A Day in the Life...

in neutral

2012-02-16T14:42:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I sit and do nothing. I want (and need) to do lots of different things, but for this reason or that reason, I can't settle on actually accomplishing one thing. My house desperately needs cleaning (shouldn't "nesting" be kicking in about now? I ask you), I have creative projects in mind that I'd love to do, a baby will be arriving and I should definitely prep for that (i.e., getting diapers to have on-hand would be a start...), and other stuff.

I'm usually a go-getter. But sometimes, like lately, I do nothing. And then I start to wallow.

I hate wallowing. It's not pretty.

And so I'm off to play legos. Which, really, does nothing toward accomplishing any of the aforementioned To Do tasks, but it makes my kids happy and feel important. And, frankly, that supersedes.

i know it's cliche. but still.

2012-02-13T14:31:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I really wish I were a kid again.

two little visitors

2012-02-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

We have two little visitor-cousins living at our house this week while their parents are on a cruise. (I know. My heart bleeds for them, too.)

We've been doing super ambitious stuff, like "camping" in the living room,

bathing in swimsuits,

drawing (and pondering the symbolism of) intricate chalk masterpieces,

playing with (and without) Charlie,

telling funny jokes (usually involving bad words like "bum" and "poop"),

and just enjoying the week.

So fun! Also exhausting. But still fun.

surprise photography

2012-02-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

if this doesn't make you jealous of me when i go to download photos from my camera...

...well, i just don't know what to tell you.

(p.s. worth clicking on to enlarge.)

nursery update: barely-sew fabric bunting

2012-02-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

(See this post about my quest to create a sweet, airy nursery for this coming baby.)

I've seen fabric bunting, garland, flags, whatever you want to call them all over the Internet lately. All different colors and sizes. I'm loving the insta-festivity they add to a space without going over-the-top, particularly in kids' bedrooms and/or playrooms.

As a girl who likes to dabble in sewing, I have a few fabric scraps and remnants, so I took it upon myself to make a fabric bunting of my own. Because I still haven't exactly figured out the color scheme for the nursery, I decided to keep things feminine and light but also diverse.

I made up my triangle pattern and cut out a bunch of scraps in that shape. Then I used the pattern to also cut out triangle iron-on interfacing and ironed them together to make things hang more nicely. (This also made it possible to NOT have to sew the edges of each triangle; however, if I were making a two-sided bunting I would've bypassed the interfacing step.)

After interfacing was attached to each triangle, I trimmed all edges with pinking shears and sewed 'em right onto a stream of grosgrain ribbon. I couldn't love how this turned out any more than I do. It adds visual interest to almost a whole wall and brings in some great color.

Plus, hello, free. Yeehaw.

Once again: my older girls want one of these in their room. I'm sensing a trend here...

what to do when the kids are sick

2012-02-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

We've been sick around here. Sick enough to stay home from school with fevers and coughs and breathe in gallons of humidified air, but not too sick to enjoy a little family youtube time on Paul's phone before bed.

I envision us looking through old photos 20 years from now and finding this one and laughing hysterically at (a) the home decor, (b) the hairstyles, and (c) the size of Paul's phone. Or the fact that we had phones "back then," rather than some sort of telepathic system.

This is the stuff of memories.

nursery update: easy DIY paint chip mobile

2012-01-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to create a unique, sweet nursery for baby #4. Inspiration is everywhere in my head and in the blogosphere. Know what isn't everywhere, though? The dollars to do it. So I've been on a quest to find projects that I can make myself with items I already have.

Enter: the paint chip mobile, inspired by this post. I loved the simplicity, the ombre coloring (she did pink on hers), the overall airiness, and the price.

I went with purple hues (from Martha Stewart's line at The Home Depot), simply because I'm reusing purple polka-dot curtains I used for Layla's nursery. Plus I think it's pretty--not too girly, not too in-your-face, not too invisible. Here's my finished product. Loving how it turned out, particularly with the room's existing grey walls. Very soothing.

Best part? Total cost: $1.29 (for the embroidery hoop).

Oooh, second best part? My older girls each want one in their room. Which is super flattering.

a wall o' toys...and stuff

2012-01-29T20:45:00.000-08:00

The other day, the little ladies donned their swimsuits a la mermaidhood and took turns jumping "into" a blue fleece blanket (pool) in the living room. Somehow that adorable playtime activity morphed into their creating the Great Wall of China out of various items from throughout our house. (Read: the worst kind of mess to clean up.) Seen below:

Really, girls? Newspapers? Extra swimsuits? Thousands upon thousands of books? Is that the best building stuff you could come up with? Nuts.

The worst part was how happy and proud of themselves they were. I felt like crying but couldn't help but smile at their mess-terpiece. It kept them happily entertained for several hours, and Layla was a champ and even cleaned it up before dinner. But, honestly? I'd rather find playtime remnants like this:

Aww. Stumbling across a tucked-in doll scene is precious. Girls are sweethearts.

This just in: ducks at First Dam are suuuuuper exciting

2012-01-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

After holding a family vote of fun (free) activities for a Saturday, we ended up at First Dam to feed the ducks. (Annnd guess who totally forgot the bread? I win.) As it was a pretty frigid day, I thought we'd maybe last 5 minutes...but the kids were enthralled and entertained by the diverse fowl life off the dock, and we ended up staying there a long time.

(Helped along by the fact that another guy and his son shared their stale Christmas cookies for duck-feeding with us.)

We liked watching the birds with crazy "hair" the most. And assigning them personalities. And translating their quacky conversations in funny ways. Seriously a fun way to spend an hour or two with some delightful kiddos. I'd highly recommend it.

Then we started with a stroll through the echo-y tunnel under the highway. And took a few steps up the Bonnevile Shoreline Trail...which turned into a full-fledged hike led cheerfully by Addie herself up to the golf course. It was quite a climb in snow boots, but the kids loved it. Victory at the top:

A great time was had by all. Including on the way down, when Carson and Layla got to run down the mountainside trail.

Then Aggie ice cream, naturally. The end.

confessions

2012-01-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

Something about the all-day rain yesterday makes me want to come clean with a few dirty little secrets I've been keeping under wraps lately. Like the fact that I secretly love tuna casserole. LOVE it. All creamy and delicious and embarrassingly tuna-y.

Also confession: I used to think umbrellas were for wimps. Now I think they're cute...even the broken ones. Because, really, just how necessary are they for puddle-jumping?

[Editor's note: Puddle-jumping was put on hold for the taking of these photos. My camera doesn't do well with movement of any sort. Like blinking. Or breathing.]

puppy zen by osmosis

2012-01-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

Nothing profound to say, 'cept that this is quite possibly one of my favorite photos of all time.

thank you note

2012-01-18T19:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Gramma,

Thank you so much for cleaning out your makeup drawer and giving me some. I have put it to good use and am honing my makeup application skills regularly. It makes my mom especially happy that I can make myself so pretty for church and other public venues.

Love, Addie

Cutest girls' aprons

2012-01-17T20:31:00.000-08:00

My suspicion is high that this little girl-in-womb will be an Olympics-style gymnast. Just a maternal hunch based on nothing, really, 'cept a few bruised internal organs and some late-night acrobatics happening beneath the skin of my belly-turned-playground.

Regardless, I've got little girl stuff on the brain. My friend and I launched an etsy shop that goes along with this theme, involving darling (in our humble, yet highly accurate, opinions) retro/modern children's aprons: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DarlingSparrow

We'd love it if you came by... and even made a purchase or two, for your own little girls, or your nieces or granddaughters, or to have on-hand at your own house for when little neighborhood friends pop by for a drippy summertime popsicle.

Feeling too poor? Send your mom over to the shop so she can buy one for your daughter. Heh. Makes you jealous of my mom, doesn't it, having a daughter like me. But, c'mon, pom-poms? Rickrack? Grosgrain ribbon? Florals-with-stripes? Stop it. For cute.

Actually, Amanda and I have had some of these aprons at our houses for a couple of years now, and we love them sooo much. My girls wear theirs during dinnertime (make great bibs), craft time, baking experiments, art attempts, and dishwashing hour where the sink (read: floor) is filled to overflowing with bubbly suds. http://www.etsy.com/shop/DarlingSparrow

Okay. I'm done now.

potayto, potahto

2012-01-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

We have a rule around here that saying "butt" is a no-no word.

Fast forward to a few days ago, when Carson & Layla were talking about something involving "guts." Addie quickly and somberly declared, "We don't say 'guts.' We say BUM!"

This little nutcake is hard to take seriously.

Christmastime

2011-12-22T09:03:00.000-08:00

We've been thoroughly enjoying the Christmas season. Lots of playing and relaxing and creating.

Below photos (clockwise from top-left):

1. Addie is super affectionate and loves to sit very close (slash, on top of) people. One of my favorite things she does lately is pat my back when she gives me hugs, like a full on grownup.

2. The girls decorating gingerbread men...and girls...and Indians. No, seriously. Complete with loincloths and quivers of arrows. These girls are creative.

3. Carson got to eat one of the Indians and couldn't have been happier about the

sheer quantity of junior mints required for the decor.

4. Paul and I gave ourselves an early Christmas present and got a much-needed new mattress. The old one had to hang out in the living room for 2 days until we had a chance to take it to the dump. The kids LOVED their "indoor trampoline" and literally passed hours jumping and rolling and flopping and dancing. King of the mattress, though, was Charlie...who was pretty convinced we had simply upgraded his doggie pillow.

5. Layla was a Dewdrop for the Christmas ballet recital. Adorable. (I may or may not have teared up watching her...but if I did, I'll most surely blame it on hormones.) Carson was almost able to sit through the whole thing without sliding off his chair in a fit of 7-year-old-boy-boredom. Almost.

6. Addie is a patient and attentive audience member to her brother's and sister's performances...getting so comfortable in her role that she usually kicks her shoes off first thing.

Below: One of the many reasons I love my little girls is the cute girly things they do. Like set up a lovely tea party in the living room, complete with carefully placed flowers and seating. And adding a placemat as a "welcome" rug to their bedroom, just to make things more beautiful. Couldn't be happier that this next little one is a girl, too.

Paul and I slipped away to Seattle for a weekend for our 10-year anniversary. It was a fabulous getaway (made even moreso by the knowledge that our kids were well cared for by family and friends, without which we never could've done it. Thank you all!). A delightful trip where we explored and played and browsed and walked and laughed and talked and held hands and observed and shopped and relaxed and dined together. One of those trips that refuels your batteries as not just a "mom" and "dad" who happen to happily live together raising cute kiddos, but as a couple who started out as a couple in love in the first place with non-kid things in common to talk and laugh about and to experience together. Oh, he makes me laugh. Love this man...which is more than I can say for my ever-plumpening/-bloating face and body. Meh. Part of the journey.

Merry Christmastime, everyone!

some chair redos

2011-11-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months, I've been working on some furniture redo projects. Not getting them done quickly, mind you, thanks to the ever-present sickness that pregnancy produces, but they have gotten done. Finally.

Below is a craigslist find--a great chair, awesome lines and sturdy, but with unfortunate upholstery. I changed it up to zebra. Paul declared it my "best reupholstery job yet." Bam.

Below are two other craigslist finds--Ikea chairs. I love the shape and the legs. I liked them in white, actually, but you can see by the footprinted cushions in the "before" shots why white linen would never work at our house. Ever.

These were the most intimidating chairs to redo, because they are virtually all sewing (as opposed to simply pull-and-staple). Not surprisingly, they sat for months untouched. (A Gold Star of Husbandry goes to Paul, who neither complained about having to step over them nor mocked my vows that I would get to them before Christmas). Then I finally bit the bullet one kid-free day and finished them off in this turquoise faux leather.

I wanted to do a non-neutral color, just for fun. They look more baby blue in these photos than they actually are. If I'm being honest with you all, the jury's still out on how much I actually like them. But they'll live here for a while regardless.

happenings

2011-11-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

Paul is awesome. He leaves for work in the morning when I'm not even out of bed yet but never fails to brave my morning breath for a goodbye kiss. He makes me laugh, consistently and unexpectedly. He eats Halloween candy with me. He does things he doesn't even want to do because (a) I want him to, (b) the kids want him to, or (c) he's just an all-around good guy. He's patient with the kids even (especially) when I'm not. His only flaw that I've found is that he cautiously got his hopes up with Aggie football this season (he should've known better). Contrary to cultural norms, he broke out of his everyday disguise this Halloween to show his true self: Super Dad, complete with golden metallic cape and truth-proclaiming hat.

