i heart period dramas

Like many women (and men, I suppose), I love me a good period drama. I'm a little late to catch this bandwagon but have you been watching this little program?

I am obsessed. Like, stay-up-way-past-my-bedtime-watching-one-episode-after-another obsessed. I'm outing him here, but my husband is even mildly interested. It's an epic, sweeping story about a aristocratic family and their staff who live at Downton Abbey, an estate in Yorkshire, England, at the turn of the 20th century (have any of my male readers dozed off yet?). The acting, scenery, costuming and storytelling are all superb and it's such a fascinating time in history that I don't know much about. And it seriously has made me consider how much easier my life would be if I had a household staff of my own. My staff could even just consist of one person. I think I would chose a maid--in fact, I want Anna, the maid from the show. I think she'd even fill in as a nanny and a cook if I needed her to. Anyway, we watched the first season (7 episodes--not nearly enough) streaming on Netflix and I've been watching the second season (8 episodes--again, not nearly enough) on pbs.org and itv.com. Until March 5th, the second season is free to watch on pbs.org. The first season may be there too. So, go. Start watching now. Seriously. It's good, good TV.

do i even dare say it?

After a very loooooong hiatus, I think I may be back at the blogging desk (note the indecisive, non-committal tone here). I know you're all asking yourselves, "What made her leave? And why is she back?" Well, when I originally started this blog way back in the olden days, it was primarily to keep in touch with my parents who were living out of the country for a period of time. They came back and I could see them all the time, so the blog just sort of sputtered out and died. And then I got really busy being a wife and mom to three active little kids and didn't feel like I had time to keep the blog going. And then, wouldn't you know it, out of nowhere on November 2, 2010, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. What?!? You read that right--I was a healthy, 37-year-old woman and that came along and completely turned our little family's lives upside-down (check out the sah-weet last day of chemo pic!).

The past year has been pretty brutal--six months of chemotherapy, four surgeries and lots of visits to doctors--so I've been mostly out of commission. But as I was going through all my treatment, I really started to think about a lot of things. As with any life-changing experience, I started to assess what was most important to me and what I should really be spending my time doing. I started thinking a lot about this here little blog and it's just been here nagging me to pick it up, dust it off and give it a second chance. This has mostly been a journal and place for musings, observations and such but I've really wanted it to evolve into something useful, engaging and interesting--decor, crafts, projects, travel, photography, scrapbooking, bargains, thrifting--you get the idea. I have been completely blown away by so many talented people out there who are already in this space and I don't know if I'll have much to contribute, but I'm going to try. And saying I'm going to get this going may motivate me to dig into my piles of projects around here! Anyway, if anyone's out there reading this, welcome! I hope you'll come back and visit me often. I'm off to go figure out how to get everything updated and looking pretty (how is everybody doing that? Remember, I said I've been out of commission? I mean, really out of commission!) so I can get this party started!

Little House on the Prairie -- not so innocent . . .

Sorry, another post from Tom.

As part of my night time routine with Avie (3 yrs old), when I'm walking out of her room after tucking her in, etc., she reminds me in a very authoritative voice to "make sure the house isn't on fire." I believe it has something to do with her getting in trouble for her frequent screaming and Jen and I telling her she is only allowed to scream if the house is on fire. We've actually said more than once "Hey, Ava! Is the house on fire? Then stop screaming!" Anyway, every night I tell her that I'll make sure the house isn't on fire and that's that.

Ava also likes going to the allergist with me to watch me get a shot. She gets to work the water cooler in the waiting room and brings me about 50 separate "drinks" of water of about 1 teaspoon each. Last week during this routine I was pretending to savor each drop of every drink while "Little House on the Prairie" played on the TV up on the wall. In my youth and as an adult, I have known several families who do not watch much, if any television. I know of at least three families whose kids, however, are allowed to watch "Little House on the Prairie". I don't think I've ever actually watched an entire episode, but I figured it has to be about the safest thing ever broadcast if those strict families allow their children to watch. Anyway, after Ava began to lose interest in the water cooler, I pointed out the TV with the "show" playing.

