The Tibbs Times

6 Year Old Brad!

2011-10-12T22:00:00.001-06:00

Today my favorite little boy in the world turned six years old. He already had a great party on Saturday, so today we celebrated with pancakes shaped like a 6 and cupcakes for his school class. He is such a fun boy and is crazy smart. He just baffles me with the things he comes up with sometimes. I did a little interview with him tonight and here are some things you should know about Brad:

Favorite Color – Orange (and yellow and blue)

Favorite Food – Pizza

Favorite Animal – Wolf

Best Friends – Micah, Gid and Corbin

Favorite thing to do – Pretend to be an animal and “Go Wild!”

Favorite thing at school – Reading & writing and helping the other kids (his teacher, Ms. DeJoelie, confirms that he helps the other kids a lot)

What he wants to be when he grows up – a Zoologist and a Helicopter pilot

His favorite singer – Shakira (blame me for that one)

Brad is 46 inches tall and weighs 47 lbs. He recently lost his two front bottom teeth (the first one came out at school which made him the coolest kid for the day). He loves school and is doing very well. It’s no surprise that all the girls adore him. One girl’s mom told me she talks about him “ALL the time” at home. It must be the eyelashes.

I LOVE YOU BRAD!

A bunch of the pictures of his “Mad Science” birthday party are posted here.

Brad’s First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-31T21:33:00.001-06:00

Hard to believe that I have a child old enough to go to Elementary School…but today was Brad’s first day of Kindergarten. He is at Newman Elementary and his teacher’s name is Ms. DeJolie and her assistant is Ms. Toni. They both seem like they’re going to be great. He was very excited to start school, and in his usual form was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. He walked right in and sat down with a smile on his face. The thing he was most excited for was, of course, lunch. He was also happy that they got to play on the “Big Kids” playground since when he was in Pre-K they had to play on the little one. He had a great day and was so excited to go back he could barely sleep tonight. I am so excited for him to learn to read and to progress at his other skills. I think it’s going to be a great year for him. Here are some pictures!

While Brad was all smiles, Lucy was pretty devastated. She’s going to miss her big brother and just can’t wait until she can go to school herself.

Lucy is Three!

2011-06-02T21:58:00.001-06:00

On May 21 Lucy Mae turned 3 years old. It sounds cliché but I can’t believe how fast it has gone. It seems like she should still be just a baby, but she’s a feisty little girl with all the attitude and personality I should have expected from a Tibbs girl.

Lucy is such a fun and energetic girl. She sings all the time, making up songs as she plays. Her favorite composition is a song she made up to say sorry where she gets a very serious look on her face and sings very quietly, “I’m sorry I was mean” three or four times. It’s very hard not to laugh. She loves to color and to paint. I hardly have room to display all her artwork. She has a soft baby doll she calls “Baby Lu” that she loves and takes all over the place. Her favorite color is red and she likes to point out things that are her favorite color as well as everyone else’s in the family. She adores her big brother and wants to do everything with him. Every morning she asks if Brad has school and is so disappointed if she hears that he does and they’ll be apart for 3 hours that day. Most of the time Brad is very patient with her but when they fight she holds her own. She’s also very smart and can spell her name, count to 10 (more sometimes) in English and Spanish and knows many of her letters.

Her aunt Jo-Elle and cousin Hailey gave her a darling tutu and t-shirt for her birthday and Lucy wanted her picture taken so we went to the park for a little photo shoot, and here she is at 3 years old.

March and April 2011

2011-05-30T13:08:00.001-06:00

March and April really flew by this year. Joe was out of town for work for a week in March. Having him gone really makes me appreciate him and all that he does to help with the kids. I would not be a very good single mom.

Brad played another little season of indoor soccer…and it went pretty much like it has before. He is a pretty decent goalie, but he hasn’t quite figured out the offense thing yet. He is REALLY good at telling everyone else what to do. I wonder if they have a place for kids to be assistant coaches?

