A Talk In The Park

Long Day

2012-01-12T00:52:00.000-07:00

It is half past midnight. Evan is still at school... he left around seven yesterday morning-- MBA widow? Yes, yes I am.

We are all still battling colds from two weeks ago. I hate colds. At least with the flu it comes and wrecks havoc and leaves after a few days. Colds last forever.

I have a major headache.

Ollie has a fever and an ear infection. A few days ago it was weeping pus everywhere. It was totally gross. At least now it is getting better, and I don't doubt that it still hurts, but, man, that kid is milking it.

It is freezing. One thing I love about our house is that we have large shady trees in the backyard that keep out the worst of the sun in the summer. Those same trees, however, keep any and all warmth out of the house during the winter. I know, I know... cry me a river. We live in Arizona. But I am telling you, it is cold. And I hate cold.

Because of the last point, whilst making myself tea today I poured boiling water all over my hand.

Then I ate a whole Cadbury's bar to take away the pain. Which will go nicely with the Freshman 15 I gained over the holidays. (I don't think it was 15, but it sure as hell feels like it.)

Long. Day.

I put myself on a time out a few hours ago. Twenty minutes later, after deciding to be a responsible parent, I went back out to the living room to find that Lena and Ollie (mostly Lena) had picked up their stray colouring pages and crayons, and other random assortments of (their) stuff. Lena was also on her hands and knees scrubbing the tile with a wet face cloth. Sure, there were pools of water on the kitchen floor, but she had done it "So that [I] could be happy and feel better."

The thoughts that went through my head right then:
1. Awwww... that's so cute!
2. Wait, is the kitchen flooded?
3. Man, I should have done that a looooooong time ago.
4. I am a such terrible mother that my child thinks she needs to resort to slave labour to make me happy.
5. I need to stop being so wrapped up in myself.
6. Awwww... that's so cute!
7. I love my kids.

Then we all cuddled on the couch and watched movies for the rest of the night. I promised the kids they could stay up until Daddy got home. Ollie didn't make it... he is fast asleep. And snoring. Lena is still valiantly awake, and lapping up "The Princess Diaries". Feminism can wait for another day.

Hula Hooping

2011-10-14T15:58:00.001-06:00

Below is a gratuitous video of Lena hula-hooping in our yard. (Apologies for the stray cardboard boxes, the random assortment of house remodeling detritus, and the dryer vent that the dog ripped up.)

Weeks 23-27/52

2011-09-13T16:25:00.002-06:00

(Disclaimer: this post has lots of pictures, and is therefore very long.)

Oh, Project 52. You just never end. And you keep going even when I am too busy to care about you.

Oh well. Here is the first of a couple of catch ups, because I know you have all been waiting on tenterhooks for these pictures.

Week 23

Theme: Enchantment

Dear old, blue and white, turn-of-the-century building that we used to live by. You are derelict and uncared for, and you seem to have some nasty bug infestations, but you are beautiful, and I love you. And I wish that I could buy you since you just came on the market.

I love old, charming, grand houses, and I love daydreaming about getting a decrepit house like this one (which incidentally used to belong to George Taylor Jr) and gutting the whole thing (or Evan gutting the whole thing) and redoing it all in a mix of traditional and contemporary styles. And while I am dreaming, I want a pony. Sigh. Maybe one day.

Others from week 23:

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Week 24

Theme: Make It Tasty

OK, I am actually really proud of this picture. I used my Lensbaby and the macro filter kit, and I rigged up a pseudo-studio with some books, some white paper, and the light from our kitchen window--the first time I have tried anything like that. It was also the first time that I have really attempted food photography. I love the macro filter kit, but using it is difficult since I don't have a tripod, and getting enough light in the camera that is handheld requires that I have the lowest F/stop possible (to enable the shutter speed to be fast... no motion blur), and therefore the smallest depth of field and the smallest focusing area. As you can see from the cereal pieces the area of focus that I was working with was about a centimetre. Getting enough light in was important because I a) didn't have an extra light source, and b) because I really wanted the cereal to be light and whimsical. Anyway, this is what I ended up with. That, and a couple of kids who thought the idea of stealing cereal pieces that I was trying to focus on was hilarious.

Can I also just say that stacking minute Chex pieces is a lot more difficult than it might seem. The stacks always seemed to fall over just when I was about to take the picture. Grumble, grumble.

I think I am going to print this and put it up in Lena's room.

Others from week 24:

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Week 25

Theme: Craving

This theme was a theme that was appropriate for me that week. Summer means a lot of things, but it especially means good old English strawberries and cream. Or, as it was in our household, Eton Mess. Which is what I was craving right then and there. So this was heaven-sent... I could finally justify getting all the ingredients because the Project 52 people made me.

Eton Mess is divine. And easy. Here's the recipe:

Plain/vanilla meringues, lots of them. (Don't both making them unless you are a saint. Just buy them.)

Heavy cream, not from a can, lots of it.

Frozen or fresh mixed berries, lots of them.

(You will need lots of them because everyone will want to have multiple servings.)

Whip the cream. Crush the meringues. Add the meringues to the cream. Add the berries to the cream. Stir gently. Eat right away.

There is no set ratio for the ingredients by the way, just more or less equal parts is usually what I do. The meringues make everything sweet, so do not add sugar. Oh, and I wasn't kidding about eating right away. If you don't, the meringues go soggy and goopy. It still tastes wonderful, but you just don't get the meringue texture.

Anyway, I thought I would be clever and 'deconstruct' the Eton Mess for the pictures, but then I realized that it just looked like a plain old berry meringue, which it most certainly was not. So thats why there are the two pictures. Again.

Also, food photography is really hard.

Others from week 25:

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Week 26

Theme: Hidden Object

Not very creative here... just some mushrooms I found camped out under a tree trunk. Do I need to explain further? No, I think not.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Week 27

Theme: Nature's Finest

Now, this is the kind of theme that I just hate, and mainly because it is embroiled in semantics. What exactly does "Nature's finest" mean? Because searching for Nature's absolute finest thing would take forever. And then it is totally debatable, because it is based on perception. So, we are back to square one. The theme really should have been "something that you think is really cool from nature", but that just doesn't sounds as spiffy. It really bugs me that I 'had to' title this "Nature's Finest", because I don't think it is Nature's finest. Do I like forget-me-nots? Yes. Was it kind of cool to come across patches of these flowers on our hike? Yes. Do I like the bokeh in this picture? Yes. But do I think it's Nature's finest? Um, no, not so much. But, the picture. I took it, and got over myself and submitted it. Actually,I prefer some of the others ones I took, now that I think on it.

Others from week 27:

And that's it for now. I promise the next post will not be nearly as long.

Aaaaaaaand... We're Back

2011-09-07T07:00:00.001-06:00

Where to begin?

We made the big move from good ol' Utah to Arizona. (Have I mentioned I hate moving? Because, it pretty much blows.) Realizing how little we would have per month on a student budget when we got to AZ, we elected to buy a house. Huh? Yup. It is officially cheaper to buy than to rent in Phoenix (by a lot, thank you crazy housing market), so we took advantage of the economic downturn, and an old man with Alzheimer's, and signed our life away.

(As a major side note, there is nothing like stress to sap you of any desire to pick up a camera and be creative, let alone to document stuff. Sorry, Mum.)

We scored a moderate fixer... enough work that it was kind of a pain (also read "ugly"), but enough work that it feels like ours and we can continue to make it our own, and we got a good deal. There enough room for us, and a backyard. We also got into a nice quiet area with good neighbours, and a very good school district, and we are also easy biking distance from campus for Evan. Plus, we have loads of grocery stores nearby (including Whole Foods!), malls, Lowes, Home Depot, Ikea, Costco, pools, parks, Jimmy Johns, Chipotle, and practically everything we would ever need in about a 4 mile radius, which we are coming to find in Phoenix means really, really close. (The stars aligned.)

I will post later about the remodel, but for now here is a picture of the outside that we took when we first looked at the place in July. Word of warning: we did not pick the house colours. And we obviously have not done a thing to it since. One day we will repaint, but not anytime soon, that is for sure. We have to finish painting inside first, at least.

Wow, that tree looked so much greener than it is now. Hmm... we should probably do something about that before it falls on our roof.
Oh, and obviously, we will put in plants to brighten things up one day too.

I don't know if you noticed, but, yes, there is a barrel cactus planted in the middle of a stone circle, with boulders placed at the cardinal points in the front yard. I think, judging from the rest of the house, that was the old dude's attempt at decorating. But, Evan and I had a good laugh about pagan rituals, Wiccans, and sacrificial offerings when we first saw it.

Free to a good home: barrel cactus in good condition and four matching boulders.

So anyway, between closing and remodelling and packing we spent an awful lot of the last 2-3 months in our car driving between Utah, California, and Arizona. (CA was mainly so we could drop off kids with grandparents, while we did house things.)

Speaking of driving, I am sure I have griped to some of you, but we made a trip from CA to AZ and back in July in a truck with no airconditioning. You can't claim to be hardcore until you've sweated out that trip in 100+-heat-by-10-AM. We survived by getting bags of ice in Yuma, and holding on to them for dear life. On the way back we figured out that double bagging the ice in two trash bags prevented most, if not all of the ice-cold drenchings we were subjected to if we made a wrong move. I would have taken pictures to document, but you know, it was too hot to think.

We also celebrated out 5th anniversary. We went out with our kids to Pizzaria 712... we didn't want to leave them behind. My most favourite restaurant in the whole wide world. I have never had anything from there that was not astonishingly good. And, as a side note, I love that we can take our kids to that kind of restaurant and they will gladly eat whatever we are eating.

That is Ollie tucking his napkin into his shirt, which ended up being all the way in his shirt and then out the bottom.

See? They ate *our* food. (Brag, brag, brag.)

Then we took the kids to the moonlight ski-lift ride at Sundance. We have been wanting to do that ever since we first got to Utah, and just never found the time. But I am glad we made time for it. It was a great way to go out. And to prove that we were there we had this taken afterwards.

And then, of course, before we knew it, the summer was almost over, and our moving truck was picked up, and we had barely packed (even though I spent weeks carefully packing beforehand). Not to mention, it was time for us to go before we got to put even a scratch in our Utah Bucket List. (That is for another time, but most of it is some form of hiking or some form of eating. Probably best in that order, too.) Did I mention I hate packing? Did I also mention I hate packing a truck when we are supposed to be on a tight schedule, and we have to wait for 6 hours for the piano movers to get the bloody piano in the truck before we can do anything? We finally finished out about 12 hours after we had planned (although we had kind of planned that we would not run on schedule, so I guess it was planned), and I was so ready to get on the road and get the heck out that I didn't even take a picture of the truck. Sad day (*fake tear*). It was a thing of beauty, too: Evan masterfully packed it to the brim like Tetris. And we didn't even have any casualties on the other end.

I also hit a new milestone, which was travelling in the car with the kids by myself for a very long road trip. In fact, doing a whole road trip by myself was a first, too. Here are pictures of the kids, with Alena looking deceptively happy, on our way down that mesa right after Lake Powell, after the world's-worst-two-hour-nap... I'm actually not kidding.

Here Oliver is actually telling you what will happen to your body if you fall over the side of the railing... "...you will go down, down, and squish like this..."

Oh, and one of Evan, who got to drive the rental truck with the dog, whilst caravaning behind me. Lucky, lucky.

I conveniently did not get any pictures of myself.

And then after we finally (finally!) arrived (13 hours late) at our new home, and unpacked the truck in record time (an hour) so that the (2 hours early) piano movers could get to my dear musical instrument strapped at the absolute back of the vehicle, we spent a couple of days doing this:

And "this", of course, is sleeping, but more specifically, sleeping on mattresses on the floor with only the most essential of mismatched bedsheets, while our bedframes lay propped against walls because it was too much darn work to put them together.

That's it for now. And if you made it this far you win the prize of me being the most impressed by your perseverance.

P.S. Evan started his Marriage Break-up Association a few weeks ago, and is doing well so far. And thanks to our ridiculous school + two jobs + me in school too schedule over the last year, I am coping with him being away from home for at least 12 hours a day much better than most other partners. Yay.

Battle Creek Falls

2011-06-13T08:00:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago in May, spring briefly made an appearance. We decided to make the most of the nicer weather and take a short hike/walk (that we had previously trekked two years ago) to Battle Creek Falls.

It was significant for a number of reasons, but especially because this was the first trip where Oliver walked on his own instead of being carried. He even carried his own backpack like his sister--all at once awesome (because he can do it himself without our help) and terrible (because he can do it himself without our help... mothers know what I mean).

So now for the obligatory pictures.

Oliver carrying his backpack.

Don't they just look adorable?

I even made it, and Evan didn't have to hold my hand(!) although I did have to stand in the water to get close enough for this shot. Walking in dust with wet shoes = gross.

Lena accidentally dropped her apple and it rolled down the hill into the water. I picked it up and returned it only to find Oliver had 'accidentally' dropped his, too, and then Lena 'accidentally' followed suit. They thought it was hilarious. This is me telling them off... I love how they are just laughing at me.

This is Oliver drawing in the dirt a la Toothless/Night Fury in "How to Train Your Dragon" (Mummy, look! I am Toothless-the-dragon! I'm drawing in the dirt!). Below is a clip from YouTube with the corresponding scene, and here is a link to a slightly more legal but not animated synopsis of the clip Ollie was enacting. (Slightly off-topic... that movie is awesome, and our whole family loves it. That particular scene is magical and makes me want a pet dragon. Also, I think it rivals Disney's ability to tug at heartstrings. End tangent.)

My favourite picture of the day.

And these are some of the other pictures I took, one of which I used for the Project 52.

The end.

Paris Anyone?

2011-06-08T17:15:00.002-06:00

Want to win a trip to Paris for two? Yeah, me too.

Although I realize my statistical chances of winning are diminished if I share the giveaway link with you, I am willing to gamble my extra entry on the fact that the few and limited readers of this blog won't be inclined to enter. I mean, I am doing it because I am nice. (Probably a bad gamble...)

So here's to nothing!
http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris/

Week 19-22/52

2011-06-04T16:00:00.001-06:00

Week 19/52

Theme: Window Light

Well, to start things off I need to break my own rule per the last post on "jaunty angles". What can I say? Rules are made to be broken. However, I will add that I personally don't feel like I have to keel over sideways to view this pictures properly. But maybe that it just me being defensive.

Anyway. Window Light. I knew for this theme that I would have to find a different way to use window light. We live on the third floor and the windows are very nicely shielded from rain and snow by an overhanging roof. But unfortunately it blocks a significant amount of light too. We also have massive trees blocking the bedroom windows, and they are covered in very pretty, but light obscuring, leaves right now. So, not much indoor window light to speak of. Apart from a dinky kitchen window that gets the brunt of afternoon sun. I did actually take some pictures of an interesting flower using that window light, but everyone submitted flowers. So I went with this. This is an office building near our place of residence that has floor to ceiling window sections. I liked the modern, urban vibe. And the dirty windows, because dirty windows are much more fun to photograph than clean ones.

Week 20/52

Theme: Spring Fever

I am jealous of places that actually experience spring in all of it's glory over an extended period of time. Here in the desert spring is 2-3 weeks of whacked out weather, during which blossoms appear haphazardly and then disappear after a week from snow, high winds, or fluctuating temperatures. And then, *boom*, it's summer. Blah. I miss spring. But, there is nothing quite like grass growing, and hay fever, to remind you that summer is on the way pretty soon.

(BTW, have I mentioned that I love Lensbabies? Because... I do.)

