Happy Birthday Jaron!

For Jaron’s birthday we got the whole family together and had them act in a little adventure RPG we made.  Everyone’s in there (minus a few pets), see if you can find yourself!  Happy Birthday Jaron!

Instructions on how to install the game:

1. Save the following file to your computer: http://dl.degica.com/trial/enterbrain/xp/xp_rtp104e.exe
2. Double click on “xp_rtp104e.exe” and step through the install process. (This creates some necessary support files to run the game)
3. Save the following file to your computer: http://etedj.com/rpg/JaronsQuest.exe 
4. Double click on “JaronsQuest.exe”
5. Extract the game to somewhere on your computer (Like your desktop)
6. Open the Folder that it creates (It should be called “JaronsQuest”)
7. Double-click on “Game.exe” to play the game

Hopefully that isn’t too tricky! It is almost a quest in and of itself!

(Note: We updated the game since we first posted it. It is better now )

		In-Game Screenshots VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Happy Birthday Will!

Jackson is Real

 

When my sister messaged us at 12:01am on April Fools day this year and told us she was pregnant, we did not believe her. [See her blog post about it] She spent 20 minutes trying to convince us she was telling the truth. Finally, we made a  deal that if she really was pregnant, we’d write and perform a song about how the baby really was real. Turns out she was really pregnant…

So here’s our song!

Kids Day 2011

 

Kid’s Day this year was great!  We got Daniel a set of “Cars” books and Eric’s parents got him a toy bus that came with 3 little people and plays music.  He loved his presents, especially the bus, which he carried around all day and even slept with during nap time.  We had Chocolate ice cream (made with almond milk) for breakfast and some Sorbet (Daniel’s favorite).  We actually celebrated on Saturday so we could go out and do some of Daniel’s favorite things.  We watched the movie “Cars” then we took him to the library and let him pick out a book (it was about Cars of course), then we took him to the pet store to look at all the animals his favorites were the kittens and the fish.  To finish off the afternoon we took him to Wendy’s and got him some chicken nuggets and french fries.  When he woke up from his nap we played the Mickey Mouse ABC computer game and had a sock fight.  Daniel LOVED the sock fight, he thought Eric’s reactions to getting hit were hilarious.  We had a lot of fun, Daniel thinks every day should be Kid’s Day.

		Daniel–Kids Day 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Here are some videos of opening presents:

“Kinect Dodge!” Game

 

The present that Shantell got me for my birthday was a Kinect. Now, that seems like a weird present to give someone who doesn’t have an X-Box 360, but I wanted it for the computer. You see, a few months ago Microsoft released an SDK which allowed people to develop Kinect programs for the computer, and I had been wanting one ever since.

So this week I have been playing around with it and created a game called “Kinect Dodge!” It’s nothing too fancy, but we think it is pretty fun

To see the game in action, here is a video:

Missile Launching Fun

One of the coolest presents that I got for my Birthday this year was a USB Missile Launcher from Shantell’s parents. Here is a little video showing some of the fun I’ve been having with it:

In the future I plan to create a program combining it and a Microsoft Kinect. With the help of its depth sensor and some simple kinematic equations (Yay physics!) I will have a pretty cool auto-aiming missile launcher.

…So soon you will be able to shoot our cat with missiles from the comfort of your own home! :)

Eric turns 11001 years old!

…which is 25 in Binary. :)

My birthday was great. Shantell made me Orange Chicken mmm delicious!  We watched Rio with Daniel which was pretty cute. Daniel loved dancing to all the songs in the movie.  I got some great presents, thanks guys! Shantell’s present was late so she wrote a riddle to tell me what it was, the riddle was really easy to solve since I had figured out a couple days earlier that she bought me a Kinect!  We didn’t take many pictures so we’ll just post them here instead of making a whole album.

Shantell took Daniel to the store to pick out a present for me. She took him through all the aisles (including the toy aisle) and the only thing he wanted to get me was that chocolate frosting with sprinkles. It went great with my cake :)

To Yellowstone and Back again: A Tedjamulia Tale

Friday at 1:00pm Shantell jokingly said “We should go to Yellowstone today.”  and I said “Sure.”  Two hours later we began the 14 hour journey to Yellowstone National Park.