At the recommendation of his Pre-K teacher we had him tested for the Extended Learning Program (ELP) in our school district. When we got the results back I was really unsure of what to think. He scored far above average on their math and reading test and in non-verbal problem solving he was in the 94th percentile (no surprise there). However he didn’t get into the program and it’s probably based on the fact that in verbal problem solving he was in the 30th percentile. It’s hard not to get caught up in what that means, but since I really have no idea what the test consisted of I can’t analyze it too much. Chances are he just wasn’t interested in whatever it was they asked him to do. Anyway, he’ll be going to kindergarten in the fall at Newman Elementary which is where he’s gone to Pre-K. It’s not our closest school, but I really like it there and think he will thrive.

In March I got a very exciting new toy – my Trek Lexa SL:

After riding my hybrid bike around last year and renting a road bike for the Heber Valley ride in September I decided that I really love biking enough to invest in a road bike. Joe helped me pick out this one and I simply adore it. It’s so fast!! The first weekend in April Joe and I went down to St. George for a little get away and rode ALL over. We rode up the bike trail in Snow Canyon which was a blast even though it has some crazy steep hills. I’m not very good at hills – imagine me trying to let go of all my inhibitions and hurl myself down a hill and breakneck speeds where if you hit a rock you just might die – not really my thing. I did get going about 37 mph down one and was pretty proud of myself. It was a fabulous weekend (although apparently I didn’t take pictures).

We had a very festive Easter season this year. The kids were invited to 3 Easter Egg hunts! We’re still eating Easter candy.

Our friends, Shannon and Mac Bludworth, held a massive Easter hunt at their house. Their yard was literally COVERED in candy, eggs and toys. The kids had an incredible time and it was so generous of the Bludworths. They are some of those really good people that you just love to be around. Here’s some pics:

The yard before the kids got to it:

They also got to have an Easter Egg hunt at Mike & Stephanie’s house at a Pitts family party. Bree gave each kid their own color of eggs to find which was fun and challenging for them. Mike had Easter Egg games for the grown-ups too including a relay race where you had to hold an egg on a spoon in your mouth, a game where you had to toss a raw egg back and forth with your spouse and an especially entertaining one where spouses placed an egg between their belly buttons and had to try to roll it up to their necks without using their hands. Since Joe is 1o inches taller than I am our belly buttons and necks are not really in the same place. It was pretty funny.

On Easter we got together with the Larson family at Tenille’s house and had a fun lunch and egg hunt there too. Pictures:

Dad and Tenille:

Nick & Lacy & Jayden

Lucy found one!

Ross

Brad hard at work.

Chelise with a full bucket.

Jack (and Carly).

And Mom and Janet…I think Janet is smoking a pencil.

A friend from the ward, Samantha Behl, needed to do some pictures for a photography class at school so she asked if she could take some of my kids. We went to a local park and she got some great shots – here are some of my favorites:

And one with me:

The only other exciting thing that happened in April was that we lost Lucy at a Utah Blaze (indoor football) game. We were there with the Hughes and Joe and Steve had taken the kids out to play on a small playground they have there. The next thing I knew Joe was bringing Brad back in and saying “I’ve lost Lucy.” I really thought he was kidding at first…but he wasn’t. She had taken off and was nowhere to be found. We reported her to security who (not so) reassuringly told me “Don’t worry, we haven’t really lost one yet.” and within 1o minutes they had found her inside the arena watching the dancers. Brad actually spotted the security man bringing her down the stairs and he and Laura were the first ones to her. I didn’t actually break down until they found her and then my emotions got the best of me. It was really scary not to know where she is and to have all kinds of bad things running through the back of my mind. Luckily all was well and we’ve had lots of talks since then about staying where you’re supposed to be.

February 2011–California and the Happiest Place on Earth

2011-05-29T22:29:00.002-06:00

In February Joe and the kids and I took Joe’s parents and went to California for five days. I have to admit that I was slightly skeptical about the whole Disneyland trip. I was 18 the first time I went to Disneyland and I wasn’t sure that the Disney magic of childhood would live up to all I had heard. Turns out it totally did. We had an amazing time. And I think the kids liked it too.