Week 21/52

Theme: Need for Speed

I confess: I didn't actually take this picture in the week 21 time frame that was appointed by the Project 52 people. But Evan and I were busy in Arizona looking for dwellings. And it was close enough, so it counts. Right?

You may need to click on the picture to see that it is, in fact, an ant. My challenge to myself was to narrowly focus and to see if I was quick enough to catch these little creatures. Most of the time I wasn't. They are fast little buggers. (Ha!) I have lots of rear-end ant shots. And see that sliver of focused space? It is about the length of an ant, which is practically nothing. But I did it. Once. Yay me.

Week 22/52

Theme: Reflection

Oh boy. Did I mention that we were in Arizona last week? Yeah. We drove from Utah to San Diego to drop off our children with the grandparents. Then we drove out to Phoenix, and were stunned at how absolutely boring the drive through the desert is. Even more boring than driving on I-15 to California, if that is even possible. Then we looked at houses in 100F heat. Houses that had no airconditioning turned on since they are vacant. Then we drove back to CA. Evan then drove back to Utah by himself (with the dog), and I stayed in San Diego with the kids and drove back to Utah with my MIL a few days later. We pulled off the road in Barstow for a kids toilet break and when we came back the front tire was destroyed. Completely flat. Like, should-have-exploded-on-the-freeway flat. We were driving on the rim. 30 minutes, one car repair shop, and one spare tire later we were back on the road backtracking to Victorville to the nearest Costco to get another spare tire just in case. Then we had to head to St. George. Arrived in St. George at about 1:30am and checked into the hotel only to find that they hadn't given us a wheelchair accessible room. Moved to another hotel where we checked into a room that was accessible, but then we found out it it only had one bed, for MIL, me and two toddlers. Not going to happen. (By now it was about 2:30) Back down to the front desk where we demanded that they find us yet another room that was handicap accesible but that had two beds as we requested. The only room was a two bedroom suite. Oh well--their problem. In the mean time, Lena came up with Marriott's new ad campaign slogan... Rooms that are beautiful and beautiful, with beds that are so creamy, and fluffy.

And toddlers are bed-hogs.

We finished up the drive later that day. But with all of the sitting in a passenger seat I had lots of time to reflect on the desert. And to look out the window. And the side mirrors provided a slightly alternative view. The convex mirror was about as interesting as it got. But I did enjoy driving through farm country in Utah. I love the end of May and early June in Utah because it is not quite hot enough to be hellish, not cold enough to be miserable, the mountain tops still look pretty with snow, but the rest is green and vibrant and alive. This time of year makes it worth living here. And as a side note, one day I want to own a farm, in the way that wine chateaus own vineyards but leave the working of the vines to the serfs. Why? Because it is a romantic idea that would make Marx turn in his grave. The end.

Jaunty Angle

2011-05-22T03:04:00.000-06:00

I don't know if this even bothers other people, but does anyone else sometimes feel like they are about to slide off their chair when they look at certain photos? Let me explain...

Th first thing people do when they get interested in photography is try to come up with ways to make their boring pictures from their point-and-shoot/cell phone camera/whatever more interesting. Good for them. I did that. I still do that. All the time. There is messing the around with post-processing, more thoughtful composition, getting high, getting low, trying to see things a little differently, and that is just the start of things. Sometimes things work, and sometimes they don't. Lest it be mistaken, I have had my fair share of photography experiments that I loved at the time and now look back on and cringe.

As an amateur hobbyist I don't have a problem with people trying out new things with their cameras. That is how you learn: by trying. But there is one thing I refuse to stop being a snob about, and that is when people think they are being creative by taking an everyday picture at a 45-degree angle. All the freaking time. I understand quirky angles, and I understand using dramatic angles for creative purposes. But, really, I don't need to see your kitchen table looking like it is about to slide out of the photo or a bookshelf that looks precariously balanced. Case and point, this photo found on Flickr. Lady on the left, your food is about to disappear into your lap.

Let me demonstrate with some pictures of my own.

This is an absolutely nothing special picture of Evan and Lena a few years ago on a dirt road somewhere in the desert in either Colorado or Utah. Poor composition, poor exposure, blah blah blah. The reason I took it is because Lena had just slid off the side of the track down the hill, and was covered in dirt, and Evan had scooped her up to bring her back to the car. I wanted to remember that moment. In all of its boringness. The mountains in the background give away that I wasn't paying any attention to the composition, as the angle is a little off, but the road seems reasonably level enough.

What happens though if we tilt it jauntily, though? (Forgive the crappy photoshopping.)

Maybe a little more interesting, or a little more sloppy, depending on how you may be feeling? Still, it is reasonable enough to assume that if this were a true angle that Evan could legitimately be walking on that track. But this one?

Oh. Em. Gee. My husband is going to fall over backwards, drop my child, and the car is going to slide off this ridiculously angled road. Look, the tire tracks even veer off down the slope.

Or another one, shall we?

This is a view to the north of Utah County on the side of Y-Mountain taken last year. The weather was spectacular, but this picture could have used some better exposure as well as a tripod, and a host of other things.

Now let's tilt it a bit.

Alright. Definitely seeing the need for proper composure especially in landscape photography, but nothing completely disconcerting.

But this one?

Holy *&%^! Good thing I was around with my camera to capture Utah Lake rapidly draining out of the valley!

Or this way...

OMG! OMG! OMG! Call the fire brigade. Happy Valley is being consumed by floodwaters. And I am about to fall of my chair tilting my head to look at this picture at the correct angle.

Seriously. Am I alone in feeling this way? I know I am far from perfect (photography included), but sometimes I feel like Scar on the Lion King... "I am surrounded by idiots." Unsolicited tips for the day: tilt your camera by all means, but don't overdo it. My neck hurts, and I enjoy keeping my balance. Your jaunty angle looks kind of ridiculous, and you aren't doing anything unique. Unless you are being purposefully creative. In which case forget everything I just said.

Weeks 14-18/52

2011-05-19T23:50:00.001-06:00

Where are weeks 12 and 13? They got lost. In papers and homework and midterms and finals. Oh well. I will do them, and I have reasoned that it was justified to miss them. And just to put things in perspective, I usually take a good few hundred pictures a month, but over the last month or so of the semester I barely took 10. Combined. (And don't even get me started on what my house looked like during that period.) Oh, and I missed week 15, too. Ugh, maybe I am more behind than I thought.

Anyway, here are the photos.

Week 14

Theme: Fusion

The theme was in honor of MCP Actions new action for Photoshop called Fusion. (As a side note, some of the examples on the fusion link I think are over-processed and fake-looking, especially the ones with photoshopped sunlight. I am pretty sure we will all look back at those types of photos in 5 or 6 years and wonder what on earth the photographer's were thinking. Sure, it is fashionable, but so was grunge.) MCP Actions did have a free Mini Fusion set to download, so I edited this picture with that. It basically warmed it up a bit. But I suppose the picture is representative of "fusion", too, with Spring and Winter colliding. I was very disappointed to wake up to the blossom tree outside our bedroom window sagging under the weight of all the snow. Partly because it meant we had to drive in it. Now the blossoms are gone, but the snow keeps coming. Something is wrong here...

Week 15

Theme: What Other's Think of You...

This was a dumb theme. So, I had no problem skipping it over studying. I don't know what other people think of me, mainly because I spend the majority of my life trying not to interact with anyone other than my immediate family. Plus, I don't think you can ever truly know what other people think because perception is influenced by knowledge, lack thereof, and understanding. We can't ever be separated from what we know, and everything gained from others becomes warped to fit in with our own understanding of how things work. So really, the assignment should have been "what you think of yourself" or "what you pretend to be... go on, you know we are talking to you... this is your moment for self-glorification", because there was a LOT of that that week.

Week 16

Theme: Furry Friends

I think they are running out of ideas for good themes, and I think I am going to start coming up with my own. Nevertheless this is our furry friend. And I kind of love that her thumbprints are uneven because she has to raise her eyebrows to look sideways.

Week 17

Theme: Princess for a Day

Oh, the royal wedding. Forgive me for my lack of enthusiasm. I did NOT watch the wedding, and it was refreshing. By the way, I am convinced that Americans are secretly more fond of the British royal family than the British are. FAR more favorable press on the wedding over here than there. And it was nice to ignore it all. So, Lena did not get dressed up in a princess dress or a crown, and I am pretty sure that Ollie was the only boy photographed for the week. The photo was staged, but he did voluntarily put Lena's headband on himself earlier in the day, and was happily wearing it around the house, although lamenting not being able to go to the park because of the rain. I will have to share some of the others because I think they are funny.

Week 18

Theme: First Thing in the Morning

I plucked up the courage and ditched the theme this week. And it was awesome. Because I didn't have to force myself out of bed in the morning to catch the dawn or the best light (and after a semester of early morning classes every-freaking-day, that was very welcome thank you very much). This was taken in the evening on our hike to Battle Creek Falls (more on that later). I don't know what these bushes are, but there was practically nothing else growing apart from some straggly grass and these little yellow pom-poms. They were really pretty. Up close at least. From the trail they just kind of looked like brown flowers. I love the trio of branches and the yellow bokeh.

Week 19 coming soon.

Truths for Mature Humans

2011-05-19T22:25:00.003-06:00

I know that this has been floating around the blogosphere for a while, but yes.

This is how...

2011-05-13T15:47:00.000-06:00

... Oliver eats oranges.

Pretty sure he ate the skin too. Either that or buried the skin under the couch or something. Guess I had better start looking...

Celebration

2011-04-29T13:54:00.001-06:00

Evan graduated. (Yay, finally done with BYU!)

He was accepted into 4 MBA schools. Three gave him scholarships. Two gave him Dean's scholarships.

We are headed to Phoenix this summer so Evan can attend Arizona State University.

I finished my last classes on BYU campus.

I finished out the semester-from-hell with a 4.0.

And a scholarship for my senior thesis research, which received a Paper of the Year nomination.

*Lalala* *Celebrating* *Dancing*

News from the Frontline

2011-03-30T12:11:00.001-06:00

This week is Hell-on-wheels: the biggest week for both me and Evan, and it is weighted so the second half is much worse than the first. We are going in head-on. Check in on Saturday to see if we are still alive.

In other news, it has come to my attention that from recent posts it may seem as if we only have one child. We do, in fact, have a daughter, and she is doing great. Here is the proof:

Oh, and one of our dog, too, who is Lena's biggest fan. No, really. Lena is the only one who can get the dog to dance.

Say Cheese

2011-03-24T14:35:00.001-06:00

This is what happens when I ask my kids to smile for the camera.

Punks.

Study Aid

2011-03-20T17:39:00.002-06:00

Well, this semester is coming quickly to a welcome close. With it, though, comes an abundance of midterms, assignments, and papers. I am starting to feel a little schizophrenic with the classes I am taking, because, even though they are all major classes, none of them really overlap in subject matter. Everyday I feel like having to pick which hat I need to wear: should I be Hannah pretending to be an expert on the influence of Raphael in the work of 16th century Flemish Mannerist artist, Bernard van Orley, or should I be Hannah writing new research about the effect of primitive fear reflexes in viewing the work of contemporary artist Jenny Saville?

This past Thursday I was studying for a midterm in modern architecture. It involved the memorization of about 70 buildings, name, architect, location, movement, essential information, and how each contributes to the history of architecture. Seventy. And I was quickly running out of time. With an hour to go, I struck upon a moment of genius: I got Ollie to memorize them with me. Why didn't I think of this before?

Me: Ollie, say "Empire State Building, by Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon."
Ollie: Empire State Building. Shreve, Lamb and Harmon!
Me: Empire State Building...
Ollie: Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon!

Genius, I tell you. And it totally worked. There was no way I could forget cute little baby voices reciting architects and building names during my test.

Moral of the story is that I need to make better use of my children's sponge-like brains, and that even my kids can teach me a thing or two.

Weeks 9-11/52

2011-03-18T22:15:00.001-06:00

Week 9

Theme: Express Yourself

Week 10

Theme: Childhood Toys

Week 11

Theme: Darks and Lights

Buzz

2011-02-27T15:52:00.001-07:00

This is Ollie.

Periodically we get conversations like this:

Me: Hey, Ollie. Can you come over here?

*Nothing*

Me: Ollie? Come here, please.

Ollie: I'm Buzz.

Me: Oh. Hey, Buzz?

Ollie: (Excited) Yes?

Me: Can you come here, Buzz?

Ollie: Yes! I'm Buzz Lightyear! To infinity and beyond!

He has even mastered the Buzz Lightyear/superhero hands-on-hip stance.

But perhaps the most endearing development is the laser. ("It's not a laser; it's a little lightbulb that blinks!") Said laser is activated by pointing a finger at a target, and using the other hand to push the laser button on the pointing hand.

I should also mention that Buzz likes to be tickled. And his preferred mode of defense when attacked my the Tickling Mummy Monster is to activate his laser with shooting laser noises. Yes, my son is so deep in character that he believes his superhero toy powers are real. It is fantastic.

Week 7 & 8/52

2011-02-26T08:00:00.003-07:00

Oh my. Busy. In one week I have the penultimate draft of my senior thesis paper due. La-di-da. Guess who hasn't started writing yet? Yeah... That would be me. Research: yes. Writing: a resounding 'no'. Also, I have made my topic ultra challenging for myself by exploring an extremely narrow area that I have no expertise in. Because my life isn't crazy enough. Pauvre moi.

In other news, I am ready for spring. It is tantalizingly close. Some days it is pleasantly warm, and I get my hopes up, and my early bulbs begin to sprout. And then I wake up to snow and freezing temperatures, and all my hopes are dashed (along with my bulbs). It is getting old. Please, Spring, come quickly.

But as much as I am whining about winter, for the last two Project 52 assignments, winter is exactly what I have photographed.

Week 7's theme was 'Open Your Heart'. It was pretty much dragging out the valentine's theme. (What is with that? Am I the only person who thinks valentine's day is lame? Do you know what pagan ritual it actually stemmed from??) Needless to say, I avoided photographing hearts for a second week. Success! I decided to 'open my heart' to finding beauty in winter. As lame as another valentine's theme? Why, yes, yes it is.

Next up, Week 8. The theme was 'View from Here'. I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be construed as THE view from here, or an instruction to view from *here*. I decided against the latter, and spent the week wondering what on earth I could photograph. Apart from the mountains, everything around here is pretty flat. Now that I look at that sentence it seems kind of dumb. We'll try that again. Utah Valley is surrounded by mountain that seem to spring up out of plains. No gradual build-up. Just *boom* and they're there. Getting to a high enough vantage point at this time of year presents a problem in a non-4x4 car, too. I did not like the thought of our car hitting some black ice on the way up Squaw Peak and careening off the side of the mountain. Well how about a window view? Power lines. (And dirty windows.) Kid's view? Dog's view? Bug's view? All of them tempting, and especially since they allowed me to stay inside our house where it is nice and warm. But I actually ventured out into the snow, to an orchard nearby. And found some deer.

Same spot, different focal length. (Uhh... I ~~want~~ need a telephoto lens.) This was late Friday morning. We woke up to about 5 or 6 inches of snow. By the time I took this most of it was melting, and by the late afternoon it was all gone. Maybe I like this kind of snow... deep enough to make the effort clearing the car off worth it, and to give everything that nice 'snow blanket' look, but it doesn't stick around long enough to make driving/functioning a pain in the a**. Plus it was warm enough for me to venture out without a coat. Bonus.

And, Spring? Yeah, I wasn't kidding earlier. You are welcome to come. Anytime you feel like it. Just so long as it's... now.

