Ryan and Angeles are engaged! Meeting Joy! Alex's math competition and Smash Brothers win

Ryan and Angeles are now engaged :) and we are looking at probably a wedding in May and in San Diego. No photos to share. :(  But congratulations to them both! We had a wonderful visit with her here at Thanksgiving. We are very excited to have Angeles join our family!

Last week I was able to travel to Provo and finally meet Joy. She is 3 months old now and it's the perfect age for a visit. Henry will be 3 in less than 2 months. I spent the time coloring with and reading (the same books over and over, of course) to Henry, snuggling with Joy, and watching the Olympics and playing games with Andrew, Heather, and Becky. Wish they lived closer. Glad they don't live farther.

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I think I love playing with this pillow more than Henry does

One fun thing that happened at BYU while I was there. Andrew took me up on campus to the bookstore on Friday...after it had been snowing all morning...and it just so happened that we had missed a lecture by Brandon Sanderson, who is one of the boys' favorite authors. The lecture was over, but he was still signing books, so Andrew called Alex to see which one he wanted me to get signed for him (sorry Eric, I didn't get one for you).

Alex chose Mistborn (which he already owns but it's his favorite). From Andrew's blog:

This is the first time in my life I've ever spoken with him. I've emailed and he emailed back, and I've sat in the back of one of his writing classes and, obviously, LTUE panels, but this was the first time I've ever spoken to him. Anyway, I asked him about the fact that traveling faster than light is equivalent to going backwards in time, and he acknowledged that (which is good, I was hoping he knew that) and said this was something he thought about a lot, and basically in the Cosmere he kind of (he used the word "fudges") the laws a bit using magic to prevent causality from being effected. So now we know: there is faster than light travel in the Cosmere, but some sort of magic prevents causality from becoming effected by it. Somebody should put that on the forums.

At the beginning of February, Alex participated in the Northern Nevada Math Council's Secondary Math Contest (the same math competition he did this time last year). His team (cousin Thomas, John Solomon, and Alex) took second place in the Comprehensive category (Calculus/Pre Calc) earning him a $15 gift certificate. Ben's Algebra I/Geometry team took 1st place. The third CCHS team placed second in the Algebra II category.

While I was in Utah, Alex, Thomas, and Ben participated in a Smash Brothers tournament. Alex came in 1st, Thomas was 3rd, and Ben was 4th out of 12 participants. They are looking forward to the next competition with practices starting today. Congratulations boys, and good luck in the next tourney.

Also while I was in Utah, Danny, one of our foreign exchange students celebrated his 16th birthday. I know there is a picture of him with his cake somewhere...I just can't find it. I will post it when someone shows me where it is hiding. Happy Birthday Danny!