Bowling and Babies

I hope you enjoy the videos. Eden, they're big files. My e-mail will not allow that much stuff. We'll have to find a different method for getting these to you!

Whacked

What's wrong?
Did the universe have a new black hole?
Did we enter the twilight zone?

Have you ever felt like where'd we go wrong?

I guess I'll start at home. Deanna has a boyfriend, who in the beginning no one liked, but he's getting better. She wants to marry him. He wants to slow it down but he will marry her. His apartment was damaged by Hurricane Ike so he is living at my parents house in Kelli's old room.

Kelli's boyfriend came down from Michigan to live here, but has no plan on gaining employment and lives with Kelli in her apartment. He is Emo. Emo is him. He's a little feminine and very quiet.

Lyric is living at my parents house while looking for an apartment.

Mom and Dad are whacked out that as soon as they got rid of the second child, they filled the house with two more. They're afraid they're never going to make it to empty nest.

The reign of Bush is coming to an end. Sarah Palin. Bailout plans.

I'm going to be a father.

Bridge City was underwater from Hurricane Ike.

It's all a little surreal for me. It's just life and I know that, but it just feels weird.
So there take that

What a month

So, Jas and I went to Houston to celebrate my birthday (Aug 30) and to go to the temple. We had alot of fun, but with Hurricane Gustav brewing in the gulf we decided to pack our things before we left and just go to Fort Worth straight from Houston. So we did. Lamar canceled class on Tuesday in preview to the storm hitting us. It felt like a game winning field goal for the Dallas Cowboys...missed wide right. Gustav passed us by. However I think the hurricanes are in alliance. Hurricane Dolly hit South Texas and Gustav hit Louisiana and Mississippi. I think we all knew Ike was going to be an issue. So for the second time in two weeks Jas and I traveled to our Fort Worth sanctuary. (It's the best place to be during a storm.) Hurricane Ike hit as a strong Category Two and was massive. It could have covered a quarter of Texas and all of Arkansas. It killed 60 people. People in Missouri had a tropical depression warning! That's not something you really have to worry about in the midwest, but Sept. 13 was an odd day. I got back into town on Wed., Sept. 17. I had power at my apartment. My apartment manager cleaned out my fridge and threw away everything...even things that wouldn't spoil in our refridgerator. That really ticked us off. The evecuation made us miss our doctors appointment that might have told us the sex of the baby. When I got back, many people still had no power and couldn't use the water. We couldn't use the water till that Saturday. Trees were down everywhere, but some places were starting to clean up already. The damage this storm caused was alot less visible than Rita three years earlier. My refinery suffered some damage, but we'll be back online soon. Most already are. Bridge City is a city that lies between two major waterways and when the storm surge came in nothing stopped it. It wiped out alot and put up to 10 feet of water in people's homes. Life is getting back to normal for those who have wind damage. It may take a while for those who have water damage. The church helped a lady clean out her garage and house and we ended up throwing away probably $200,000 worth of baseball cards, comic books, and records. I held the first edition of The Justice League in its plastic cover in my hands and then threw it the trash. That was sad. This lady had six feet of water in her house. Jas came back Tuesday Sept. 23. I was no longer a bachelor. I did however get paid some nice overtime at work. I made in one week what I normally do in two! We're ok. We left and came back and we were ok. My family is fine. If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.

The Fam

If I had to liken my family to any other family...I couldn't. We're a unique bunch. Where to start...ahh here's good spot.


Kelli is a composer who got bored with composing as soon as she got her degree and is now going through college again to get a degree in Computer Science. She is 26 and lives in a tan room at my parents house. She likes her laptop. Kelli also has a second life. However unlike Dwight Schrute, Kelli's second life isn't because she's bored, it's because she seems to be sick of her first one. Everything in her first life seems to be an annoyance to her. Kelli likes anime and other fantasy and fictional things. Kelli is fun and has been my best bud since I came out of the womb. We've grown apart some since I've moved to other things, but she's still my sister.


Deanna is sick. Deanna has been diagnosed with multiple diseases. My favorites are Talktomuch and Yuppiewannabe. The one that affects her body though is Renal Failure. Her kidneys have shutdown. We do not have a cause and we do not know how long she can last without a transplant. Deanna has had a fistula put in her arm for easy access for dialysis treatments every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 5:30 a.m. She also has had her stomach stapled to help her lose weight faster. She is literally melting away (probably over 200 lbs!). She has been my hero and my champion ever since she's been diagnosed and I know she suffers from it and she's sick every other day, but she has shown great resilience in dealing with this. I think she's living her life a different way because of it. Deanna is a salsa dancing, interior decorator and is very social.


Iva is professional. Mom is my resource. She has a decent answer; if not the right one. She is a director and a worrier and a nurse and a teacher and a counselor and everything else a mother should be. She works hard and has always expected the same out of all of her children. Iva is 90% serious and 10% funny. She is a quasi-decorator (she is heavily influenced by Deanna). Now she's totally obssessed with the grandbaby on the way. She's fun and creative.