Week 6/52

2011-02-12T00:55:00.001-07:00

Week 6/52

Theme: Words

This week I found myself getting wrapped up in philosophy and semiotics (thank you, New Art History). I also found myself gagging at some of the cutesy submissions for the Project 52 group. As Valentine's is on Monday, I suppose this is to be expected, but I swear people... 'Love' is just ONE word and there are plenty more to chose from! And hearts are officially overrated: I never want to look at another one of those sweetheart candies again. Ick.

Anyway, back to philosophy and semiotics. The old adage of 'a picture is worth a thousand words' got me thinking. Aren't words just pictures, images, and shapes that we arbitrarily assign meaning to? Saussure defined words as signifiers, than enable meaning to be found if one is able to decode with the appropriate sign-system conventions. Although meaning itself is something entirely different and debatable, as cat, for example, means something entirely different from one person to the next. I am sure that everyone is aware of the fake study attributed to Cambridge University about the way we read words, but I think there is a certain element of truth to some of the things that are said: 'function words' enable better comprehension, but also that we do, to a certain extent, read and recognize words as a whole rather than letter by letter. This idea is largely corroborated by studies like this one emphasizing that we read through 'Bouma shapes'; the overall shape of a collection of letters rather than each individual letter itself. And if that doesn't make words pictures then I don't know what does.

So, in the manner of pictures I decided I would find graffiti to photograph. Great idea. Except that our city upped an anti-graffiti ordinance a few years ago, and hooligans and vagabonds are hard to come by in our neck of the woods. No matter. Enter trains that pass through lots of other cities with plenty of unsavory, artistic folk who like to decorate rusty carriages. Perfect. All it took was a trip down to the industrial (read: scary) part of town, with maybe or maybe not some trespassing, and a pair of bribed toddlers, and we get this:

Yay, graffiti. This was the picture I submitted to the group. Although it was a tough call between that and this:

And now you get to look through the other ones that I took, because I had fun, and I can't understand why you wouldn't want to see them.

Now that I look at them all together they look kind of grungy and tilt-y and sun-flare-y. Maybe it's my mood...

In other news, Evan had a very exciting day and got some big news. We are very happy. School is going great. And kids are (mostly) wonderful and growing-up-too-quickly, too.

Week 5/52

2011-02-05T21:05:00.002-07:00

Week 5/52

Theme: Muse

The theme for this week kind of stumped me a bit. I thought that my kids as muses would be too much fo a cop out, but I realized yesterday (the last day to submit something) that there wasn't anything that inspired me more than my children. And not just for photography either. So, I submitted a picture of my offspring, like about 60% of the people in the group. This is my original muse, musing.

Project 52

2011-01-27T23:41:00.002-07:00

As if I didn't have enough on my plate for the next little while, I signed myself up to do MCP Action's Project 52. For those of you who don't know, a project 52 basically 52 photos in 52 weeks. Easy? Sure! I can find the time to take one measly picture a week. Right?

Wrong. I got myself off to a great start by signing up late and missing the first week. Second week was better... I got a good picture going, but then I forgot when the deadline was and didn't submit it. But I did make week 3 and 4. Progress.

So, here are weeks 3 and 4:

Week 3/52

Theme: Shades of Grey

Week 4/52

Theme: Soothing Repetition

Week 3 is actually the door and barrel of my washing machine. You can tell that it gets tons of use from the condensation build up. I was also pleased because I didn't have to convert it to black and white. There were a LOT of black and white images that week.

Week 4 is a bracelet that Evan bought me a few years ago. The soothing repetition comes from the fact that every time I wear it I find myself absentmindedly spinning it bead by bead. Rosary style. Without the Catholic devotion.

My purpose in doing this project was to make sure that I find time to use my camera creatively. Pictures of my kids are great, and I love taking them, but I have a lot of them. I need to learn how to bring in some variety. And maybe it will force me to finally utilize more of my camera's capabilities. (Ha! I always say that...)

In other news, we are surviving school. Holy writing and research. That's all I'm gonna say.

Oh yeah. And on Monday I will have officially been on this earth for a quater of a century. Joy. I think I skipped some years... I would like to be 22 again. Kthnks.

Knock, Knock

2011-01-03T10:57:00.001-07:00

The kids had far too much fun over breakfast this morning. Evan walked in on them playing their version of 'Knock, Knock', which went something like this:

O: Quack, quack.
A: Who's there?
O: STRAWBERRY!

And then they both would roar with laughter. Evan came in an relayed all of this to me, bent double from laughing so hard, and in the background I could hear kid giggles in 5 second intervals.

I'll take what they're having.

New Christmas Carol

2010-12-16T17:54:00.002-07:00

According to Ollie:

Angels we have heard on high

Sweetly singing aeroplanes

And the mountains in reply

Echoing their joyous trains

I think it goes along nicely with the version of "I am a Child of God" that we taught them, which includes the line "with parents kind of weird". And the version of "Book of Mormon Stories", where the fathers of the Lamanites were "given the land if they went right to sleep". (It's a great song for bedtime.)

Primary is going to be awesome.

This Morning

2010-12-15T12:33:00.002-07:00

Me: Come here, Ollie. Let's brush your hair.
Ollie: OK. Are we going to church?
Me: No. Church is not the only occasion when I brush your hair, Ollie. You do know that, right?

Beautiful (Out of Stock) Print

2010-12-03T11:42:00.005-07:00

I have been in love with this print by Seb Lester ever since it came available about two weeks ago. Sadly, it sold out before I could get it. Or maybe that is a good thing, because we certainly don't have $106.55 to spend on paper, even if it is amazingly gorgeous paper. The print was made in a limited edition of 100, and there is another print in royal blue, that I think is still gorgeous, but less striking than the midnight blue. The royal blue is still available if you happen to fall in love with it, again in a limited edition of 100.

I could go on and on about the art historical implications of the quote, and it's beauty, but I won't bore you. The tiny stars, though, that make it were what won me over. Fabulous.

My heart aches.

Time flies when you're having... fun?

2010-12-01T11:35:00.002-07:00

Quick(ish) update:

We are still alive.

I have been back at school since May. Full-time.

I will be mostly done with my degree by the time Evan graduates. I will have completed all my major credits.

I wish I had been as dedicated to my school-work last time around as this time.

Evan is still in school and will graduate in April. Full-time. Plus work.

Did I mention Evan is The Man and taking 22 credits this semester?

And next.

And we are both doing capstone classes next semester, too. Crazy? Why, yes.

We got a dog. Her name is Lulu. She is a 3 year old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. With a puppy brain.

The kids love the dog.

Oliver turned two.

Evan turned 26.

Alena turned 16.

Oliver joined the circus.

We saw Aunty Hayley in CA in August.

The kids got 'bikes'. And love them.

Potty training is complete. (The grand finale was last night as Oliver wandered into my room and proudly announced, "Mummy, I did poops!" at which point I had visions of poop trails on my carpet. But actually it was in the toilet. Alhamdulillah.)

We went camping. Twice.

We went hiking. A lot.

And saw four moose.

We beached.

And parked.

Yes, that is our dog jumping up onto the slide. And, yes, she loves going down them, too.

And I ran a 5k in this:

Then overnight it went from this:

To this:

Ah, well. C'est la vie.

On with finals!

Metamorphosis

2010-08-12T12:34:00.003-06:00

Daddy: What are you learning about?

Lena: Metamorphosis!

Daddy: Metamorphosis? Cool! What's metamorphosis?

Lena: Metamorphosis is when a butterfly turns into a butterfly!

Ah, Lena... So close!

In case you didn't already know it, Comcast officially sucks

2010-07-21T19:59:00.002-06:00

I understand that there are, from time to time, network issues that make it hard to deliver high-speed internet that your customers pay for.

However, this: http://www.speedtest.net/result/887660585.png is not acceptable. When we are *paying* to receive a service, it should arrive more or less as we've paid for it.

For those of you too lazy to click through the link, that shows our current internet speeds. We are getting a ping of about 1379 ms. And our "high-speed" is downloading at a whopping 0.24 mbps. (High speed is usually reserved for a 1mbps at least.) Ours is supposed to run at like 6 or 7. This is unacceptable.

Now is the time when I start looking to change service, because this is absolutely ridiculous.

Sweet Dreams

2010-06-27T01:02:00.000-06:00

I have finally figured out what babies dream about.

Food.

All the time.

Well, at least my kids do. Today we had a fairly long day of sleeping in, lazing around, watering our garden, and (somehow) making it to IKEA. Poor Oliver had been cranky the entire day, and even lunch of swedish meatballs and mac and cheese wasn't enough to tide our tired boy over. After tantrums and assertions of independence spanning both levels of the store, we decided to get ice cream/frozen yogurt at the end in an effort to plug some happy vibes into our kids. Apart from the moments when Daddy had to sneak giant mouthfuls off of Lena and Ollie's cones so they didn't melt everywhere... and the ensuing tellings off that Daddy received "No Daddy! No! Ice Cream!"... it was a big success.

So much of a success that Oliver, in a sugar coma, fell asleep before we hit the freeway. He then proceeded to dream about his ice cream cone the WHOLE way home. How do we know? Take a look.

And then when we got home, he woke up in a daze and promptly fisted his hand and licked his imaginary cone. And kept licking. And kept licking. I think he was ~~a little~~ very disappointed that there was nothing there. Poor baby boy. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Penguin and Fish

2010-05-31T00:12:00.001-06:00

Penguin and fish.

And for those of you who can't decipher the penguin or the fish...

This is the penguin head, with the beak and the eye. And the purple and blue blobs are the fish, with little eyes at the top.

And these are fish that have very long tails, according to Lena, and are not, in fact, lollipops.

Yellow fish.

It Must Be A Genetic Thing Part II

2010-05-27T18:07:00.001-06:00

(For Part I see here)

P.S. For those of you who don't know, Evan played lacrosse.

Unbelievable...

2010-05-25T00:09:00.005-06:00

For the last year or so, I have had some bad luck with bikes.

There was the really, really nice one that my Dad bought me, which was stolen last Memorial Day weekend.

Then, there was the jalopy that I pieced together from parts and pieces of various dead bicycles that were left behind the apartment complex where we live. I figured it was such a piece of junk that nobody would ever think to steal it.

I mean, I was riding it down the street once, sitting up, with no hands... and the BIKE SEAT fell off, landing me right on the back wheel and then flat on my face. The bolt that held the seat on had sheared off completely. Surely enough, that one walked off too.

So, we poked around Craigslist and found an awesome, inexpensive old 10-speed road bike. We picked it up and I LOVED it. I love the adrenalin rush that you get from something that is made to go so quickly in such an effortless way. In short fashion, that one got stolen too.

Which puts us in about September of last year. 4 months, 3 bikes later. I finally learned my lesson. It wasn't enough to lock things outside. It wasn't enough to just leave a bike outside *just for a second* (no, seriously) while I ran upstairs.

Finally we wised up, and I now keep my bike inside. Locked. Inside. I have plans to put a bolt into a stud in the wall and physically chain my bike to the wall. Until that happens, I keep my bike in closer proximity.

All of this brings me back to my main - unbelievable - point. Last week, we were working in the garden planting tomatoes. Well, Hannah and I were planting things. The kids were doing a good job digging things up. Suddenly, I see a guy walk by, wheeling a KHS soft-tail mountain bike.

"Huh," I said to myself, "That looks an awful lot like my old (nice) bike. How many KHS bikes are there going to be around here... No bike shops carry them." I think my mental filter was off because of the physical labor of the gardening, and I spurted out "Hey man, nice bike... I used to have one just like it, same color & everything... but some jerk stole it."

After a little bit of chit-chat, I asked if I could see the bike a bit closer. Curiously, it just happened to have the same click-in clipless pedals that my old one had. It even had a "Performance" sticker and "Performance" water-bottle cage. Performance, for those of you who probably don't know, is a bike shop that doesn't exist in Utah. It does have locations in California, though.

This bike had a dented back wheel, just like the one I dented trying to jump down a huge flight of stairs at BYU-Idaho. One of the shifters was a bit screwy, just like the bike that had been stolen from me.

IT WAS MY BIKE!

After a short period of freaking out, and a period of time resisting the urge to rip the guy's head off, (He was just as surprised as I was... he bought it from a friend who picked it up from a local pawn shop sometime last year,) I offered to buy it from him.

And he agreed!

I got my bike back! Heck. Yeah.!

To-MA-to/To-MAH-to

2010-05-23T01:04:00.002-06:00

There are some perks to having an apartment on the 3rd floor: residual heat from lower apartments lowers our heating bill during the winter, people can't look straight into our windows, in the spring we have blossoms *right* outside of our windows, daily aerobic activity climbing the stairs... There are also some drawbacks to having not only a 3rd floor apartment, but an apartment in general: neighbours, shared walls, daily aerobic activity climbing the stairs, no garden.

Yes, I said no garden.

Growing up gardening was possibly my least favourite thing to do between bugs, weeds, dirt, and bugs. I think it might have been more of a chore for my parents to make me do my share of gardening than it was for me to actually do it. But, as evidence of the fact that it is possible for a leopard to change it's spots, I regularly day-dream about having a garden of our own so that I can tend it, and love it like my third child.

I blame Evan. He has always loved doing things, and has always loved being outside, so it is natural for him to love gardens and gardening. I also blame Michael Pollan, author of 'The Omnivore's Dilemma'. And I also blame grocery stores for having incredibly lame, and over priced fruits and vegetables. Why pay so darn much for nothing, especially when you can grow it yourself for a fraction of the price with far superior (if slightly irregular-looking) results.

So this year, not having a garden of our own, and feeling a small obligation to support our local agriculture, we investigated Community Supported Agriculture. I know in some places you can work in exchange for fresh produce, but here in good ol' Utah you have to pay through the nose for a stingy three month share (that is not only stingy in terms of duration, but in terms of overall weight too). That disagreed with our miserly sensibilities in a big way.

But then we discovered that our own little town that masquerades as a city (Provo) sponsors a community garden. Basically it is a patch of land in the middle of a large, dumpy apartment complex, right next to a railway line, that got donated to the city because it was being used as a dumping ground. So it gets sectioned off into 4x18 ft plots of land and people who do not have access to their own garden can grow food. They also have some of the plots reserved for the Food Bank.

So we have two plots, which is about 180 sq ft of rocky dirt, that we hope will produce more than enough fresh food for our little family until the end of October. Any surplus we have will go to local friends or to the Food Bank. There are also still some plots available, so we are considering volunteering to tend one entirely for the Food Bank. Oh yeah, did I mention that at this moment it is all free because there is no fence up? Yeah. Yay, us.

The kids, by the way, love having a garden, and ask multiple times a day if they can go to it to dig in the dirt. They are really helpful at making holes, but less helpful at making them in the right places. (They also have a knack for running through other peoples plots, but no-one else needs to know that, right?)

We quickly realized on the first day of work that the kids wouldn't stand for being left out of the digging action, but that they most certainly could not be trusted with metal tools. So we recently bought them a set of plastic hand trowels to keep them occupied.

So these are the 'before' shots, that we took about a month ago when we first got the plots. (It took probably four 2-hour visits for us to de-rockify the ground and turn it over enough to where it was useable. In addition we had to wait about 2/3 weeks before we could plant anything because we were still getting snow.)

We have the two plots outlined either side of where Lena is standing in the second picture. We made them both into one big plot.

And here is the 'after' picture, which I took a few days ago, when we planted (7) tomato plants... in addition to the two we already had planted. And by the way, after all the work we out into getting rocks out, and into working in bags and bags of manure, the soil is fabulous now, even if it isn't quite perfect.

Just in front of the log are two bush bean sprouts that the kids planted in cups at preschool - we thought they would die after Ollie trampled them, and then Lena buried them in gravel, but apparently you can't kill beans, because they are thriving right now! As you can see there isn't much more to see at the moment. Really the most visible things are the tomatoes in the back, the swiss chard in the middle, and the marigolds up front.