We both started watching. On this episode there was something smoking in a room which soon turned into a fire and began to engulf the entire house. To my shock and horror, within 30 seconds, instead of seeing the woman rescue the crying baby and everyone escape, Ava and I witnessed a woman pick up the baby, try desperately to escape through several windows to no avail and finally die with the baby in the fire. During this ordeal, Ava asked several times if the baby was going to be ok. I told her "yes" knowing that things always work out on these shows. Well, "Little House" made a liar out of me. Further, I had to tell about 15 more lies about how the baby and the lady went out the "other side" of the house and ran home and that all the sad people it was showing now were sad because now they have to build a new house, but that it's really not that hard.

So, I now I have a new respect for those people who were actually scaring their kids into submission by only allowing this horror show to be played in their homes. So far I've avoided it, but I'm not looking forward to my next night-time exchange with Ava about making sure the house isn't on fire.

merry & bright

I've stepped out of "The Sweatshop" (more on that later) to finally clean up the breakfast dishes (if that's any indication of how our day went) and reflect for a minute about today. Another Christmas has come and gone, the kids are all asleep and I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief. Relief that I got (almost) everything done and relief that my little ones had a wonderful, magical day. I hope yours was very merry.

a christmas miracle

For the first time in I don't know how long, this year I have managed to send or deliver our Christmas card BEFORE Christmas. This is huge for me! I was determined to be totally prepared and finished with everything waaaaay in advance this year, but once again, as it always does, December 25 has sneaked up on me and I'm in hyper mode to try to get it all done. At least the card is crossed off the list and I can breathe a small sigh of relief there. And I am so happy with how it turned out--not the traditional holiday card look but I totally dig it. I guess I should move on to the wrapping, delivering, cooking, cleaning, etc., etc. and trying to fit a little sleep in somewhere. I hope you're more ready than I am!

thank you, Ron Popeil!

You're probably expecting to read something witty from my very talented wife. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm hijacking this because I don't have a better place to write it.

On several occasions over the years, Elleke has expressed some concern over my lack of hair. It's typically expressed by a look of pity and confusion on her face as she asks me about wearing a hat. She's been very good about being delicate, though, until last night.

I had just finished doing some work in the garage and came in the house to find the girls in their beds. I checked to see if Ella was awake so I could go read to her. As I was situating myself next to her she suggested very politely that "they should make some kind of spray that 'people' can spray on their heads that looks like hair."

I laughed inside just a little and decided to cut to the chase. "Do you feel sorry for me that I'm kind of bald?"

She looked at me, teared up a little, got that look of pity on her face, and admitted "Yes."

I assured her that I don't feel bad about it and that she doesn't need to worry about me. I'm fine. Then I remembered Great Looking Hair from those Ron Popeil infomercials when I was in my teens. I had to share this with her: "Someone actually did make something like what you're talking about. It's like spraypaint, but it goes on your head and colors the little wispy hairs to make them look like real hair. And it makes your scalp hair-colored so people don't see the bald spot as easy. It actually looks a little worse than being bald."

She looked at me with the pity again, this time accompanied by the self assured nod that 'knowing better' provides.

I got the hint. "Do you think I should try some?"

"Yes," was the reply.



"If you really want me to try it, you can buy it for me for Christmas, but I don't really want it."

"Ok," she said.

Phew! It was over. I figured she'd forget about it and now that we had both aired our feelings, maybe she wouldn't feel so sorry for me. I was feeling fairly smug about how deftly I had handled it.

"But," she continued, "I'll have to buy white and black to match your other hair."

Thanks, Ron Popeil! You really know how to make a guy feel old.

After doing a little research to write this up, I discovered that "GLH" is available in a color called "silver-black". Here's a link, Ella. Oh, darn. Looks like you can't buy it there any more. The sham-wow is looking tempting, though.

speaking of mourning

The last few days have been rough for Cougar fans everywhere. The BYU-Utah game on Saturday was ugly. But, we will survive, we will hold our heads high and we will say (as we have said before), "There's always next year". No matter what happens on game day, we are still proud, true-blue Cougar fans. So, on Sunday, Tom bravely (or stupidly--I'm still trying to figure out which) donned his BYU tie, we sang the Cougar Fight Song, loaded up in our BYU license plate-clad car and drove to church where we endured quite a bit of heckling and trash talking (from the bishop, and in his UofU tie, no less--a huge Ute fan and I sustained the guy!). Apparently, we are deep in enemy territory. Our ward is full of red-blooded Ute fans--I had no idea the apostasy ran so rampant around here. I may have to reconsider some of these friendships...My only consolation with it all is the sweet, sweet memory of Beck to Harline with zero on the clock for the game-winning touchdown on the Hill a couple of years ago. So after the slaughter on Saturday, I will say we're all even. And in the spirit of good sportsmanship, I will say congratulations to the Utes. Now go kick some BCS butt!

