12 Days of Christmas cont.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true Love gave to me ... a dozen roses. This present was not only beautiful but it has special meaning because of something that was in the book he gave me on the first day of Christmas. And you're going to have to read the book if you want to know.




















On the sixth day of Christmas my true Love gave to me ... an all expense paid trip to my dining room for a delicious home cooked breakfast.






















Here he is ladies and gentlemen

The Sweetest Boy this Side of a Jam Sandwich Down

Joel Ackerman, my most sweet and precious boyfriend, is doing the 12 Days of Christmas for me this year.

On the first day of Christmas my true Love gave to me ... a copy of his favorite book, The Little Prince (which I had never read before and ended up really liking).




















On the second day of Christmas my true Love gave to me ... Yentl and a bag of popcorn. Yentl was the movie that Joel and I watched on our second date when Joel realized he wanted to hold my hand. Cute, huh?





















On the third day of Christmas my true Love gave to me ... a trip to the Salt Lake Temple to look at the beautiful Christmas lights.

















On the fourth day of Christmas my true Love gave to me ... hummus and chips. Joel knows my favorite things and this is definitely one of my favorite meals.

Harry & Ginny at Hogwarts

Harry & Ginny

Little Joel

Big Joel and I have been spending a lot of time at Kelsey's house lately and Little Joel always has funny things to ask and tell us. This week was particularly funny.

Pretty soon after we walked in the door the other day Joel asked me, "Jamie, are you pregnant yet?" I'm not sure why but he feels the need to ask me almost every time I see him if I'm either married, pregnant, or have any kids. The other day out of nowhere he yelled at me from another room, "Jamie! My Mom has kids." Thank you Joel.

Soon after that he had a question for Joel. "Big Joel! BIG JOEL!! Can I see your hairy chest?" Big Joel told him that it was neither the time or the place which didn't make Little Joel too happy and he kept pestering him about it.

He had some more funny questions but these were the best and most recent.

I have nothing to blog about. Give me ideas.

New Car

Here is my new car. Any ideas for what her name should be? Telulah is taken, that is what my old car was named, just in case that is what you were thinking. I can't wait to bring it back to Utah though I am definitely not excited to make that 13 hour drive.

Sometimes I Smell like Grandpa

Sometimes I catch myself smelling like Grandpa Brinkerhoff. I think it was a mixture of sweat and sawdust that emanated from both his person after he had been working outside, or from his old blue truck all of the time. It's pretty gross when you think about it especially in relation to me, an apparently not so clean but young 23 year old girl who doesn't really do any physical labor. I don't hate it though. When I smell this particular smell on my person it reminds me of Grandpa. I'm not sure what the people around me think but it makes me smile. Grandpa Brinkerhoff passed down some distinct and ironic things to me: my nose and my smell.

Photo Shoot

Ministry of Silly Walks

Photo Shoot

A couple weeks ago I met a girl who does makeup and hair for photographers and she asked me if I would ever want to help her out for one of the shoots (I think she really liked my hair). So yesterday she contacted me to see if I wanted to do one last night and let me tell you, it's a good thing I spent so much time watching America's Next Top Model. I just did what Tyra taught me and I think it kind of worked out. We'll see. The photographer said she would get me some of the pictures after she edits them which will take a couple weeks so I had Sarah take a picture of me after I was done just to show off the makeup and hair. After I get the legit shots I'll post them on here too.

I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that when I was scheduling my flight to Portland I forgot that Jordan was coming in Thursday morning instead of Friday morning. So basically Jordan is going to get there Thursday morning and I'm not going to until Thursday evening at 5:30. The good news is that I have a bunny rabbit. She is precious and I'm not even allergic. I'll post some pictures of her soon. Joel thinks he's being replaced by her but just because I do all my blogging about her now doesn't mean that's what is going on.

Joel's Latest Commercial

As you know Joel writes, produces, and sometimes acts in commercials. He normally has a whole crew help him with this but when a chocolate fondue fountain company called him and asked him to do a commercial for cheap he said he could but couldn't afford to pay the crew so he had to do it all himself. So he's been working on this commercial pretty hard for a week or so. Let me know what you think.