So here's something I made earlier! Our garden plan.

Red: Tomato plants, interspersed with alliums, basil, and marigold. We have 9 in there right now... 2 hybrid early varieties, and 7 heirlooms.
Green: Patty pan squash
Purple: Yellow and red beets
Yellow: Mix of bell peppers and hot peppers
Orange: Lettuces and herbs
Turquoise: Swiss Chard
Blue: Broccoli
White: Alliums (garlic, onions, chives)
Grey: Carrots (I think it might be a mix of orange and red carrots)
Pink: Mix of snap peas and sweet peas

I have a feeling that we will have produce coming out of our ears. But my biggest hope is that by having the kids help tend our garden they will be more inclined to eat vegetables. I was reading somewhere a mother's account of growing a vegetable garden, which she had done primarily for cost purposes but to also educate her children. In it she mentioned that by far her favourite memory of the garden was watching her three year old girl, who objected to vegetables of all descriptions, wander over to the broccoli, contemplate it for a moment, and then shove her face in it and munch it like a horse! I don't expect anything quite as entertaining from my kids, but I will take whatever I can get.

Wish us luck!

I Want To Go Here

2010-05-21T18:36:00.001-06:00

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil

Isn't it gorgeous? Its a natural desert of white sand dunes, but since it is in such close proximity to the Amazon it gets frequent rain, so it floods, which creates these awesome lagoons.

Ahhhh... One day...

Things Said Whilst Sleeping

2010-05-02T10:25:00.001-06:00

E: Ahhhh. It feels really good to lie on my stomach.

H: Hmmm?

E: Yeah, I'm so glad I'm not pregnant anymore...

H: Huh? Wait... wha?? Anymore?

E: Yeah... Thursday was really tough.

Rest in Peace, Koshka.

2010-05-01T18:18:00.001-06:00

Dear 'Negative Space',

We will miss you.

'Koshka' (aka 'Kitty')

June 2006 - May 1st 2010

Whilst Watching LOTR 1...

2010-04-27T16:31:00.001-06:00

Lena: "Wow! Look at the castle! It's really pretty!"
Daddy: "That's the elf castle. It's called Rivendell."
Lena: "No... It's not called Rivendell: It's Heavenly Father's castle."

Silly Daddy.

Cross Dressing

2010-03-22T02:43:00.000-06:00

One thing that Lena loves to do lately is be everything 'princess'. We haven't exactly encouraged it, but she has gravitated toward anything girly. She frequently wanders around the house with a handbag, requests to have her hair 'done up like a pretty princess', dresses up in tutus and prances around the house, and turns her brother into frogs with her magic wands. Oliver adores his sister, and wants to do everything that she does. He isn't really old enough to grasp the concept of gender-appropriate dressing, and nor have we really cared to set boundaries, so the outcomes have often forced me to stifle giggles.

One of Lena's favorite accessories right now are headbands. She wore one to Claire's wedding, and ever since then we have had to hide the darn thing so she won't wear it constantly.

I love her gesture in this picture.

So, I guess it was to be expected that Oliver would notice how much Lena loved her coveted headbands. And I guess it was also expected that when he happened across one of these beloved accessories he would wear it with pride. And I guess it was to be expected that, since he is a boy, he would wear said accessory the wrong way. Jeez... get it right, son.

Which reminds me... I am pretty sure I never got around to sharing this picture. It is from about a year ago. I forgot how dark his hair used to be. A lot has changed since then... Well, you know, apart from Oliver's desire to accessorize with Lena's stuff.

I Couldn't Resist

2010-03-15T13:21:00.004-06:00

We bought the kids new beds on Saturday. Twin beds. Lena was outgrowing her toddler bed, and Oliver was most definitely outgrowing his crib. But they both look so tiny in their new beds. It makes our hearts melt. Their room isn't done all the way yet, and I was going to wait to post about it all until we had a finished product, but I couldn't resist sharing this:

That tuft of hair is Oliver. Doesn't he look tiny? When we checked on the kids last night I thought he had fallen asleep on the floor because I didn't see him in his bed at first.

Now to get around to (finally... after more than two years here) painting their room. More pictures to come.

Rainbow

2010-03-09T23:43:00.005-07:00

This happened back before Christmas, but I never got around to sharing it.

The jist of things was this:
Lena: Mummy!! Mummy, look!! A rainbow! It's a really really is a rainbow!! LOOK, Mummy!
Me: Hmmm?
Lena: It's a RAINBOW!
Me: (Look outside at the cloudless, sunny day) ...Yes, Lena. Very nice...
Lena: No, Mummy. A rainbow on the floor, a rainbow!
Then she tugged me over to the floor where a beam of sunlight was hitting a vase just perfectly and refracting into a rainbow on the floor.
Lena: See, Mummy? A RAINBOW! It's sooooo beautiful!

Proceeded by much ooh-ing and ahh-ing by Lena, and me trying to snap pictures of her unadulterated glee. It was fascinating to see her try to work out what was happening as she did all the usual toddler investigative stuff like sniff it, trying to grab it, kissing it, licking it...

Oh, to be a child....

Hmmm... It's a Bit Furry...

2010-03-05T16:00:00.002-07:00

Growing up, one of my dad's old standby stories was of the first time he visited Ireland. He was there for a rugby match (All Blacks vs. Ireland if I remember correctly) and spent the whole day trying, without success, to figure out this strange race of people. He arrived at the stadium, where some NZ company or the Department of Agriculture or someone of that nature had set up booths giving away free kiwi fruit for the Irish to try. Dad made his way to his seat and found himself behind two Irish men who were trying to eat their free kiwi fruit like apples. Skin and all. "Hmm... It's a bit furry...", one said to the other, as my dad stifled sniggers. Oh those poor, silly Irish folk.

So, naturally, I just had to share the day that Oliver decided he would call upon his Irish heritage and eat his first kiwi fruit, skin and all. Appropriately, he was wearing an All Blacks shirt at the time. (Thanks Evan for getting the camera out.)

Music Junkie

2010-02-10T18:59:00.009-07:00

This is Oliver.

Oliver like music.

One day, Daddy was doing homework. He let Oliver watch Mighty Machines on the laptop. But it was too loud for Daddy, so Ollie got to wear Daddy's headphones.Ollie loves Daddy's headphones. Oliver loves listening to music on Daddy's headphones. Sometimes, Oliver tries to sing along.
Mostly, he likes to listen. Oliver likes to be alone with music. He gets Daddy's iPod touch, turns on the music, puts it to his head like a phone, and wanders off to be by himself.

Recently, we walked in when Oliver was spending some alone time with Miley:

The best part is when - about 0:42 in - he starts weaving side to side.

Oliver likes Music.
anyone who makes snide comments about lotion or asks why Daddy has Miley Cyrus songs on his iPod will be annihilated.

Aaaaand... We're Back.

2010-01-28T21:38:00.005-07:00

Belated Merry Christmases, glad tidings, and New Year (decade!) wishes to all. For all the (two) people that read this blog, yes, we are still alive.

It seems to be the story of our lives that we find ourselves perpetually busy with something or other. I think it is one of those sad facts in life, to spend all your time waiting for things to get less hectic so you can do other things, but then to realize eventually that there will always be something else that monopolizes your time and efforts. In our case, if it wasn't studying for the third round of midterms last semester, it was writing papers (yes, joint effort). And if it wasn't writing papers, it was studying for finals, and then racing over to SD for Claire's wedding, and then the wedding, and then the post-wedding, and then Christmas, and then driving back, and then school again, and more school, and... You get the picture. Funny thing is, though, that whilst all of our tasks seem so daunting at the time, looking back we have trouble actually pinpointing why it was that we felt so busy. Such is life, I suppose.

Is it too late for resolutions? I have plenty, so I will share a few... In no particular order:

Use our gym memberships. We pay money for them every month, and yet every month we wonder why we have them, because they rarely get used. But, getting rid of them is not an option (because, you know, if you don't have one you suddenly need to have one come hell or high water), so we shall use them more.
At least one outdoor activity per month. Preferably more. Not so much of a problem in the middle months of the year when the weather is more civilized, but rather a problem for me since I hate snow, cold, and boots. We are good for the month of January, though, since we went sledding about a week ago with our neighbours.
Eat healthier. As of today. Last night we celebrated, and Evan came home with fish fingers, oven-chips, and apple pie. We made English custard for the apple pie, too. Between the egg yolks, sugar, cream, and the pie we could feel our blood flow being constricted almost immediately. Now my body hates me. 'Detox' time. (Note: I think detoxes are a ridiculous waste of time and resources. And I think they are unhealthy. There is a lot of merit in just eating right the first time around.)
Be more organized. Hopefully then I will be able to have more time to...
Keep somewhat regular updates going on this blog. I'm not kidding myself... this is not an online journal. It probably will never get used by posterity. However, we have extended family and friends all over the globe. This is kind of our way of keeping in touch.
Read more. Evan and I both have very long lists of books we would like to read. One of these days we need to start making dents in them. One way we have decided to do this is by reading books together, and having 'book discussions' about whatever we have been reading. I know, I know: we are geeks.

And there are plenty more. Mostly personal stuff for me, like learning how to use all the functions on my camera that I have had for longer than we have had Oliver, playing our piano everyday, going back to school, doing artwork again... that kind of stuff. I know Evan has a mile long list of his personal goals, too. I won't bore you.

So, with that, and since I know that the real reason you are reading this is to see how our children are doing, here are some pictures.

For Those of You on Facebook...

2009-11-25T16:11:00.005-07:00

You can find another photo album here.

And for those of you that aren't, you can find the album here.

Going the wrong way on a one-way...

2009-11-18T22:30:00.006-07:00

RADIO!

Lena: "Hi gwampa, it's Lena. How doeeeng? I big twouble. I pay wiff Owiber. I not seeping. I big twouble. Daddy sad. I dunno where blanket stars. I dunno where blacelet. Daddy sad, Mummy sad, Kitty. I wuv my family. I be good. Ok gamma, I go seep now."

As Promised...

2009-11-16T09:50:00.002-07:00

It's already the middle of November, and two weeks since Halloween?? What happened to the time?

Halloween was rather anticlimactic for us. We had, as you may or may not recall, been planning to take the kids out in the late afternoon to go trick-or-treating, before it got too dark and cold. As it turns out, the kids slept like logs from about 4pm to about 9pm. That obviously put a wrench in a bunch of things... like an early, insulin-induced bedtime. Nevertheless, since the kids had costumes, and our neighbors conveniently were hosting a Halloween costume party, we decided to get them dressed up. Oliver was a charm, as always, and wooed the crowd with his smile and clumsy antics. And Lena was in a haze of noncooperation, and toddler obstinacy, and resolutely rejected the notion of having her photo taken, or of even being remotely pleasant. As always.

So here are Cookie-Beard the One-Legged Pirate, and The Monkey Princess.

The Monkey Princess and the hostess.

Twirling with the royal tutu.

Cookie- Beard (and his beard), with his sword (a.k.a. a plastic knife, less likely to impale you even than, say, a bouncy ball)...

... And who hated his hat. (And who also has dried cupcake frosting around his left ear.)

At least I got more pictures than last year (I only took one last year, and that was of Oliver sleeping in his cow costume... I didn't even get one of Lena). Maybe next year I will get with the programme.

Gratitude

2009-11-13T22:59:00.007-07:00

It must be a part of human nature to take things for granted. I mean, it's programmed into our brains to get used to things, whether that be something looking a certain way or tasting a certain way or feeling a certain way. All too often, I think this tendency shows up in expectations people have regarding things they "deserve".

The argument against government benefits on the grounds that it engenders a dependency in its recipients is a classic example of this... (If you've got the time, check out this blog for a great graph showing how government payments basically give people the incentive to continue receiving them) With government benefits, though, you've got a double whammy.

For starters, there are people out there who genuinely need help. Whether or not they deserve the help is a philosophical debate for another time and place. However, once some sort of benefits are in place, more and more people end up feeling they have a right to those payments or help. As time progresses, not only do new people come out of the woodwork wanting help, but the people currently receiving benefits want more. Anytime something gets taken away, you end up with an outcry about the fact that someone, somewhere, was entitled to that.

Along these lines, I have a bad habit of being nice. I'm a serious softy. Ask for help, and I'll usually go out of my way to do it. Need a favor? Give me a call, and I'll (literally) break down walls to get things done. But, in light of recent events over the past few months, I have decided that it is a habit whose time has come. I am done being nice.

More than anything, my feelings have to do with being taken for granted. In the same way that some get accustomed to the government taking care of their every need, people get used to having favors done for them. Curiously, I am in a position where I have the chance to do big favors for people on a fairly regular basis. One of the ways I am trying to provide for my little family is by managing a 12-plex of apartments. Without fail, a month doesn't go by that someone ends up getting their rent in late, and I make a practice of being fairly lenient and not charging a late fee. I'm on a tight budget myself and I understand how tough it can be to come up with rent. I can't remember the last time that someone thanked me for not charging a late fee, even though it saved them at least $50.00. Not to mention some tenants whose rents we've deliberately chosen not to raise due to financial straights they might be in... (easily saving each of them a couple thousand dollars.) But that's alright. It's a business, and there has to be a little bit of give for all the take.

There have also been a couple of times when we've rented to someone we might not have otherwise chosen, whether it be for credit history, or income, or pets, or other things. Again, the month wasn't out before I somehow "owed" more to tenants than what they signed on for. We've helped people get in touch with neighbors when trees fell on their cars. We've paid for other people's cars to be fixed when it wasn't our fault at all, and when it was definitely a favor. Other times, whether it was forgetting to switch utilities into their names, or wanting to switch parking spaces, or complaining that someone has taken their parking space, or complaining about how bad the neighborhood is, or complaining about any myriad number of things, the fact that someone might have been on the receiving end of a favor quickly fades from memory. Tenants trash their apartments, break things, and, generally, suck.

Sometimes I've kindly looked the other way when people's kids misbehave. Still other times we've gone and bought groceries for some of our tenants because I can't stand the thought of someone going hungry. Always, these favors are quickly forgotten or overlooked, because people come to expect a certain level of free stuff.

The worst part, though, is the lack of reciprocation. I know that tenants aren't in the same position I am, and don't expect them to give me a break on my rent or fix things for me. (In fact, I'd rather tenants didn't try to fix stuff, although that's another story...) But it would be kind of nice if someone ever recognized that I *might* have a lot on my plate, and am prone to forgetting things.

Before you know it, something breaks, and tenants want things fixed right away. That's fine. They're paying for it, and they should get what they're paying for. But I often forget. You'd think it would be pretty easy to remind me, since I live in the same building. Apparently it's not. Tenants need to be persistent. I do not avoid people on purpose. I gain nothing by not fixing someone's broken toilet, or heater, or window, or blind, or outlet, or stair rail, or toilet paper holder, or door, or floor, or dishwasher... (I'm sure you all get the picture). I generally put in about 100-110 hours a week across Job#1, Job #2, classes, and homework. Things just fall through the cracks sometimes. If people want something done, what's wrong with reminding me in a non-passive-aggressive manner? I won't take it personally; it's my job.

The worst part of it all is knowing that for all the bad-mouthing, for all the complaints about how "dumpy" their apartment is, for all the whining about something not being up to the modern standards they expect it to be, tenants are going to show up at our door with a smile, needing a favor. "Please, can we just be a week late with rent?" or "Please can you waive the pet fee?" or "I know my kids broke _____, but do you think you could fix it without charging us for it?" or "I know we still have X months left on our contract, but..." or...