Snow is awesome. We got a little bit each morning for a few days in a row this past weekend, which was just perfect. My favorite snow attire continues to be Carson's authentic mystery-fur Latvian shapka. Charlie joined in the chilly fun for a bit (leash-free in the front yard? a rarity) but was banned to the living room when he wouldn't leave the neighbor dogs alone.

Layla put herself in charge of F.H.E. treats this week. Under her direction, apple turkeys with sour-skittle eyes were constructed. Lays took her own instructions very seriously and made an adorable turkey with lovely full mallow plumage. Carson's ended up looking like Sputnik, while Addie saw the whole exercise as a contest to see how fast and furious she could stuff marshmallows into her mouth. Victory all around.

I'm nearly 17 weeks along in expecting our 4th kid, so things around here have been pretty back-to-the-basics (translation: I haven't moved from the couch much) for the last little while. I've been often amazed by how well my kids have gotten along "without" me. The pic below of artist Layla, drawing serenely on the couch, is one of my favorites. To me, it epitomizes happy childhood times when one can find a comfy spot and spend hours in peaceful independent bliss. Which she did.

Happy fall-turning-winter, everybody.

extreme bedroom makeover

2011-11-09T14:48:00.000-08:00

It kills me, this pic. How happy Addie looks in the midst of a bedroom mess that made me cringe from the doorway.

Okay, so it wasn't a makeover at all. Just a one-woman (it's better that way) dejunking (huge garbage bags o' stuff made their way, secretly, to D.I.) and cleaning fest. But doesn't it look way more inviting now?

Candy Apple F.H.E.

2011-10-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Best. October. Activity. Ever.

I've never done caramel apples before. I guarantee you we'll be doing them again. And again. And again. They're so delicious and fun, from 3-year-olds to 30-somethings.

I love them so much that I'm willing to share the following embarrassing story with you: (ahem) My husband was struggling to get through half of his because of the sugar overload. I polished mine off in a matter of minutes...then shamlelessly eyed the remainder of his. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't longing in my glance.

That proves it. I'm the most feminine and the daintiest eater. Regardless, I heart candy apples and am working on a justification for doing them again and calling it "dinner."

How to dress for a Hallween party...white trash style

2011-10-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

The kids were invited to some neighbor friends' Halloween party, costumes encouraged.

Addie as a butterfly in a borrowed costume. The best part: her too-small tights, which resulted in crotch-knee. Didn't slow her down, though.

Layla raided her closet to proudly come up with this, um, costume. Despite my gentle suggestions of more cheerleader-worthy attire, she felt the most cheer squadish in this. Fortunately, some of the other mothers at the party bit their tongues before they asked her why she chose not to dress up for the party...

After several failed attempts at finding the perfect costume (somehow mysteriously morphing from cowboy to policeman), Carson settled on this awesome (read: CHEAP-O) ensemble. His imagination took off when clutching the plastic-wrapped plastic stuff at the store, but his anticipation turned to frustration as nearly everything broke within minutes of opening the box. Fortunately, a quick-thinking mother turned his near tears to laughter as he became, officially, "A Policeman With Faulty Equipment" for Halloween. Best component, hands-down: the creepy tinted glasses.

All together now:

the big Kindergirl

2011-09-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Layla started kindergarten last week. Mine was the kid who, bawling heart-breakingly, had to be physically pulled away from her mother by her teacher on the first day of school. She was happy when I picked her up at the end of the day.

Day 2 dropoff: Layla's eyes watered up and she gave me a few extra hugs (kind of desperate ones) in the hall, but she only asked me to come in as she found her name tag. Atta girl.

Day 3 dropoff: Two hugs, a brave smile, she ran in the classroom then ran out for one last hug, then ran in again. I think we just might make it, folks.

Day 4 dropoff: A quick hug and she ran in.

Day 5 &; 6 dropoff: I stayed outside and waved at her through the window as she hung up her backpack. She waved happily and blew some kisses.

Day 7 dropoff: I stood in the driveway and watched her ride her bike away with her brother. She stopped at the corner and waved back at me, then pedaled on. I'll never tell whose eyes may or may not have watered up, standing there for way longer than necessary after Lays had biked out of sight. How is it that I try to have it both ways? I want her to need me but I want her to spread her wings at the same time. Being a mom is weird sometimes.

angry birds bonding

2011-09-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

We got new phones recently and the kids are huge fans of Angry Birds now. The cutest is when I stumble, on occasion, upon Paul and Carson huddled over the phone playing it, and overhear Carson ask his dad, "Is that what you're talkin' about, dad?" when something awesome has happened. Or he'll say stuff like, "Oooooh. Impressive." or "Great aim!" all adult-like. He's even requested a high-five or two...something Carson has refrained from doing much of in the past...mmmm...7 years of his life.

Man, I like my kids. Not the messes they chronically leave in our house, but the kids themselves. Like.

(Carson on the first day of school)

tomayto tomahto...but not

2011-09-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Addie: ...and den I doed ('go'ed) to duh batyah-d.
Me: You went to the backyard?
Addie: [exasperated, complete with eye-rolling] No, mom. I didn't went der. I DOED der.
[pause]
Paul, to me: Did she just correct you from "went" to "goed"?
Me: *nod*
Paul: I can't believe you didn't know that already. And you claim you have an English degree...

Is there a parenting award for deferring to a 3-year-old's take on the English language? Because now I'm scared to ever use the word "went" in a sentence again...

I hate tattle-talers...unless it's me...

2011-08-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

I totally tattled on some little (4- or 5-year old) boys at Paul's softball game the other night. They had a big-gulp-size cup filled with water and kept taking big swigs of it and spitting it out on my kids' faces and/or backs.

First offense: I told them to stop. They didn't.
Second offense: I told them to stop (in a less kind voice than used previously), that it was gross and not nice. They didn't.
Third offense: I tried to take their cup o' ammunition away. They wouldn't give it to me, which led to.
Fourth: I walked from parent to parent asking, "Are these boys your kids?" until I found the mom and FULL-ON tattled. "Hey, um, your boys are using that cup and spitting water at kids. Just wanted you to know."

Don't know about you all, but I think I just learned a valuable life lesson here, and it's not one my mom taught me: Tattling pays off. Big time.

family reunion

2011-08-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

Smart family reunion was last weekend. It was a fun time on a beautiful day at a park in Montpelier, ID. The theme was something Luau-ish, so we all got leis. Layla particularly loved the toothpick umbrellas served in slush. Addie didn't stop with plastic lei adornment, though; she added dandelions to my hair. I had no idea they were so, ah, lovely (translation: "dead") until I saw this pic (below, right).

There was a little adjacent skate park thing next to the grassy area, and the cousins had a great time running up/sliding down the ramps. These cousins are not only related, but they're to-the-core buddies. Love watching them play together.

Paul likes to make weird faces when I take pics of us. He seems to think I won't use them if they're weird. Heh. Love you, my dear.

Activities included a kids' sack race, in which Carson took first in his heat. The competition was cut-throat (please read the sarcasm oozing out of your screen), so you can imagine our pride. Still, though, you would've thought that the plastic gold medal he (and all the other participants) got was the real 24-karat deal.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable reunion in which I ate too much delicious food and chatted with family.

And on the way home, we got a flat tire. Thanks to Larry (who was following behind us), Paul and I both know the ins and outs of changing a tire on our van. Saweet. Bring it on, flat-tire-in-the-middle-of-a-snowstorm-while-traveling-alone-with-three-kids-at-night. You don't scare me.*

*Total lie. Please oh please let the flat tire powers that be NOT call my bluff.

happy birthday, addie

2011-08-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

Addie turned the big 0-3 this month. She went special birthday shopping with gramma Joyce and picked out barbie Belle and a horse...two hot commodities around here amongst the young female population. She also picked out this fabulous neon outfit (complete with tutu and half-and-half legging shorts) she's sporting in all these pics...and Joyce was happy to oblige.

Selected birthday dinner: mac & cheese, broccoli, peaches, and strawberry milk. Of all the foods in the world to celebrate with, I found this meal to be amazingly balanced for a 3-year-old's selection. Nice.

Lots of excitement and help in opening her presents...the coup de resistance being this fabulous bike that Paul had picked up that very day and brought home from work. The kids rode bikes back and forth in front of our house for a long time that evening, and each time Addie passed by, I'd notice something different about the bike. The think is glitzed-out on all counts (perfect); my personal favorite feature is the baby seat on the back. She loves it.

She specifically ordered "flower cupcakes" (and had been ordering them since about March...about four times a day) in lieu of birthday cake. I showed her pics of different types of flower cupcakes, and these are the ones she chose. Prob because it's extra candy on top of sprinkles on top of frosting on top of cake. Hellooooo sugar overload. And just in case that didn't do the trick, we threw a couple scoops of ice cream on the side. Bingo.

At age 3, Addie loves tutu-type skirts, has a huge imagination, plays dolls and cars and blocks and barbies and legos all equally, is fiercely independent (except when it comes to using the toilet...still needs help with that...) and strong-willed, has a keen sense of humor and especially laughs unfailingly at jokes and/or comments including "potty talk," loves to give two-thumbs-up to stuff, adores Charlie, claims she is so big and gets mad when Paul or I call her our "baby," loves to laugh (and has an adorable little gut-laugh) and entertain others, can be the most exasperating specimen of a human being on the planet and yet conversely the most endearing, and is the absolute light of our lives. We're trying to point her in the right direction early on in life, because once she gets an idea in her head, she goes for it full-tilt (or is it kilter?).

We love you, Booster. Happy birthday (or, as you say it, "bairh-day").

date night

2011-08-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

Paul's out of town fishing this weekend, so I went with my next best guy to the rodeo Friday night. He was suuuuuuuper excited and had been asking to go for weeks. We caught the CVTD from the transit center, natch.

Carse chose the tippy-toppest seats. Wanted a good view for his first rodeo.

He loved it. Wants to sign up for the kids mutton bustin' next year because it reminds him of how he wrestles with Charlie. Did not like the calf roping at first--he hates when animals are hurt or treated badly--but then he saw the calves get up and run out after they were untied, so he got over it.

What a great date night with my boy. He even wanted to hold my hand walking through the fairgrounds. That won't last forever. Love this kid.

Family Trip: Teton National Park (take1)

2011-08-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

Got back this past week from a weeklong camping trip at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Beautiful...'cept for the mosquitos, which were ridiculously plentiful. RiDONCulously plentiful. Stupid mosquitos. I'm pretty sure Layla gave up a few pints of blood. She's particularly delicious, apparently.

Lots of family time. The kids loved the tent.

At Jackson Hole. Please check out Carson & Addie's "scared" faces in the ensuing bear photos. Priceless.

The whole gang overlooking Phelps' Lake.

Memories of Addie:

- "I'm too tiiiiiiired" whining, which commenced about 2 steps into every hike. Sometimes we made her whine it out. Sometimes we caved. But she'd get down if we started singing "Down by the Bay" so she could add in her rhymes. Guess how many cumulative hours we spent singing that little nugget...

- Lover of glowsticks and flashlights. Naturally. Loved to ride her bike. Loved the water. Hated the mosquitos and all things creepy-crawly.

- Loved floating on Jackson Lake (Colter Bay) with her dad. Missed her naps, but she got her nods in when and how she could.

- Loved strawberry milk boxes. Queen of the swimsuit wedgie. Loved her tie-dye shirt. Bigtime. Reverted in her potty training success...so hard to get to the john on time whilst camping, but she mastered pee-in-the-woods like a boy. Atta girl.

- Had lots of cousin time. Is a camper at heart. I'm surprised the bears weren't attracted to the food left on her face every night. Looked like a motherless waif.

Family Trip: Teton National Park (take2)

2011-08-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Memories of Layla:

- She is the mecca of all bloodstreams. So say all the mosquitos this side of the Mississippi. She wanted braided dreds (sp?) for the first part of the trip...and LOVED the "curliness" (a.k.a. frizz) when we took them out a day or two later.

- Eagerly awaited glowstick time from gramma every night, in which she added to her collection and got enough to make a ball and/or a garden's worth of glowstick flowers.