By the way, I had to have "the talk" with Elleke the other day. You know the one--it's very serious and can take you by surprise. It went something like this:

Me: "I just want you kids to know that if you ever go to the University of Utah, you'll be kicked out of our family."

Elleke: "But mom, what if you pay for us to go there."

Me: "We will never pay for you to attend that school."

Elleke: "OK."

I think it went very well--very clear and concise, just the way they tell you to. As for the other "talk", I'm not sure I'm even close to ready for that one. Frankly, this one concerned me more and I'm glad it's out of the way. Go Cougs!

mourning...

OK, so maybe that term is a little strong. Perhaps "disappointed" would be more appropriate. You know what I'm talking about. I'm not super happy about the outcome of the presidential (and congressional) election but I wasn't all that jazzed about my choices to begin with. No matter what "we the people" decided, it would have been historic--the first African-American president or the first female vice-president. And although I don't agree with most of what President-Elect Obama is proposing for our country, I am keeping an open and optimistic mind to see what happens. Now that the future and fate of the United States is completely in the hands of the Democrats, I'd like to see what they do with it.

I am more in awe of the whole election process this time around than ever before. I've had some things swirling around in my mind that have affected the way I feel about it and reminded me of what a privilege it is to cast my vote. We recently finished watching the seven-part HBO miniseries, "John Adams". Wow--amazing. If you have not seen it, please do. It is enlightening, fascinating and educational. It has truly made me appreciate the sacrifice and struggle that was required to create this great nation. Another thing I've been thinking about lately is the women's suffrage movement. My mom sent me an email a month or so ago about a few of the suffragists and the persecution they endured just for the right to vote. I thought about them today as I dragged my baby and my two-year-old through the sleet and snow to the polling place. And although I live in a very red state where it may seem my vote wouldn't have made a difference, it made a difference to me and maybe to those women and Founding Fathers who came before me. And as I taught my little girl about what we were doing and how to do it, I hope it makes a difference to her.

So here's to the U. S. of A. and to the free Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Starbucks hot chocolate we got for showing off my "I Voted" sticker.

awol

So I've been seriously absent from the blog this month. Wanna know why? I finally gave in to peer pressure and jumped on board the Facebook bandwagon. I know, I know, I'm terribly late to the party. My own mother (who is currently on a mission in Sao Paulo, Brazil with my dad) was on there way before me and has way more friends than I do. Yes, friends, I am seriously behind the times.

Anyway, it's been a lot of fun to reconnect with so many people from high school, college, my mission, the old neighborhood, etc. Before I got on, I'd heard stories about all of the lame people who checked their FB Wall several times a day and who friended all of their friendly friends. I thought it sounded like a total waste of time. But now, I've become that person. I'm on several times a day checking out what everyone is doing, reading and posting messages and updating and creating albums. Forget all those other vices you can succumb to in cyberspace--this Facebook thing might be the most dangerous. Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon and I'll rejoin the world of walking, talking, real-life friends.

If you're on there too, give me a holler and pretty please, be my friend.

she's a character

Our little two-year-old, Ava, is going to keep us on our toes for a long time. This little girl is quite a clever little character. To illustrate my point, here are a couple incidents that have happened just in the last couple of days:

1. She was in a bit of a grumpy mood and was sitting in front of me with a little scowl on her face. I said, "That's not my Avie. My Avie smiles and is nice." She replied, "Harry Potter magicked me and made me naughty!"

2. Tonight was Family Home Evening which is something our girls love. We decided to get things going while we were all hanging out in our bedroom (not our usual FHE location). Ava wanted to go downstairs to the family room where we usually have it. Tom said no and that we'd have it upstairs this time. So we got things started and it was Ava's turn to be in charge of the songs. Her first selection was "Go Diego Go" (typical) and her second was "Do as I'm Doing". As we started that one, she got up and started marching in place. So we all got up and started marching along with her. Then she started marching out of the room so we all started following her out of the room. Then she went down the stairs and Ella was the only one following her. Tom and I were still upstairs, not quite sure where she was going with it. Then, still not missing a beat in the song, she continued into the family room and onto the couch. When we realized what she was up to, we had to give her props. That was a pretty ingenious way to lure us all downstairs to her chosen FHE spot. We laughed pretty hard and ended up down where she wanted us after all.