I took a million pictures, unfortunately a lot of them are saved on our currently malfunctioning hard drive so you get the ones I already had posted on facebook.

The first day that we got there we rented a van at the airport and drove to Huntington Beach. It was Lucy’s first time seeing the ocean and Brad’s first time that he could remember. It was too cold to go into the water but we had fun walking the pier, finding shells and watching some crazy surfers. We also saw a seagull with only 1 food…I should have taken a picture of that.

We spent 3 days going to Disneyland and California Adventure. We stayed at the Desert Palms which was about a 10 minute walk from the parks which was perfect for afternoon naps. It did rain on us a little bit which I guess is the hazard of going in February, however since we never waited in line for more than 20 minutes for any ride I will totally take a little rain.

Kathy and I took Lucy to have lunch with the Princesses at Ariel’s Grotto. It was totally worth the money because the princesses came to our table and talked with and hugged Lucy and she was absolutely in 7th Heaven.

Obligatory teacup shot:

Lucy tells everyone “I was a CRAZY driver!”

And some randomness:

One of the really nice things about taking Joe’s parents with us was that Joe and I got to have some time alone. One of the nights we went to California Adventure alone and rode the “Tower of Terror”. It was a GREAT ride! We both loved it.

It was such a fun trip and I’m so glad we did it. I can see why people go back again and again.

January 2011–Zumba Instructor? Me?

2011-05-29T22:09:00.002-06:00

Beginning in the fall of 2009 I started taking Zumba classes from Jessica Thompson at our local Rec. Center. It’s funny really that a form of exercise based in Latin Dance would appeal to me since I seriously lack in rhythm, but I fell in love with it and just couldn’t stop. In November of 2010 I started toying with the idea of getting licensed so that I could teach my own classes. At first I thought I was crazy, but the more I thought about it, the more I got really excited about it. On January 7 I took the certification class and got my license to teach. I decided to jump in with both feet and taught my first class to an enthusiastic group of family and friends on Martin Luther King Day and then got my real induction the next night substituting a big class of Jessica’s. Since then I’ve started teaching my own classes 4 times a week and I love really love it. I never thought I would be teaching exercise classes – especially ones based in dance, but I guess all those lessons I took starting at age 3 really paid off finally.

Oh! And I have a facebook Zumba page – check it out – www.facebook.com/NatalieZumba

And…..we’re back – Holidays 2010

2011-05-29T21:58:00.001-06:00

I’m not sure why blogging sometimes appeals to me and sometimes doesn’t. I think it’s because I have a desire to have a record of what happens to our family, but I don’t really have a desire to write it. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to want to write itself. So without further ado, here’s some of what’s happened to us in the last 5 months or so:

Joe and I made our third December trip to New York City. It’s awfully convenient that I have to go there for work during such a fabulous time of year. We stayed over an extra day this trip so I got some extra site seeing this year. We had an amazing dinner date at a place called Insieme and also went to the Natural History Museum.

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Brad is old enough to really know what’s going on and Lucy is old enough to be appropriately impressed by everything and to get excited about all the fun. I snapped a few pictures of the kids before church the Sunday before Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we had the Larson side of the family over to our house for dinner. Grandpa Larson had a very good time playing Santa to all the kids. He got Lucy a doll stroller which she had been wanting and got Brad a Pirate Ship playset which Brad has played with all the time, and everyone got some books, so Grandpa did a great job.

Lucy woke up bright and early on Christmas and wanted to get dressed and ready before opening presents. She got very excited about everything.

Brad’s School had a Santa’s Shop where he got to take money and buy presents for each of us. He had a lot of fun with it. He bought me a ring of purple gemstones, he got Joe a “World’s Best Data” paperweight and he got Lucy this:

Brad got a fun set of Hexbugs which entertained all of us.

And Lucy’s big present was a Baby play set that I got a killer deal on at Costco.