- Look at that mosquito-puffed hand (above). Poor thing. We read "Charlie & the Great Glass Elevator" every night in our tent, and Addie would remind us to read family scriptures. Layla loooooves to read as a family.

- She wanted to be adopted into Jordan & Katrina (& Evy's) family, I'm pretty sure. Stuck like glue to little Evy at every chance possible. Cute.

- Doesn't love s'mores (???) but does love all other treaty-treats. Like licorice. And fruit snacks. And anything sugar-enhanced. Just like her mamma. Likes to prepare and then announce to everyone that she & cousins are putting on a "show"...no one really delivers as far as the acting goes, but it's quite exciting to Layla to get it all planned out.

Memories of Carson:

- Hiker extraordinaire. Loved this trip "better than Disneyland." Loves his tie-dye and wants a thousand more like it (maybe exaggerating on the "thousand" bit, but maybe not).

- He was the best at asking me, "Mom, can you take pictures of this?" because I had told my family beforehand to remind me to take pics, because I wanted lots. Carson is a sweetheart and helpful. He & Lincoln found a ground squirrel hole right near our camp and were pretty excited about that.

- It rained all night and the next morning/day...and our tent was leaky. Paul & I jimmy-rigged some protection, but it was still scary. Carson went on an extra "big-kid" hike with cousin Ella, grampa, me, Michelle & Shay, and Jordan. It was probably 6-7 miles. He rocked it, despite being super tired at the end. What kept him going? Singing and making up rhymes to "Riding on that new river train" by Raffi.

- The kids loved the rainy morning, reading their books and playing card games and hanging out in their pajamas. Carson kept asking me, "Mom, isn't the Tetons the most peaceful place?" "Isn't the air sooo fresh?" "Isn't it so beautiful?" "Don't you love camping?" "Breakfast while you're camping is the BEST breakfast ever."

- Chose 3 spirit stones from the gift shop. (Layla chose a 3D bookmark, so beautiful, and Addie chose a stuffed mountain bluebird she promptly named "Beaver" but which actually sounded like "Beebuh.") He loves rocks and shiny stuff and all things treasure-ish.

I think Carson would make an excellent park ranger. He loves the great outdoors. Now if he would only stop scratching his mosquito bites, he'd stop looking like a recovering chicken pox sufferer...or a leper.

Paul & I had good times. We packed our memory foam mattress top and slept like kings...and queens... We each carried Addie about 1400 hours, I'm pretty sure. Love beef jerky and putting the kids to bed in the tent. It's kind of a magical time, reading and chatting a little before bed. Til the rain hits, anyway. The the magic dispels.

- Layla gets her mosquito-loving self from Paul. It was pretty miserable for all of us, but especially those two, until Paul got serious and found some 98% DEET magic. BAM. See ya, suckahs. (Pun totally intended.)

Love you, Paul.

Family Trip: Teton National Park (final take)

2011-08-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Annnd...what good would a family vacation be without cousin fun? The kids had a fabulous time, riding bikes (a.k.a. terrorizing the campground roads), hiking, campfiring (yep, verb), exploring, making up their own games/imaginative stuff, singing, you name it.

Note the Carson/Ella "prom" pose below...haha! Love it.

Calf-muscle contest below. (Can you name all those legs?) I think Michelle wins it.

Thank heaven for truck beds. One of the greatest inventions ever...second only to 98% DEET mosquito spray. Oh, I forgot: we drove to Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone one day, and a bison crossed right in front of our truck. It was terribly exciting for all of us...so exciting that we forgot to document it with a photo. Boooo!

When I said Paul & I jimmy-rigged our tent, I wasn't kidding around See above. Yes, that's a plastic lid you see there, that had been leaning on the side of the tent in that one corner. Trashy, sure, but we stayed (miraculously) dry from the outside-in.

The little kids loved the bear box. So much so that Addie & Evy decided to pull their camp chairs (by themselves) up onto the folded-out door and be spectators for a while. Cuties.

Death Canyon hike (to Phelps Lake) was beautiful, we loooooved Colter Bay, and hiking by String Lake, and other stuff that'll probably come to me but that I can't think of right now.

Yay family!

kids will be kids

2011-07-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Carson turned 7 last week. (To which I say: how????) At 7, he's a voracious reader, a helpful brother, a creative and imaginative thinker, a fast bike rider, flat-footed, and a lover of all soups. Carson has a strong moral compass and a wonderfully nerdy sense of humor. He's excellent at working transformers and building lego creations. His heart is huge, and he is a sweet, sensitive soul. We love you, C.P. Happy birthday.

(He chose a rain-forest themed cake for his birthday. Below are some of his favorite details, although we had a fabulous time creating the entire thing. One of my favorite characteristics about Carson is how enthusiastic he gets about stuff--his reactions alone make a lot of projects worthwhile.)

People told me, "It'll come," when I bemoaned the decision we made to get a dog last fall when (because) our then-4-year-old was beyond phobic and paranoid about such creatures. Hard to believe that a mere few months later, she's as loving a dog-owner as can be. Like this morning, when she begged me to "take a few pictures, mom, isn't he so cute?" Yes, but not nearly as cute as you, my dear Lays.

I was heading out to the backyard to tackle a few work projects on Saturday. Addie wanted to help. This was the uniform she deemed appropriate. It was probably 85-90 degrees. I told her there wasn't snow outside, so did she want to leave her hat and scarf inside? She didn't even qualify my question with a response. Glad to have you along, helper bee.

Bear Lake

2011-07-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned before how much I love this place? Because I do. A lot. And the people we hang with while we're there...they're not too bad, either.

catch-up

2011-07-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

We live suuuuper exciting lives, you guys. Hard to document it all, it's so fast-paced.

For example, the kids and I went for a bus ride yesterday. A 30-minute loop of sheer back-of-the-bus bliss. We even sneaked eating fruit snacks. That's right. Flirting with danger.

Paul and I forgot to plan FHE last night. For the bazillionth time. So we (along with both resident Minnie Mouses...can we count this for our missionary work for the year?) walked the sidewalk pathway to the temple and talked about temples. One of our better FHEs, actually, as the conversation was casual but with purpose. The kids even asked pertinent questions other than "What's for refreshments?" I almost didn't know how to respond.

(p.s. Charlie's ice cream was for refreshments. In case you were wondering. Which you totally were.)

Gramma Joyce took Carson shopping for his birthday. He apparently walked straight to this display and 0.2 seconds later chose this super-uber-awesome Atlantis lego set. The best part of the birthday gift was how gramma stayed and built it with him. He's a lucky kid in the grandparents department, for sure. And getting so big! 7 years old tomorrow! Where in the world has the time gone? (Answer: Charlie's ice cream drive-through, that's where.)

Layla found a creative way to spend her mid-morning: decorating a plant with hair barrettes. She was very proud of how beautiful it looked. I think I used up a year's worth of ooooohs and aaaaaaahs, so forgive me if I remain silent during any forthcoming fireworks shows.

Then the girls (with BFF Emily) posed for the camera. My favorite is the bottom-right pic (above), where they're all trying to do the same pose. Close, Addie. Very close. (p.s. Had to do some minor photo editing to cover her undies. Modesty first, right? At least, that's what I try to tell her after she's stripped down to just her shoes and underwear in the middle of the main Lowe's walkway... hoo boy...)

Lately I've felt like I'm floundering a little (treading water? definitely not swimming briskly) in the parenting department. Lots of things come up that I don't know if/how I should respond. But I keep remembering that one talk in this past General Conference where the speaker (can't remember his name off-hand. I'm helpful, I know.) talked about how we as parents have as much to learn from each of our children as they have to learn from us. Wise words.

Despite (because of?) the parental challenges I'm stumbling across, I thoroughly enjoy these sweet kiddos and our life right here, right now. They make me laugh and cry and think and wonder. So. Even though I joke sometimes about selling them on ebay, I don't mean it. For rent, maybe, but not for sale.

See? I'm a better parent already.

stuff and nonsense

2011-07-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

My parents left. I'm sad. It was fun to have them here, to say the least. We've missed them!

One of the many things we did with my parents was go to the zoo. The kids love feeding the fish/ducks the very most. Carson cheers for the fish every time he tosses a piece of food into the water. Layla's convinced that all sunglasses help her to see underwater (thanks to Paul's teaching her about polarized shades), so she had to borrow mine (which are not polarized, but that didn't matter to her). Addie just reached her arm through the chain link fence and dropped handfuls of the food on the dirt, not even getting it close to the water.

Layla generously (seriously...it was adorable) shared every last one of her many dimes with her brother and sister to fund Operation: Feed the (apparently) Starving Fish & Ducks. And...Nothing beats a picnic in the shade on a beautiful summer day.

Carson and my dad were special buddies--dad taught him how to fix a flat bike tire (or two), and they learned all about how dogs/coyotes/wolves point their tails differently when they run. Carson's very excited to know this. Because you just never know if your friend's family has been duped and their family pet is actually a WOLF...

We didn't do anything over-the-top crazy with my parents. But it was glorious to have them here for 3-4 days regardless. It's the little things that make a difference. Like my dad cleaning out our garage and van and mowing our lawn and planning our backyard makeover, my mom cutting out millions of denim squares so I can make picnic blankets and cleaning my washer/dryer and doing other stuff that I probably won't even realize but that make my life easier.

Love having the parentals back!! Thanks, dad & mom. Come again. :)

Also this summer, we've spent lots of time just hanging out. And eating peanut butter spoons. And sleeping in the tent in the backyard. And reading on a picnic blanket during naptime. And making deliciously imaginative messes in the basement. Life is crazy and tantrum-laden these days, but it is glorious.

Today, a very excited Addie announced, "Mom! I found an owie for my bandaid!!" Bandaids are hot commodities around here. I used to be a bandaid nazi and would only let my kids put them on if I saw blood. Is it a sign that I'm getting old and lazy that bandaid use is currently so frequent that they've become like accessories to the girls' daily ensembles? Yes? Okay. So be it.

Man, I love summer.

Bear Lake 4th of July

2011-07-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

We went to Bear Lake for the afternoon of the 4th of July. The girls loved the inner tubes, bobbing on the water just a few feet away from shoreline. Which, by the way, is WAY HIGH compared to a couple years ago. Which means there are snakes around. I know this first-hand because we all saw one swimming in the water.

(But I didn't scream, much to Paul's surprise, because Carson's been a little gun-shy about snakes since his encounter with one on the Wind Caves hike, and I wanted to set a good example. Awww, look at me, being so mature and brave. I know. It is impressive.)

Carson tried his hand at fishing, which is both cute and terrifying when you realize how close that flying hook is coming to people's heads. Yipes. I'll watch you from over here, buddy...

The kids loved the canoe as well. Basically anything that floats, they're golden.

Addie & Layla took turns capturing the afternoon on camera. See below for evidence of their lovely photog skillz...and our lovely photog'd faces. (For the record, I think Joyce wins in the top-right shot. Makes me laugh every time.)

And below is a little photo I like to call: "A Dad And His Kids In A Canoe...and a Mom Watching From the Shore Hoping that Next Time They'll Evenly Distribute the Weight."

The four dudes in that canoe right there are the loves of my life.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone. God bless America.

parents back from Sweden!

2011-07-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my parents got back from Sweden. They've been there three years. We eagerly awaited their arrival at the airport. The kids were awesome...mostly thanks to Stephanie's forethought of bringing an enormous bag of candy. And also the nice security guard's warning that they'd better stay off the escalators or else. Bingo.

My parents met four grandkids that they've never seen in "real life" that night. Good to have them back. Which is a ridonculous understatement, of course, but one that will have to do.

To show you how overwhelmingly happy and excited I was to see them, I completely shut my camera down and didn't take any photos. Which wasn't on purpose, because now I wish I had more photos of their actual arrival. But some things are good to just live out, you know? Either way, I'll take (and post) a plethora of pics of them in the coming days/weeks.

Welcome home, Dad & Mom!! We sure love you guys.

Wind Caves hike

2011-07-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

Last week we hiked up to the Wind Caves with Jones and Joyce. The kids were all troopers, although I must say the Hiking Award 2011 has to go to Addie & Logan. Those two were fearless, tireless (almost), whineless hikers. Fun to hike with. And...Logan even toted his own (small) waterbottle in that (enormous) backpack, so he gets an extra gold star.

I think it helped that the rests were numerous and the licorice was plentiful. Jones & Joyce had to turn back before we reached the top, but my kids (to their initial dismay) had the time and pressed on to finish the job.

