Top Vacation Places

This contest is not meant to be a look at the cool places that I have been. It is rather, a request to hear about all the great places you have been. I am just starting the discussion.

This contest is “The Top 3 Vacations EVER.”

What I am looking for, is the best places that you have ever been, and why. I hope my three will help get your mind going;

3. Lake Powell:

My extended family made it a tradition, to go to Lake Powell for a week during the summer. For those of you who don’t know about lake powell go to the following site, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Powell . The Lake is very warm in the summer, and it was where I learned how to wakeboard. The water stays smooth most of the day, and there are great places to go cliff jumping. One of the highlights of each trip would be when my Uncle Wayne would bring out his guitar and sing “Grandma’s Featherbed.” I do not like singing campfire songs, but that is the one exception.


2. Windjammer Cruise:

When I was in middle school, my family went on our only cruise together (my mom got seasick to easy, and spent the week “Bowing to the porcelain throne.”) We went to the British Virgin Islands and we were the only kids on the ship. There were many nice people there that let me bother them. One guy named Tom took me snorkeling with him and his wife Mary. I was scared that a shark was going to come and eat me, but was comforted, because Tom has a diving knife, even though it couldn’t cut butter.

1. Italy and France:

I constantly think about the trip that Nicolle and I went on. The places we went and the things we saw are imprinted in our minds forever, and in case we loose our minds, we have about 1000 photos from the trip as a backup. If you want more detail about our trip, look in the September Archives of our blog


There are mine. Let’s hear yours. The winner will be announced next week.

The Greatest weekend of the year

I must love pain, I look forward to the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament every year. This year was no different. Lets review my predictions and how accurate they were:

1. At some point in the tournament Greg will get so upset, he will have to leave the room and have some personal time

Outcome: True: Duke vs VCU. I had Duke making it to the Sweet 16, but because Duke’s defense allowed VCU’s point guard to run the same play the last 15 times for a lay-up, Greg needed a few moments to be alone with his thoughts.


2. Greg will speak with Jefe and we will discuss how we both have never had worse years than this

Outcome: True: Jefe and Greg have spoken at least 4 different times, some notable conversions include:
- Greg’s dumb predictions of NMSU beating Texas, and Arizona making it to the final four (UA lost in the first round)
- Greg asking Jefe how his team that he picked to win the championship did against UNLV


3. When Oral Roberts makes it to the sweet 16, I will declare my tournament officially over

Outcome: False: No seed higher than a 7th seed made it to the Sweet 16. So, those who chickened out and took no risks ended up at the top of the brackets (See Greg Dibb)

4. Arizona State will not be there

Outcome: True, but wait til next year



Here are the current standings, and some points to note are:
- David Harris is beating Natalie Dorrance
- Think of how many points everyone that picked UNC to win will be missing when UNC loses next round
- While Greg is in last place, Jefe only has the potential to get 1 point more than Greg
- If this was golf Greg would be in first
- This is not Golf

Take a look at who is in first!

Hey, this is Nicolle. Ok, I have to type fast, before any more games end and the standings change. I just wanted to make sure all of the NCAA bracket competitors our there know that right now I'm in FIRST! This has never happened before and will surely be over soon and never happen again, so I wanted to talk a little trash in my moment of glory! Here goes...Gsogirl rocks! The rest of you stink!

March Maddness here we come

Yes, it is the best time of the year. The NCAA tournament is going to start this Thursday. Here are a few Guarantees:

1. At some point in the tournament Greg will get so upset, he will have to leave the room and have some personal time

2. Greg will speak with Jefe and we will discuss how we both have never had worse years than this

3. When Oral Roberts makes it to the sweet 16, I will declare my tournament officially over

4. Arizona State will not be there

I love this time of year. We have a bracket and if any of you wish to join, you are more than welcome. Here is the information:

To accept this invitation and join the group, click the link below (or cut and paste the link into your browser's address bar). You'll be asked to enter the group's password before you can join. The group password is included below.

http://sherwoodbracekts.mayhem.sportsline.com/e

Our Group password is: ASUrules

In addition, I want to hear from you, Who the big upset is going to be, and who your favorite is to win.

Clara's baby blessing

On Sunday, Clara was blessed. Much to Nicolle's relief, Greg did name her Clara Hannah Sherwood (instead of Muyra or something like that... no offense to any Muyras out there who might be reading this blog). We were nervous she might be fussy during the blessing, but luckily only her father was.