That day we met the Tibbs family at Josh and Jo-Elle’s house for our annual gift exchange. Joe and I had to make a homemade gift for Steve and Kathy and I put together a book for them featuring Brad and Lucy as the main stars:

All of the cousins did a book exchange and we had a really nice time.

On Christmas Eve we also made a visit to see the lights at Temple Square. We got some nice pictures of the lights…

But the kids weren’t at all interested in having their picture taken together.

We spent New Year’s Eve with the Hughes family playing board games and eating pizza. I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year…or at least to celebrate the holiday considering we went to bad by 10:00. Overall our holiday season was wonderful and we were very blessed.

New Brad-isms

2010-12-19T16:46:00.001-07:00

I’ll try to come back soon with a good update, because I know I’ve been neglecting my blog, but Brad had two real doozies at church today and I just needed to share.

First, during the sacrament he leans over to me and says "Do they reuse those cups every week?" so I said, "No, the use new ones each time." to which he replies "Well, what do I do if I want to recycle mine?"

Second, in primary they were talking about the 2nd coming of Christ. They were talking about how no one on earth knows exactly when Christ will come again. We do not know, the prophet does not know, etc. to which Brad added, "Not even Obama!"

Yesterday I caught him charging Lucy money from her piggy bank to borrow his toys.

This kid gives me a run for my money every single day.

Scales and Tails

2010-10-17T21:10:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we threw Brad the coolest birthday party on the planet. He had about 12 friends come over and we played games and ate cupcakes and then we had a show put on by Scales and Tails Utah. Shane Richins brought 7 of his closest reptilian friends to our house and taught the kids all about the scaly creatures. He was really quite funny and the kids just loved him.

The tissue balls are a Martha Stewart project you can find here.

I used spray-on food coloring I got at Wal-Mart and a star stencil I just printed off the internet to do the cupcakes.

Brad’s friends were very generous and he got some really great gifts.

We told him this year he had to choose between presents from Mom & Dad or a party and he chose the party. I’m pretty sure he came out ahead.

When Shane got there he set up a back-drop and a little stage area. He made Brad an integral part of the show, having him help introduce each of the animals. Brad was nervous at first, but got more brave with each new one. This was a Pancake Tortoise named, Shortstack.

This guy was a red-footed tortoise named, Fuzzy Wuzzy (who wasn’t fuzzy, was he?). He weighed a lot.

He also brought an alligator scull and talked to the kids about how to tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator, and that both of them make very bad pets.

This lizard looked a little scary with his pointy horns, but he was very tame, even letting Shane tap on his nose without snapping at him.

Shane had Brad dress up in snake wrangler gear before getting out the milk snake. At first Brad wasn’t too sure about the snake…

…but then he decided it was ok.

Which was good because then Shane brought out Naners – a 13 foot albino python. Brad, Corbin and Kennedy were the only ones who wanted to get close to her when she first came out. But Brad got REALLY comfortable with her!

And then everyone got a chance to get up close and personal with the animals.

Lucy wasn’t a bit afraid

And I even got in on some of the action.

It was really a great party and even the kids who didn’t want to touch the snakes still had a fun time. I will admit I may have gone a little overboard on the party, but I think I had as much fun as the kids. It was time and money well spent.

Happy 5th Birthday Brad!

2010-10-12T21:51:00.001-06:00

Today my little Brad turned 5 years old. I’m still a little bit in shock. Just 5 short years ago I was holding this tiny, helpless baby:

And now he’s all grown up!!

He chose pancakes for breakfast and I told him I would make them in shapes, thinking he would choose a “B” or a “5” but no, he wanted a bat…it was a bit of a challenge.

He also got a few presents…but I’ll be honest, they were all from the dollar store because we’re paying for a party this weekend.

Brad is such a fun kid. He has a great sense of humor and usually the only time he gets into trouble is when he forgets he’s a kid and not an adult. He is an amazing big brother always taking care of Lucy and playing with her. He is really loving Pre-K and is learning a lot despite the fact that he still says they don’t “teach” things. Lately we’ve been having a lot of fun playing board games together like Candy Land & Hi Ho Cherry-O. It’s really fun to play games with him that I loved when I was his age.