Dad is coach. Coach is Dad. He's become alot wiser in his old age, but is still as fun-loving as ever. I'm grateful that I had such a wonderful example in my life of how to be a hard working father and how to be a good husband. My memories with my father are dear to me, because I was his only son and we got to do boys stuff together. We have enjoyed camping, fishing, vacations, fishing, building, fishing, and fishing. He's dedicated. He would drive 45 minutes to work. Work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. teaching resource students and then go from 3 to 6 p.m. coaching football or basketball. He then would drive 45 minutes home and do dishes, laundry, or ANYTHING else that needed to be done. ((I work for 6 hours come home and claim sanctuary on our couch...I have alot to learn...but with the baby holder doing the internal work, I am grateful that I had that example to show me how to get things done.)) Games. That is the second word to describe my dad, games. Every week and every dull moment, he wants to play a game. He's very good at games too. He taunts us just enough to get them angry enough to play with him. He's a fun dad. So that's my family. I'll have to post some pictures later.

Wow

Jas and I went to our very first prenatal visit this morning and met Dr. Black. He's an old cynical man, but I think he'll be a great doctor. More exciting than that he did an ultrasound on Jas and my jaw dropped as I saw a tiny figure no bigger than a plum (1.5 inches). I thought oh cool there's something in there...then it jumped and you could see arms and little legs. That's when my jaw sagged on down to the floor. It was incredible. He said everything looks normal. He asked us to come back in two weeks to verify the due date. According to the measurement of the baby the due date is March 1st! We're very excited and I can't wait to see it jump again. At 20 weeks we get to know the sex of the baby. So look for a new post around that time (middle of October). I think it'll be a girl.

Guess what?

I got tagged!

This blog entry is in response to the tag challenge as given by my lovely mother in law, Meredith Jeppson. This will be the first and the last tag challenge on this blog.

5 things I did 10 years ago
1. Watched MTV
2. BoyScouts
3. Was scared of girls
4. Freshman in High School
5. Played Tuba in the Thomas Jefferson High School Marching Band

5 things on my to do list
1. Graduate
2. Go to New Caledonia
3. Sleep in 2 days in a row
4. Buy an Italian suit in Italy
5. Go to Cannes, France

5 favorite snacks/food
1. Sausage Breakfast sandwich
2. Drinks from Sonic
3. Seafood!! (Any and all!)
4. Wings To Go
5. Pizza

5 things I would do if I was a billionaire
1. Buy a Yacht
2. Buy a house
3. Invest and Save 1/2 of it
4. Pay off school loan
5. Set up a Pirate ship adventure!!(A chance to act like pirates)

5 bad habits
1. Procrastination
2. Trusting my logical side too much
3. Not showing enough excitement
4. Impulsive buying
5. Not feeding my beta fish, Poa

5 places I have lived
1. Conway, AR
2. Port Arthur, TX
3. Beaumont, TX
4. Bourail, New Caledonia
5. Paita, New Caledonia

5 people I tag (this means you guys have to answer the questions on your own blog--cut and paste,kiddos)
1. Karl
2. Brandon
3. Jackie
4. Olivia
5. Michelle

The Others and the Week

People look at me weird when I say, "I can't wait to go to Fort Worth to see my wife's family!" Is it because they spoil us up there?...no. Is it because it feels like a vacation every time?...no. Is it because we love to see Ace belch out words?...I could find ten rednecks in Vidor to do that. I go there because that is a place that feels like home to me. Dad's having fun and doing projects. Mom worries and works and laughs and has...expectations. I can get laughed at and I don't care because they're family.
David is constantly upgrading his house, or working on finances, or trying to find ways to spend time with his son. He is a superb man and gives me a lot to reach for. I have a long way to go to get to his level.
Meredith...that's about it.
Ace is young. Youth brings about certain qualities such as unawareness, uncoolness, unusual experiences, and un-(fill in the blank). Ace is at his prime. He'll be ok.
Lyric is unaware too. So unaware of how beautiful she really is. Unaware of the potential she has. Unaware of the family that wouldn't let her jump off a cliff if she was in a speed rocket. Unaware of how much her brother in law prays for her happiness.
Leah is hormonal. Joe still has hair. Temporary phases. I love you both.

I just wanted to see Meredith's face when she saw I didn't write anything about her up there. She knows I can't do that. I could fill up the rest of this blog with the things that Meredith makes me think about. I knew Jas was the one when I met her mother. If Jas has any of her mother's traits, I hope its spontaneity. I struggle with that spur of the moment stuff. I love that Meredith is strong opinionated, even if its wrong. She does everything and nothing. She's a performer and that is where she belongs. She seems to go forth without any fear. Key rules I've learned about Meredith include:

1. Don't talk about her cooking.
2. Don't dare her to do anything.
3. Don't be indecisive around her.
4. Don't pray fast.
5. Don't act macho around her or you'll tie ribbon.
6. Release your inhibitions.
7. Dance or be danced on.
8. She is blacker than I.
9. If she had boots with fur, she would wear them out.
10. Ambien is a powerful drug
11. So is benedryl
12. Parenting is fun...when your hair is hot pink!

She is a great example and a marvelous support to Jas and I.
So no I can't wait to see Meredith and the gang. They're my favorite.

