I'm grateful for...H2O

Yes, the worst blogger in the world returns for another go at summing up my boring life in a few short paragraphs. Luckily, something rather exciting happened today so I felt compelled to share it with the outside world through my el bloggo. We got to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year (good for my tummy, bad for my weight loss plan). We spent one day with Bryce's fam in Murray and ate tasty treats and played sports. On Friday we spent a very exciting morning at the After Thanksgiving Sale at Target. I think I would have done all of the Koreans proud the way I was weaving in and out of people grabbing for anything that looked like other people wanted (I thought that meant it must be good). I decided against a shopping cart because I knew it would hold me up from my amazing weaving trick and now I am sure that was a great decision. We came out on top of the game with many great DVDs, a DVD player, a digital cam, an ipod dock, and a couple of games. I must give a shout out to my main man B-ryce for his excellent work in the electronics department. He was just reaching for things like a maniac (even though he didn't know what most of them were, he just saw the crowds). It was because of him that we now have a camera we are too afraid to open because we don't know if we will keep it or not. It was ALSO because of him that we finally have a DVD player that works, which will bring us much joy since we have not been able to get past the first episode on our Dick Van Dyke DVDs. After our shopping extravaganza, we drove down to St. George to spend the rest of our Thanksgiving weekend with my family. We watched Scrooge, well, I watched about the first five minutes before falling asleep. We ate tasty food, except for the failure of a bean-hoff which makes my third family food assignment failure (rice pudding of death, chocolate fondue that tasted like tar, and now a bean-hoff which was more like beans and water). We also watched the BYU vs. Utah game since Bryce and I sold our tickets (show me the money!) and tried to keep BK happy in the last few moments of the game. That night we played monopoly until about midnight and Iuri masterminded us all out of our money and property.
Now, as for my title for this blog, we drove home early Sunday morning in order to make it home in time for Bryce to go home teaching and when we got out of our car, our downstairs neighbor came running up to tell us that his house is soaking wet and that everything is ruined. We cautiously walking into our house to find a puddle where our carpet once was. Apparently, our swamp cooler was not drained by our land lord and it froze, then melted and drained through our vent onto our carpet throughout our hallway, into our bedroom, bathroom, and our study. We called our landlord who is in Thailand, great for him, and so his son came over to save the day. The water has stopped dripping now, thank heavens, but the floor is still an ocean and we are waiting to get some fans so that we can hopefully not have a smelly house forever. Apparently, the sheet rock and insulation throughout both houses might have to be redone, but oh well, it was very exciting! I tried to take a video for you Brynnie, but sadly our camera is MIA at the moment, I think it was scared of all of the water. We are happy for this Thanksgiving weekend of excitement, joy, food, family, water, and monopoly. Mostly, we are excited that in less that 4 weeks we will be in KOREA Christmasing it up with Mumsie-Pants, President Papsie, and Brynnie! WAHOO!

Totally WICKED!

Yes, it's true, I, Mandi Winkelman, was able to go and see the musical Wicked this past weekend. It was just about my favorite thing in the whole world. I cried because I was so thrilled about it. Don't make fun, it was so good. I've been obsessed with the music for a few years, and we finally decided it was time to go. Bryce can even add his two bits because he loved it. It was so glorious! We decided to drive down to LA this past weekend because I had two days of school off (bless fall break) and so we went to Wicked on Thursday night in Hollywood. The set was amazing, the actors were out of control great, and the music was fabulous. It was so much fun and so I'd like to give one more THANK YOU VERY MUCH to Bryce for taking me. Since we were already in California, we decided to go to Disneyland the next day. It was so busy there, I think because it was fall break (most people were from Utah) but we still hit every ride we wanted to go on and we even went on "It's a Small World" for you Mom! The best was that we got fast passes for space mountain right off (since it is my ultimate fav) and then when we went back (about 3 hours later) Bryce and I could NOT find our fast passes. So so sad. So, we had to wait for 45 minutes in line and then we finally got on the ride and yes, it stopped and we had to get out before it even got started. Bad bad bad luck. Oh well, we went back later and got to go on immediately. It was decorated so cute for Halloween too, just walking down Main Street was magical. It was a very fun trip, but the highlight was DEFINITELY Wicked. I've heard rumors that it is coming to Salt Lake next year, I'm not sure how true they are, but if it does count me in.

Excuse Me Please...

I know I know...it's been about 10 million years (or a month) since I wrote on here last. I apologize and will try to be better. And now since most of you probably don't really care, that is the end of my apology, on with my fascinating life. I definitely enjoyed this past Halloween since I was able to spend it with 27 ten year olds who were just out of their minds crazy all day long. It was a fun, sugar filled day but I went home exhausted! After many hours (and miles of driving) I finally found the perfect costume, Mickey Mouse. The kids were pretty upset that I was not Minnie (because, "duh, Mrs. Winkelman, Mickey is a BOY!!") but I was very comfy all day long and found the slippers most ideal when on your feet all day. At the family party, which was so kindly hosted by Jed and Brooke, I had some great laughs when I saw Jed's amazing Nacho Libre costume along with Brookie's "Encarnacion." It was quite incredible. They definitely win the prize! It was fun to get together with the family and talk about how much we miss our parents and how different it was without them and Brynnie there. I was pretty much a whine fest most of this holiday without them. Bryce's disgusting mullet was a great find, especially since he has been obsessed with mullets for many years now. The disturbing thing was that he actually enjoyed wearing it and will probably wear it on days other than Halloween from now on. Here is a personal favorite picture of mine from the Halloween party. Thank you Dan for letting Katie and Iuri borrow your cadet uniforms. You saved the day. Other than crazy students, missing my parents (& Brynnie), and a mulleted husband, Halloween was a pretty enjoyable day, but a day that I am happy to have over with since it means my birthday is just a few days closer :).