I thought for his birthday that I would share a book that Brad wrote in Pre-K last week. He drew the pictures and dictated it to one of the teachers in his class. It’s called “Dragons Begin” Enjoy!!

Better luck with the Pirates

2010-10-07T18:34:00.001-06:00

Some of you may remember our experience with Brad playing soccer last year. It was a bit frustrating (to put it mildly). Brad was totally uninterested in playing and our little team was horrible, but we couldn’t quit because Joe had come the de facto coach. Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical when he said he wanted to play again this year, but he did a short season of indoor soccer over the summer and that went well, so we decided to let him play again. He’s doing much better this year with The Red Pirates (they let the kids pick the name). He seems to understand the game a lot more and he’s actually become quite a good little goalie (which is the position he really likes). He also has a friend from church, Kennedy, on his team, and one kid from his class at school, so I think that helps. Another thing that helps is that we have 2 kids on the team named Ricardo and Ramon who are REALLY good, so we’re not getting our trash kicked every game. I know that shouldn’t matter, but...It’s not fun when the entire game is spent going back to mid-field to kick off because the other team scored again. I try not to be so competitive…really I do!

Anyway – here are some pictures from last night’s game.

Waiting for the game to start

In this shot Brad was getting tired of waiting and started spinning on the field…that did remind me of last year.

Action Shot:

Checking for a skinned knee

Protecting the goal

Brad has decided that screaming his “Pterodactyl Yell” at the other team as they come toward the goal is good defense. It actually works quite well.

Lucy cheering “Go Brad!”

And this is my favorite – doing a somersault to celebrate a goal

The Call

2010-10-06T22:06:00.001-06:00

Disclaimer: This post is probably going to use a lot of Mormon jargon. I’ll try to put a little glossary at the end for those of you who aren’t familiar with all the terminology.

I knew before I married Joe that I was going to have to share him with a lot of people. The fact is that the man just has a lot to offer. He’s smart, funny and incredibly at ease in talking to pretty much anyone about pretty much anything. I was sure that his skills would be put to good use within his job, our community and most of all our church.

Shortly after we moved to this ward Joe was called to be the Young Men’s President. He’s been doing that for about 4 years now. It’s a pretty big time commitment. He has meetings on Sundays, activities one night a week and often on the weekend plus camping trips a few times a year. He’s been REALLY good at it. I think all the young men in our ward have really come to love him and to see through his example why it’s important to stay close to the gospel and to work hard and do what’s right. Of course, any time you’ve gotten really good at something and really comfortable, it’s time to move on.

A few weeks ago our Stake President stood up in sacrament meeting and announced that the next week they would be reorganizing our bishopric. The current bishop had been serving for over 6 years, which is a pretty long time for a bishop around here. I immediately thought that this reorganization would probably include Joe in some way, but I think he thought he was home free because no one had asked to speak to him yet.

We were on our way out the car after church when the Stake Secretary literally chased us into the parking lot and said that the Stake President wanted to see us Wednesday night. 3 days was a long time to wait and speculate, however when we finally got there they asked Joe to be the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric. Of course he said yes. That’s what he does.

So the big change happened the week before last, but I still don’t think we have much of a concept of what it really means. I know it means more meetings, more assignments and most of all more responsibility. I have total faith that he’s going to do an amazing job. That’s who he is.

Oh – I should probably add that while we were talking to the Stake President he literally said, “By the way, since you’re here…” and asked me to be the Stake Primary Secretary. I’m going to be doing that in addition to the Primary Music in my ward each week. I’m looking forward to getting to know more people outside the ward and to learning some new things.

We have always said that we choose to live in this area because we feel like we are where we’re needed. I know the Lord will bless us as we take on these new responsibilities and I’m grateful for all the support we’ve already received. It’s going to be a new and exciting chapter in our lives.