They ended up being glad we finished. The view was awesome, the Capri Sun reward sweet, and the wildflowers lovely. 'Cept Carson spotted his first snake, which was not a high point in his life, to say the least. There's something about finishing a hike with kids that's super rewarding. And exhausting. Feather in everyone's proverbial cap.

Addie even gave the gig a two-thumbs-up. Which is the ultimate compliment around our house lately, to be superceded only by Carson's claim of "all the thumbs in the world up."

Me, I'll take Addie's two and call it a victory.

heh heh HEH.

2011-06-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up with a mosquito bite and, in the course of morning events, mentioned it to Paul.

Me: "Ugh. I have a mosquito bite."
Husband: [adorably sympathetic] "I know, on your forehead."
Me: "No, on my thumb." [pause, then point to the lump on my forehead] "That's a zit."
Husband: [kisses my forehead on bite/zit, prolly just to hide his laughter]
Me: [laugh, slash, groan]

Some things are way more funny than embarrassing after nearly 10 years of marriage. This happens to qualify under that category. 'Cept the "having zits into your 30s" part. Not so funny.

new-age ballet

2011-06-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

What, you've never seen a 2-year-old doing ballet in crocs at the dentist's office? Huh.

67%

2011-06-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Remind me, when my kids are 15 and struggling through algebra as evidenced by D+s written in red at the top of their tests, how ecstatic I was with that success-rate percentage during Week 1 of potty training.

Deal? Deal.

(p.s. And anyways, Paul always chanted, "Ds get degrees" after taking a particularly hard engineering test. So.)

Ragnar 2011

2011-06-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Ran the Logan to Park City (190ish mile) Ragnar relay race this past weekend. Our van (half of our 12-person team, "Shay's Team") included fabulous team captains Shay & Michelle, Shay's brother Braden & wife Savannah, Tonya, and me. We decorated the van with window chalk and crepe paper. Out of the thousands of decked-out vehicles we saw, only one other had crepe paper. I think we must've missed the "don't be white trash" memo. Meh.

Michelle & Shay tie-dyed these shirts for all of us. I love mine and will probably live out the rest of the summer in it. Even on laundry day. Don't ask how that'll work...I'll figure it out.

Rules of Ragnar: if you get outside the van, you have to hold the orange flag. (I saw one guy peeing on the side of the road...and I only noticed him BECAUSE of the orange flag. Surely that would be an exception to the rule?) From 7:30 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. you have to wear a reflective vest at all times while outside of the van. 'Cept Tonya and I didn't sleep in our vests, even though we slept in sleeping bags in the middle of a grassy field OUT of the van. I know. Rebels.

A slap bracelet is the "baton" for the relay. Tonya was runner 5 and I was runner 6, so she always passed it to me, along with my GPS watch we were sharing. We were super cut-throat competitors, as you can see in the uberswift transaction above (top left). Some of the roads were also dusty (especially Tonya's route up Avon Pass), made dustier by all the vans driving through to "leapfrog" their runners and cheer them on. We tried to cheer our runners every 1.5 to 3 miles...after we totally messed up with our first runner super-Shay and pretty much left him to run the 7 miles solo. We didn't know! We're rookies! Still...lame.

Know what else is lame? Me, accidentally honking very nearby to some horses trot-walking along the road that our runner was on. In my defense, I was honking to cheer on Michelle. In the horses' defense, I'm a loser and just plumb forgot they were there. So. I apologized, the horse-riding lady chewed me out, so I figure in the grand scheme of things we're even.

For my particular routes, one was about 7 miles mostly a moderately steep downhill, one was a little over 8 miles mostly a mild to moderate uphill, and one was a nice lolling neither-up-nor-down 3-mile jaunt through town. The second run was a bear for me (who wants to run up a mountain at 1 a.m.? one-two-three NOT IT).

It was such a great experience. The guys in my van were/are awesome, and we had a lot of fun. If I do it again, I'm going to train better. And NOT try to eat an enormous hamburger, pile o' fries, and oreo shake right after finishing. Sounds like a heavenly idea, right? I thought so too. Until I actually did it...

Thanks Shay, Michelle, Tonya, Savannah, & Braden! You guys are awesome. No seriously. Long live De Agony of De Feet.

oh what do you do in the summertime

2011-06-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

Disneyland pics are coming. I promise. But here are some pics of what we've been up to, to make all of us wish that we were kids in summertime again and able to run around for days in nothing but a swimsuit. Well, I guess technically we could run around in bathing suits. But I, for one, don't. You're all welcome. Counting it as my public service...

We spent the last two days in Ogden with family (a million thanks for letting us crash your house, K&S!!). It was glorious. Nothing better than cousins playing...unless it's cousins playing and then devouring Creamies. There's NOTHING better than that. Tops the charts.

A splash pad opened up a bit ago in Riverdale (I think?). We went. We (translation: they) got wet. We thoroughly enjoyed. I LOVE splash pads. I want to become their advocate and have them built in every city. Or, if not every city, at least my own. Sooo fun for billions of kids. Yes. Billions.

I'm loving that my kids can get together with these cousins and make memories and be buddies and play and whisper (or, in the boys' case, yell) in their sleeping bags at bedtime. As a parent, it's pretty gratifying.

two sides to everything...

2011-05-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

Man, I love nice weather. I love kids in swimsuits. I love fingerpainting on the front porch. I love sick-kid-who-stayed-home-from-school mid-afternoon bedhead. I love hammocks. Love it all.

Not everyone's as enthusiastic about the warmer weather, though. Fortunately, Carson is in-tune with those individuals' needs and is more than happy to help them out...

(I love being a mom! You can't make this stuff up.)

Oh, and also? T minus a month and a half til my parents are home from Sweden!!

Aside from a few runny noses and night-long coughing spells, life is super good right now.

addie-ism

2011-04-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

Paul was lifting weights tonight and had just taken his shirt off for a few minutes while he did some of his exercises. Addie came downstairs for some help putting toothpaste on her toothbrush, and she stopped and stared at Paul.

Addie: [laughing] Dad, why is you tate yuh suht off?
Paul: Um, because it's hot.
Addie: [to me] Mom, Dad is tuht (took) his suht off. [pause, looking at Paul] And he luhts bayee (very) duhd!
Me: I know. He does look very good, doesn't he, Addie?
Addie: Yes. I tan (can) see lots of musses (muscles) on him! Dey is EBBeyweh!
Paul: [laughing so hard he can't lift his weights]

From the mouths of babes.

it's an understandable emotion...

2011-04-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

...but, still. try to reign in your jealousy.

spring break re-cap

2011-04-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

We spent a lot of the night tonight doing this:

In fact, even Carson's family prayer included: "Thank you that we all laughed so hard today." Yep. We sure did.

The kids and I went jogging/bike riding once upon a time this week when it was nice outside. While I showered, unbeknownst to myself, the 3 amigos put together their own picnic lunches. Complete with pnut butter & honey sandwiches and juice boxes. And licorice, which they ate pre-picnic. It was a deliciously lovely time.

Addie can't get enough of her soccer shirt from Gramma Joyce OR her "birthday skirt" from last summer. Hence, the perfect ensemble for most days of this spring break. Oh, how I love spring break.

Even, I suppose, when it did this a mere two days later:

(Raise your hand if you, like Paul and me, are in love with Carson's newly beloved headgear, authentic pelt of something from Lithuania.)

We spent the entire morning out building snow nests (a.k.a. "forts" for you who don't have little girls around who tend to put a cutesy-homey spin on everything), snowmen, snow princesses, snow babies, snow chairs, snow pretty much everything. I think I even built a snow fridge for Layla. To hold her snow apples. Naturally. I also taught Carson about being whitewashed. Unfortunately, he's getting bigger and stronger, and he took me down right after I got him and smeared my own face and ear in the snow. Touche.

We defrosted inside with some hot cocoa. The kids were so cold, I couldn't even get them to look at me at first. Then I told them some jokes. They laughed despite themselves.

And I mean it when I say "despite themselves," because I will be the first to tell you: my "jokes" are not funny. They usually involve a fish-face and a weird monster-robot voice. So.

Sad that school begins anew tomorrow. We've had a delightful time this week, complete with PJs and bed-head most days. And we didn't even order pizza once. Seriously. Domestic AND vacationed? Got ourselves a two-fer.

thoughts on heaven

2011-04-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

We've been talking a lot about heaven lately, in preparing for and then having Paul's grampa Boyd's passing away just yesterday. Maybe too much...the kids are watching for moving clouds, which they're convinced will be caused by Boyd's doing cartwheels across the sky in his agile spirit body.

And this morning when I woke Carson up for school, he looked at me kind of dream-land-like and told me, "Mom, I'd rather be in the very worst part of heaven than live with Satan at his house."

Amen, brother. Amen.

Layla's 5!!

2011-03-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

Almost time for a birthday tea party. SOMEone's excited.

Gathering activity: Make a beaded necklace or bracelet. These turned out very beautiful, what with our astounding collection of rare, precious stones (compliments of Hobby Lobby's plastic beadery).

Tea time: strawberries, chocolate-dipped pretzels, pigs-in-a-blanket (or not-in-a-blanket), carrots, olives, pineapple punch, easter-colored whoppers (which doubled quite nicely as lipstick), mini raspberry muffins, and I think a couple other things I'm forgetting. Let's just say, they didn't go hungry.

Everyone became their most feminine. Happy birthday, little Layla.

About Layla at age 5:

- loves Junie B. Jones books

- loves to dress herself "in style"

- loves olives and macaroni & cheese

- would eat fruit for the rest of eternity if I'd let her

- is a good sister...when she's not being a tyrant dictator...which is about 50/50. but when she's good, she's very very good!

- is excellent at trying new things

- favorite color: light blue

- very very girlie, with her "lip stuff" and mom's high heels and purses and skirts and jewelry and and and... just loves things to look beautiful

- a budding artiste (to be read: ar-teest)

- a sweetheart at heart

- has the imagination of a...i dunno. something with a vivid and darling imagination.

Love you lots, ladybug.

over a month since last post? ouch.

2011-03-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted here. My life, like everyone's, is so busy--and unfortunately the other blog is filling my daily "blogging time" quota. As spring is typically grants season, I've been working lots...not uncommonly going to bed between 2 and 3 a.m. (In fact, the other night, it was particularly late/early as I was heading to bed, so I programmed my cell phone alarm AND placed it on top of our dresser on the other side of the bedroom to make sure I got out of bed to turn it off, so I'd be sure to wake up...I woke up in a frantic, 26 minutes before Carson had to be at school, with my cell phone on my nightstand. No recollection of how it got there, but I'm sure it was me, sleepwalking. Nice.)

While I'm working, I get so in the zone sometimes, that I forget about the kids. I know, that's terrible to admit, but I have proof. Check it out: about 60 photos taken by the little ladies that I have no recollection of.

Having never seen these photos before, here's what I thought as I downloaded them today:

- I look ticked when I'm concentrating.

- Oooh, THERE'S that toy.

- Layla has an artistic eye for angles.

- Addie too.

- They must've shared the camera. Awww, they share without being coerced sometimes! What a good mom I am.

- I had no idea they were taking my pic about 8,000 times. Who knows what else they do when I'm not paying attention. I'm a crappy mother.

- Yessss. They got pics of fruit. That makes us look like healthy eaters.

- Amanda's going to kill me. Slash, love me.

- What would I do if there were pics of the girls lighting matches? Seriously. I should be fired.

- But there aren't. Just the girls playing with some robot toys. And, sure, they're doing weird/potentially dangerous stuff on the stairs, but let's just call that "creative play" and be done with it.

And then there's THIS little female-toddler-Einstein nugget of photographic delight:

Man, we love these kids. Paul and I were talking the other night about what life would be like without them. Some things sounded appealing...like traveling and whine-free days, maybe even weeks, at a time. But all in all, what we came up with was an empty little shell of existence without them. They make us smile, they make us roll our eyes, they make us worry, they make us laugh, they make us think, they make us learn patience, they make us better.

Addie likes to be proactive in expressing herself. Sure, she's got an impressive artillery of tantrums at the ready, but my favorite is when she strikes pre-emptively as I tuck her in at night: "Wuv you too, mom!"

