Pounce

For those of you who are not familiar with the topic of this blog entry, you may know this fast-paced card game by "Nerts" or even some Italian version of the game. It is hard to describe for those who have not experienced the game, so about the closest thing is Skip-Bo mixed with Solitaire, but playing against other people.

I was first introduced to this game in high school by my friend Lauren and her family. They used Rook cards as they provide four different colors/suites without using face cards. So that is how I learned how to play. When we got to BYU, Lauren and I taught it to all of our roommates, who taught it to all of our friends, who taught it to their friends and soon we had a group of about 15-20 people who would get together and play it on Sunday nights. It was crazy fun!

After our freshman year, our group of friends broke-up a little and we didn't have a whole group who would play much, so we maybe played once a month or so. Then, when we were all no longer roommates, we kind of forgot about the game. Then we got together in December and played again for the first time in years. It was the introduction to the game for Pret, and Sarah's husband, Eric, had only played a few times, so it was fun to have them play for the first time. Pret really enjoyed it, so it was on our minds for the next few weeks.

We next played it around New Year's with a group of friends and were able to introduce it to many of them, this time using face cards, as Rook cards were not available. They all enjoyed it and we will have to play it again with them. We were talking about it with my cousin Jordan and his wife Alison as well as my sister and brother-in-law, Shannon and Michael. Jordan and Alison have played a version before as Nerts, but we quickly converted them to our way of playing Pounce as we taught it to Shannon and Michael and we have been getting together monthly since then to play it--forgoing all of the other games on Shannon and Michael's "Wall of Games."

Finally, we got together with some friends, Ariana and Jordan, last week and were planning on playing games. We happened to bring up Pounce, and they were unfamiliar with it by name, but had played the "Italian name" version (sorry I don't remember it...), and we altered our version to play theirs for a bit. We ended up playing much past our bedtimes, but good times were definitely had by all!

Anyway, thus ends my narrative on Pounce, but I hope it doesn't end the fun of playing the game. I am sorry that this is another boring entry with no pictures--I will try to take some the next time we play--maybe even a video of the game in process. (Hopefully we won't have to edit any language or actions--it get to be slightly violent and vulgar. But all words and bad feelings are left at the table.)

95, 96, 97, 98, 99,...100

We made it to the 100th Day of school! The kids have been looking forward to our party since the first day of school, so this was quite an achievement! It is cute when the kids think that either 1) there won't be any more school after this, or 2) that they will be in first grade after today. Unfortunately for me and them, I still have them for another 80 or so days.

We are doing the midterm assessments for the students to give parents an update on where they are in their learning. It is so much fun to see how much the students have learned since the beginning of the year. Some of the kids come in not knowing anything and now they are reading words and sometimes even books! After working with one that I know has made tremendous growth, it almost makes me cry! I love kids.

Speaking of working with kids, I have a new calling for those who don't know. I get to combine two of my greatest loves--kids and music--to be the new Primary Chorister. I am very excited about it, but I have to remember to actually prepare things ahead of time. I like the songs that the kids are learning, and this will hopefully help me learn more families in the ward.

Finally, I have gotten back into reading and it is wonderful! Recently, I have read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (a non-scary/gruesome book about vampires) and it's sequel New Moon. Also, I am about half-way through The Secret Journal of Brett Colton by Kay Lynn Mangum (a cheesy, but very cute LDS teen fiction book about a girl who finds her older brother's journal after he died 14 years before.)

Pret is just about to take his second test in Pathophysiology. He got an A on the last one (I don't remember whether I told you all about that or not) and we are hoping he does as well on this one.

That is about all for our family. Love to all!

So it's been a while, sorry...

I anxiously check all of the blogs on our list every day to see if there has been an update and am disappointed when there isn't, so I apologize for not updating recently. I really have been trying to do work things during work time (what a novel idea!) and have been busy after school, so I haven't had a lot of time to do some updates.

Pret has started the nursing program with a Pathophysiology Class. It is pretty intense, so they have planned it as a class all by itself. He meets with a study group a couple times a week and then does plenty of studying on the side as well, so we enjoy our time together even more now. He took his first test a week and a half ago and got an A on it, so we are very happy! He is such a dedicated student that he will continue to do well throughout the program!

In school we are approaching the mid-term time so are testing the kids to see if they are improving. I am happy to say that they are all doing very well. I think this is one of my brightest classes overall. It is great to see them actually start to read and comprehend things! They are always cute doing fun things. Here is a picture of them singing their favorite song, "A-Tootie-Ta."



I have been working on a little movie with my students in it, so I will try to get that posted when it is all finished.


We have been to a few different parties over the last few weeks. One was our friends' little girl's first birthday. Cozette was a little tired, but it was cute watching her. They also have a little boy who will be three this month, Ethan. He is a cute boy and is starting to talk in sentences, so it is fun to try to carry on a conversation with him.






Finally, the neighbors came over for a party with their 2-year old girl, Morgan. She talks a storm up and has a perma-smile on her face. She was quite infatuated with Pret, especially when he was pretending to talk on her "phone." Tim, our friend and the father of Cozette and Ethan, got into with Ethan on the floor. It is times like that that Pret really looks forward to being a dad (no announcement intended there...)








Then last night we had an Non-Super Bowl Super Bowl party. Shannon and Michael, Jordan and Alison, and Pret and I don't watch football save BYU/UofU games, so we boycotted the superbowl and just played games and ate treats anyway. It was a lot of fun. We started with a round of "Pirate's Dice involving James and Ben as well. I was a fast looser on that one! For those who play the game "Pounce/Nerts," we are thoroughly addicted. We mixed up teams every round and no one person was able to claim champion. We enjoy our time with them and have decided to start a First Sunday game night tradition. Hopefully they will end a little earlier than last night so I won't be a "First Monday" zombie all the time!