Battlepost!

Here's some pictures in no particular order:

(L-R) Joshnita, Juanita (Happy Birthday!) Jennyita, Richita


My mom and I at the Broncos - Texans pre-season game which was sort of a microcosm of the two team's seasons.... the Texans lost... and the Broncos won! (note my mom keepin' it real in the old school Shannon Sharpe jersey)

This is Erin's grandma sprorting a sombrero! I love this picture!

This is a picture of the inside of our house.... sort of the dining area.....
and this is our living room...looking down from the 3rd floor

Jason Elam kicking the winning field-goal in OT against Dallas on Thanksgiving Day!

Battlecat in triple threat position ( she could 1)fall asleep, 2) drool everywhere 3) POUNCE!)

Erin and Jake in a self-portrait entitled "Were happy the Broncos are winning because the Utes sucked this year.... at least they beat BYU!"

And now for a long awaited update:

First off,

Some new terminology: A new adjective I've been using - 'battliferous'
Battliferous describes Battlecat's state of being... she could be sad, happy, or battliferous. I've also been using 'battle' to modify all sorts of words regarding battlecat. She has a battlebox where we keep her toys... she goes outside for a battlepoop etc.

Battlecat also lost her first three teeth (that we know of) this weekend... Erin and I put them in a plastic bag and they are hanging on the fridge until the battletooth fairy can make a visit!

Here's the update on the humans that reside in Battlecat's domicile:

I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire twice! I saw it with Hieu and his friend, and then Erin and I saw it with her friend Lan! I liked it a lot, although I thought the movie progressed at a very quick pace.....

On Wed. evening Erin's family (Juanita, Joshnita, Jennyita, and Richita) arrived and on Thurs. morning we began our Thanksgiving adventure. We rented a minivan and drove to Dallas to watch the Broncos v Cowboys game and celebrate Juanita's 50th b-day! The Broncos won despite their best efforts and we had to hit the road to make it back to Houston in prep for Day-after-Thanksgiving shopping and to return the minivan by midnight. Juanita and Joshnita went to Circuit City at 1:30 AM to wait in line for a computer. Friday we actually ate Thanksgiving Dinner, and on Saturday the nita's returned home to SLC.

Things have been really crazy as battlecat has sought out and destroyed many elements of our home.... she chewed two holes into the dry wall in our garage, and chewed through the foam which lines the intake vavles of our outdoor AC unit.....she also dug several holes in our backyard... which is cool. I think this aggressive behavior stems from the fact that she has not yet called upon the Power of Greyskull.....I hope that one day soon, I shall come home and find her adorned with a green coat and yellow stripes!

Erin and I have both been excited about meeting new people at work and school.... a gal in Erin's class moved in near us so we've visited her and her husband a couple of times which is cool! The diversity here has really helped Erin and I to grow individually and as a couple in Christ as we see the expression of the Body manifest in different cultures and settings. So many unique situations all calling for redemption.

Well.... I must be off to bed... I want to thank Chris Dean and Jonathan Hays for having short IM conversations with me even though I wasn't online.... the upstairs computer auto-logs in to my IM account...

Happy December.

-jake

p.s. I made a pumpkin pie shake today!

Behold.... BATTLECAT!

First..... load up this love offering from the musical stylings of Lazlo the Destroyer:
http://media.putfile.com/Meditations-on-Battlecat

And then behold....... Battlecat!




Battlecat was adopted this Saturday from Pals for Pooches! She is a retriever/spaniel mix and overall she's a pretty chilled out dog. John Roberson and I went to see her on Sat. after Erin and I saw her on the internet..... when Erin OK'd the adoption, John and I took her back to the car and immediately began socializing her by calling her Battlecat. When I put her in the back of Erin's car, she must have been very nervous because she peed twice in the backseat, and then threw up on the way home..... but that was cool because she was just asserting her dominance as animal worthy of the title 'Battlecat' would!

Erin and I haven't been sleeping much and we spend all of our free time with her. Erin has been coming home straight after school and studying on her bed to hang out with Battlecat, and I have been getting up at 5:40 to take her for walks before work!

Well..... I must return downstairs to Battlecat's lair so Erin can get some work done.

Enjoy Danny's tune whilst you gaze upon Battlecat!