I can't help but think she is honing her clever little skills for when she becomes a teenager and they'll really come in handy.

i heart...

a lot of things. And one of them is my book club! We just celebrated our sixth anniversary as a group and I just want to make it clear that we have actually discussed the book every time we've met. Of course we also get in our share of socializing and eating--I think these ladies know more about me and my life than just about anyone else.

We started out as a neighborhood group when we lived at our last house but after most of the ladies dropped out, we picked up a couple of friends, a sister and some friends of friends which brings us to what we are today--seven diverse, interesting, intelligent, witty women--it's like a perfect cast of Survivor or any other reality TV series. We've got the perfectionist accounting professor, the farm girl from Grace, Idaho, the pithy interior designer, the twice-divorced independently wealthy computer chic, the gourmet state social worker, the opinionated accountant and me (insert your own description here).

We're all mothers and we all love books which are about the only things we have in common. OK, we have a little more than that but we all come from very different backgrounds, political and religious persuasions and we all have different perspectives on life which is why our group is just so darn good. Our gatherings are always packed with lively discussions and hilarious stories and very late nights--there's never a dull moment. I usually don't spend a lot of time other than at book club with these gals so I always look forward to the last Thursday of the month.

Our book for September was These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner and we all gave it a rave review. It's fiction but written in a diary format and is about 20 years in the life of a woman who lived in the Arizona Territories before the turn of the century. It's got history, action, romance, comedy, tragedy--everything you want in a book. Definitely a keeper and one I'll recommend to anyone and everyone. For posterity's sake, I thought I'd record all the books we've read over the last six years--not all of them are winners but they're all pretty good picks. I've highlighted my favorites with an asterisk. So without further ado, they are:

1. Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
2. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
3. A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel*
4. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
5. The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
6. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
7. Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
8. The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
9. Expecting Adam by Martha Beck
10. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
11. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn*
12. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand*
13. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
14. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
15. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
16. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
17. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown*
18. Follow the River by James Alexander
19. Atonement by Ian McEwan
20. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
21. Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
22. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen*
23. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
24. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks*
25. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
26. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
27. The Virgin's Knot by Holly Payne
28. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith*
29. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
30. The Enchanted April by Von Arnim*
31. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
32. The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
33. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
34. The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
35. Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
36. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini*
37. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
38. An Idiot Girl's Christmas by Laurie Notaro
39. Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour
40. The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart
41. The Good Earth by Pearl Buck*
42. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen*
43. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
44. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
46. The Glass Castle by Jennette Walls*
47. Honeymoon with my Brother by Franz Wisner*
48. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
49. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens*
50. Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher*
51. The Librarian by Larry Beinhart
52. Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
53. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
54. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
55. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini*
56. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
57. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer*
58. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
59. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak*
60. The Christmas Wish by Richard Siddoway
61. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert*
62. Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles
63. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet*
64. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin*
65. Escape by Carolyn Jessop
66. Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas
67. 1776 by David McCullough
68. These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner*

Whew! That's a lot of books. Maybe you'll find one that you want to add to your list or recommend for your book club. Feel free to send me any suggestions from your book lists that you've enjoyed. In the meantime, happy reading!

blessing day

On Sunday, we blessed Hudson at church. It was a beautiful, bright, sunny day and Tom gave him a beautiful blessing. We've always been a little nervous about blessing our children as the first experience was rather traumatic. Although she was normally a very even-tempered baby, Elleke screamed throughout her entire blessing making it difficult to hear a word Tom said. So with Avarie, we decided to bless her at home so that we could control the environment and choose the ideal moment for her to be in her best spirits. Everything went smoothly with her so we decided to take a chance and go back to church for Hudson. Despite a few tense seconds of him fussing when they all first got up there, he quickly settled down and was an angel. It was a special day and we were happy to be surrounded by family and friends.

