Family Weekend: Oops He Did It Again

Enough with the commentary on how often or not these posts will last. Enjoy them while they last. This is the last warning. It may not last. I already said that last week. Last warning.

Food And Games

Saturday Chris, Mason, and I went to run some errands and got lunch at HuHot http://www.huhot.com/index.aspx. I've eaten there a couple times and it was tasty as usual. If you like Mongolian BBQ or don't know what it is, give it a try. Don't let the name fool you though, you have to choose the spicy options. Mason (our resident hot-mouth) tried a scoop of their hottest sauce on his last dish and was pretty surprised. It's good stuff.

We also stopped by a game shop and picked up a couple of new board games. Axis & Allies for the boys to play and Wits and Wagers for the whole family. I warned the boys that Axis and Allies is a very long game but they were excited to try it. We started a game when we got home and made it through 1.5 turns! It felt like an accomplishment to make it that far because we were learning (or relearning) the rules at the same time. Hopefully we can pick it back up later this week. Here is the final state:

Axis & Allies is a really fun game if you have a little patience. It was only $29 at Hastur Games.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Today we all decided to walk to church. It was almost 50 degrees out and the building is pretty close to our home. This turned out to be a controversial choice later...

What was really awesome about today was that Meri and Kassie sang beautifully during the main church meeting. It was very moving and... there may have been tears. I can neither confirm or deny. I forgot to grab a picture after the meeting since cameras are not allowed during so I snapped this later at home.

Emma really wanted to be in it too and who could resist that face??

After church we looked outside and it was snow-hailing (which it continued to do for several hours). I sprinted up the hill to the house to get the car and drive the girls home. My lungs were burning for at least 30 minutes after. This geek needs to get back on the exercise train.

Not long after we got home, Meri and I received this gem on our family group-text. I'm still laughing!

Crock-pot taco soup (one of Meri's delicious specialties) was for late lunch/early dinner. Meri and I binge-watched a few episodes of Bones while the kids played. Meri is all caught up on the show but liked it so much she's watching it again with me. It's definitely good :)

All in all a great weekend!

Unrealistic Expectations: Achievement UNLOCKED

I'm About To Let You Down

Yep, two blog posts in a week. There is absolutely no way I will ever maintain this pace. It is likely that I won't write here again for at least 7 years. 

TONIGHT WAS FUN!

Tonight I had the pleasure of heading into Salt Lake City with Mason and Chris Munn of the clan Munn. The three of us went to Weller Book Works (a FANTASTIC book store in Trolley Square) for the Wells brothers' final stop on their book tour. We got there early and so had the opportunity to goof around, take selfies, and get the boys hooked on 2048.

Three Munn geeks in a bookstore. Your move, world.

"What is 2048?" you ask? It is a horribly addictive little game you can play on your phone or on a computer because it's just a simple website: http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/ Let me know when you surface for air after clicking that link. Grab a snack first... trust me.

The Men Of The Hour

Dan and Robison (Rob) didn't dissappoint. Dan wore his floppy hat. There was mention of near electrocution during childhood. Fingers were pointed... and turned around.

Dan and Rob quipped back and forth while providing brief backgrounds and discussing their latest books and projects. Anthologies, secret projects, and movies. Oh my!

The floppy hat was in full effect.

If you didn't know, Dan has published 2 trilogies: the more recent Partials Sequence (New York Times Bestselling) and the John Cleaver series. These are ostensibly "Young Adult" but from what I've read anyone from that age-group and up would enjoy them. Rob has written Variant and Feedback, a two-part series, and recently released Blackout with its sequel coming this fall.

Afterward we brought our books around to be signed and chatted with the authors for a minute. Chris and Mason had some great questions and generally got their fanboy on.

Personally, I get a big kick out of being a dad to a couple of young men who enjoy going to a book signing with their old man. I'm pretty dang lucky.

Feeding Of The Faces

After we closed down the bookstore, the boys and I retired to Five Guys Burgers And Fries. If you've never been, I recommend it. One of the best places for a burger in the state. Just don't order the VERY, VERY LARGE fries unless there are 2-3 of you to eat them.

Chris held this pose for about 45 seconds while I was trying to get this pic.
The other version has Mason looking at him somewhat disgustedly.