Gobble gobble and other pairs

Well.... yesterday I had a soccer game.... team played amazing, we won 7-6 and I got a ball kicked right into my right hand which jammed my other ring finger.... so now both are out of commission... which is sort of comical, but it also sucks... I feel really weird not wearing my wedding ring but I'd also feel weird having someone saw the ring off my finger because it was cutting off circulation so I guess I'll just have to wait until my fingers return to normal size.

Erin has been sick the last couple of days - today on the way home we purchased: Wendy's Fries, OJ, banana popsicles, soup, vapor stuff, and nyquil stuff for Erin - so hopefully some combo of those things will make her feel better. We also purchased our first turkey! It's a fine bird, weighing in at just shy of 21 lbs. Since Erin is sick - I got to make food just for me for dinner... so I had gravy tacos.... it was awesome! I felt a little like Elvis... actually I'm hairier than the king, but I do dig gravy on my tacos - life changing. Speaking of hairy, the beard is making a comeback... I haven't shaved for a couple of days (which for me is approaching sasquatch levels) so I figured why not? I hate shaving...... now I'm not going for the moustache/beard combo... that's lame. I'm kicking it Brigham Young style.... no moustache!

(Brigham Young pictured here in direct violation of BYU's honor code)

Erin and I are going with Kevin and Carissa Eastham to see the Broadway musical: Wicked this Sunday so that should be amazing..... and while I'm on the subject of Eastham's.... I want to give a shout out to Greg Matte, pastor of First Baptist Houston for being totally hardcore. Kevin told me that the church is taking 9 months or so to go through Colossians verse by verse, and Greg has challenged the church to memorize the book of Colossians along the way! I think that's awesome.....party on Greg.

In case anyone is interested I'm still working on memorizing Ephesians... I took a couple month break, but I was up to Ch. 3, Justin Goldman told me that he is starting to memorize the book, so we've agreed to push each other through it. Once I memorize a couple more books, I will become legally righteous and all-powerful - then Battlecat and I will take over the world!!!! Until Erin rebukes me, then Battlecat and I will take off our capes and come back in the house.....at which point Battlecat will retreat to a corner and lick his/herself (as is the custom of canines) and I'll probably be assigned to clean the toilet, do the dishes, and vacuum.... maybe world domination through legal righteousness isn't such a good plan.....

(An artist's rendering of Battlecat and I bent on world domination)

I'm hanging out with John Roberson on Saturday.... which is cool.....

Corey Duncan still hasn't called me back.... which is not cool.

Erin went to sleep last night at 9 PM which is totally cool......

I went to a helicopter crash survival training yesterday in Galveston which was both cool and not cool.... and now I will elaborate.

So Katy ( a super good friend from work) and I went to this training dealy in Galveston. They put us in this cage thing with two seats, shoulder and waist straps, and openings on both sides of the cage to escape out of. We wore these crash helmets and blacked out goggles so we couldn't see. Then they flip the cage over so your body is upside down, underwater, and you can't see... and you have to get yourself out.... then you repeat........the last guy in our group didn't have a partner, so I did it like 3 more times with him..... anyway fun for all ages.....

Well... that's all for now.

Let me clear a few things up

OK... so I get carried away with my posts sometimes.....

Let me clear a few things up for confused readers:

1) Erin and I will not have a baby (God-willing) until she is finished with her MD - so..... 2010?

2) Battlecat will be the name of our dog once we acquire a dog.... right now we have no dog (except for Corey Duncan who is the Dawg - but has abandoned me for that woman he married)

3) Giraffes attack with their front two legs and that freaks me out although I suppose it makes sense.... what else would they do - sledgehammer enemies with their head?

Ummm.... a lot of stuff has happened since I started this post so I lost my train of thought.... which was probably headed off track after the giraffe comment anyway.....


So some highlights.....
Friday I was playing basketball at the Y and I jammed my left hand ring finger.... it swoll so bad that I can't get my ring back on it.... yesterday it felt a lot better and my ring fit, so I wore my ring all day today and then I couldn't get it off... I finally suceeding in getting it off, so it is now on my right hand which I understand is the custom in Norway.... so if anyone asks... Erin and I are celebrating our Norse heritage....until my finger returns to it's normal size.

Keepin' it blonde and blue eyed.....

-jake