And I love you, my loony little darlings.

best valentines day ever

2011-02-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

we decided that paul needed a little extra v-day love. so we gave him a heart attack while he was at work.

then we lay in bated-breath ambush for him to come out to the truck. (and i only texted him a couple of times asking him to hurry because there may or may not be a surprise waiting for him, and the maybe-surprise(s) may or may not be getting antsy in anticipation...so...i'm super good at keeping secrets.)

he was shocked to find us there. :)

balloons and festive dinner with clink-n-drink glasses. then family valentines exchange for FHE.

i'm in love -- desperately -- with three little people. and one big one.

hope your day o' love was filled to overflowing.

fertilizer

2011-02-08T13:31:00.000-08:00

yesterday at lunchtime i listened as my children and two of their friends started discussing, ever so seriously, stitches. it then sparked another somewhat related topic. the following conversation is among four children, ages 4-6:

"charlie had to get stitches because the vet had to take the fertilizer out."
"yeah. the fertilizer that makes babies."
"well, actually, it doesn't MAKE the babies, it just helps them grow."
"yeah, that's what MY dog had to have her stitches for--to take out the place that makes the babies grow."
"does your dog have fertilizer?"
"nope. she just has the place where the fertilizer goes."
"can you all PLEASE stop talking about this? it's grossing me out."
"so the fertilizer goes into the place that makes babies, and ZZZZZUPPP! a baby!"
"awww. baby puppies are soo cute!"
"we don't want a lot of puppies. actually, i do. but my dad and mom don't. so they had to take charlie's fertilizer out."
"yeah, my mom and dad didn't want zoey to GET a boy dog's fertilizer, so she had stitches, too."
"is she all better now?"
"yep. is charlie?"
"yup."
"what's for dessert?"

sweet. no more birds & bees. now it's a garden analogy. let this be a lesson to all you kids out there.

evidence of awesome parenting

2011-01-27T18:36:00.000-08:00

carson & layla are playing playmobil. layla is being the daughter.

layla: "dad, can we go on a trip?"
carson: "nope. we're waiting for bad guys."
layla: "oh." [pause] "THEN can we go on a trip?"

maybe you had to be there. but seriously. so funny. kid scenarios are the best, when the obvious (to me) becomes appalling, and the out-of-the-blue transforms into the everyday.

like, yesterday i was playing barbies with layla, and the pillow was Mermaid Rock, and the barbies were going to have a party there. my barbie tried to get things movin' at the fiesta by starting to dance. layla's barbie politely informed mine that, "sorry, we don't dance at this party."

mine: "oh. okay." [long, awkward barbie pause.] "soooo...what do we do at this party?"
layla: "um, i dunno. talk about gowns?"

sweet. at least i know that we're teaching our kids the important things in life. it's super reassuring.

and, if you need me, i'll be in that corner over there, scoping out your clothes and waiting for a bad guy.

st george half marathon

2011-01-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

a bunch of girlfriends and my beloved SIL tonya and i ran in st. george this past weekend. it was awesome. except tonya and i were slightly disappointed at the start of the race that there weren't that many weird people. everyone was normal. which made me nervous that i was the weird one. (seinfeld)

T and i stuck out the proverbial wall and cruised through the finish line at a cool 1:55:something. then we promptly loaded our greedy grubby little arms full of every piece of food available at the finish-line tables. my stomach didn't particularly thank me later, but i didn't care. because a half marathon is WAAAAAY better/easier to run than a marathon. it's, like, more than twice better. half the distance, at least eight times the better-ness. i'm hooked.

here's the whole crew (minus lotti, who's behind the camera). it was glorious weather, and we spent as much time as we could handle in the hotel's hot tub afterward. i lasted about 10 minutes before i started feeling a bit woozy-headed, but a quick dip in the pool solved that no problem.

here's my post-race cartwheel-o-joy. tonya has a pretty sweet one, too, but it's on her camera. nothing better than the feeling you have when a race is done. unless that feeling is "sick." thennnnn i can think of quite a few things better. like...pretty much everything. but i felt great!

it was a perfectly lovely weekend. we laughed, we cried, we consumed lots of delicious calories and shopped til we dropped. not literally but very very close. i have awesome friends.

dinnertime conversation

2011-01-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

layla: mom, i really really want us to have another baby in our family.
me: mmmmm...
layla: maybe you have a baby and you just don't know it!
me: i don't.
layla: how do you KNOW there's not a baby in your belly?
paul: [sets down fork, cocks his head to the side, and smiles] yes, hon, how do you know?
me: because...because... [pull up sweater to show my shirt] ...well, babies make mommies' bellies big. is my belly big enough for a baby?
layla: [pauses andstudies my belly carefully] yeah!
me: [waaaaaaaah] oh.
paul: [snickering] you asked for that one...
layla: MOMMY'S BELLY IS BIG ENOUGH FOR A BABY, CARSE!

aw crap.

dear future self...

2011-01-15T14:45:00.000-08:00

dear future self,

this post is for you when you're sitting in your rocking chair dreaming of yesteryear when the pitter patter of little (and big) feet filled your life. those were indeed great days. they involved lots of giggling, playing, and love. but lots of tears, too. tears and yelling even. and messes. the chronic, encompass-every-possible-available-item messes. remember those? no? here:

if you're still missing the "good ol' days," future self, here's a remedy: simply dump a billion cards from a variety of games onto the ground, smear them around a bit, then pick them up and put them away. wash. rinse. repeat.

enjoy your rocker, future self. please. for me and your younger self's sanity.

takes a few more minutes...but worth it.

2011-01-13T13:46:00.000-08:00

lately i've been making a concerted effort to spend more time with my kids. like, the high-quality "i would absolutely love to stop what i'm doing and build a sweet lego spaceship with you" kind of time. not just the old "i'm making dinner and you're at the table doing homework and isn't this great because we're in almost the same room" kind. even though there's certainly a time and place for dinner to be made and homework to be done. right? right.

what i'm saying is, i'm trying to combat my innate selfishness by either (a) totally hanging out with my kids and doing what they want, or (b) finding ways to welcome/invite/involve them in what i'm doing wherever possible and appropriate. i'm about 32% successful in actually doing this, but i'm working on it!

as you can see by this morning's photo shoot (below) for the ol' clothes blog. the girls really really wanted to be involved. i really really wanted to just get it done. then lightning struck (not literally of course) and i let them join in and we all laughed and took pics and said "cheeeeeeese" to our hearts' content. then they got bored.

it's so simple. and it makes everybody so happy. wish i could remember to do stuff like this (aka, have patience and have fun) more often.

i can't help myself.

2011-01-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

please watch this. please. you'll laugh hardest if you've ever had any experience with byu.

some cute kids

2011-01-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

This post is more for me than for anyone else, but you're all welcome to skim it anyway... My kids are at a suuuuuuper cute stage right now. All of them. Entertaining and sweet and maddening and crazy and giggly.

Carson loves/hates playing with Charlie. He (Carson) gets all crazy and dances in front of Charlie, but then when (not if, but when) Chuck jumps up on him, Carson gets mad. "Charlie, leave me!"

The kids had a super good laugh when I replaced the words to the classic hit "Every party has a pooper" (don't tell me that's not a classic) with "Every Charlie is a chewer." They laughed for a long time and kept singing it amongst themselves. Is it weird that I get a little mommish-warm-fuzzy-proud when I do something silly that they love? Maybe because I know that someday they'll be mature and will only roll their eyes at my lameness. But that day isn't today, and I'm going to maximize my opportunities o' lameness. (See what I mean?)

Layla is adorable, with all her dolls and barbies and stuff. Her imagination is fairy-tale-driven, and every playtime situation that I'm fortunate to overhear involves a girl with (a) a crush on a boy, or (and preferably) (b) a boy who has a crush on the girl but she's too good for him. (???) I sense some broken hearts in her future...and not necessarily other boys'...

The other night, Layla was giving Addie "ballet lessons" which involved holding both arms straight out and galloping sideways from the fireplace to the stairs railing. Over and over again. Layla performed like a champ (not a gracefully light-footed champ, mind you, but a champ nonetheless). Addie got the arms-out motion right, but spent the duration of the lesson in a full-out sprint to the railing or fireplace. Layla was very patient. Addie was very tired afterward.

Addie is fiercely independent. Except lately at mealtimes, when she carries all her food items to either Paul's or my setting and demands to sit in our laps and eat. Which is fine (not really...I just try to tell myself that. It's actually a bit annoying), but have you ever tried to eat salad with a tall toddler on your lap? Not the easiest of feats, and more than a few pieces of stray lettuce and spinach have ended up in her hair.

My favorite thing about Addie lately is how she'll push some button on some toy that makes music and immediately start dancing. Dancing that resembles a small elephant trying to go poop. Sorry, too graphic for you? Well, then just come on over to watch my daughter dance and see what images are conjured up for YOU. You'll see what I'm talking about. But, I must say, it's the most endearing little elephant-poop dance you'll ever see, if that's good for anything.

Carson and Layla have locked themselves in a room lately and played for hours. Pure, unadulturated, laughing, tv-free play. It.Is.Glorious. And endearing. And I pretty much throw candy at them afterward when they ask to have a snack because they're just so cute and nice and happy. (And, lately, I've been loving candy, and that's usually what's within arm's reach when they come ask me...heh...)

Anyway. That's us lately. It's a pretty stinking fun time of life, if you ask me. Which you didn't, but I told you anyways. I'm nice like that.

Christmastime recap

2010-12-29T12:31:00.000-08:00

Forgive the geriatric-esque ramblings, but...seriously? It's over? Already? It seems like just yesterday, after I'd been hiking through waist-deep snow...uphill...both ways... that we sent Paul out to chop down our Christmas tree. And now it's time (three days past time, actually, but I'm a little slow this year) to take it all down.

We did get to go to the Pickleville Christmas play for FHE before Christmas. And it was hilarious--all the kids loved it, even Addie. Highly recommend it; we'll be making it an annual tradition.

Christmas Eve tradition -- wonderful day at the Logan Canyon cabin. Kids went sledding (with cousins...since Paul sprained his ankle that morning playing football), built legos, and decorated gingerbread (aka, graham cracker) houses with note-worthy PERFECT frosting. Best year ever for the icing, if you ask me.

Carson designed & built his own house, with two Santas coming/going down the chimney. Layla carefully decorated hers, then promptly, before the icing dared to harden, began eating it. And Addie added cheese to hers. (Eww. Cheese? Really? Yes.) Cheese and about a bajillion of those pink and white-covered licorice bits (their name escapes me). And she ate about 5 pounds of candy in the house-decorating process. Like any good 2-year-old should.

Kids went to bed at about 7:30 that night. Maybe sooner. And they didn't even get up once, except at about 8:30 Carson got up to tell us to go to bed so Santa could come. Oooh, and at 3 a.m., I guess Layla got up to use the bathroom and came and told Paul that Santa had come... in dreamy-la-la-land myself, I missed the whole conversation. Oops. Woke up at about 7:30 on Christmas Day. I could get used to that kind of schedule.

A perfectly lazy Christmas Day. We hung out in pjs, ate junk, played with presents, watched movies, took naps, and tortured Charlie by forcing him to stay out of the living room.

How did one family get so blessed? I'm very humbled. It was a glorious time and a wonderful year. Merry (belated) Christmas, everybody.

family dinner

2010-12-23T12:55:00.000-08:00

the kids were super duper excited about dinnertime last night for a number of reasons:

(1) i made chicken giardina (sp?) from the olive garden recipe website. (it used to be my very favorite dish at the restaurant, but they haven't had it available in a while.)

(2) it smelled delicious, and the kids were starving.

(3) tablecloth + about 18 lit candles (hello, mr. fire chief? what seems to be the problem?) + all other lights turned off.

(4) goblets...

(5) ...full of soda...

(6) ...but mostly the goblets (caffeine-free pepsi for carson, caffeine-free mtn dew for layla, who announced, "mmmmm! i LOVE caf-free!" what the abbrev? wonder where she got that habit...)

(7) atmosphere of fanciness. and feeling pretty special because it was just for them, just because.

feeling a little sick lately, addie posed for the camera as quite the nugget of joy that you see above.

i sure love these guys.

i love me some addie anne.