We think she looked adorable in the bonnet we bought for her while we were in Venice. Too bad she doesn't like wearing it... we have to sneak it on her while she is asleep.

Here is a photo of the family and friends who came especially for the blessing and joined us for lunch at our home afterwards to celebrate Clara's birth.

Clara at 6 weeks

Clara is getting bigger every day and she loves taking baths.

Here is a photo of her with her first little girlfriend, Shaelyn Aagard (Clara is on the right).

A photo of Clara wearing an adorable sweater from her "Auntie Trin."

Motherhood is wonderful. My favorite part is when I pick Clara up out of her bassinet in the morning. She smiles and coos and seems so excited to see me.

English Phrases - Help

For my next trip to Sweden, I need your help. My coworkers in Sweden and I try to expand our language capabilities. Everyday, I teach them on US phase, and they teach me a phase in Swedish. They all speak English, so I have to teach them an American slang phase. I need your help, because I can’t think of and phases to tell them. What I need is a phase and a description for that phrase.

For example:
Phrase: “Bless their hearts”
Description: You can say the worst thing about someone, but if you add a “Bless their hearts” at the end, everything is ok and you are not really insulting that person.
Example: Greg cannot play basketball to save his life, Bless his hear

I hope this makes sense. Please tell me any one that may be unique. It is so fun to hear someone say a US phase with a Swedish Accent.

I will let you know what phrases I select and the Swedish ones that I learn.

Clara and The Top TV Shows

We know that we could not go another blog without a Clara update. Greg, however, still demands that another contest takes place. So the first part of the blog will be a Clara update, and the second part will be yet another contest.

Clara update:

Clara is now 5 weeks old and is over 10 lds. She is sleeping most of the way through the night, waking up only once a night for feeding.

She has started to smile and Nicolle has heard hear laugh in her sleep a couple of time. Clara developed Thrush http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/oral-thrush/DS00408 but seems to be getting over that. She is great.

She loves to be held by anyone, and has developed a little crush on Brandon Sweat. Did we leave anything out? Let us know.

TV Contest

The latest contest is a top 4 list. It is the top 4 TV shows that can be seen on TV. Before naming my top four, I want to give a shout out to all those shows that are great but did not make it to my top four list.
Mythbusters – Great show, answering questions that I have always wondered, and received strange looks for asking
Pardon the InterruPTIon – I love the show, Nicolle hates it. I will leave it at that
Reruns – Mash, Cosby Show, Seinfeld and Star Trek TNG
Sportscenter - www.youtube.com/watch?v=l33ohfzgk9k
The Colbert Report – Get ready for truthiness

My Top 4



The Office

This show is great, because it is discusses something we spend 5 days a week doing, working. I have received many an idea from this show on the pranks that I can pull on others. My hope is that is doesn’t sell out and just do the popular things. It needs to stay with what made it great, Michael, Dwight and Jim.

Lost

If you have never seen this show, I can’t explain to you why it is on my list. If you have seen it, you don’t need an explanation. The show keeps you guessing and trying to figure everything out. It is just great.

The Amazing Race

This is the one reality show that I still watch. You can see the world and all the great things to do in it, on this show. Plus you get to see what people act like under presure.
Show Highlight: Joyce Shaving her head, Never did one act make me hope that one team would win like this one.


The Simpsons


This show has been on TV since I was 12. That is 18 years. 18 YEARS. They have kept the same cast (With the exception of Phil Hartman, RIP). 18 YEARS. I can't tell you how many times I have used a clip of Mr Burns or Homer in my presentations. 18 YEARS




There are my 4. Lets hear from you.

Clue or Cranium

The votes are in, the ballots have been counted and by an overwhelming 3 votes, Clue and Cranium haven been selected as the top board games. I would celebrate this victory, however, I feel there is some “Other” influence being felt here.

Let me explain, Prior to one, “Henry Gale” voting, there were no votes for Clue. After Henry Gale had voted, a spell was cast upon the blog and all anyone could do was vote for Clue. For those of you that do not watch Lost, I am sorry, and what I just said makes no sense.

Other awards:

The Anti-Beatles Award – Kris
I have not heard of any of the games that you talked about. I am sure they are very fun, but the closest thing I had heard of was Ticket to Ride, but that was a Beatles song not a Train Game.