As of today, the answer is no.

At least it's more likely to be no than it was yesterday.

Cookie-Beard the Pirate and the Monkey Princess

2009-10-30T14:37:00.006-06:00

I have a confession: I hate Halloween. I think it is ridiculous. I don't like dressing up, I don't like orange (it clashes with my complexion), I don't like pumpkin, I don't like blood (real or fake), I don't like scary movies (seriously people, you pay to have nightmares??) and I don't like crappy chocolate and candy. I hate Halloween.

I am very aware that my dislike of Halloween, especially around here, makes me somewhat of a minority, and yet I am unapologetic. I think it is a blatant exploitation of an otherwise obscure day of pagan celebration (and I use the word 'celebration' in the loosest sense) for the profit and gain of candy companies, alcoholic beverage companies, and purveyors of cheap clothing.

There is, however, one good thing about Halloween: Lena is currently fascinated with dress-up and pretend play, and, with cheap costumes abounding, I am able to flesh out her dress-up box, without having to make things myself or spend a lot of money. That is win-win in my book.

This is Oliver a few days ago. Yes, he is wearing a mostly white shirt, and yes he is eating Oreo cookies. His masterful skills in body art earned him the name of 'Cookie-Beard the Pirate'.

Here is Cookie-Beard minus the cookie-beard.

He even learnt what pirates say (argggggggggghh!), which is heart-melting-ly cute.

As most of you know, Lena has been rather attached to Mr. Monkey (well, all three of them, actually), so we decided it was high time that she joined the ranks and became a mischievous monkey herself.

She even has her own Monkey Dance.

Lena was rather keen on the idea initially, but decided that she actually wanted to be a princess, and promptly informed everyone, including our dentist, of that fact. However, we reached a compromise... There was a Halloween party at Evan's work this morning, and Lena went in her monkey costume with a tutu over the top. She was the Monkey Princess. Oliver's outfit was completed with an eyeliner French moustache and beard (think Dustin Hoffman in Hook), and by a stroke of luck, he lost his shoe at the party and wandered around thudding with alternating steps... Cookie-Beard the Pirate earned himself the name Cookie-Beard the One-Legged Pirate.

More pictures to come after the obligatory round of trick-or-treating tomorrow.

What Do You Do With A Broken Hanger?

2009-10-24T22:30:00.004-06:00

Why, you put Cheerios on it of course!

Isn't that what everyone does?

Why I love (and why I picked) Economics

2009-10-21T00:31:00.003-06:00

I love Economics. Hannah consistently teases me about the way that it has affected my ability to think clearly (take that as you will) but I thoroughly enjoy my classes and the subject matter.

It helps that my teachers spend the first few minutes of every class showing Youtube clips like this one that they’ve received from their students or fellow professors. (It also really helps that BYU finally un-blocked traffic to the Youtube site from their on campus servers…) But, Youtube entertainment aside, this semester has been particularly enjoyable – I’m finally getting past the core classes and into the elective ones where we basically read an article or a paper and discuss it in class.

Today, in lieu of a Youtube clip, my professor started off my Healthcare Economics class by sharing the way he now introduces Monopolies in his Econ 110 class (Introductory Economics for you non-BYU-ites). I will attempt to recreate that all for you here.

He starts by saying that one example of a monopoly is the BYU Bookstore. For starters, it’s a great tie because it is so close to home and pocketbook for anybody in his student audience. Furthermore, BYU, unlike other bookstores at other local universities, has a return policy that is linked to the campus’ honor code. They will only accept returns for your books if you have dropped the class the books are for, and not if you have found them cheaper from somewhere else. Easily skirted, if you just bend the truth a bit, but every student signs away their right to lie when they enroll for classes at BYU.

In January of this year, a girl who goes to BYU wrote an excellent article about this conundrum, and cited my professor… you can read the full text here if you like. In the article, she quoted the following from my professor regarding the bookstore’s policy:

"The policy acts as a tax on honesty. If a student is honest and purchases a replacement product elsewhere, no refund is available. However, if the student fudges the truth a bit, the student can get a refund. Honesty is punished.

"Most stores compete for consumers not just by the prices they charge, but by the service they give, with a refund policy being an important aspect of service. A more typical policy is to match a competitor's price, or to offer a money-back guarantee if a consumer finds a similar product for a cheaper price. But the Bookstore has a lot of market power given their location; they can act like a monopoly so perhaps they don't need to compete as hard as the typical retailer."

… All of which is absolutely true.

The part that gets funny is the way that the managers of the bookstore responded to the truth. (Admittedly, everything else I’ve got to say is opinion or anecdotal… but as they say in Russian, “In every joke, there is a slice of truth”, I choose to believe there are more than a few slices of truth in this…)

Reaction #1: Following the campus newspaper’s publication of the story I linked to above, the bookstore retaliated by pulling all of their advertising from the Daily Universe’s pages for more than a month.

Reaction #2: The managers of the campus bookstore got in touch with my Econ professor, on the pretense that they wanted to make sure that they were “on the same page”. These geniuses showed up in his office armed with a statistical comparison they had compiled, ready to lay down the law. They set out to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was cheaper for students to buy any of the textbook materials used in the Economics Department from the bookstore than it was to buy them online. They did a great job – using the used book prices at the bookstore against new prices from online retailers like Amazon.com. My teacher pointed out the apples-to-oranges comparison for them, and they quickly changed tack.

Reaction #3: “But the bookstore can’t be a monopoly, because we employ people who are bishops and stake presidents (LDS ecclesiastical leaders)…” I’m not quite sure which angle to attack this one from because it is so vulnerable. Another one of my Econ professors has created what he calls the “Ad Hominem Index”. It is used to judge the logical and rational strength of one’s argument based on the number of personal attacks in it. In a nutshell, it is an inverse relationship… if all you’ve got is “You’re wrong because you suck,” your argument isn’t going to go very well. I think what the bookstore employees had to say is pretty much the opposite of that style of arguing, but no stronger. They’re saying, “we can’t be an evil monopoly, because we’re good people!” Obviously, my professor didn’t have much trouble seeing through their crap, and the managers left, angry and defeated.

But they weren’t done yet.

Reaction #4: To get back at my professor, the bookstore pulled all of the materials he had ordered for his classes from their shelves, replacing them instead with a sign that said “See Professor”.

Today my professor structures his courses so that students don’t have to buy books from the bookstore. In particular, he and the other professors who teach Econ 110 have set the course up so that it can be taken without purchasing anything from the bookstore. All of the reading and coursework can be found on www.aplia.com, for a small fee that goes into Aplia’s pocket. Considering the fact that Econ 110 is a part of the general education core classes for BYU students, and not just Economics majors, the turnover is immense. Easily 400-500 students take Econ 110 every semester, and the bookstore doesn’t get a dime. If the students do want to buy a physical copy of the book, the professors all encourage them to buy it online through Aplia, who sells it for a price less than 50% of what the bookstore charges (even for a used copy.)

I picked Economics because I wanted to be something other than the average “Business-Finance” undergraduate. I stuck with Economics because I thought it was a really effective way of explaining the things that people do and why they do them. I LOVE Economics because in moments like these, it gives you the skill set to intelligently present an impersonal, yet irrefutable argument.

Amazing how a little bit of knowledge goes a long way.

They say the darndest things...

2009-10-19T22:55:00.004-06:00

From time to time, we are amazed by the budding intelligence and wit of our kids. Everyone else is, of course, convinced that their kids are perfect as well, so let me elaborate before you dismiss this for yet another parent's superlative rant about how great their kid is.

Alena gets a story before bedtime. Last night, we were all snuggled up to read the Little Golden Book called "Another Monster at the End of This Book! (Starring Grover and Elmo)". Because it was late, and because she's two, and because the world is never fair, but mostly because her brother wanted to climb in bed with us since it looked like we were having so much fun, Lena threw a fit. She pushed Oliver off the bed, (which he took as par for the course,) and proceeded to inform me that, "I doh want it anymore. I doh like monster book."

So storytime was over, we packed up, she got tucked in, and it was time for bed. A few minutes later, after the wailing subsided, I went back and explained to her that because she said she didn't like and didn't want the story anymore, she wasn't going to get the story anymore. It sounded like the logic stuck because she said ok, apologized to Oliver, and cuddled back into her blankets.

A couple minutes after that, she started calling for Daddy, and so I went into her room to see what was up. She proceeded to inform me that she didn't like her bed, and didn't want to go to sleep anymore, so could she come out now?

Oops.

Like I said earlier though, the world is never fair (or logical, for that matter) when you're two.

Hiking with Toddlers

2009-10-18T21:42:00.006-06:00

This year, since I wasn't pregnant, and since Lena was old enough to walk relatively long distances unaided, we decided to give hiking a try. Evan, of course, if given the choice would live outside and become a self-sufficient wild man. They say opposites attract, and, needless to say, the fact that I will even entertain the notion of hiking (or camping) says a lot for the progress I have made, as Evan would put it. We even bought a Kelty backpack this summer. (As a side note, we love it. And I love it even more since Evan carries it.)

We have done various hikes over the past few months, and we have learnt a few things in the process. Here are some tips:

1. Every parent knows to pack for every eventuality. When hiking with kids you really need to pack for every eventuality. Extra snacks (in case fussy toddler #1 turns her nose up at ham and cheese sandwiches..."No! I don't want it!"), extra drinks, extra blankets, extra sweaters (yes, even in the dead of summer: we learnt that the hard way... "Mummy, I'm cold"), extra coats, extra socks, sunscreen... The list goes on an on.
2. No matter how far or how short, you can count on your toddler pooping out well before the halfway point. Guarantee it.
3. Toddler have little legs. Like, really little legs. Really, really. Evan and I always make a point of factoring in 'toddler walking time' and are constantly amazed at just how slow they are.
4. Don't go hiking after 4pm. Any parent knows how long it takes to get things set up in order to get out the door. The same principle applies for getting out of the car to go hiking. Going on a hike with already hungry and tired toddlers after spending 20 minutes fitting the baby carrier and doing potty duty is just asking for trouble. Trust me.
5. Don't forget to have fun. Your toddler doesn't care if you don't make it to mile 6, or the lake at the top of the mountain. Most of the time she will spend her time occupied with which blade of grass looks like the best one to pick and carry as a trophy, or searching for leaves that are shaped like squares. Yes, it is frustrating, but at least they are having fun. Enjoy it.

A few weeks back, Evan got the hiking bug again. He eagerly planned it all out in his down time at work, and told me his magnificent plans (I heart Gmail chats). He decided on Squaw Peak Trail, which is more of an unpaved road, but it was good enough for us. We would be catching the tail end of the fall colours, and we were both excited.

E: "So... can you have the kids ready by the time I get home?"
H: "That depends on when you are getting home."
E: "Four-ish"
H: "So we won't leave until 5, and dusk is at 6:45. Are you sure that is a good idea, considering we are going to be doing 5 miles at Lena pace?"
E: "Yeah it will be a piece of cake. How slow can she possibly be? It will only take an hour and a half."

Needless to say I made a rather convincing argument that nixed that idea, and we went the following morning... to better appreciate the colours.

And appreciate them we did, more so since the kids had slept well and were rather amiable. Even though we missed the really vibrant colours by about a week, there was as spectacular show. I, naturally, took my camera, but the overcast day (and the fact that I don't really know how to use my camera properly yet) meant that, as always, my pictures did not do the scenery justice.

We drove a short way on the trail, and then parked the car and walked as far as the kids would allow... perhaps two miles out. (The trail goes around the back side of Squaw Peak, and eventually meets up with trails in Rock Canyon. From the maps I think it goes even further than that along the bench, but seeing as there was no way we would make it 9 miles on foot, I didn't search further.) The trees were spectacular, even though a lot of them were well past shedding their leaves. We discovered that there are campsites dotting the trail (which we are going to make use of next summer), and there are also a few meadow areas, which we are rather excited to see in full bloom next May.

But I digress. Lena behaved like the two year that she is: not content to hold hands, and rather convinced that her brother's blade of grass was far superior to her own. She spent most of her time like this:

She found a purple flower to match her purple jacket

And a rather enticing area full of crunchy red leaves

Oliver was a good sport. He rather enjoys his Kelty backpack. I would too come to think of it. I wish Evan could carry me around on his back too... that would make hiking a heck of a lot easier. (P.S. can anyone say 'Blue Steel'?!) (P.P.S. I think it is time to cut his hair again.)

The only part Oliver didn't like was after this next photo. Evan set down the pack for a moment, on a well-picked, level surface I might add, only to find it toppling over (with Oliver firmly strapped inside) from a freak gust of wind, or else Oliver's behemoth mass throwing off the center of gravity as he tried to catch a butterfly. Or something like that. Note to self (or to Evan, I guess): Children need watching if only because they attract freak accidents.

Needless to say, Oliver was not impressed. However, it was nothing that a few fruit snacks couldn't fix, so off we went. I guess I should add that to the list:

6. Always bring treats of some description. Everyone knows toddler have short attention spans. A well placed candy can end tears, and even coax your toddler up that mountain. Bribery. It works every time.
6a. Bring extra snacks.

Evan did try to get us to go 'bush-whacking' in the meadows. It would have been fine except I was wearing cropped leggings, and Lena was barely taller than the grass. I think that tipped Lena's patience scale, so we stopped for lunch, and headed back.

And I don't have a caption for this one. I just like it.

We headed back not a moment too soon. The weather was turning, and by the time we got to the car it was starting to spit, and the temperature had dropped at least 10F. As we hadn't made it as far as we had hoped on foot we took the car up the rest of the trail as far as we could go, which was well into Rock Canyon. I very much enjoyed the hike, and you certainly take in more scenery when you go at a slower pace, but it was a hell of a lot easier to do it in the car. That's for sure.

So, for the last pictures. I would label them, but I think most of them would be along the lines of "some trees, 'round the back of that one place, with that one mountain.. you know...".

Some trees, 'round the back of that one place, with that one mountain.. you know...

Honey Bunches of Oats

2009-09-20T18:47:00.003-06:00

Lena: Mummy, I want cereal.
Me: Please.
Lena: Please. I want honeys. I want honeys.
Me: Honeys?
Lena: Honeys! I want HONEYS.
Me: Oh, Honey Bunches of Oats...?
Lena: Honey munches a boat.
Me: No, Ho-ney bun-ches of oats.
Lena: (indignantly) Yes. Honey munches a boat. Right.

Oliver's Birthday - Videos

2009-08-22T15:47:00.005-06:00

As It Is The Last Day In July...

2009-07-31T13:36:00.004-06:00

... And since I have been terrible about doing this so far, I thought I would post some updates from the last few months.

1. Got my green card though, finally. It is a 10 year card, but I can apply for citizenship next year. Not totally convinced by it yet (partly because of the ridiculous hoop-jumping required... but that is another post), but we will see.
2. Oliver is walking. This one is rather behind the times... Oliver has been walking for about the last two months, but refused to use it as his preferred mode of transportation until we went to San Diego at the end of June. There he had plenty of room to practice, and the furniture at Grandma's house was spaced sufficiently far enough apart that he was forced to let go of things. Now he is running.

3. We went to San Diego for 10 days. And it was great. Evan built a retaining wall with his Dad (and some other people), and the kids and I had a much needed break. We stayed long enough to celebrate July 4th, and watch the fireworks. And, by the way, perching on top of a 10 ft wall, and craning your neck to take pictures of fireworks with no tripod is not a walk in the park... More photos to come.