2010-12-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

addie loves the temple. like, really. loves everything about it. the other day, at the breakfast table, she announced (for the 2,000th time), "i det may-eed duh tempuh." [did you catch that? if not, translation: "i'll get married in the temple."]

me: mm-hmmm. i hope so, honey.

addie: yes! i det may-eed uh chah-ee. [i'll get married to charlie.]

me: to charlie? no way, silly!

carson [a bit concerned]: addie, you CAN'T marry charlie. you CAN'T! because charlie can't go in the temple. and if you did marry him, you'd have puppy-baby-babies. and that's...[long pause, searching for the right word]...weird.

me: [silent laughter. that's the best reason he could come up with for not marrying a canine?]

addie: oh. otay. i det may-eed duh tempuh, and chah-ee stay outside. i say, 'outside, chah-ee!' den det may-eed. duh tempuh.

sweet. problem solved.

You know he's in love when...

2010-12-19T12:48:00.001-08:00

- when he brings you bright happy yellow roses.
- when he arranges babysitting earlier than expected so you can have more time on your date.
- when he changes his clothes (without complaining) for your date even though he was perfectly comfortable in his t-shirt and jeans and, normally, you wouldn't mind that kind of attire for a date but this time you did.
- when he lets you eat some of his fries.
- when he doesn't gross out at the fact that, in addition to his fries, you've also totally polished off your own food.
- when he lets you take the last bite of dessert. even though you're super duper full (because, you know, from the fries and all your own food) and really shouldn't. but just because it's so delicious.
- when he teases you for wearing flats without socks even though there's snow outside and it's freezing cold.
- when he takes you to wal-mart on a saturday night (it should go without saying how much love that act alone requires) to buy socks so you can go bowling together.
- when he lets you beat him at bowling.
- when he proves to you during game 2 that he actually DID let you beat him during the first game because he's actually pretty good at bowling.
- when you go to an art auction and have the loveliest of times together, laughing and being sophisticated (but not really).
- when he makes you realize, for the bajillionth time, just how much you love him...and not JUST because he let you spend a significant chunk of change on an oil painting that you love.
- when every single activity you did during the course of the evening reinforces his belief that you're beautiful, that you're funny, that you're his best friend, that he'd rather be with you than be doing anything else.

paul, my heart, i love you so. thank you for the best anniversary ever.

Oh, come let us adore Him.

2010-12-14T12:32:00.001-08:00

Last night, Layla sent Paul to find her special soft blanket at bedtime. We looked everywhere and couldn't find it, until...we found it. The foundation of a very carefully arranged Nativity scene.

I'm a little tender-hearted today, you guys. A little weepy, too, after having just learned of a relative & their family in dire circumstances. Lots of young mouths to feed, the father having been taken advantage of multiple times in his attempts at securing a job, the mother being forced to shop at the likes of a second-hand grocery store, rummaging through bins of old food items to find the least rotten ones.

Like in the Great Depression. But today. And family.

As I type this, I find myself tearing up again. For their struggles and very real challenges (can you imagine, truly, not knowing where the next meal's coming from?). For my undeserved mountain of blessings (can you imagine that I still find things to complain about?). For our Savior, who knows all pains, comforts all heartaches, performs all miracles (can you imagine just how much He loves us?).

Come let us adore Him indeed.

under the mistletoe

2010-12-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

carson fashioned this "mistletoe" out of a lopped-off pine branch from our christmas tree. he even punctured holes in each individual "berry" (not sure if they're berries...or where they came from...they could be poisonous, for all i know. sweet. merry christmas, kids.) and attached them one by one. cute, right?

cute, that is, until hearing his insistance that we immediately invite his cousin ella over so he could kiss her under the mistletoe.

we're not in southern utah anymore, toto.

(i'm JOKING, i'm joking. GOSH.)

girlish independence

2010-12-10T21:57:00.000-08:00

awww. look at those girls, a-paintin' away.

really. how many 2-1/2year-olds do you know who can singlehandedly paint their own toenails and fingernails?

oh you know lots, huh. well, what about 2-1/2-year-olds who can also paint their actual fingers...

...AND toes?

well, don't be sad. you know one now. and, i think we'll all have to agree, she's a virtual prodigy.

"can you buleevet!"

2010-12-10T08:45:00.001-08:00

The kids made an awesome sign. I shaved my legs for the first time this week.

Welcome home today, Paul my love.

sometimes they make me smile.

2010-12-09T16:57:00.000-08:00

this morning i wore a new shade of lip color. when i got addie out of her crib and was changing her diaper, she looked at me and gasped, "mommy, i see you!"

me: you do?

addie, in the breathiest voice i've ever heard her use: "yes! you a PINcess!!"

which, naturally, made me smile until a few minutes later when layla looked at me and said, "mom, your face looks different." it wasn't a wow-that-is-a-face-so-beautiful-that-it-doesn't-even-compare-with-anything-i've-ever-seen-it's-so-different kind of different. oh, no. it was the wow-something's-really-weird-but-i-can't-say-her-face-looks-weird-so-i-better-use-the-word-"different" kind of different.

yep, still had to smile.

also, shortly after concluding the blessing on the food tonight, carson realized that he'd forgotten to bless paul on his trip. so he began again, "Heavenly Father, there's something I forgot to ask you..."

i've smiled lots today.

T minus 1 day...

2010-12-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

...until Paul gets back. Our bed has been waaaay too easy to make in the mornings. Flip up a corner, move 3 pillows back into place, and viola.

I've missed him.

Food for thought

2010-12-08T22:29:00.001-08:00

I hosted girls night out (or "in" as the case may be) tonight. Had a little food. Drank a little wassail. Exchanged gifts. Laughed.

And, after they all left, I had a little more food. As you can see. Oops.

Just kidding. Kind of.

2010-12-07T21:14:00.001-08:00

So, I decided this blog isn't the best place for my new clothing-documentation-goal. I started a new blog. Which is kind of weird but also kind of fun.

New blog address: http://adayinlifetoo.blogspot.com/

Check it out. A guaranteed new post with awkward photos of yours truly every day. If a promise like THAT doesn't bring in the truckloads, nothing will.

But this blog will continue to be what it's always been. Including awesome stories like Addie's sky-diving from a tall metal shopping cart and bouncing off her face and flopping over her neck and finally landing on her back. And my heart's stopping while running (unsuccessfully) to catch her in seemingly slow-mo. And Layla's getting out of bed about 58 times tonight to tell me that various parts of her body are hurting. And Carson's taking off his socks immediately uponst entering the house and just as immediately losing them forever. Or at least one of them.

You know. The good stuff of life.

I heart burlap. And redone chairs.

2010-12-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

So, lately I have been LOVING burlap. It's earthy, textural (??), and just all around a get-back-to-your-farm-dust-roots-that-you-maybe-never-had-but-you-feel-like-you-did-when-you're-around-it kind of vibe.

Decided I could use a bit of burlap in a few rooms around here. So I made a table runner for our dining room table. Nothing fancy (obviously! It's burlap!), but I like it.

And.

I've had this chair sitting around for weeks and weeks, getting underfoot and in the way. Finally finished it up today. Yes, it's like the non-identical twin of the rocking chair I did previously. But I wanted it to be this way, because it will work out wonderfully in our master bedroom.

Even so, feel free to call me a one-trick-pony. I'm okay with that.

Neigh.

This is kind of dumb.

2010-12-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

I'll be the first to admit: this is kind of dumb. By the end of it, I'm sure you'll all agree. Dah well.

Before I begin, let me explain myself. I'm trying to get my creative juices flowing. I feel like I've been stuck in kind of a rut lately, where doing the bare minimum of everything is fine. Which, yes, sometimes it is. But I've been noticing that my level of "bare minimum" has started sinking lower...and lower...and lower. And I don't like it.

So. I've decided to begin honing (and expressing) creativity through my clothes. Bear with me, here (or don't, I guess...either way). I don't think I'm cool. I don't think I'm a model (I feel dumb saying that because. Hello. Obvious.). I don't think I'm fashion-forward. In fact, those things are all pretty much opposite of what I am. But what I am (or, was, once upon a time) is creative and one who "makes do." (A job-interview-slant on how to say, basically, that I'm poor. And cheap.)

My Goal: Without spending any money (e.g., using what I have RIGHT NOW), I'm going to go the rest of 2010 by wearing something new and different every day. And, to hold myself accountable, I'm going to take a photo of my outfit each day and post on this blog. Hopefully, that will also help me be even MORE creative!!! MWHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

Ew. Sorry.

Anyway. Taking my "who-cares-make-yourself-happy" inspiration from Addie...

...here's what I came up with today. Pretty conservative. And, yes, that's my beloved scarf. You just might be seeing a lot of it in the coming weeks. Heh.

Ballet - Parent Observation Day

2010-12-06T21:36:00.001-08:00

Addie & I observed Layla's last ballet class of 2010. It was delightful.

The girls were adorable. Especially Lays in the pic below by the chalkboard. Cutie pants, right?

Addie was key in helping me document the event. Took her role very seriously, and we only had to exit the room once for a small tantrum. Not bad, not bad at all.

Lazy Sunday

2010-12-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

Family Pics: Out-Takes

2010-12-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

Took some family pics today. For the ol' Christmas letter. The pic of the whole fam will be forthcoming. But these out-takes are too good to pass up. Seriously.

We started by determining the best indoor setting with kids. Living room it is. Addie's bored by photo #2. A sign of things to come? Don't you worry.

Carson's turn. Layla's turn. Bing bang boom. Done and done, cuteness. They're off to the kitchen for a candy cane reward.

Addie's up. She's less than compliant.

Anyone out there feeling her pain?

Anyone out there feeling MY pain?

Not ONE normal smile from the munchkin. Not a one. Addie. Really?

One million shots later...still going strong.

Regardless of our youngest child's antics...I married the right man.

Happy Saturday, everybody.

Ever feel like you don't belong?

2010-12-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling a little bit odd today. For example, my girls thought their arrangement of rhino/lion/binkie-on-a-washcloth (seen below) was hilarious. See it in their faces? They really did. So very laugh-worthy. I didn't, and still don't, see why it's funny.

Example #2: Looking at these felt stockings I made last year (don't get me wrong, I think they're cute), I started feeling a bit like they (and, in turn, I) belong in a different time period. Like the 70s or something. Is that weird? Not bad, just weird? I tinted the pics to give a sense of their past-decade-ness...and I think you'll have to agree. They would have existed very well 25 years ago.

Anyway. Happy Friday, everyone. I'm tempted to take the kids to Tangled this weekend...anyone been? Yay or nay?

It's a colorful life!

2010-12-02T09:38:00.001-08:00

I got a package in the mail yesterday that included this scarf. Not only is it zig-zag (and you all know how much I heart zig-zag), but it's colorful, long, and fabulous. These self-portrait photos are a shoutout to the Smart sis-in-laws (and anyone else who has happened upon & been entertained by the daybook blog), who will laugh and "get it." The rest of you may be confused, but at least you can see this fabulous scarf!

(Yep, I took these in my bathroom.)

And Addie's colorfulness - inside & out - is cheery.

good, better, best....kind of...

2010-12-01T13:17:00.001-08:00

It's December 1st. I LOVE December!!

Our month started out with a bang, as the kids FINALLY got to open the first door on their lego advent calendar sent to them from Sweden from my parents. Which, by the way, they've been waiting for exactly 18 days to open. And if you think 18 days doesn't sound like a long time....hoo boy....

They were all in such happy, loving, cheerful spirits this morning, making our morning goings-on ridiculously entertaining. [Editor's note: One of my favorite things about having two girls is seeing their total personality differences. Addie is kind of a rockstar tomboy at age 2-1/2. At 4-2/3, Layla is a princess-in-training. Love both.]

And then Layla and her best friend in the universe Emily have been romping outside with Charlie for most of the afternoon. These two girls are the peasiest-peas in a pod. They're adorable and fun. And they LOVE the snow.