The Best Games That You Are Not Playing Award – “Apples to Apples” and “25 Words or Less”
These two games are classics and should be in every household, but are not.

The Man Law Awards – Steve and Mike Britt
You must consider Risk as one of the greatest game. MAN LAW

Thanks to all those who commented, they make the blogging much more enjoyable.

Board no more.

You don’t have to worry, we will be posting more photos of Clara, but we don’t want to overwhelm you with them.

The theme for this installment is “The Top 3 Board Games of All Time.” Please feel free to name any game that you feel ranks as the best of the best. Here are my top three:

3. Racko Baseball – You can look all you want on ebay, but you will not find this game anywhere. My brother Rob and I created it and this is how it works
a. Items needed:
i. Baseball cards
ii. Racko card holders
iii. 2 dice
b. How its played:
i. Same rules as baseball
ii. You have to have all positions filled by players whose cards you have
iii. The batting average on the back of the card dictates how high of a number you have to roll the dice to get a hit
iv. The ERA of a pitcher dictates how high of a number you have to roll the dice to get a strike or out.
v. You use the racko card holder to hold your team
vi. Rob, did I forget anything?
This game was created in the attic of my friend’s house and we had a blast playing it. Years later I saw something similar for sale at the store, but I knew that it could not measure up to the brainchild of Greg and Rob Sherwood.

2. Acquire – For rules, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquire
This game is great. You can only get on Ebay, I have yet to see a store stock it. I have to credit my brother in law’s family for introducing this game. When I was 10 or 11 I played it with them, and loved the business aspect of it. The main point of it is to buy shares of different companies and try to become the majority shareholder in the largest companies. The game teaches investing, cash flow, economics and a ton of other business principles. If you are up for a game, all you have to do is give me a call.

1. Risk – This is the greatest game ever. It can be playing over days, weeks, and even months. Seinfeld had an eposide on this game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2k0PRbYxVs . One of my friends came up with a great documentary idea. Video people playing risk in the airports of the world. The location would be determined by the country that was being attacked. For example, if Venezuela attacked Brazil, they would film the attack in the Sao Paulo airport. If you get corporate sponsorships from some airline companies and airport food vendors, this could be a profitable documentary.

Anyway, I need not speak about the merits of Risk, they are too numerous to mention.

Lets now hear your top 3, and the results will posted by the end of the week.

Clara's photo shoot

To see some adorable (yes, we are proud parents) photos of Clara, go to the following link...
www.janiesphotography.com
go to the Contact/View Proofs page
password: sherwood

The Best Week Ever

Our first week home with Clara was wonderful. (Yes, we realize it has been almost 2 weeks, but we didn't have time to post until now. Also, the title "Best Week Ever" sounds alot better than "Best Two Weeks Ever.") The three of us spent it at home where Greg and Nicolle fell more in love with Clara and learned to take care of her. (The biggest lesson we learned was that just because the daiper was off, didn't mean she was finished pooping!) Here are some photos of Clara's "firsts." Meeting cousins Chloe and Luke

Meeting Grandma Alexandre

First Dr. visit

First bath

First 2am viewing of Sportscenter with Dad

We are afraid to say it, for fear of jinxing our good fortune, but for the most part Clara sleeps great at night- waking only once or twice for feedings and is easy to calm if she cries. We love her so much and are amazed by her every day.

The Weight and Date Winner and Answers

Congratulations to Natalie Dorrance for guessing the exact weight of Clara at 7 lbs and 2 oz. Kim Rapier also guessed that weight, but the tiebreaker was the date, and Natalie was closer at Jan 10th than Kim was with Jan 7th.

The overall results are as follows:

The winning prize is that Natalie gets to hold Clara, and get to see her husband hold a baby (under 1 year of age) for the first time.

At the other end of the scale, Natalie Harris, also gets a prize for guessing the furthest off on both the weight and the date. Natalie gets to be able to have a child with the same birth weight as her husband (around 10 lbs), and the child will also arrive with the same efficiency as her husband (about 2 weeks late).

Clara's reaction to the response from Nathalie Harris

Answers to the other questions:

Q. The dumbest thing that Greg will say:

A. While Greg didn't say many dumb things, the dumbest thing he did was eat beef jerky around Nicollle while she was in labor. (She hates the smell of it when not in labor)

Q. Meanest name Nicolle will call Greg:

A. Nicolle was very nice to Greg and did not call him any names, but if she would had, it would have been, A Cottonheaded Ninny Muggins. (Good job Chuck)

Q. What will Greg's first words be when Clara is born

A. "She is huge."

Clara's homecoming

We brought Clara home on Wednesday, Jan. 17th. Here she is modeling her "going home" outfit. (Just a bit too big!)