Ward - A group of Church members who attend church at the same time in the same building, similar to a congregation.

Young Men’s President – the Ward leader who is specifically responsible the young men ages 12 – 18.

Call/Calling – In the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints we have a Lay Ministry, meaning basically that the members are called to lead the church and volunteer to do so without professional training or pay.

Stake - A collection of wards (the actual number varies widely depending on the area) that represents a distinctive geographical area.

Stake President – The man with the primary responsibility of leading and organizing the Stake.

Sacrament Meeting – Sunday worship service

Bishopric – The leadership of the Ward consisting of a Bishop and 2 Counselors.

Primary – church organization for children under 12

If you have more questions check out mormon.org

Heber Valley Half Century

2010-10-06T21:32:00.001-06:00

On September 25 Joe and I rode in the Heber Valley Half Century bike ride. We rode 58 mils through Heber & Midway, up to Summit County, through Kamas and Francis and back to Heber. The map says 56.69, but somewhere we picked up an extra 1.3 miles. It was a serious challenge, but we had a lot of fun and I’m really glad we did it.

Heber 50 Mile Route
Find more Bike Rides in Heber Cityt, Utah

This ride was much more difficult than any ride I had done before because there were some MAJOR hills. Joe’s ride tracker said that we gained a total of 38oo vertical feet! The biggest hill was going up highway 32 from Heber to the Jordanelle Overlook. The hill was about 4 miles long and at times it has an 8% grade. If you don’t know what that means let me just say that it’s steep enough for them to put up signs warning trucks of how steep it is. I will freely admit that twice on that hill I made Joe stop just so I could catch my breath. I did however make it to the top.

And I was still smiling.

Joe also had to wait for me at the bottom of that hill too, because I was not willing to go 45 miles an hour and risk killing myself. We all know I have control issues.

One fun feature on this ride was that they include a “Biathlon Option.” When we got to the first rest stop at Soldier Hollow where the Olympic Biathlon was held, we got to hop off our bikes and do some target shooting. It was fun!

Oh, I also have to mention that I totally fell over in front of like 100 people about 1o miles into the ride. There was a lot of traffic (bikes and cars) going up to Soldier Hollow and we had to stop at a stop sign and I unclipped my right food from my bike, but I was leaning left and just fell right over. I was SO embarrassed. People were rolling down their windows to ask if I was ok. Nothing hurt but my pride.

Joe and I had 2 free nights at the Westgate Resort in Park City (because we once wasted 3 hours of our life listening to their time share presentation) so we made a weekend of it and Grandma and Grandpa Tibbs took the kids. We had a really great time and it was a lot of fun to do a long ride like this together. Joe was very patient with me and only really left me behind on the downhill portions.

Maybe next year we will ride the century course (100 miles). But then again…58 seemed far enough.

And so it begins…Pre-K

2010-08-31T21:37:00.001-06:00

Warning – this will be the obligatory first-day-of-school post. I don’t want my child to be the only one in the blogoshpere neglected.

We’re lucky to live in an area where there is a district run Pre-K program. I knew as soon as I found out about it that we wanted Brad to participate. While he’s highly developed when it comes to social skills, he’s just not interested in having Joe or me sit down and teach him anything about letters or numbers. I was hoping an actual classroom environment might be better. I guess we will see.

Brad is going to an elementary school about 5 minutes drive from our house. It’s not our local school, but it’s closer to our day care provider’s home and she’ll be picking him up most days, so it was the best option. Of course I had to practically sign my life away to get the district to approve him to go to a different school. I had to make 4 different phone calls and appear in person – twice. I just kept reminding myself that I’m going to have to deal with these district people for the next 16 years so I better be patient.