After church, we had a lunch at our house of lasagna, salad, rolls (thanks again, Nat) and fruit. For dessert, I made some baby blue and white popcorn and baby blue frosted cupcakes with blue sprinkles. Ava was so excited that I made cupcakes--they are a huge favorite at our house and she has been begging me to make them for a couple of weeks. Before anyone could eat any and enduring quite a bit of heckling, I made sure to take some pictures of them looking all pretty on the pedestal.

So after everyone left, I went up to rest while Hudson was napping. When I came back down to clean up the kitchen, I found the remaining seven cupcakes with the frosting licked and bitten off. Hmmmm, wonder who did that...I got out my giggles before I called Ava over to give her a stern little lecture.

I couldn't be too harsh--if I had been left alone with them, I would have eaten them all too.

mystery solved

Sticking to her typical routine, this morning Ava wandered groggily into our room at around 7:30, squinted and rubbed her eyes, climbed into our bed and politely requested some chocolate milk and Max & Ruby. So Tom cued up the TiVO and we began suffering through one of the episodes we've all watched about 563 times (did I mention that this is Ava's all-time favorite and most-requested TV program?). I was half listening to the one entitled "Max's Birthday" when my ears immediately perked up at the mention of an Aunt Claire and Uncle Nate that Max needed to write a thank you note to for the birthday gift they sent him. Sound familiar? Yes, this is the mysterious Aunt Carol and Uncle Nate that Ava introduced us to a few weeks ago. We have now discovered their origins and are relieved that they weren't a complete fabrication after all.

And one more thing, having your two-year-old drop a half gallon of milk all over your kitchen floor really sucks.

ahhh, fall...

I have a confession--I love fall. This may come as a shock to those of you who know me (especially my husband who is a die-hard fallophile) because I have stood by summer my entire life as the best season of the year. In truth, as I'm getting older and life is about more than working on my tan by the pool, I'm finding myself appreciating the changes and natural wonders each new season brings. I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I can experience four distinct and beautiful seasons every year and as the weather is cooling down, I'm getting excited about celebrating autumn holidays, breaking out my sweaters and jeans and gathering around the fireplace.

I've also been excited about something else fall brings--soccer! I played tons of soccer in my youth and loved it. And I'm loving watching Elleke develop into a talented, agressive little player whose specialty is stealing the ball from other girls (sometimes on her own team) at all costs. She did a week-long soccer camp this summer where she improved her skills and increased her knowledge of the basics of the game. And she moved up a notch this year which means she's playing on a bigger field with five players at a time and with actual, uniformed referees. Big changes from last year. Tom is co-coaching her team (officially known as "The Cheetah Girls") and the girls are all having a blast.

Except for the first game of the year. Two Saturdays ago our cute little Cheetahs played against a team that looked like they played on the high school varsity football team in their spare time. These girls were big, fast and they ran all over us. It was hard to take for the girls and even harder for the parents. It was a total shutout. This was clearly not a game being played for fun.

During the carnage on the field, one of Ella's teammates, Tiana, who was sitting out for the quarter, came over to her mom with a sad, defeated look on her face and said, "Mom, I heard the girls on the other team talking and they said they didn't like our uniforms. That the colors were ugly." I couldn't help but laugh. The Cheetahs were getting destroyed out there. The other team could have said they were beating the tar out of our girls or that they didn't know how to play very well and they would have just shrugged their shoulders and walked away. But insulting their fashion? That was a dagger to the heart. Totally inexcusable and unforgiveable. It was a bad day all around. But last Saturday was much better (Cheetahs won 4-1, not that anyone was keeping score or anything...) and I don't care what those Dragons (or whatever they were) say, our girls are the most stylish ones on the field.

Oh, and one more thing I love about fall--BYU football! BYU-59 UCLA-0. Ranked #11. Need I say more? Lots of Cougar Fight Song singing around our house.

P.S. Did you see the new header. It's my first attempt and I have a feeling it's going to get better so stay tuned...

routines

As much as I love summer, I'm starting to love the routine of starting school again almost as much. Ella started second grade a couple of weeks ago (and looked pretty cute in her new clothes on the first day as you can see here) and comes home excited about something everyday--it might be her teacher, a project she's working on or the books she's gotten from the library. I, like most parents, am always a little nervous at the beginning of the school year, hoping she'll have friends to play with, she'll enjoy what she's learning and she'll like her teacher. So far so good.