Shantell’s family was having a sort of reunion up there and had rented a cabin.  When we heard about it a couple of months ago we decided not to go because of the long drive and the cost of gas.  But when Shantell’s mom mentioned they were packing for the trip and playfully said we should come too so we could try her delicious tomato soup we decided it might be worth it after all.  We threw some clothes in a suitcase and grabbed all our perishable food from the fridge and set off on the most impulsive trip we’ve ever taken.

Daniel was a perfect little passenger the entire way.  He loved looking out the windows at all the cars, and especially the buses.  He entertained himself by driving toy cars on the side of his car seat, reading car books, singing “The Wheels on the Bus” with us, and when he got a little restless, watching the movie “Cars” on Eric’s Zune…(do you sense a theme here?).  He was really an astonishingly happy little kid, He didn’t throw a fit once!

At 5:30 am we finally arrived at the cabin, I guess that’s what we get for making such last minute decisions. 

We had a great time with Shantell’s family.  Daniel was so happy to see his grandparents, aunt and uncles, and cousins.  Yellowstone was breathtaking.  The cabin was nice and the food was good   Here are some pictures from our trip:

Dragon’s Mouth
(we told Daniel a real dragon lived in there and he
believed us, he kept making dragon noises)

Wild Horses Viewpoint
(An incredible view we saw on the way home)


We saw a Bison!
(We saw several actually, some were pretty close up, but we weren’t about to get out of the car and take pictures with the close ones)


A wolf!


Daniel with Grandpa and his Great Grandparents


Daniel with Mommy, Aunt Emily, and Grandma at the Paint Pots

 

P.S. Shantell says the tomato soup was totally worth it!

Daniel Showing off

Daniel: Alphabet Master

Lately Daniel has been learning the sounds of the letters in the Alphabet. Here is a video of him showing off his skills:

Sorry it’s a little long. We thought it was cute.

Daniel’s New Favorite Book

Daniel’s two favorite things are:

1. Reading Books
2. Disney/Pixar’s Cars

So you can imagine his delight when earlier this week in the mail we got a package from Eric’s parents which included: Disney-Pixar Cars: The Essential Guide & Sticker Book. Daniel LOVES it. We were excited to show it to him so we took pictures and recorded the event:

Happy Birthday Kiri!

Happy Birthday Kiri! We made you a Birthday Video Adventure!, click on the picture to play it!  Have Fun

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For those of you who want to cheat, Here is the Story Map:

And here are the individual movies:

1	Beginning	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLxHtmZJRSA
2a	Talk to Shantell	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C-4f7llglo
2a	Arriving at Eric and Shantell's Home	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1mhgIU71P0
2b	Run and Hide	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TSHf3pX0z0
2b	Hiding behind the Bush	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HoTqDBz7E8
3a	Staying Put	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQCI0zQ_yFA
3b	Exploring Eric and Shantell's House	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMKVR4htHS8
3c	Bite His Ankles!	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAkpakbE-FI
3d	Stay Hidden Behind the Bush	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTaBSfjEr2w
4a	Another Cake for Kiri!	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHTfygdrdsU
4b	To the Hospital!	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRHUYWbopUo
4c	The "Machine"	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkvNXn-boZE
4d	The Potion	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgct1j0vJBU
4e	Kiri: The World's Nicest Giraffe	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5da2R2yHfqI
4f	Kiri: The World's Meanest Giraffe	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlStNsr6Bzg
5a	My new Medieval Family	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8i9ZQS06Eg
5b	Another Try at the Time Machine	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REiN0MvfPgY

Eric’s Lucky Shirt

There is a shirt that has been with Eric through many of the most important events in his post-mission life.

The day he proposed to the love of his life who agreed to become his future wife,

The day his son Daniel was born,

and of course, the day he saved Daniel’s life from a hungry Tyrannosaurus Rex.

I think everyone would agree that this is a very special and very lucky shirt.  Last night Daniel secretly decided to test the limits of this shirt’s luck by sneaking a neon yellow crayon in the dryer.  This action triggered the Great Laundry Disaster of 2011.  Only one article of clothing managed to escape the terrible staining caused by the melted yellow wax.  Can you guess which one it was?  Of course, it was none other than Eric’s lucky shirt. Does this shirt posses magical properties?  Who can say?  I for one believe that this shirt is destined for great things.

Incidentally, does anyone know how to remove melted crayon stains from clothing?