Joel's 25 year old interview

What is your favorite color? Green
Favorite cereal? Cracklin’ Oat Bran
Favorite vegetable? Potatoes or sweet corn
Favorite food? Juice
Favorite drink? Also Juice
Favorite tv show? Seinfeld
Favorite restaurant? Any American food restaurant owned by Greeks
Favorite holiday? Christmas
Favorite animal? Rabbit
Favorite toy? Baseball
What is your favorite thing to do? Write
Who is your best friend? Jamie Brinkerhoff
Where would you like to go on vacation this year? Illinois
What do you want to be when you grow up? Movie maker
What would you do with $100? Put it towards gifts for people
How much does a car cost? 5 grand…it depends
What do you like to do in the summer? Write
If you could have only one present this year, what would it be? A car
What is your Mom's favorite food? Reese’s
What does your Mom do after you go to bed? Sleep…I think
What's Dad's favorite food? Oreo’s
What is Dad's favorite thing to do? Play baseball
Where does your Dad work? In his house
What is your favorite thing to do with Dad? Talk Baseball
What do you dislike eating? Anything gooey
What's your favorite thing to wear? Overalls
What would be the best thing someone could give you? A successful career
How does the grass grow? Photosynthesis
Where does electricity come from? Science
Where do babies come from? Two people having sex.
How do we get to Grandma's house? My Grandma’s are dead and I never go to my step-grandma’s house.
Where does the sun go at night time? On the other side of the world
How do fish breathe under water? Photosynthesis
How do you make cookies? Have Jamie make them
What is Mom's favorite thing to do? Read and be with family
What do you love about each person in our family? Zoram: funny, Keri: talks a lot, Naya: makes jokes with Little Joel and Mari: is a monkey

Because Joel and I aren't a family and Keri posted the interview asking about "our family" I had him answer about Keri's family.

It's lame you can only upload four pictures at a time. So here are a couple more from the wedding and then some random hanging out pictures.

 

 

 

 

Jason's Wedding

These are the pictures from my friend Jason's wedding. The wedding was earlier this year but I just now got the pictures.

 

 

 

 

The Joy of Statistics

This just happened in Joel's statistics class. The teacher was talking about dotplots. Joel spoke up in front of the entire class and said, "Were you just talking about dots?" The teacher replied, "Yes." Then Joel proceeded to tell the class, "When Carson was born I hit him and he turned into a dot." Which caused me to immediately burst into laughter that I tried to quiet down but probably didn't do a very good job...and tears. And turned BRIGHT pink.

Flux Capacitors Strike AGAIN!

 

The Flux Capacitors, my volleyball team, were reunited again last week for an outdoor grass volleyball tournament. We had not played together since the epic win of 2008 where we won the championship in the Provo City League but came together and played like champs once again. One of our members, the capatain, now attends Weber State in Ogden and he signed us up for this tournament. We drove up there and made it worth our time by kicking everyone's trash along with getting t-shirts and $20 Wal-Mart gift cards. Here is the picture after we won, I think it's going to go up in the hallway of Weber State. Since we were outside all morning playing, even though I put on sublock, I think I still might have gotten more freckles...sorry Mom. We'll be defending our Provo City title this fall as we enter league play yet again.

Big Sickie

 

I don't know where we could have picked up this nasty virus from, but Joel has had it bad for the last 3 days! The first and second day he was throwing up all day and today he had diarrhea. But it's a weird sickness where he throws up out of his ears and has diarrhea secrete from his armpits. Since his insurance doesn't cover anything but acts of God and none of his symptoms are mentioned in any of the major religious texts, I haven't taken him to the doctor, so I'm a little on edge about him. The biggest worry at this point is dehydration, and he seems to have some of the warning signs but not others. I asked him when he last had a drink of water and he said, "In the MTC before I went on my mission." I really thought today he would be much better, but he just slept on the couch most of the day except for when he had to go out to compete in a triathlon to raise money for special needs children. That picture was from yesterday when he was feverish and puky all day. I had to take a picture because it reminded me so much of when Little Joel was sick.