4. Lena started and completed swimming lessons. She loves the water. She hasn't figured out everything completely yet, but she can float, and propel herself around underwater. We are working on staying afloat whilst taking a breath... so trivial, and yet so essential... Grandpa P, if you could figure out how to get Hayley swimming for the next 11/12 years you can have your kick-@$$ relay team you have always dreamed about :D
5. Oliver is talking. Yes, talking. Words currently in his repertoire are (in order of length of time in use): "Dada", "Mama", "Nenen" (Lena), "KKKKKKKKK" (and increasingly now "kkkkkk-a" for cat), "hess", which serves the dual purpose of meaning both 'yes' and 'this'. Lena on the other hand has discovered the full mileage that can be gleaned from using the word "No", and has fully implemented it in her day-to-day life. Oliver, in true younger brother form, also likes to annoy his sister. This was an exchange I heard between the two of them the other day while Lena was eating her lunch.
Lena: (seeing that Oliver was eyeing her food) "No"
Oliver: "Hess"
Lena: "No!"
Oliver: "Hess"
Lena: "NO!"
Oliver: "Hess"
Lena: "NOOO!"
Oliver: "Hess"
Lena: "NOOOOOOO!"
Oliver: " . . . . . Hess"

I almost died from silent laughter.
6. Evan finished school. Winter semester went really well, and Spring semester went even better: He got a 4.0, and he got the highest score in the final exam. Evan is now confident that he made the right decision with Economics, and I couldn't agree with him more.
7. With no school during the summer term, Evan and I have been able to spend more time together, doing things like hiking and devoting time to postponed projects. Like our apartment. I am happy to announce that our apartment should (finally) be finished by the end of the summer!
8. Evan got a new road bike to replace his mountain bike that got stolen while we were away in San Diego (darn those Mexican gangs that hang around our neighborhood!), and he loves it. Now for me to learn how to ride one and we will be set!
9. Not really from our family, but from my family... My sister Hayley just competed in the World Swimming Championships in Rome in the 100m Freestyle. She smahed her NZ record for the event with a 53.91, and for those of you who know anything about swimming, on the first 50m of her heats swim, she was 0.01 seconds off of the NZ record for the 50m, which is phenomenal when you realize that her time included a flip turn, and was the first part of a longer race. (Don't expect Toni Jeff's record to be on the books for too much longer!) She made the semi finals, and placed 11th overall, which is great because that meant I got to see her race (they have only been showing the finals sessions here...), and she gets funding for the next year. On top of that though, in her semi final, she was the fastest split at the 50m and 0.01 off the world record split for the 100m (which incidentally was slower than her heats split), and was leading up to about 75m. That in itself may not seem like cause for celebration, but, in fact, is since even though she dropped a full second off of her previous PB (and NZ record), it was not a perfect swim, and there is definitely still room for improvement.

Congrats, Hayley! We are very proud of you!

The Last Relic of Baby-ness

2009-07-21T18:55:00.007-06:00

When I was growing up my Mum decided to trim my younger sister's fringe [bangs] at home. It started out OK, but Mum insisted it didn't look quite right, and kept pulling hair forward to trim to try and correct it. By the end, poor Hayley, who had a lot of very thick hair, had a fringe about an inch and a half thick framing her eyebrows, that started almost from her crown, and incorporated most of the hair on the front half of her head. All that could be done was to let Hayley's hair grow out, and laugh about it (which we did... a lot). Fortunately, I think she was young enough that her peers at school didn't really notice, and thick skinned enough that those who did would never have been able to bully her about it. I just wish I had a picture of it, but I suspect my mother has destroyed all the evidence. So for this blog posts purposes it looked like this. Only... bigger. Just waaaaaaaay bigger... everywhere.

Having never cut hair before I was terrified that I was going to scar my son for life with a haircut like Hayley's that was beyond fixing. Added to that, I loved Oliver's hair. I loved that it had waves and curls, and I loved that it was wispy, baby hair. And with as abnormally large as Oliver is, it was pretty much the only thing that kept him looking like the baby he is supposed to be.

But, after months of chickening out and procrastinating, I finally had to face up to the fact that since his hair was now in his eyes, Oliver's haircut was long overdue (ha). So, we soaked his hair, sat him in front of the TV watching 'Dive Olly Dive', and gave him all the bananas he wanted. He was as happy as a clam, and fortunately Evan was great with the distraction techniques.

Here are some before pictures:

The curls above his ears were my favorite.

... When your son's hair starts getting long enough to tie
into a pony tail, you know it is time to cut it.

And, despite Oliver's face in the next picture, I think it turned out fairly well. I tried to keep it a little on the longer side (even though Evan spent the entire time rolling his eyes as I refused to cut his hair any shorter), because I prefer it that way, and I figured I could always come back and trim more off.

(Yes, it looks like there is a bald spot, but I assure you there isn't. It is just the way his hair waves, the fact that he was playing with it right before I took the picture, and the fact that his hair is growing in blond for some reason.)

And now I can relax, and stop having hairy nightmares. At least until next month, that is...

Three Years Already?

2009-07-21T11:08:00.003-06:00

Family Home Evening

2009-07-20T19:41:00.003-06:00

Evan and I went out to dinner early this evening. We went to Spark Restaurant Lounge, and spent far more than we should, but it was marvelous. I love the food there. It also helped that we had a 40% off coupon (yay!).

When we got home we spent some time playing with the kids on the floor... mainly because sitting in chairs was painful on our stomachs. Oliver exhibited his rugby scrum moves, and toddled around cackling. Lena giggled and told us how much she missed us while we were gone. Then this happened:

Evan: Hey, Lena. Shhhhhhhhhh....

[farts really loudly]

Lena: Hahahahahahaha!

[Oliver laughs because everyone else is laughing]

Lena: Hey, Daddy. Shhhhhhhhhh.....

POOP!

At which point Evan and I rolled on the floor laughing. Laughing so hard that I thought I was going to puke up those 4 courses I just ate at the fancy restaurant. Laughing so hard that Lena started laughing hysterically at us. Laughing so hard that Oliver wandered over and sycophantically upped the volume of his laughter.

"Pooooooop! Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Poooooooooooop!"

So much for the spiritual message...

Battle Creek Falls

2009-07-17T23:37:00.008-06:00

Note to self: Be better about blogging.

Second note to self: Don't go hiking with a two year old after 8pm.

That being said, though, it was a good 'hike'. More like a walk, really, but we were rewarded with some fairly impressive waterfalls at the end of it. Even more impressive was the amount of water that was cascading over them. In some of the pictures I looked at of the falls before we left, it looked more like a dribble over a cliff. This evening the water was roaring over it. I heart Utah when there is lots of rain.

Oliver got packed in his hiking backpack (Craigslist, Kelty backpack, half retail price... score) and was a gem the entire time. Lena was a pill, and really the only success we had with getting her to walk up the hill was having her march her way up. "Come on, Lena... March, March, March, March". We felt like drill sergeants. I guess we should have expected nothing less with as late as it was...

One cool thing about going at sunset was that there were swarms of dragonflies around the trail from the creek that ran along side it. I tried to get some pictures of it, but with the low light, and with them buzzing around my poor camera had no idea what to focus on. And this pictures doesn't really show the extent of the swarm: there were literally hundreds along the entire length of the trail. (If you click on the photo it is easier to see the dragonflies.)

The low light and lack of tripod also meant that most of my pictures of moving things (read people, and pretty much anything but the mountains) turned out mostly blurry. But I did manage to take some acceptable enough ones.

And, yes, in this next one there is snow on Mt. Timpanogos... In mid-July... after a week (at least) of high-90's/100's F...

And some nice lady took a picture of our family.

Evan exhibiting his 'exasperated gesture'.

And finally, the 40-50ft high waterfalls at the end of our hike. (I heart the live view function on my camera...)

All in all, it was worth it. And we are planning on going back again sometime soon - next time with more sunlight, and happier toddlers.

Wise Words from a Wise Guy

2009-07-09T13:32:00.002-06:00

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government."

- Thomas Jefferson

Most People In Utah Have No Idea How Lucky They Are

2009-06-23T15:24:00.004-06:00

(Disclaimer: This post is LONG. I fully expect you to skim read, or to just look at pictures. No offense taken.)

Not the kind of blog post title you expected from me, huh?

On Friday, we had a reprieve from the daily thunderstorms we have been having for the last couple of weeks. The whole day was actually beautiful: warm bordering on hot, crystal clear skies, and (since there has been so much rain lately) everything was green. So, after Evan got home from work we decided to take a family hike to Stewart Falls, around the Sundance area.

We left at about 5pm, which ended up being perfect for us - not too hot or cold, enough sunlight to easily see where we were walking at the end - and it was beautiful! Now that most of the snow has melted, and with all of the rain we have had, the wildflowers were just starting to come in. In about a week the whole place will be multicoloured, and we can't wait to go back again.

Now, there are a lot of things about Utah that I loathe, but Evan and I remarked several times that when you are down in the valleys it is very easy to forget that Utah can actually be a very beautiful place. In fact, 'very beautiful' doesn't even cut it: 'Spectacular' would be more appropriate. Utah has 5 national parks, two of which are consistently considered to be in the top 10 national parks in the country. The fact that Evan and I have beautiful mountains, waterfalls, lakes, scenery, and wildlife less than 20 minutes drive from our apartment is an incredible thing. As beautiful as England is, if I had have wanted to see a waterfall on an even remotely comparable scale to Stewart Falls (or even Bridal Veil Falls for that matter) I would have had to travel to either Wales, Northern England, or Scotland: that's a 3 hour drive minimum for those who don't know, and for England that's a long drive. Sometimes I feel that, just as youth is wasted on the young, Utah is wasted on the Utahns (broadly speaking here). Not only are Utahns notorious for not taking care of the land in which they live, but they take for granted the fact that they actually live in a gorgeous part of the world, and have backdoor access to some phenomenal beauties of nature.

OK. Off my soapbox. Our hike to Stewart Falls, as I said, was beautiful. Lena did most of the walking herself, and apart from a snack break about an hour in, Oliver was really great too.
And, you look closely on the picture above you can see Lena's little builder bum. So cute!

As always, my photos never seem to do the adequate justice to how beautiful everything was, but I just have to share...
We also ran into a beautiful clearing somewhere in the Aspens that was full of little blue flowers (Forget-Me-Nots?).
Unfortunately, (as Evan found out, since I made him go an take pictures from the middle of the field) the whole thing was filled with stinging nettles.

It was also really cool to walk through old rock slide areas, and see trees that had been flattened by avalanches. There were also Aspens that had been (recently) bent double, which we suspect was probably from the heavy snow we got during May once the trees had become supple for growing season.
The falls were spectacular. Lena was very impressed: "Wow! Look! It's a waterfall! Oh no! It's so beautiful!"
The pictures kid of make the falls look pathetic and piddly. But they actually weren't. It has two tiers, and I guess it must be at least over 200ft tall. I believe that over the top of the main ridge there is another smaller part to the waterfall too. The roar of the water was incredible, and it was moving so fast that it was really windy.
This was about as close as we dared get. To get any closer we would have had to clamber over rocks, and between Lena, and Oliver throwing off my balance, we decided that maybe next time would be better.
And just because, here are some wildflower pictures. We can't wait until they are in full bloom, it is going to be amazing!
And if you click on that last image, you can see a bumblebee. And the flowers really were that blue.

Just My Luck

2009-06-10T10:12:00.002-06:00

Periodically I visit this site to see what free stuff I may be able to win. Yesterday, I just so happened to visit and they were having a massive giveaway. Most of the stuff was stuff I didn't care about (handmade, ugly, kids pinafores??, free hair coloring??, Seven Peaks All-Day passes??) but I did enter for a free photography session with a featured Utah photographer.

And I won!

But... I won a 30% discount on a wedding photography package not the free family session. Blast! That comes about 3 years too late, and I quite obviously have ZERO need for it.

SO! I am giving away the discount I won to anyone who needs it, or who knows anyone who needs it. I have until 7AM MST to claim it, or it goes to someone else.

Here is a link to the photographers site. Her name is Shelly Geller. On there you will find pricing info, and examples of her work. My understanding is that the 30% discount can save you up to $950.

Let me know!

Another Facebook Album

2009-06-05T15:09:00.004-06:00

Here you can find pictures of our family trip to SD over Memorial Weekend (it was a blast BTW, but more on that later). And here you can find another album to which I have added some more recent kid photos.

Oliver's New Expression

2009-06-02T17:50:00.005-06:00

A week or two back (Wha...?? It's already June??) Oliver developed a new facial expression. He kind of lifts his eyebrows, and squints his eyes, and does his usual open-mouthed smile. He does it for practically any reason (and especially when he knows he has done something wrong and is about to get into trouble...), and it makes him look rather comical.

Somehow, pictures never seem to do things like this justice, but you can't tell me that these don't make you smile...

All I'm Gonna Say About It

2009-05-27T11:45:00.005-06:00

If I could have voted, I think I would have voted against Proposition 8.

However, good job to the CA Supreme Court for upholding the will of the people. That is democracy in action, my friends.

Having Our Cake (and Eating It Too)

2009-05-13T00:19:00.003-06:00

Welcome to the family, Honda Accord Hybrid, otherwise known as 'Giggles' (Bwahahahaha). Part tree-hugging friendly, part anti-vegetarian, part comfortable family-mobile, part a$$-hauling 255 hp monster (0-60mph in 6.7secs... faster by a whopping 1.1 seconds than the 2005 BMW 325i, and tied with the 2008... neener-neener-neener!) - all of which is 100% worth signing away the next 60 months of our life. (It's so we can buy a house next, people... relax.) And all in a beautiful charcoal grey.

We love it. Now to teach Oliver how to say "vroom"... he did have the sputtering sound of the Jetta down pretty good. Thbbtttttttbbbbbtttttttthhhhhh!

Sleeping Habits of our Little Boy

2009-05-12T11:06:00.008-06:00

You will need to turn up the volume on your computer.

Our little boy snores. We think it is really cute.

He is also mostly disregarding the pediatrician recommended 'back sleeping'. Most of the time he sleeps on his front with his bottom in the air. Sometimes, though, right before we go to bed, we will find him in positions like this:

And for good measure...

Poor Lena

2009-05-01T11:32:00.006-06:00

About two weeks ago we were running a rather hectic day. Both Evan and I were operating on very little sleep after the end of the semester rush to get assignments done, Evan still hadn't handed in one of his papers, still hadn't studied for his finals, and we were running late for my pre-scheduled (and might I add, rather inconveniently scheduled by the government) biometrics appointment with USCIS in Salt Lake City. Oh yeah, and it was snowing, so we couldn't speed... not that we would anyway, right?

We managed to get a bit lost on our way to the USCIS office, which I think took about 3 years off my life span. My last experience with USCIS appointments had been in San Diego, where they were incredibly anal about everything. If you turned up even a little late you had to reschedule your appointment (not an easy thing I might add), and you risked deportation. They had armed security sitting at the door. They also had metal detectors, and searched bags as you went in the door. No one smiled, because, heaven forbid America seem warm and welcoming, and my officer was mean middle aged lady who evidently loathed her job. As it turns out I fretted needlessly about being late for my appointment in Salt Lake. It was a much smaller office, and we were the only people there. There was one security guard, but he judged us from afar and didn't even bother to check our personal possessions to make sure we weren't nefarious individuals. We were in and out of there in 10 minutes.

But I digress... We came home, with the deadline for Evan's paper rapidly approaching, and were about to go and hand it in when our bed jumped up and hit Lena in the head. Well, actually Lena wandered into our room, tripped up, and hit her head right on the corner of our bedframe. It left a deep, gaping gash, and she screamed... a lot. As soon as I tried to clean it up I knew we would have to take her in to get stitches. Fortunately our neighbours were home, and they were more than happy at the prospect of looking after Oliver for a while, so we headed off to Urgent Care.