As Per Usual, It's Been Awhile

Explanation (aka the part where Will makes excuses)

Social networks have taken the place of blogging, journaling, and other personal long form writing in recent years. In my opinion this isn't necessarily a good thing. I blog about my professional life from time to time  over at Munn & Done http://blog.dubmun.com but this personal blog has suffered. Meri has kept it alive with posts on MunnKEY Moments sometimes and I should as well.

What's New Happening (aka the overview, overview, overview part)

We moved back to Utah (only over a year ago) and are now living in Draper on the south end of the Salt Lake valley. Meri and I actually miss Texas desperately and really enjoyed living there. We are adjusting nicely to being back in the beehive state though. We've been blessed to move into a really awesome neighborhood that sits just above 6000 feet. The people here are amazing and so are the views. We also have the privilege of enjoying significantly cleaner air during the nasty inversion months of December, January, and February. Those of us with sickly lungs are very appreciative of that!

 Will & Meri (aka the boring part)

I'm enjoying working at my new company which is also in Draper and this means super short commutes by Utah standards. Enough of my life has been spent driving to and from work already so this was one of our criteria for selecting a place to live. Work is going pretty amazingly, the company is doing very well because because a) it's an awesome company and b) we are in the health savings account business which is booming. I work with a team of very talented people who believe in making a difference with the software we write and in improving the state of healthcare in the U.S. I've also been speaking and teaching occasionally at work and at local user groups and conferences. This is my small way of giving back to the community that has been so good to me.

A session I recently taught at Utah Code Camp.

Meri has been homeschooling a couple of the kids and I'll let her talk more about that. She is, of course, an awesome mom and goes to a lot of effort to make sure all the kids have everything they need and spends considerable time shuttling them around to all of their commitments. I'm sure she can't wait until the boys are driving. Just to clarify here: I CAN wait. Did I mention she's amazing? Of course I should also mention that she's amazing. AM-A-ZING! :)

Meri and I at a Jazz game in the VIP booth that my work sent us to.

Chris, Mason, Kassie, & Emma (aka the interesting part)

I've been involved in Chris's schooling some and have been teaching him about programming and websites. This has been good for both of us I think. He's also taller than me now (but not meaner). Chris has been doing odd jobs around our neighborhood to earn money for a nice mountain bike and has been doing very well. He has also started back in Tae Kwon Do and has relearned all of his black belt knowledge in a VERY short time. The master of the Dojang has just invited Chris to be one of the instructors!

Chris with "the Captain" after the concert we went to with the boys.

Mason is busily creating a language to use in the novel he is writing (ala Tolkien) and has made a lot of new friends here. He's basically a social butterfly?! He is also spending time teaching himself the Italian language and hopes to expand to other romance languages once he is fluent in this one. Finally, we were able to have Clint's old guitar fixed up and gave it so Mason as part of his birthday this year along with Rocksmith (an awesome guitar-teaching game). He has been practicing regularly and can already play a couple of songs pretty well!

Mason and I at a book signing with his favorite author, Brandon Sanderson.

Kassie is a really good big sister. She and Emma are together a lot and Kassie is very kind, patient, and helpful. She's a smart girl and has read several chapter books. One of her amazing talents is singing, she must have inherited some of Grandpa Loren's genes because she has a natural ear for music and sings out quite loud. She sings around the house a lot and whenever she is singing with the kids at church you can always hear her distinctive little voice above the crowd. Kassie is also taking Tae Kwon Do now and had the only perfect score of the group during her last test.

Kassie receiving her Yellow-Stripe belt after her perfect test.

Finally we get to Emma. She is such a little smarty. She's reading quite well and learns very quickly. She's a kind and thoughtful girl and loves her family. Emma has been involved in acting in a couple of plays. She had roles in Annie last year and now is rehearsing for a performance of The Wizard of Oz (which Kassie is also in). Emma keeps us all on our toes and often is good at reminding everyone else in the house what "the rules" are. She is also a pretty singer and loves to snuggle her mom.

Emma in "Annie" (on the far left).

The End (aka the finished part)

That's all I have for now. I'm sure I've left out about 2130287309 things because it's been so long. I'll try to do better in the future. Oh yeah... and the Seahawks won the Superbowl ;)

W