 

Hopefully tomorrow will be much better - he didn't eat anything the last two days and had just a little bit to eat today (he actually didn't eat it but he chewed for several hours on a literal drill bit), so he's really been weak and listless. (He has no lists of anything, not even to-do lists or groceries to buy. Normally he has lists of everything including a list of times in the day.)

I know it's probably too much to hope that I won't get the same sickness, but I sure hope Joel is the only one! He has been so pathetic and sad the last few days, I can't wait for him to get back to his normal busy and spirited self, always active either trading stocks or breaking horses.

We did WHAT last night?!

One thing I like about Joel is he is thoughtful and writes me nice thank you notes after we go on dates. Here is the most recent:

Dear Jamie,

I just have to say you were awesome last night. As I said before, you looked absolutely beautiful. And thanks again for the delicious dinner. Having seven courses was impressive, but ALL from SCRATCH? Most impressive.

The after dinner entertainment was amazing too--I knew you could play the saxophone, but not that you could play the violin and the harmonica at the same time!

I was really scared I blew it when I locked my keys in the car, but when you unlocked the door using refrigerator magnets, I just thought, I can't blow it too bad with Jamie around to fix things.

Then on the way back, when you asked me to roll down the window so you could talk to those Pro-Choice activists, I didn't know what you were going to do. But you spoke so eloquently. That was the first time I've ever seen so many angry picketers change their minds. You could really see they were remorseful.

Of course, really I just love being around you because of the fun we have together. But I loved that last night you didn't let our fun get in the way of you saving that toddler from getting run over by a car.Way to sacrifice the body. I hope you recover quickly and are out of the hospital soon. I'd love to go on another date.

Sincerely,
Joel Ackerman

Pictures of Joel in Action

Here are some pictures of Joel directing. Thanks. He looks real handsome when he directs. You can tell by the pictures.

On Set with Joel

This Tuesday I went on set with Joel while he was directing some final scenes for his film. This was maybe the second or third time I had been on a movie set, so it was interesting to see how things work. When Joel directs he usually wears a hospital gown without anything else but this time, since it was on BYU campus, he put shorts on. My job was to take pictures of Joel in action calling action. These are just a few that were taken.

Joel's 25 year old stats

Some of you have complained that I need to keep a more regular blog. Well, unlike many of you, I don't have children I can talk about. But, I decided that since I have a boyfriend I can tell you about him and some of the cute things he does or has done.

Sometimes I feel like his mom right now because I do a lot of motherly things like reminding him to eat, fixing him food, making sure he looks presentable when we go to wedding receptions or other events, picking him up from school and generally giving him rides. (His car is broken down right now.) Like yesterday I picked him up from school and he was just standing in the rain soaking wet and looking all pathetic and sad. I asked him why he didn't stand under something while he was waiting for me, and he said “I just forgot.” I asked him why he was sad and he said “I don't know,” so I asked if it was because he was wet, and he said “Kinda,” then he started crying and said his shoes came untied. It was so cute. I just reminded him he knows how to tie his shoes, and he said he knew but now the laces were all wet. Joel hates touching anything wet or gooey. He won't touch anything like glue and doesn't like caramel or gum because of their texture.

He is becoming a lot more independent since I started dating him. When we went with Kelsey and Boyd on Memorial Day up the canyon he made and packed his own lunch, complete with a tuna fish sandwich, crackers and a tupperware container FULL of applesauce. He didn't bring his own lunch sack though so it got over all my lunch on the ride, but I was proud of him for making his own lunch anyway, and he was really excited about it too. Since I'm trying to let him make more of his own decisions, I told him he could pick what he wore to he and his roommate's club (they have a discussion and dance night every other Wednesday). When he came out of his room he peeked around the corner and asked if he could borrow some of my tights. I told him to show me what he was wearing. He was in one of those shirts tied up with a lace at the neck and in really short shorts tied around his thighs to look like knickers —so he looked like a Shakespearean-era guy. (Just so you know, normal dress code is a slacks and a blazer. In fact they made him wear a blazer.) He looked so ridiculous but it was cute especially with his skinny little legs.