Lena did really well throughout all of it. After about 5 minutes she stopped crying, and surprisingly there wasn't very much blood at all. Since we went to the BYU Health Center, and they just have a small facility, we had to wait around for about one and a half hours while a missionary got his hand stitched up. I will say this though: whilst I have my personal grievances with privatized health care, and even though we had to wait as long as we did, it was nice to know that we wouldn't be waiting in line for 5-8 hours to get medical attention, which almost always has been my experience with public health care.

So anyway; the stitches. Evan was chosen to be the 'bad parent', and I waited in the lobby and listened to my little girl screaming for 20 minutes. Evan said that they wrapped her up burrito style and they had him hold her still. She figured out pretty quickly that if she held herself still things would end quicker, so she screamed, but she held still: apparently most kids won't even let the doctor near them and start thrashing around once that first stitch goes in. After it all she was as happy as a clown - she got lollipops, stickers, candy, ice cream, pink milk, special attention from Mummy and Daddy... basically anything she wanted for the next couple of days.

All of this was, of course, rather traumatic for me. The only times I have had stitches was for both c-sections. None of my sisters ever had stitches. In fact, none of us really had accidents as kids, and it took until last year before one of my sister broke a bone. I really had no idea what to expect, and as a mother I didn't want to be placing my child in a situation that would cause her needless pain or trauma. Sedation - conscious or unconscious - was not an option unless we went to the main hospital, which realistically wasn't an option since our insurance would only cover half of the cost of the visit. Evan was amazing, and spent most of the time reassuring me that I was doing the right thing, and that our little girl would be fine.

Speaking of insurance, as much as I hate the BYU plan, I am glad that we have it. As long as we get care in the Student Health Center we have an urgent care co-pay of $15. When we got our bill for Lena's stitches we were shocked to see that without coverage we would have paid almost $900 for that visit alone. Had we gone to Utah Valley Hospital to get the conscious sedation it would have easily been more than that, and we would have had to pay half.

Lena was able to get her stitches out 5 days later. She was so brave! They didn't have to wrap her up or hold her down. She knew what was coming, so she just sat there and bit her lip as her eyes welled up with tears. It was heartbreaking.

So, Lena is left with a little scar on her head. Fortunately, if it doesn't fade completely over the next few years it will actually make its way up into her hairline... who knew the skin on your face grew that way!

Long Overdue... Bragging...?

2009-04-15T12:38:00.000-06:00

One of my classes this semester focuses on the works of Lev (Leo) Tolstoy. This meant churning through both War & Peace and Anna Karenina in the first 8 weeks of the semester, a combined 3,000 + pages. I have learned that one of Tolstoy's favorite tendencies to ridicule is the desire to plan. Now planning in and of itself isn't a bad thing - everyone knows that. Even Tolstoy really lays into characters in his books who wander through life like chickens with their heads cut off. What Tolstoy is trying to criticize are the type of people who make concrete plans for every moment of every day.

This leaves me in a bit of a dilemma. I have a very full schedule right now, choc-a-bloc full of things that all seem to be fairly important. Have to work if we're going to pay the bills and eat. Have to go to school if we're going to ever be in a situation other than this one. Have to do homework and study if I want my schooling to be of any serious value. Oh yeah, then there are two lovely, growing kids and a wonderful wife to spend time with. Oh, and sleep.

And so, of necessity, my days are filled to the brim. Both with things to do, and with blessings. Blessings like a car breaking, and a kitchen floor that needs to be replaced, in the week prior to the two honking-est midterms of the semester, which is followed by the week wherein I have two large research papers due. I think Tolstoy and Heavenly Father must get along great. I can picture them both chilling out with some pryaniki and a hot drink watching and saying... "Nicely done, Evan, you managed to shoehorn everything in that needed to get done. Here's two more things that need to get finished off, and one of them is going to handicap the speed with which you can get all the rest of the stuff done. Betcha didn't see that one coming!"

I will be the first to admit that I have a motherlode-sized vein of obsessive compulsive tendency in me that manifests itself in my desires to plan. And plan everything into it's perfect little time slot, and know that everything will be finished within the 15-30 minutes I have allotted it. (Because everything that takes longer than that can be broken into perfectly manageable 15-20 minute sized pieces, obviously...) And know that nothing else will possibly come up that could take precedence or affect my perfectly thought out little plan. Because I have thought of all possible contingencies. That being said, the biggest things that I didn't see coming aren't even a broken car or a leaky floor that needed to be fixed.

Our kids are growing up faster than I can process it. Granted, my life is pretty busy right now so one of the last things on my mind when I'm playing with them is a comparison of how much further they've progressed. I guess that comes with a busy schedule - it has a way of causing... even forcing... you to live in the present. But I would like to post my rebuttal to things that I can imagine Tolstoy would have to say about my currently crazy state of existence with the following videos.

Exhibit A: Lena's Birthday Party. I personally find the first attempt at blowing out the 2 candles adorable, due in large part to the fact that it was punctuated by a characteristic "Oh no!" when it proved unsuccessful.

Exhibit B: Pop rocks. We recently picked up a couple of packets of pop rocks. Lena thought they were great. She found it hilarious to leave her mouth hanging open and listen to them popping. "Look, Daddy, [gaping mouth], so funny!" Naturally, we fed them to Oliver too.

Exhibit C: Playing pirates and sword fighting. Because a toothbrush and one of Mummy's wooden spoons are perfect for it.

Exhibit D: Lena tearing around the house at her birthday party and nearly running over two little kids, the couch, and a few grown-ups.

Exhibit E: Oliver's new trick. He has moved from crawling on to greater heights, and now spends most of his time policing our ottoman in the middle of our living room to ensure that anything on it is removed to the floor.

He could pull himself up on anything else in the house just as easily, but we think he likes the ottoman best because it is the place that we are in the habit of keeping things that we don't want him to get into.

I must admit that all of these were "something"s I definitely failed to plan for. And it's a good thing that they, like the floor and the car, still found their way into my life.

For Those of You Not on Facebook...

2009-04-15T09:24:00.003-06:00

Here is a link to an album with family photos from the last few months.

Updates

2009-04-13T17:55:00.003-06:00

Fifty stripes for me for being lax at my blogging.

Things that have happened this month:

- Submitted my application (and a sizable chunk of our savings) to USCIS to remove the conditions on my permanent residency. 50 pages worth of documents to prove my marriage to Evan is valid raning from birth certificates to Christmas cards. Ah, bureaucracy.
-Kitchen sprung a leak... ripped up the whole floor and base cabinets, fixed leak, tiled the floor, and showered with our dishes for three weeks.
- Claire came to visit. Well, more came to visit Danny-boy, but it was really nice to see her, even if she did have to crash on our couch whilst our house was a disaster zone (see above). Claire: you have to come and stay with us again so we can redeem ourselves.
- Our car died. One year almost exactly after it blew a head gasket and we had to replace the entire engine. It was out of commission for the whole week that Claire stayed with us. It is now fixed-ish, and we are currently trying to figure out a permanent replacement.
- Received a one year extension on my green card, and we are now waiting for my biometrics appointment on Wednesday, and ultimately for USCIS to get around to approving my case... I have little hope of it taking less than 6 months.
- Oliver and I visited Sarah in Austin for 5 days. We jammed every day full of museums, exhibitions, and restaurants. I miss Sarah.
- Spring finally came, bringing with it blossoms, and colds and flu. It was pretty heinous for all of us, but poor little Oliver got hit the worst. We are on the mend, though.
- Watched conference. Elder Holland always gives the best talks.
- Both kids continued to grow faster than we cared to admit. Lena is jabbering away with rapidly increasing intelligibility. Oliver is crawling, standing (both aided and unaided), climbing, and stretching. Oh, and getting heavier.
- Lena got potty trained! Wohoo!
- We finished our taxes. We are still trying to get over our return amount. Hurray for EITC, and kids!
- Evan finished all of his midterms, and is now working on the last of his papers. Tomorrow is the last day of classes, and not a moment too soon. Then finals, and then more school. Yay!

Pictures soon!

Cupcakes

2009-04-03T23:35:00.001-06:00

I must not have been thinking straight the day I decided that cupcakes would be a great idea for Lena's birthday party. Usually I hate baking. On a normal day I even hate baking from a box. So, when I decided that not only would I bake cupcakes, but I would bake cupcakes from scratch, I really must have been lapsing in my sanity.

In the week of Lena's birthday I made over 100 cupcakes (and ate at least a third of them, all by myself... I don't even want to know how much butter that was). After a lot of research I decided to go with a recipe from Magnolia Bakery in NYC for their vanilla cupcakes. I had a few trial runs, figuring out along the way that my oven doesn't heat to the temperature that it says it does, and that I need to read recipes properly (one teaspoon of vanilla extract is NOT one tablespoon of vanilla extract). Finally (on the day of Lena's party) I ended up with 50 pretty, domed cupcakes, that, whilst I am sure didn't do the Magnolia Bakery cupcakes justice, were fabulously delicious.

I also made a discovery: I enjoy icing cupcakes. I just used a knife because I couldn't be bothered/was too impatient to pipe. I actually found it oddly theraputic and fulfilling, kind of the same feeling I get whenever I am creating art. It was different, but not necessarily in a bad way. I thought they turned out kind of cute. I forgot to take pictures of them before the party, but did manage to round up a few of them the next day for you all to see... I apologize in advance because the prettier ones got eaten at the party.

Oh yeah... the recipe, so you can all make them for yourselves: Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes
and it includes the buttercream frosting recipe too.

Lena's Happy Birthday

2009-03-28T22:45:00.001-06:00

Our little girl is two! We can hardly believe it. We celebrated her birthday twice; once on her actual birthday as a family with her favorite foods (egg noodles and chicken) and cake, and then a little party with some friends the day after. Lena had a wonderful time. I don't think she fully understood what a birthday actually meant, but she did know that on your birthday you have a party, and balloons, and a cake, and you blow out candles, and have fun. I could talk and talk about everything that happened, but that would be tedious. So I will share through pictures instead.

Two candles! Celebrating with family, and grandparents via Skype

Attacking the cake...

Which was kind of disappointing after last year: she spent most of the time trying to
put the cake back together after Daddy stuck his finger in the middle...

And then Oliver wanted to share...

He did a pretty good job of demolishing the cake...

And then Lena decided that Oliver would look good with a cake-hat...

Which landed both of them in the bath. (And as a side note, I love that Oliver can
sit up now and take a bath with his sister. It is one of the things I have
most been looking forward to with having two)

She was so excited about those balloons. When she saw the decorations we had put up
she ran around the house saying "Look! It's beautiful!"

I love her ringlets!

Birthday Cupcake...

And they were delicious, if I might say so myself.

Nathan

Max

And one tired little toddler after everyone had left.

Videos to come!

Maybe The Cutest Thing Ever...

2009-03-25T19:46:00.002-06:00

All My Fault

2009-02-18T15:26:00.003-07:00

We are (still) potty training Lena. Sometimes we have good days, and sometimes we have accidents. This morning it started out well. Lena was dry all night, and when she got up she politely asked Daddy if she could use her potty. Which she did. Later on today, however she had an accident whilst eating cookies in the kitchen. When I asked her why she didn't pee on her potty she looked at me thoughtfully, and then wagged her finger at me and said "It's 'cause of you!"

Right. It's all my fault.

T Minus 2 Hours

2009-02-14T13:14:00.006-07:00

In two hours I get my husband back. This week has been pretty busy for him. Every week is busy, but this week he had two Econ midterms, and then one of his Russian professors (a professor that teaches Russian, but is not actually Russian, just for clarification) sprung a midterm on the class with 24 hours notice... scheduled right in the middle of both of his econ tests. Lovely. So, between revision and his normal (absurd) amounts of homework, Evan hasn't exactly had an awful lot of time to really be home and relax. But all of that is going to change in two hours, because in two hours the testing center closes, and even if he hasn't finished, he will have finished. And that means I can finally clean the glass surfaces in our apartment. One of Evan's little idiosyncrasies is that he likes to solve math problems on our windows and mirrors rather than on paper. I think it helps him to collect his thoughts, and I find it funny and rather endearing. So, I thought I would share pictures of some of the surfaces in our place that have been intelligently graffitied.

Some of the kitchen window graffiti...

And on our linen closet door...

And on our bedroom closet door.

I love my husband. And I'll be glad to have him back, and have our family be back to normal.

That Would Have Been One Crowded Egg

2009-02-12T15:48:00.005-07:00

I made quiche last night, and halfway through realized that we only had a handful of eggs left. Minor problem considering it was quiche and all. I promptly sent Evan off to good ol' Smiths on an egg buying quest. Despite the proximity to our apartment, we rarely go to Smiths anymore. I am offended to the core with the exorbitant prices that they charge for their substandard produce, amongst other things (like the distinct wateriness of their Vitamin D - full-fat for those non-Americans reading - milk). After Evan returned, eggs in tow, I was again reminded why we choose to grocery shop elsewhere. Sure, we pay a few cents more for our weekly carton of 18 eggs from Sunflower Market, but at least it doesn't feel as though we are eating genetically-modified eggs from mutant, hormone-stuffed, battery hens, fed and looked after so poorly that they produce flimsy-shelled eggs with pathetically tiny yolks. Anyway, this isn't a rant about my issues with Smiths, I promise. As I was adding eggs to my quiche mixture this happened:

That's right. One of those eggs had two yolks. Now I'm no "eggspert" or anything, but I am pretty sure that is not supposed to happen. I am also pretty sure that the egg white only has enough nutrients to support one embryo, so and egg with two yolk would inevitably become a failed egg. But it is funny to think about the possible scenarios if it did hatch successfully.

I Love My 'Job'

2009-02-11T00:06:00.003-07:00

Most of my days are filled with amusing little incidents involving one or other (or both!) of the kids. I often think to myself that I should write them down or blog about them so I won't forget about them, but inevitably it slips my mind as I change that blown-out stinky diaper, or clean puke out of the carpet. But not today! (Lucky you.)

Amusing incident #1:
After Lena woke up from her late afternoon nap I fixed her some ramen noodles and peas, and mandarin oranges (separately) whilst I was getting dinner going. She loves both foods and if she ran things her way I am confident that she would have noddles and orange segments for every meal and snack. That and chocolate. And cookies. And ice cream. I digress. So, I was cooking and had Oliver on the kitchen floor playing with toys. Then I heard giggling and "Good job, Oliver. Good job!" "Mmmmm. Yummy. Oliver likes it." and, low and behold, I turn to find Lena pulling noddles, peas, and oranges off her plate and on to the floor in front of Oliver, and Oliver pummelling the living daylights out of said food. It was in his hair, and on his face, and up his nose, and ground into his clothes, and just... everywhere. He of course was loving it like a pig in poop, and Alena was so proud of herself. "Mmmm. Yummy. Oliver likes it."

Amusing incident #2:
Per this post, we are teaching Lena animals and their corresponding noises. She has gotten pretty fast at spouting them off too. I am constantly amazed at the information that she soaks up, and the complex processes she has learned and which are now autonomous. But I digress, again. My conversation with Lena before bed went something like this:
"What's this Lena?"
"A cow"
"And the cow says"
"Mooooooo"
"And this is...?"
"A puppy"
"And the puppy says"
"Woof woof"
"And this?"
"It's a pig. Oink Oink"
"And this is a..."
"A teddy bear"
"And bears say..."
"Roar [but deep and throaty like she has been smoking cigars recently]"
"And what's this?"
"A bird."
"And the bird says...?"
"[deep, throaty, and roar-like] Buuuuwwwdd!"

At which point I fell over laughing. Evidently we still have some work to do.