Portal 2 Party

 

Shantell and I have been looking forward to playing Portal 2 for months now. It is a hilarious sci-fi puzzle/adventure game with amazing graphics and physics. We pre-ordered it on Amazon and got it Tuesday (the day it came out). We played it all night on Tuesday and then beat it on Wednesday. It’s a great game!

You should play it.

Shantell even came up with the great idea of making Portal Pancakes for dinner on Tuesday. MMMmmm.

You might notice that there are TWO kinds of syrup.  Cold Mrs. Butterworth’s for me and warm Log Cabin for her.  Pancakes just aren’t the same without the proper syrup and we each prefer the syrup we grew up with.

Here’s a preview of Portals 2 in case you haven’t heard of it.  We loved it!

Kitty Torture

Daniel Likes to play with Fiero. Fiero likes to play… but not with Daniel.

Fetch!

The actions of older siblings have a huge influence on their younger siblings.  If you’re like Daniel and your older brother is a cat, you’re bound to pick up some interesting tricks.  Daniel has been known to bite like the cat, growl like the cat and even chase laser pointers like the cat.  A couple of days ago he mastered the cat’s best trick yet, Daniel has officially learned how to play fetch Fiero style!  We even caught it on video!

Milling around…literally!

Last week after general conference I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking that Eric and I really needed to get some sort of food storage.  The next day my mom called me to tell me she dreamt about food storage.  Taking it as a sign we finally decided to follow the prophet and get started on our food storage!  Our first purchase was a hand wheat grinder that we’ll be able to grind stored wheat with even if the power goes out.  We were really excited abut it and have already made two batches of half wheat cinnamon rolls. 

This is our “Eric powered” wheat grinder.  It’s actually pretty fast when he’s working the crank!

Happy Birthday Makelle!!!

Happy Birthday Jayden!

 

Click to play: http://tedj.us/jaydengame/

New Place to live

Update on our housing situation:
We didn’t end up buying the gorgeous condo from the last post after all, it was just too far away.  Instead we got an apartment right across the street from Eric’s building!  It takes him pretty much no time at all to walk to work.  Daniel and I especially like this apartment because Eric can come home for lunch EVERY day!!!  You can see our apartment on the right in the picture below and the building Eric works in is on the left…pretty sweet commute huh?

Here’s a video tour of our new place. (Eric chose the music to add a little dramatic effect)

Today Daniel found his new favorite food! Lisa’s Chili! It was a bit surprising because it was kind of spicy, but he just couldn’t get enough. Here is a picture:

Walking, Talking and Having Fun

Daniel’s been learning all sorts of new tricks!  Finally, the proof you’ve all been waiting for, Daniel can walk!  He’s been walking ever since we moved to Washington, he thinks he’s quite the expert.  Also ,he’s learned to open his treat container, reach in and feed himself.  We are now confident he can survive in the wild on his own.

Daniel walking and having fun with his Daddy

Daniel also learned a new word!  He’s been saying “mama” and “dada” for a while and now he says “Yuck!”  Last week Eric and I both had colds so there were tissues all over the house.  Daniel decided he wanted to play with a used tissue and whenever he touched it we’d take it away and say Yuck!  Now he thinks crumpled tissues are Yuck!  He also calls the cat yuck…

Sometimes in order to get Daniel to eat we turn on the webcam and let him watch himself.  He likes to wave to the screen and laugh at the camera’s special effects.

Tedj.us

Last November Shantell and I had the idea to consolidate all the family blogs, photo galleries, and sites together into one website side-bar. We’ve been using it for a while as our homepage and and decided to share it with the rest of  the family.

Here’s the nice short url: http://tedj.us

Enjoy!

And let us know if you want us to add any sites/blogs to it!

Daniel Walking and House Hunting

Daniel put on a great performance for us last weekend.  Up till a week ago Daniel had hardly managed 2 steps in a row but all of the sudden (inspired perhaps by the presence of his Aunts, Grandma and Great Grandparents) he started walking all over the place!  He took at least 11 steps in a row!  We didn’t have our video camera with us but we got a couple of cute videos with Eric’s cell phone.

Here is a video tour of our future condo!  We’ll post better pictures once we move in which should be this Wednesday :) It is by far the best place we found for the price. Tragically it’s at least 15-25 minutes away from Eric’s work so he won’t be able to come home for lunch :/ Other than that it’s the perfect place.  It even has built in bookshelves!