All bundeled up in her car seat...

It is great to have her home- she really belongs with us.

More delivery photos

We are to grateful to have had an awesome team to help with labor and delivery. It made our special day even more wonderful.

Suzanne Gardner (Nicolle's sister), an experienced Mom, was especially helpful cheering Nicolle through the final stages of labor.

Mary Topp, friend and wonderful labor and delivery nurse, came in on her day off to be our very own nurse.

Vicki Latham, our very favorite midwife, worked hard to help us avoid the need for birth by C-section.

Dad was a trooper the whole way through.

Our first reactions on seeing Clara: (Our feelings are indescribable) Nicolle cried (hard!) and Greg laughed continuosly for the first hour after the birth.

And, of course, the star of the day... Clara! This photo was taken just after her bath. She really enjoyed getting her hair washed... she already enjoys the type of pampering you get in a salon... uh oh!

Clara Hannah Sherwood

Born January 15th at 5:52pm

7 Lbs 2 ounces and 20 1/2 inches

Mother and Daughter are doing great

Clara's Birth Part 1

After almost a week of waiting we decided that we did not want to wait another week to be induced. We called the hospital and they had an appointment at 6am on Monday, January 15th.

When someone in Nicolle's condition is induced, it could take more than 2 days to have the baby. We went to our friend’s house and got about 4 days worth of DVD’s so we would not be bored while waiting for the baby to be delivered.

Clara at her young age has already figured out how to push her parents to the edge and then back off. At 2am Nicolle started having strong contractions. At 5:30am we were admitted to the hospital. The nurse has yet to see pain tolerance to equal Nicolle. At 10:30am, Nicolle was 8 cm and is able to rest because of the epidural. That is all for now.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

No baby, yet. So far, she is only 2 days late, but my visit to the midwife yesterday wasn't promising. They have scheduled me to be induced beginning on Friday night, Jan. 19th if she doesn't come on her own before then. We are grateful for modern medicine, and know she'll arrive one way or another, but we would love for her to come naturally. Your prayers would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Nicolle, Greg, and baby Clara

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avEN_ZSUxk8

P.S. This is all Greg's fault (see below) :)
http://www.chennaionline.com/health/homearticles/2003/babylate.asp

The Baby Contest

For our next contest, we are going to give you all a chance to guess the birth weight and date of Clara Hannah Sherwood.

The nursery is ready.

In addition to the weight and date, there will be bonus points for the following questions:

What will Greg's first words be after Clara is born?

What is the worst name Nicolle will call Greg during labor(please remember this is a family blog)?

What is the dumbest thing that Greg will say in attempt to comfort Nicolle?

The winner will be posted when we have the baby.

(Here is a hint... her due date is January 8th.)

Our Bathroom Remodeling Project

For the last 2 months or so, our house has been a construction zone. We decided that our shower needed to be replaced. Maybe it was the fact that there was odd looking stuff in the corner, or maybe it was that we could lean on the wall and see it move. Whatever the reason was, we enlisted the help from a handyman friend of ours who built his own house. As you read this further, there needs to be some translation. First, when I say “help,” what I mean is that I watched and on rare occasions, fetched a screwdriver, and he did all the work. Do you want his number? JK

Before

Anyway, we got started with some destruction, and found that someone put up plywood when they should have put up concrete board. If you have no idea what I just said, once again, I will translate, “The people who did the bathroom before us really screwed up.” Look below.

After working a couple of nights each week and about 8 hours each Saturday, we were able to get the shower done.

When we poured the base

Throw in a simple job of tiling the bathroom floor as well, and what you get is the shower that 7 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 5 feet in length. Once again, translation: “It’s Ginormous.”

Thanks again to Pete, for all of his “help” and I can say that I even learned something. What I learned is that Pete is willing to work for Nicolle’s cooking.

Here are a few of the other pearls of wisdom that I learned:
“Measure 3 times, cut once”
“Spending 5 minutes to cover the carpet with a tarp saves an explanation to the Mrs.”
“Doris Palmer (Pete’s wife) is a very patient woman”