Does anyone else remember a super-special childhood friend? I do. Until about 2nd grade, mine was Cassandra. She lived with her gramma across the street from me. Her parents smoked and her gramma made jello jigglers for us in the summer and she had a million paper dolls. Then my family moved away, and the magic of the friendship was lost. But while it was, it was awesome. Anyway. I happen to think every child needs a super-friend who will always live in their hearts in golden-tinted memory. And Emily is Layla's.

because sometimes you just feel like being a monkey grinder monkey

2010-12-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

go jazz

2010-11-30T10:39:00.001-08:00

i KNEW there was a reason we were friends with the mortons.

spontaneous opportunity seized + awesome babysitters secured + sweet lower bowl tickets + pre-game dinner + halftime snacking + great company + jazz victory = a fabulous night.

just because

2010-11-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

because sometimes life's not fair.

because mom's not acceptably sympathetic, so you have to amp it up a bit.

because sometimes you don't want to be left out so you try to fake it...and kind of fail.
just because.

forgive me as i wax sentimental

2010-11-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

but i can't help but feel blessed lately. and it doesn't even have anything to do with the thanksgiving season. well, maybe subliminally.

exhibit A: paul. simply put, he's the best. circumstances have been such lately that i've fallen in love with him all over again, but in ways that are even deeper and more complex than before. he is everything good to me, and i adore him. and it didn't hurt that he let me do this (pic below) for about 4 hours on black friday afternoon (because, yes, i was up with the crazies...but that doesn't make ME a crazy...does it?)

exhibit B: a nutcracker date with layla (pre-date photos below...because the other two munchkins wanted to be included somehow). i'm loving one-on-one time with my kids lately. it doesn't happen often enough, so i cherish each time. layla got all dressed up for the ballet, and when it was all over, she looked at me and asked, "wait, is it OVER? that was too short!" she was spellbound and has since been practicing her moves to one day be the sugar plum fairy.

exhibit C: lazy, happy days. the kids have all decided that charlie is their "brother." i have to scrunch my nose a little bit at this over-the-topness, but they're very gung-ho about it. which is weird, because layla still is terrified of him.

exhibit D: going to church. just because i'm finding joy in spiritual things lately. this isn't always the case, so i'm thankful for it now.

exhibit E: christmas. the little men are sweden's version of santa (kind of). they make me miss my parents.

exhibit F: when i catch my kids giggling. layla was helping carson tie his shoes today, and they were laughing so hard together. makes me all warmish inside...especially when i can reach for our new camera and (kind of) capture the moment.

anyways. color me grateful.

Charlie's Christmas

2010-11-26T09:20:00.000-08:00

The kids have been busy busy beavers lately. Creating Christmas gifts for Charlie, complete with "chewable" felt and shiny ribbon.

Could any of you please break it to them that these gifts, however awesome they obviously are, will simply not work for a puppy toy?

Anyone?

Yeah, me either.

Happy Thanksgiving.

2010-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

I have much to be grateful for. Every day, my list gets longer. As evidence of this, Tom the Thankful Turkey has accumulated many "thankful" feathers, although most are written by the kidlets.

Of note, some of this year's gratitudes include: Charlie (on about 1/3 of the feathers), cake! (what can I say? Addie is her mother's daughter), a job, our family (in one form or another, on about 1/2 the feathers), hand lotion, trees, and Jesus. Not in order of importance, of course.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, from one blessed girl to many blessed others.

Before & After: Rocking Chair

2010-11-24T12:55:00.001-08:00

Found this rocking chair on craigslist for $15. I offered a cool $10 cash and carried it out to my van. It was super scratched up and smelled like smoke. Eww.

I took out the rattan on the arms, did a little French-country paint job, re-padded the seat and back, reupholstered with some great neutral Greek key-inspired fabric (from JoAnn's, of all places! I'm impressed!), and trimmed out the top with some French natural nailhead.

The plan is for this chair to find a home in the girls' room (to be completed before the end of 2010, hopefully). Anyway. There you have it.

i'm a bad bad blogger

2010-11-23T21:35:00.000-08:00

but life has been busy lately. other things have taken priority. but i hope to be back in the blogosphere, if for no other reason than the fact that i need this time in my kids' lives documented!

in my (very weak) defense, our camera is dead. like, really dead. and i ask you: what good is a photoless blog? not that good.

but i fully intend to document great moments we've been having. like when carson was telling a story at dinner last night about when his coat made a "tooting" noise when it rubbed against something, but even after a few attempts in the retelling he still couldn't duplicate the noise correctly. paul put his hand to his lips and masterfully supplied the sound effect. and carson's eyes LIT UP with admiration and he laughed and laughed and laughed at the sound. paul was a little too proud of himself for my taste, but layla's gut-giggles drowned out any of my protests.

and like when the kids and i played toy animals last night, which ended in frogs joining together and somehow trampling an elephant and a black bear at the water hole. and the kids thought the storyline was AWESOME.

and like when addie bumped into me on accident this morning and said in an adult voice, "oh. saw-yee [sorry], mom. i didn't mean to." and when she says "ets-tooz me" after hiccuping because she thinks it's a burp.

and like when layla has spent the last 48 hours in her new princess tiara and is bursting at the seams that the nutcracker performance is only 3 days away, but not even 3 days away, because "we're GOING to it on the THIRD day so it's actually just TWO days!!!!"

and like when paul not only says adorable things (things like, "i'm cognisant of my ear-hair sitch. and i'm on it."), but he continues to be loving and sweet and fun. and funny. i love that he still makes me laugh, makes me impressed, and makes me feel beautiful.

despite the frigid temps and icy snow depths of a huge blizzard today, i can't help but be so grateful. and if my camera worked, i'd show you a pic of our 2010 tom the thankful turkey as an illustration of our family's gratitude.

i'm grateful that we usually have a functional camera.

happy tuesday, everyone.

Before & After

2010-11-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

I mentioned previously that I'm doing some stuff around the house. I'm going to start posting "Before" and "After" shots for your opinions and/or advice on future projects.

We've needed some TV trays for the family room for some time. I got the cherry-painted tray you see below at a thrift store for $2.50. Because I'm obsessed with ziggity-zagness lately, I decided to go that route (our family room currently lacks this fabulous pattern). So, using paints I had leftover from other projects, I spray-painted the metal a glossy navy and painted the tray a gray and white chevron.

Total cost: $2.50

Family Moment

2010-11-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

The World Series really brought our family together this year.

Here's the Smart Family Peanut Gallery for Game 5.

We're sad it's over.

Before I forget

2010-11-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

I picked Carson up from school today. He had this to tell me:

"Mom, some other kids at school today wanted Brendan to EAT poison ivy. But that would KILL him! So I told them that, no, they should NOT make him eat it, but they should just wipe it a little bit on his finger, because that would only make it a little bit itchy and not kill him.

(pause) Mom, I saved his life!!"

Excuse me while I go wipe away a tear of pride.

(By the way, surprisingly, it soon came out that there was actually no poison ivy to be found on the elementary school's playground area, so Brendan neither had to eat nor touch the stuff. *Whew*)

Halloween Grinch

2010-11-03T20:21:00.001-07:00

Forgive the mixed metaphor (if that's what you would call it), but I am a self-proclaimed Halloween Grinch. I spend about 2 seconds on costumes and festive activities for the kids because I've found that they really don't care all that much. It's all about the candy. Which, really, who can blame them?

Regardless, here are the little munchkins. The girls are princesses (changed last minute -- Addie was going to be a bat, and Layla was going to be a witch...they ended up raiding the dressups. Sweet.), and I happen to think they looked adorable. Carson also changed costumes last-minute, from a knight to Batman (an obvious leap, right? Right.). By the end of Halloween night, he had taken off his mask and his cape was pretty much invisible...he looked like a, well, kid. And the girls were cloaked in their coats, costumes totally hidden. But they got the goods, and that's what matters.

And, on a completely unrelated note, tonight's new recipe called for "two large carrots." All I could find were these runts (below). Guess we're going hungry tonight.

color me inspired

2010-10-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

layla's really into doing her own hair lately, soliciting my help only to curl it. for those of you who know my oldest daughter personally, this is a shocker--she has spent her entire life wanting to do nothing with her hair. ever.

as evidence of her new change of heart, she has even modified her bedtime routine to include wetting down and brushing her hair. she parts it horizontally in the back of her head and brushes it all forward. then she carefully brushes the hair hanging in her eyes toward her ears, taking great care that everything (in whatever direction it's pointing) is "straight."

and, yes, the result is every bit as lovely a look as it sounds.

ANYways. tonight in her bedtime prayers, she included this sincere plea: "please help my hair to dry straight in the night."

i tried to hold in a laugh, but...is it wrong that i accidentally snorted?

introducing: charlie the boxer

2010-10-28T19:15:00.001-07:00

welcome to the fam-damily, charlie!

below (clockwise):

(top left) i love this photo on so many levels. it's the first one we took of charlie at home. addie wanted to be apart of things but was very scared (still is), so she's in the pic but is about 10 feet behind. this photo makes me laugh with her little head in the background.

(top right) a boy and his dog. carson's gotten nipped quite a bit the past few days during playtime, which doesn't hurt or anything, but it makes him a teensy bit gunshy to instigate wrestling with charlie now. both (charlie & carson) are learning how to play with one another.

(bottom right) charlie's gotten tons of visitors so far, and he likes every one. these particular kiddos are anxiously awaiting his awakening.

(bottom left) close-up of charlie boy. he looks so sad here, and i think (judging by the whimpering and crying at night...all night...for several nights...) he really was very sad. can't blame him. but i'll say this: i think he's actually happy with us now. he bounds around and follows us everywhere and licks our toes (ew, i know, but kinda cute) and actually smiles with his eyes these days. *whew*

below (clockwise):

(top left) charlie curled up in his crate the first day, cursing us all for taking him away from his mom and eight brothers. (by the by, if anyone in the neighborhood wants a boxer, you should get one of his brothers! they're all cute, good-natured, and helllooo, canine family reunion!)

(top right) cute, sleepy. check out the enormous paws on that puppy! they remind paul and me of carson as a baby--scrawny little thing with eNORmous hands and feet.

(bottom right) a pic of all the boys. (layla and carson think it's so very cool that our family is "balanced" now--3 boys, 3 girls. i just wish layla would accept charlie as something other than a fire-breathing dragon. the girl is a super-phobe. notice she's nowhere to be seen in any of these photos? it's because she locked herself in her room for about 3 days and wouldn't dare come out unless charlie was crated and asleep. she's getting better...mildly. by next halloween, she might be able to walk by him without whimpering...maybe...)

(bottom left) the kids added some "welcome home" decor to the top of charlie's crate before we got him. i thought it was awfully thoughtful and adorable of them.

i'm going to be honest: i've had a few "whuuuuut have we done? i hate this!" moments about the whole dog-ownership thing. mostly those emotions surface when i'm cleaning up the tangible evidence of charlie's existence on the carpet and/or the many middle-of-the-night potty trips outfreezingside and/or his constant nighttime whining. but we're in it for the long haul, and i can honestly say, even as a not-really-an-animal-girl, i have gotten to the point of thoroughly enjoying charlie over the past six days. i'm enjoying training him, playing with him, listening to his scampering paw pads across the floor (he sometimes wipes out on the slippery wood floors, which is hilarious), rewarding him when he's doing/being good (which is often!), scratching him until his back left leg goes thump-thump-thump in appreciation, and just overall learning to love the little dude for what he is.

so, yeah. charlie. he's a cool puppy. i hope to stay on top of training him so he becomes a cool (read: obedient) dog. especially since his dad was 85 pounds. hello.

a month later...

2010-10-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

excuses are futile and pointless. i just haven't blogged. our camera is about dead (and i'm coveting a replacement that's a bit more than our budget would smile upon), my kids are being so fun to hang out with, and fall is in the very breathable pre-winter air.

so we've been busy doing the unimportant-yet-significant: bike rides, reading, building blocks, art projects, knight-protecting-his-princess imaginary play, dinners, original knock-knock jokes (these are quite awesome, as you can imagine), homework, games, TV shows, tag, you name it. life is so good right now.

- below: a very brief sunday photo shoot, at layla's request. can you get over how big addie's getting? i can't. oh, and carson's two front teeth have (finally) begun to pop through. they're not small, people.

- below: carson played (begrudgingly) on a flag football team. if asked directly, he'd say he hated it. but when spied while in action, he seemed to be enjoying himself (although not exactly the cut-throatingest player you've ever seen). every tuesday night, we'd head over to cheer him on. he even scored a touchdown and had some surprisingly heads-up plays. two funny (to me) stories:

(1) after a win, his coach congratulated the team on winning. carson replied, "i'm not here to win, i'm here to have fun." coach: oh, okay. well, then, did you have fun? carson: (pause) "no."