So as for the rest of my week.
D is for Downhill. (see Brandon's blog below)
Downhill means we had to start up somewhere. Work was sufficiently well I have to practice presenting before professionals. I have a project at work on Arc Flash Hazards and I am basically the project manager and I have been presenting this project to supervisors and soon I will present it to the refinery management. Surprisingly enough my verbal skills when explaining this stuff is comparable to a 14 year old teacher asking a girl to waddle with him on the dance floor. I seem to struggle when I present. So I will be practicing on Jas tonight. I give her 10 seconds until she's tuned me out, but5 minutes until she starts to doze off. It has been fun doing this project and I have a great co-worker who teaches me well. Saturday, I went tosee someone with the missionaries. We talked to them a bit about the prophet Joseph Smith and about the restoration. This lady we were talking to claimed how she had gone to the internet to look up everything. She wondered why she had never heard someone talk about Joseph Smith before. She found it hard to believe and said I'm going to go look it up on the internet. She came back 5 minutes later with something from the infamous Wikipedia. At this point things went from bad to worse. She believed every word it said and said that it was from his own autobiography. Such things mentioned but not limited to were: Joseph Smith hates black people; he had slaves and numerous wives; he started a movement, not a church; and is a hypocrite. At this point the analogy was used: why would you go to a Chevy dealer to buy a Nissan? We tried with all our might to explain that Wikipedia was not a reliable source and that she could visit lds.org for OUR beliefs. She wouldn't listen. That's the part that is disheartening. Closed minded, unreceptive to the Spirit and confrontational. We left ASAP. The downhill slide began. As Ward Mission Leader, I planned a cottage meeting to help answer questions for non-members. A special speaker drove an hour and a half to Beaumont for the event. We didn't have a single one of the target families show up. It was still a good meeting, but unnecessary as far as the purpose of the meeting. I hope something in that last paragraph made sense. It sufficeth to say that the week was an up and down week of events.

I did make A's in my two courses I took this semester.

Jas is still the love of my life. That will never change.

I find it simply amazing that when I'm blogging, words flow freely as if I'm talking. Good thing I can type fast enough for my thoughts. A la prochaine!!

Birthday Week

It was Jas' birthday this week. She turned 20. No longer in the teen years. She hasn't acted like a teenager for years. We had a lovely time on Tuesday. She told me multiple times that she wanted to go to Tokyo Restaurant. So we went with my family and the Allreds. My week has been good. I'm learning more at work now than the previous three months. The more I take on the more I think I love my profession. The question is do I love the oil and gas industry. My apartment's a mess right now. Has been for a month. Our organizational skills are lacking for completing a task. We have been eating out too much lately and we are so tired when we come home in the evenings. The only thing we seem to like to do is sit and move our thumbs on the Wii controller. I'm sure we're the only people I know who live in an apartment and need to have a garage sale. We accumulated some junk from garage sales. 101,000 miles. I have put on at least 8000 miles so far this year. Somedays I hate driving all the way down to Port Arthur for work. Jas' phone died again. I paid $50 for a new battery. I put it in and charged it for a day. When I tried to turn it on. It did nothing. I broke the battery trying to get it out of the phone. I then threw the phone across the room. So Jas' phone is dead. She automatically went to E-bay and bid on another phone and will probably win a phone that is just as bad as this one, but she just wants it to last until January. We've been exercising alot. We even had a routine down. Mondays and Fridays at the gym at school doing walking machines. Tuesdays and Thursdays water aerobics. Wednesdays Salsa. I am enjoying salsa more and more as I do it. Jas gets bored and struggles with wanting to do the leading. I'm the man. I lead. Just not well. Anyways, I think I've rambled enough. It was a good, long week. I can't wait till summer.

My Sweet Valentine

My Valentine's Day...This is the first married one and yet we'll do nothing. Today, I'll blog about how much I love my Jas. How beautiful she is and how much I adore her. I love her fiery strawberry blond hair. I love the way she talks when she's acting cute. I love the way she looks at me. I love that she wants to be a mommy as a main profession. I love that she has soft skin. I love that she thinks I'm chocolate even though sometimes it hurts. I love how moving a major romantic holiday to when its convenient for us is a great idea to her. I love her pouting face. I love everything about her. I hope she knows that I love her and try to make that love evident in our lives everyday. I hope she knows...that...to me...everyday is...Valentine's Day.

The Beginning

Let's start at the beginning...I named this blog The Dajas because my name is David and my wife's name is Jasmine. I love my wife. She is the love of my life. I met her in August of 2006. We started dating in October 2006. We decided to get married December 2006. I officially proposed on January 26, 2007 and we were happily married in the Dallas Texas Temple on May 26, 2007. I learn more and more everyday about what kind of person I can be when I'm with her. Here's some pictures of she and I and our beginning together and forever.

Why not?

Thanks, B. I found this site after looking at a friend's blogspot.

http://bisforbrandon.blogspot.com/

You should check it out. It's good. I've never wanted to do a blog before but I figure this will be a good way for people to see the things that interest me and to post news about my family and me.