The only thing I don't really love about the school year is packing a lunch everyday. When Ella started going to public school last year, I was thrilled that she'd be able to eat school lunch so I wouldn't have to do it anymore. When she came home after the first week reporting that she wanted to go back to packing a lunch, I didn't get it. All my memories of school lunch are pretty good--legions of hair-netted lunch ladies scurrying about, preparing a well-balanced, delicious meal for me. Well, Ava and I ate lunch with Ella last year and, right away, I completely understood the boycott. It was pretty disgusting (except for the chocolate milk). Things in the school lunch arena have definitely changed in the last 20 years. Now everything is made at a central facility and brought in. There are a couple of ladies who just take it all out of boxes and slap it onto your tray. Disappointing is all I can say. Anyway, I can clearly see that packing a lunch will be part of my motherly duties for a long time.

I have started back on some routines of my own as well. I'm back to the gym in full force, doing everything possible to get rid of this baby weight. I've given myself a deadline for achieving my goal--when my parents return from their mission to Sao Paulo, Brazil in January, I will (hopefully) be at my ideal size/weight. I'm taking it very seriously and am feeling highly motivated to make it happen this time. I've always used the excuse that I'm in the childbearing years and why should I kill myself to get in shape if I'm just going to gain 60-70 pounds everytime I get pregnant (yes, you read those numbers right)? Well, since I'm pretty sure I'm done, I no longer have that excuse and I need to just go for it. I will be giving myself some rewards as I achieve each weight-loss milestone and I've already bought some blingy designer jeans that I've hung in the front of my closet as my daily motivation. I want to wear them so badly that I literally think of them everytime I'm at the gym feeling precariously close to death. I've been trying to think of something major as my reward once I achieve my goal--so far I've come up with a Diane von Furstenberg dress or a trip somewhere. Any other ideas, send them my way. Now that I've put this all up here for the world to see, I guess I really need to do it. Crap.

lackluster

Man, there are some seriously pimped out blogs out there! As I'm immersing myself deeper and deeper into this new hobby and, therefore, peeking in on more and more people's blogs, I'm seeing some serious design work, photography, links, music playing, etc., etc. Wow. I sincerely apologize. All you've got on my blog is my random thoughts, an occasional photo or two and a whole lot of white space. Unfortunately, decorating my blog happens to fall pretty low on my list of priorities right now. Somehow, taking care of my baby, packing lunch for school, finishing homework, doing laundry, cleaning my house (well, kind of), entertaining a two-year-old and feeding my family rank a little higher right now. Maybe someday when blogs are totally out of style, I'll finally catch up and put something fancy or sparkly on mine.

Speaking of decorating things, I have started a methodical, room-by-room project completion blitz around my house. I am taking one area or room each week and hanging pictures, painting furniture, sewing curtains, buying accessories or whatever else I need to be doing to finish it up. I get as much done as I can and when the week is up, I move on to the next area. Apparently, according to my geeky husband (and I say that lovingly), I'm following some sort of software development methodology called Scrum. The guy who came up with it travels the country and charges tens of thousands of dollars for three days of training so I must be doing something right. Last week I did the kids' bathroom and got almost everything done. This week it's the dining room which needs some major surgery to make it look good. We'll see how I do. Hey, maybe I should put my blog in the rotation as one of my areas to be decorated. Hmmm, now I'm thinking (which is surprising because it's almost midnight). Anyway, stay tuned--for now, I've included some paper from one of the digital scrapbooking kits that I've downloaded in my lame attempt to spiff this place up. So enjoy.

Oh, by the way, dropping a half gallon bottle of milk all over your kitchen floor really sucks.

who?