While he usually speaks quite well, sometimes he gets confused about words. For instance whenever he wants us to do something even marginally exciting, he says “Let's throw cosh into the wind.” The saying is actually, “Let's throw caution to the wind,” and it sounds the same. I didn't realize he didn't know what he was saying until he asked me one day, “What is cosh anyway?” Also when I take him to McDonald's he always orders “french flies.” I told him it was fries but he insisted it was flies because of how far you can throw them and he started throwing them all over the restaurant. We left promptly and I told him we're not going back to McDonald's for awhile until he learns how to behave in a restaurant. He whined a lot but by the time we got back to my apartment he forgot all about it. Boys.

He loves coming to the apartment because I have a lot of records and he loves listening to them—especially his favorite, “Tomorrow” from the soundtrack to “Annie” which he listens to over and over again. It's annoying, but it comes in handy when I'm trying to get something done. He really likes moving the record needle, and when he's not dancing around in circles to the song he loves watching the record go around. A couple days ago I came out from cleaning my room and he was still watching it, and then he told me he felt sick. When “Tomorrow” doesn't work I can bribe him with juice, or Powerade, which he calls “medicine.”

The other record I've got him listening to is the “Fiddler on the Roof” soundtrack because I told him it was about Jews. Joel loves Jews even though he doesn't know very much about them. His favorite song is “If I were a rich man.” It was so funny when I came in the other day and he had a bowl on his head. I didn't know what it was supposed to be until I looked on the cover for the record and it is a picture of a bunch of men in yarmulkes.

Joel loves having his back scratched and even more than that he loves having his head scratched, and he thinks it makes him smarter. Also, he loves to eat the smarties that Macey's gives out for free at the checkout because he thinks they make you smarter too. When I asked him how they would make him smarter, he just said “Smarter the Farter” and started laughing and couldn't stop laughing for five minutes. I think that proves his theory wrong. Laughing hysterically is something Joel does a lot—usually at his own jokes, which usually don't make any sense. The other day he asked me if I wanted to hear a joke and I always say yes. So, he said, “How did the chicken cross the road?” I said, how? He said because “Michael Jordan stood on George Washington's car,” and then laughed hysterically for five minutes. I've learned not to repeat his jokes to him because he thinks they're funnier when I say them. I reminded him of “Smarter the Farter” the other day and he started laughing and saying it over and over again until I made him take a nap.

Finally, he's been going to the potty by himself for 13 years in a row!

Pictures to come.

Joel Ackerman. My Partner in Crime, Crime of Love.

Jewish
Older than me
Exquisitely beautiful
Long haired

American
Cream of the crop
KKK member he is not
Entertainer
RM
Manly
Aerodynamic
Narcoleptic

That pretty much sums up Joel and why I like him. Also we love pockets.

Hopefully Things Never Change

I moved into a new apartment a couple weeks ago and am still unpacking all my stuff. I was looking through my notebooks and came across a journal I kept in high school. I forgot what an awesome teenager I was until I read a list of some of the jokes I pulled on people.

-Painted Kamron's toenails pink while he was sleeping.

-Crawled outside and around to the quiet room window where Boyd and Kelsey were. Wore a scary gorilla mask and black hat and scared them good.

-Sang extremely loud to Boyd's friend whom I do not know Happy Birthday on the phone. Not his birthday.

-Drew on Jared's face while he was sleeping. He said he was gong to get me back. I boobytrapped my room with black thread going back and forth all across the room. Mom came in.

-Called Jared's roommate and acted like I was the girl he went out with the night before, saying I didn't think it was going to work out, that I was confused, and that I needed time to think.

News

I got the job at BYU as the staff transcriber so it looks like I'll be staying here for another year.

 

Who doesn't? This is going along with the theme of silly Jared pictures. Feel free to post your own.