(2) a boy named mitch was the best player on the team. he scored the most touchdowns and did a bunch of good stuff that made our team look better than we actually were. mitch had to miss one of the games, but that didn't stop addie from cheering on the sidelines mid-game, "doe, mits! way dah doe, mits!" she was on auto-pilot and knew that's just what people were supposed to cheer at those games. funny.

no photo below, but a significant event of note: we sold our beloved civic and bought a truck. ford f150 supercrew, seats six. it's beautiful. and enormous. paul drives it every chance he gets. i guess it is slightly more manly than the minivan. either way, we can officially haul our own homeowning junk to the dump now. i think this is some sort of rite of passage into adult-onset homeownership.

- below: (clockwise from top left) layla's private photo shoot with her beloved ruby reds, because they're being thrown away. carson's awesome block building, which, when he happened to see me holding a camera, it reminded him he wanted a picture of it. layla's drawing of a flower and a rainbow sky, which is lost in the photography, but she felt very cool (a) drawing, (b) coloring, (c) framing, and (d) photographing her art. and last is a picture of a christmasy jack-in-the-box a nice man at a garage sale gave to addie. it's even creepier in real life, but the kids love it.

- below: i hesitate to call it an obsession, because it's not (it's not! i swear!), but i've been doing a lot of stuff to beautify our house. i am LOVING doing it. just two small examples are below: painting an old drum shade chevron (i'm obsessed with chevron lately; trendy, i know, but awesome) and sewing some chunky striped drapes, painting my gramma's table chartreuse, and painting and reupholstering some old yucky office chairs. i'm liking the way things sometimes come together.

and, for the record, paul is an exceptionally good sport about all of this and much more.

so, that's what's going on. we're all relatively healthy and pretty happy and are doing our best to combat any last-minute halloween costume overhauls, with mild success.

OH. and check back in this weekend to see what's the newest, awesomest thing of all in our househol. i won't say what it is, but i'll give you a hint: it rhymes with schmuppy.

just call me mrs. mac'n'cheese

2010-09-29T12:01:00.001-07:00

layla has decided, for whatever reason, that i make the BEST mac'n'cheese in the world. she's bragging about it to everyone. when her little friends come over, she begs for mac'n'cheese for lunch. then she'll take a bite, oooh and aaaah over it, and ask her friend,

"does YOUR mom's mac'n'cheese taste this good?"

friend: "um...nope?"

layla: "wanna know why not? becauses MY mom puts CHEESE in our mac'n'cheese. and she puts milk. and...what else do you put in it, momma?"

me: "i just put in what is says on the box."

layla: "but WHAT does it say on the box?"

me: "milk, butter, and cheese."

layla: (to her friend, a wee bit smugly) "yeah, she does milk AND butter AND cheese."

layla takes another bite, closes her eyes, and savors the gourmet-ness of it all.

i'm going to be honest with you all. it's getting hard not to let this kind of flattery go to my head.

a few of my (absolute) favorite things

2010-09-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

one theory why heaven is white

2010-09-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

because the streets are lined with powdered donuts.

if you MUST travel 26.2 miles...i'd recommend driving

2010-09-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

ran the top of utah marathon saturday in 3:41. which beats my goal of about 4 hours, but i'm very very sore now. worth it? not sure yet.

some memories of the day:

PRE-RACE

1. loud jabbering lady on the bus ride up to the starting line (about 30-40 minutes), talking about everything from the benefits of allergy shots to poorly planned races she's run. i hope she saved some energy for the last 6 miles of the race.

2. at the port-a-pottie lines. the door to one of the johns hadn't opened in some time, so one lady took it upon herself to march from the back of the line up to the door, knock, and yell, "IS ANYBODY EVEN IN THERE?" brief pause, then a quiet, "yes." i was annoyed by the lady and embarrassed for the dude. imagine how awesome THAT guy felt coming out of the john.

3. being stopped by some middle-aged guy, who pointed at me and said, "wow. you look really fast." me: [confused] me? i do? him: "yep. i mean, look at you. you've got the body, the whole look, for this race." i was 1/4 proud, 3/4 weirded out. i mean, i was wearing a cotton t-shirt...doesn't he know that REAL runners aren't caught dead in such garb?

4. two different people were showing off their new toe-shoes (or whatever they're officially called) before the race. i'm going to have to pass--i just don't dig stuff in between my toes.

FIRST 6 MILES

1. i was determined to enjoy this race, and so i started out by just listening to random conversations and people around me instead of my music. very interesting stuff, actually, but boring to recount here.

2. some guy had to pee and started climbing up a pretty steep hill on the side of the road (the race follows a canyon road for the first 14 miles). i felt bad for the guy; he must've used up a lot of energy doing that. marathons are interesting that way--you have to make a lot of decisions and trafe-offs on the fly. like, he maybe could've tried to make it to the next mile marker (there are johns at every one), but apparently he decided it would be better/easier to hike a bit.

to each his own.

3. pretty chilly. i kept my long-sleeved t-shirt on until about mile 14.

4. beautiful scenery. really.

5. started feeling a hot-spot on the bottom of my outer left toes. whuuuut. not a good sign. i was wondering if i was subconsciously overcompensating because i'd had a bit of trouble with my right big toe. concentrated on that for a while.

6. forgot to walk through the mile 5 aid station, but i walked through all the rest as per my plan. i think i'll do that for every marathon i run.

7. mile 6 time: about 53 minutes. a fine pace.

MILES 6-13

1. my left toes were really starting to bug me, so around mile 8 i stopped, took my shoe off, and readjusted my sock. it helped a little but not much. figured i'd just have to ignore it.

1b. started listening to tunes around mile 8. why didn't i do this sooner? much better.

2. one guy in front of me was tall and thin, and he wore the SHORTEST teensiest shorts you've ever seen. i got a very real half-moon view with every step he took. ew ew and ew.

3. lots of matchy-matchy runners. i'm not a huge fan, but whatever motivates them is great.

4. i found myself in various degrees of pain already. my right quad, my left calf, my left toes, and others. not feeling my best. i was really really trying to *enjoy* the run, because i knew from experience that all of a sudden it's over. but, frankly, i had a very hard time truly enjoying this race. which is okay, i guess. just one of those things.

5. strong winds near the end of the canyon, which i LOVED. i forgot about "pace" and whatever and just let the wind and downhill slope push me along...i figured that, pretty soon, i'd have to propel myself, so it was nice to let something else push me for a while.

6. i noticed about 90% of the people checking their watches/pacers every few minutes. this was intruiguing to me, because, really, if you're "behind" schedule, is it really wise to start pushing yourself harder at mile 10, when there's still more than half the race left? like i said--whatever works for different people. i just prefer to hone into my own body and run at whatever pace is both possible and wise at that moment. that's one reason i like running so much. my brain and body are totally clued into each other.

7. mile 13 time: about 1:48 (i think). a little too fast, but i credit the wind & downhill forces; i didn't feel i exerted more effort than i use on my regular pace.

MILES 14-20

1. was feeling pretty sluggish and tired. fortunately, i got to see paul & the kids at various parts. it's weird just how much of a boost that gives when you kind of just want to quit and/or die (either one).

2. below: photo of me at about mile 16, when i first saw paul. i was so happy to see him that i had to stop and give him a kiss...til he swatted me to keep moving. "don't stop for me, get going!" his exact words. love him.

3. i was trying to follow interesting people throughout this stretch (and the rest of the race) to keep my mind distracted. there was this super tall, thin kid that kept me company (within about 30 feet) for miles and miles, until about mile 23. he'll never know it, but he was my pacer and became my mental friend. that's a weird sensation, hard to describe, but i kind of internally bond with some runners who stick with me (or vice versa) for a long time.

4. don't really have any uplifting or interesting comments about the rest of this stretch. it was pretty hard, but i just tried to keep listening to my body and going at a comfortable pace.

5. mile 20 time: 2:45 (i think). surprisingly faster than i'd planned on. i calculated that i'd be able meet my 4-hour goal as long as i didn't totally die in the next 6 miles. which, with my having to constantly keep my mental pessimism in check (abnormal for me while running), i wasn't ruling out at this point.

MILES 20-26.2

1. below photos: to my surprise, my father-in-law (who was watching our kids for us, because the finish line is CRAZY) brought the kids down to cheer me on with paul at about mile 21. i needed this SO BADLY. i heard all three kiddos screaming, saw addie waving frantically with her wild hair and happy face, carson jumping up and down (whole-body wave), and layla doing a little bobbing-dance-wave move. i'm blowing them kisses below.

2. i'm waving to the kids below. i wanted to run over and hug them all and was aching to just be done so i could do that.

3. below: i can still hear addie at this point, yelling, "hi, mom!" and "dad, i saw mom! i see heh (her)!" i literally battled an asthma-like attack for the next half mile as i had to keep running by them -- a lump formed in my throat, and i felt my airways closing up a bit. it was very strange; i had to physically work to consciously keep breathing. that's never happened to me before; shows what a fragile emotional state i was in.

4. um, this is kind of getting redundant. sorry. every aid station, i stopped and walked. i guess you could say i hit the wall around mile 21, although it's tricky, because i felt like i hit it mentally around mile 9. this race was a total gut-it-out experience. i wanted to feel magical. i wanted to love it. but i just didn't. it's hard to explain.

5. i remember passing certain spots that i specifically remember the last time i ran TOU and thinking, "i should be feeling pain by now, but i feel great!" that was a little surreal, because i didn't feel great at all this time around. maybe i really should train for-real.

6. below photo: a couple blocks away from the finish line here (it's hard to see, but i drew an arrow to me). i didn't see paul at this point, which is probably good, because i would've wanted to try to smile and give a thumbs-up or something, to fake like i was doing great. it was grueling. i wanted to die.

7. it's kind of funny, now, how mad i look at those two probably-very-nice-ladies standing on the right of this photo. just seeing this brings me pain. but, on a happy note, look how awesome my right bicep looks! thank you, random tree shadow. :)

8. mile 26.2 time: 3:41:39. apparently i'm about a minute and a half off of qualifying for boston. which is cool. gives me something to shoot for next time. if there is a next time...

9. below: done and done. ew on this pic. but what can i say. i'm ready to crawl into a hole and die.

10. did i mention how much i adore paul? because i do. adore him.

there you go. an honest, although depressing, account of my 2010 top of utah marathon experience. i'm a blessed girl to have a healthy body and mind and a supportive husband & family to accomplish something like this.

p.s. my very cool niece, rylee, ran this race as well--her first marathon ever, and she rocked it at 4:03. coincidentally, my friend and neighbor adam smith ran it for the first time and got 4:03 also. way to go, friends!

ode to the week before a long race

2010-09-15T12:35:00.001-07:00

"hydrate hydrate hydrate!" they chant.

"and rest up this week." but i can't!

with all of that water

a-fillin' my bladder

i'm up every 5 so i don't pee my pants.

quick catch-up

2010-09-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

what can i say, september has come in like a lion around here. we've been very busy. who hasn't, really? life is good.

i accidentally just typed "life is goot" above. sometimes that seems more fitting. life IS goot.

ANYways, rather than bore you all with a too-detailed description of what fills our days to overflowing, i thought i'd post a couple of pics instead. you're welcome.

below: carson's first day of school.

"carson, go stand by the school so i can get your pic." first attempt is top left shot, aka "mountain-lion-man." awesome.

for the record: carson is really liking school. i would say he's loving it, but he misses his legos too much to LOVE it. his academic strength thus far is reading. his academic weakness? focusing. the kid is a class-a daydreamer.

below: layla and her bff, emily, are taking ballet. not only are these two girls pretty much twins by nature, but they're adorable to boot. TELL me there's anything cuter than a couple of 4-year-old ballerinas? nope. isn't.

below: odds & ends. whatever. for your viewing entertainment. oh, 'cept carson's is a for-real shot of putting his final touches on his f.h.e. lesson. battle between legos & toy soldiers. the legos (aka the nephites), despite being vastly outnumbered and fighting against captain darth vadar as well, rocked it.

at the risk of sounding cheesy

2010-08-27T06:11:00.001-07:00

sometimes i get frustrated with my body -- size, shape,
too much here, not enough there.

i'll work out.

sometimes i stay frustrated. sometimes i feel better. and sometimes, like lately, i'm downright amazed at what a human body can do, simply because the brain connected to it has decided it will be so.

here's to good health, the gift that keeps on giving.

good luck to all my half-marathoner friends tomorrow!
can't wait to hear about it.