Amusing incident #3:
More a fact really. Oliver snorts when he is being tickled and laughs really hard.

I love my kids.

Mealtimes In Our House

2009-02-02T18:42:00.004-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, associating a noise with a particular animal really clicked for Lena. She will usually perform on cue now when we ask her about different animal sounds, rather than looking at us blankly or saying 'No'. Recently, Evan took full advantage of this over dinner when he demonstrated to Lena how different animals ate their food. It pretty much consisted of shoving his head in his food and making the corresponding animal noise. Lena just about died laughing, and so it has now become a regular game at our table once dinner is finished. Even Oliver enjoys it. I don't think he has a clue what is going on, but he certainly joins in with the laughing, smiling, and making funny noises.

25 Semi-Random Things About Evan

2009-01-31T16:24:00.002-07:00

Like many of you, I wouldn't usually compile one of these lists. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the lists of some of my friends though, and thought it only fair that I should put 25 things about me out into cyberspace. I wouldn't exactly call them Random though, because once I started down an idea, I wrote about it until I came up with another idea.

I apologize that it turned out as long as it did.

I decided to put it on our blog too, because I thought that some people who would really enjoy reading it probably don't look at Facebook.

25 Things About Me:

1. I love chick flicks. Adore them, (well, some of them.) I can only stomach so much of some of them, i.e. “The Other Boleyn Girl.” But one of my favorite movies of all time is “Love Actually,” followed in quick succession by “Serendipity”. I also like movies/plays/books that end without a happy ending. I love it when the person we've been rooting for all along doesn't get the girl/guy/job, and gets a solid helping of reality. For a movie like this, check out "The Visitor."

2. I hate when people misspell things; especially glaringly obvious stuff. Didn’t they teach us the differences between there, their, and they’re in third grade? When you publish something, don’t people get paid to catch those sorts of things? And anyone who gets ideas to say, “I hate that to,” or “That bugs me two” will get a punch in the face. (Erika, that could solve one of yours for you…) I care less about people who screw up grammar, but sometimes that bugs me too.

3. I’m fluent in three languages: Russian, American, and Spanish. I will soon be learning Arabic. I am also working on learning proper English. I have found that my most effective study tool towards proper English is a children’s tv show called Charlie & Lola. They are most adept at exploring the uses of superlatives like completely, absolutely, extremely, never, not ever, and mostly. My most absolutely, completely favoritish episode so far is the one about a Dotty Elephant.

4. I dreamt of being a fighter pilot when I was growing up. I am now much too tall for that, though I haven’t yet finished growing up. I have considered going into intelligence agencies, because being a spy would be fun. Hannah says no, and I completely absolutely understand.

5. I know how to build a house from the ground up, even though I don’t have a contractor’s license.

6. I am a surf-aholic. This does not work very well, since I am currently finishing up my undergraduate degrees in the “wonderful” state of Utah. If I could, I would surf every day, for several hours a day, and twice on weekends or any days with good swell, and most days ending in “y”. Future life circumstances permitting, we would love to own houses near remote surf breaks in different countries.

7. I want to get my pilot’s license. Hannah has graciously agreed to allow this, so long as we have life insurance for the kids. I’ll wait till graduation. I would also love to ride motorcycles, but my grandmother made me promise as a child that I wouldn’t. She has since died, but Hannah is now quite adept at enforcing said promise.

8. I am much stronger than people imagine, and most of it is in my legs. When I played lacrosse for BYU, this translated to squatting a lot of weight. At the same time, my upper body is comparatively weak. But I can generate 1.65 horsepower.

9. My wife has had to teach me how to swim.

10. I may never entirely “grow up”. Now that I have kids, it gives me a great excuse not to!

11. I love to read. I read everything I can get my hands on. I don’t have enough time to read, because now I am stuck studying textbooks. Someday, I plan to have a library collection that is on par with my Dad’s. And I will have read them all.

12. I am a good cook. No, really. I can cook very well. It would be fun to be a chef, but I don’t have the knowledge of alcohol that seems to be a job requirement.

13. My mom is the man. My dad is a stud, too. I find myself realizing that I am becoming more and more like him. Funnily enough, this no longer bothers me like the thought of it did in earlier years. The physical limitations of gender will keep me from turning out TOO much like my Mom, but she really is the man.

14. I probably suffer from a mild-to-severe case of OCD. This manifests itself in two of my personal tendencies. Firstly, I have a thing about rearranging furniture. Given the opportunity, I would rearrange furniture in our bedroom and living room every 2 months or so. Due to this tendency, there was a period of time in high school when I had my bed on a table. Yes, a table. It was the most genius set-up I have created. I’m not quite sure what it comes from. As a teenager, I think that I reasoned it away as my way of dealing with a messy room. A very messy room at that. Secondly, I make lists. I think that it is my way of dealing with my very busy life. Problem is, having made the list I promptly forget about it and move on with my life. (I don’t have the space here, but if anyone wants to hear, I will tell you what Tolstoy has to say about people who make lists like this. It’s pretty good.)

15. Like many of you who will read this, Hannah and I have a dream house. Actually, several, and many ideas on what we would like to do to the various houses we own along the way. It all started when we lived in San Diego as newlyweds and would take an afternoon walk around our little neighborhood, critiquing the houses around us. We would remember the ones we liked, and talk about what we would change on the houses we didn’t quite all-the-way like. I guess that can be expected from someone who knows construction, and married an artist who wants to be an architect. She comes up with all the good ideas, and I know enough about houses to be able to bring them to fruition.

16. I am double Majoring – in Economics and Russian, and will get a business minor. I really like Economics because I think it helps to explain the world and why we do the things we do. Russian is also fun.

17. Given the opportunity, I would be a hermit. I really don’t like people. It’s not that I think I am better than anybody, because I will be the first to point out some of my major character flaws that you probably overlooked. It stems more from my hatred of dealing with all of the social conventions and nonsensical games that people expect from you. It’s like going on a first date, all the time, with everyone.

18. While much of my talent has faded due to a lack of use, I was once fairly musical. In my heyday, I could play the piano, was battling for first-chair trumpet, and was in the top choir at my high school.

19. I love the outdoors. I will do things outside at the drop of a hat, (and now, with my wife’s permission.) I look forward to teaching my kids to camp, hike, etc. and will really enjoy teaching them both to fish. Hannah has promised that we can do our first camping trip this spring/summer. I am ecstatic.

20. I am fairly good at Boggle. Hannah, (when she agrees to play with me,) swears that I make words up. I am just being more creative! My friend Jake recently showed me a game called Scramble, a facebook application that is very similar to Boggle. I like it a lot, (completely and absolutely). Then my brother-in-law’s sister rocked my 200’s scores by scoring 500 points. In 3 minutes. I was amazed.

21. I am extremely indecisive. It probably stems from my not having very many “favorites”. I like to think that I am easily pleased/amused/entertained

. I should clarify that I have no trouble whatsoever when it comes to making important decisions. The ones that stump me are the inconsequential decisions like what movie we should watch tonight or what flavor of ice cream shall we buy… or worst of all, which shirt/pants/skirt/top should Hannah wear? Cause let’s face it, I don’t really care.

22. I look at the toilet paper after I wipe. Don’t let me know if you don’t, because you should probably start. How else do you know if it’s clean?

23. Like many other people out there, I wouldn’t mind losing some weight. Unlike many people out there, after losing some weight, I still plan to weigh more than 200 lbs.

24. One of my thumbs is shorter than the other. By a good half-inch. When I was about 12 or 13 I played goalie in soccer, and shattered the growth plate in the thumb on my right hand. Now, I have one 24-year-old size thumb, and one half it’s age. I wonder if that will mean I get to live longer.

25. My new favorite hobby, (tied with surfing,) is wrestling with my kids. I never realized how much having children changes your perspectives on life and makes you re-evaluate your priorities.

25 Random Things About Me

2009-01-30T23:29:00.003-07:00

I have been tagged a couple of times to do this on Facebook. I usually disregard these things, but I thought it might be a fun thing for our blog too.

1. Tomorrow I turn 23. I haven't even come to terms with being 21 yet.

2. I can cross-reference the Harry Potter books, and have been able to since I was 17.

3. I religiously read the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph. I used to watch CNN but their blatantly biased reporting irritates me.

4. I used to swim. Fast. Over very short distances only, though. I won a few things too.

5. I hold a large amount of resentment towards my Alma Mater. Maybe one day I will be able to reconcile myself with it. Maybe.

6. I always wanted to be an architect. If I ever get the chance, I intend to go back to school to get an architectural degree.

7. I like creating art. I find it therapeutic and fulfilling.

8. We almost lost our daughter before she was born. By the grace of God we happened to be at the hospital anyway for a check up. I had an emergency c-section and a team of very skilled nurses and doctors, and now we have a beautiful, healthy little girl. Our son decided to make a rather dramatic entrance to the world too.

9. Apart from the Harry Potter books, I have very little patience for fiction.

10. I have some Polynesian blood... everyone is therefore my cousin.

11. I am also part Maori and am entitled to land in New Zealand through my iwi, Tainui.

12. I don't know if it is my Pacific Island heritage, or just being raised by my mother, but I can't cook small portions. And every time I have to cook for other people I waste tremendous amounts of braincells fretting over whether or not I will have enough food. There is always more than enough to go around though.

13. Secretly, though, it makes me happy to know that no-one has yet been able to eat more food than I can produce.

14. I am very competitive... in the things that I care about.

15. We have a cat. She is antisocial, and we hate her. But we don't have the heart to sentence her to death via animal shelter. We are waiting for her to die so we can get a puppy. She also has kitty-aids (FeLV), hence death by kitty shelter.

16. I got my drivers license last July. I know how to drive stick-shift, which seems to be a rarity amongst Americans. I choose not to drive right now because I think Utah drivers are irresponsible morons, and I don't like driving on ice.

17. I never learned how to ride a bike. Evan tried to teach me on his bike. He is 6'4.5"; almost a foot taller than me. It must have been funny to watch. We haven't tried since.

18. I don't really like beef. Or pork. I will eat lamb, but only NZ lamb, and only if I don't have to pay for it. I also don't really like eggs on their own. I like chicken and seafood. I have never really eaten much meat.

19. If I had been able to vote, I think I would have voted "No" on CA Proposition 8.

20. I hate labels and boxes. Republican or Democrat? No thank you. I would like to be able to think for myself.

21. Evan and I like houses. We have a couple of (fairly complex for dreaming) plans in mind. We hope that our journey through life will allow us to see at least one of those, and hopefully more, to fruition.

22. I never graduated from High School. Partly because I didn't go to High School, I went to Secondary School. But I still left early. I went to university at 17.

23. Sometimes I get asked where I am from, and I never quite know how to answer it. So... Born in NZ, but moved to England when I was about 5. Raised in England but as a New Zealander. Have a (more or less) English accent, but definitely don't call England home. New Zealand isn't really home either, since it is now a very different place to the NZ I remember. And as a matter of principle, Utah is NOT home. But my blood runs black whenever the All Blacks play.

24. I could eat Chuao Chocolates all day, every day. Except when I am pregnant.

25. I must confess that I "absolutely, extremely, completely" like watching the children's TV show 'Charlie and Lola' with Lena. I love the whimsical animation, the endearing relationship of the brother and sister, the dialogue, and the realistic storylines. Yes, I might need to get a life.

I'm Going To Miss...

2009-01-30T21:08:00.003-07:00

... gummy smiles. But, then again, sharp little white daggers are cute too.

It Must Be A Genetic Thing...

2009-01-21T13:21:00.005-07:00

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas

2009-01-08T15:08:00.006-07:00

Happy New Year everyone! After a great, but sadly not long enough, break I am finally getting around to blogging about our Christmas (last year!). Lena had a blast and really started to understand the whole concept of Christmas and what was going on. Oliver had fun watching, playing with his new toys (that Lena unwrapped), and just sitting like a big lump. He is way too young to remember anything, and after seeing Lena's joy this Christmas, we are really looking forward to the next one for Oliver.

We elected to have Christmas at home on our own, and it was so wonderful to relax and spend time together, especially after the last few weeks of school for Evan. I was glad to have my husband back, and I wish the break could have been longer. I stole an idea from my parents which I am very excited to incorporate into our family Christmas traditions: Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. I like it because it means that I get to really enjoy spending time with my family on Christmas Day rather than spending it slaving and fretting over food. And lets face it, who wants to go shopping on Christmas Eve? There are never any good presents left, and all the grocery stores are bare. Plus, it makes Christmas seem longer if you start celebrating before it actually happens. I see no problem with that.

Present opening was really fun. It was so cute to see the sheer joy on Lena's face as she opened things up. I made her three tutus (so easy, and so fun) which she loved. We got some video footage so you could all enjoy it too. Sorry it is long.

Santa also brought Lena a Little Einsteins rocket - a big hit! For those of you that don't know, Little Einsteins is Lena's favorite TV show. And can I just say, having a DVR is an absolute life-saver. Being able to put on a 25 minute TV show for her at any time of the day so I can get things done around the house or with Oliver is awesome! But anyway, she got a plush rocket. She thought it was amazing. We loved it too because it cost us - I mean Santa - $6 on clearance at the Disney Store. Her is another video - it is of Lena opening up her rocket. So cute! Again, sorry it is long.

I love how she was totally excited for a cardboard box. I know what we are spending our money on next year! I also think it would be really funny to just give batteries with a note saying "Toy not included", but that might be a bit too mean.

And I also have a little video of Oliver sitting in his swing. On of my favorite parts of the morning was Lena opening up a big fluffy blanket, cuddling it, and then walking over to Oliver's swing and laying it gently over him. It was so adorable, and I wish we had have had the camera out for that one. She is a great big sister, and she loves the fact that Oliver is learning how to play with her. They both spend a good portion each day laying on their tummies sharing toys, and rolling around on the floor. Lena thinks it is really funny to dress him up in her fake-pearl necklaces, and Oliver thinks it is really funny that Lena finds that so funny. It is so great to see them together.

I Liiiiiiiiiiiike It!

2008-12-18T22:01:00.001-07:00

Lena is officially a toddler. She is almost 2 going on 13, and whilst she has her moments of charm and cuteness (usually when she is performing for other people), most of the time she is , well, a monster. (I guess that is the price we pay for having her be so well-mannered as a baby.) Grocery runs can be particularly eventful, and last week was no exception. Exasperated after trying everything we could think of to keep her somewhat civil, we decided to break all the rules and find her something to keep her entertained. That something turned out to be a $1.50 worth of beads, plastic, tinsel, and feathers.

"Oooooo! Wooooow. I liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike it. Mama, I liiiiiiiiiiike it. I liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike it."

This continued for the rest of the shopping trip, all the way home, and for the rest of the evening... interspersed with slurping/licking noises that accompanied Lena pretending her wand was a lollipop.

The next day she added new sound effects...

"Swiiiiish. Swiiish!! I Liiiiiiike it! Swiiiiiiish. Swiiiish. I liiiiiiiiike it."

... and pretended that her wand was a flute by playing it on its side and blowing on it.

"Fwoo-t, mama, fwoo-t!"

The best, though, was:

"Mama, i' magi-t (Mummy it is magic)! I liiiiiiike it. Swiiish!"

Since it is now magic, periodically I find Lena turning Oliver into pigs, trombones, and whatever else.

"Swiiiiish. [Then she bonks him on the head with her wand] Oh no, mama! Pig!"

And, it must be magic... look!

Awesome. Best $1.50 ever. Who said kids don't have the imaginations they used to?

So Excited!

2008-12-17T13:15:00.003-07:00

I finally found these in my size! They should be here next week. Love!