Recently, our family suddenly and unexpectedly increased in size with the addition of the mysterious and elusive Aunt Carol and Uncle Nate. I don't know where they came from or what they look like but they are quite involved in our lives. They call us on the phone, we send mail to them and we talk frequently of what they're doing and where they are. The only person who seems to know much about them is Avarie. She's the one who introduced us to these long-lost relatives and she is quick to correct us if we confuse or omit any details pertaining to Aunt Carol and Uncle Nate. Seriously, I have no idea where or how these people came to be but she talks about them like they've been around forever. I would love to be able to get into the mind of my little imaginative, creative two-year-old to see how they came to be. I'm not sure how long Aunt Carol and Uncle Nate will be a part of our family but they're welcome to stay as long as they'd like (or at least as long as she'll let them).

sheer madness

Every year, I swear I will never go again. And every Labor Day weekend, I collect my wallet and, unfortunately, gather up at least one of my children and follow the herds of glassy-eyed, frenzied Utah women making their way to the sheer madness that is known as Swiss Days. Now, if you're not familiar with this annual event, it is basically a bunch of vendors selling handicrafts like beaded jewelry, nightgowns, wrapping paper, hair accessories, magnet boards and carved wooden critters. At least I think that's what they're selling--it's impossible to see or get into most of the booths due to the swarms of people jamming them inside and spilling out into the walkways. You practically need military black ops training to get in and get out of those things. Seriously--it's ridiculous. But I can't help myself--and apparently, the entire female population of the Wasatch Front can't either. So I made the pilgrimage on Friday, fought the crowds, commented several times on how crazy it was and came home wondering again why I bothered to go.

In all reality, I don't want to go, but I don't want to stay away. I'm always afraid I'll miss the perfect centerpiece for my holiday tablescape or the best hair bow deal ever. So I'm sure I will continue the tradition of going to Swiss Days--I will just never take my husband (his worst nightmare) or a stroller (my worst nightmare). Stop me if you ever see me and point me toward the merch that'll make it all worthwhile.

bear lake

Today, it's a travelogue from our relaxing, three-day getaway to Bear Lake last week. Tom was at scout camp up there so my friend, Crystal, invited us to stay at her family's "cabin" (otherwise known as a big, gorgeous house in a gated community overlooking the lake). I never turn that offer down so I packed up the kids and we headed up.

We spent Sunday hanging out at the house and going on a 4-wheeler ride. Monday was adventurous--as we were loading up Crystal's car to go down to the beach we noticed that one of the tires was totally flat. So we moved everything to my little Civic (I had Tom's commuter car because he needed my Sequoia to tow the scout trailer and take all the boys to camp) and one of the wheelers and made our way down to the beach. Everything was fine until I decided to try to drive my little car out onto the sand and promptly got stuck. After several pathetic attempts to remove it--and getting it further lodged into the sand in the process--three men finally took pity on us and came and pushed me out. Meanwhile, all the kids were down playing in the water totally unsupervised (oops!). We quickly shuttled everything from the car to the beach, set up our station and enjoyed several relaxing hours chatting, playing, swimming and picnicking. It was heavenly. After dinner in town at LaBeau's, we were ready to call it a day.

On Tuesday, we hung around the house in the morning and then took the kids to Minnetonka Cave in the afternoon. Cool, interesting, different experience for them--and for us. I was just impressed that we were able to do it with one 8-year-old, two 6-year-olds, two 2-year-olds and 2 infants. What were we thinking?!? To go through the whole thing, we had to go up and down 440 stairs on the way in and then do them all in reverse on the way out. It was a pretty good workout--especially because I was carrying Hudson and helping Ava through the entire way. Anyway, we all had a good time but we definitely ready to go have some pizza when we got out.

After dinner we packed up all our stuff and started for home--on the way we stopped at camp to visit Tom. We sat around the fire for a bit, the girls told their dad about all of our adventures and then it was time to bid the scouts farewell (and Tom good luck) and go home. It was our one vacation this whole summer, but it was a good one--low-key and no schedules which was just what we needed. Can't wait to go back!

mad skills

One of my goals for this year was to learn how to use Photoshop. I've wanted to be able to enhance and correct my photos and start digital scrapbooking. So, I took a class a few months ago and have dabbled a little ever since whenever I have the chance.

Just before Hudson was born, I decided to take on a serious Photoshop challenge--to create his announcement from scratch. So Tom and I had another hot date night--this time technology-centered. We sat next to each other and I did some Photoshopping while he edited our video from Disney World on the iMac. I got everything ready except for the photo. All I had to do then was wait until he was born and I felt good enough to take some pictures, Photoshop the money shot and drop it in. I finally did it and here is the finished product. Not bad, eh? I'm not saying I'm awesome (yet), but I think it's a pretty good start.