try something that you should probably listen to her and obey.  So far, I haven't regretted it!  :-)