On Friday I went to the orientation and met his teacher. Her name is “Mrs. Keri Lynn” and she may be the nicest person on earth. Of course she must also be a tiny bit crazy to want to spend several hours a day with a room full of 4-year-olds. Yesterday Brad and I went together for a “visit” day where he got to meet the teachers and the other kids and see what it would be like. He had a great time and was very excited to go back today for his “First Day of School.” I walked him into the classroom this morning and he smiled at me and said, “Bye Mom.” and went to play. I am glad there was no tearful scene, but I must admit I was a little sad to be letting him go. Even though he’s been in day care at least part time since he was 3 months old, this is the first time I’ll be turning him over to someone I didn’t personally choose and in to an environment where he’ll be judged on how he acts and the things he does might affect his future. It was not the easiest thing I’ve ever done.

When I picked him up he told me he loved it. I asked him his favorite part and he said “playing on the playground” which is typical. I asked him if he made any friends and he said “no” but when I asked him if he met some people he thought he would get to be friends with he said, “Yeah, all the little girls.” I guess that’s typical too.

I also asked Brad what he learned today and he said, “Well, they don’t really teach us anything.” I have a feeling that they just do a very good job of hiding the teaching inside of other activities. Either that, or the parents and the district are all wasting a lot of time and money!

Anyway – here are the pictures of my grown up boy!

Lucy is still not sure if she likes the idea of Brad going anywhere she’s not going. She has never spent this much time away from him! Hopefully it will be a good learning experience for her too.

Bilingual?

2010-08-06T19:04:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we were in the car and Lucy randomly counted to six in Spanish. I’m pretty sure she can’t count to six in English. It made me feel a lot less guilty about the amount of time I let her sit in front of the television watching Diego and Dora. Since our neighborhood is predominantly Spanish-speaking I’m hoping my kids will both learn to speak it and I can benefit vicariously. I’ve been doing Zumba for 10 months now and still don’t have a clue what any of the songs are about because they are all in Spanish…of course somehow I don’t think that I’m going to learn the words of popular workout music on Diego. Maybe I’ll have to start watching MTV America Latina.

The Neighborhood “Cleanup”

2010-07-29T14:21:00.003-06:00

Every summer Salt Lake City runs the Neighborhood Cleanup program. It’s called the Neighborhood Cleanup but it should really be called “The 3 Weeks of the Year That You Are Allowed To Throw All Your Crap On The Side of the Road and No One Can Tell You to Clean It Up.” I HATE the Neighborhood Cleanup.

As pickup truck owners, Joe and I make fairly regular trips to the city dump in order to dispose of anything too large or heavy to put in our regular garbage can. I recognize that it might be hard for some people to do that and so I understand why the city has the Neighborhood Cleanup. The idea is that people can dispose of large items easily and for free. What I do not understand is why people think that means that they can throw their regular trash out in front of their house and ignore it. Residents are allowed to start putting their piles of crap (which is the nicest word I can use on this G-Rated blog) out in front of their house up to 10 days prior to their designated pick up date and then the City usually doesn’t get it pick up until several days after that date, so for 2 – 3 weeks every summer it looks like I’m living in the streets of some 3rd world country without organized trash disposal. I HATE the Neighborhood Cleanup!

There are rules about the cleanup. The postcard sent by the city says things like:

Do not block traffic, fire hydrants or sidewalks
Keep piles away from light poles, mailboxes, trees, or other fixed objects
Pile Size may be one dump truck load of material (apx. 20 ft. long x 5 ft. wide x 5 ft. high)
Separate green waste from your other cleanup pile
Tires or Household Hazardous Waste such as paints, oil, flourescent lights, batteries, electronic waste, etc. will NOT be removed.

If people would follow these guidelines then I would probably just dislike the Cleanup. As it is, people show a blatant disregard for all regulations (another thing I HATE).

Instead, this is what really happens:

Like how they have separated the “Electronic Waste” from the green waste?

I’m pretty sure some of that would fit in the garbage can.

This is ok, but I don’t want to know how that happened to the couch.

These people wanted a pile just because everyone else had one.

I don’t even know what to say about this one…where did they have all that stuff?

No parking…unless you are a mattress, an upside-down couch or an empty fridge-pack of lemonade.

This is nice green waste, but I’m pretty sure it’s pushing the 1 dump truck load rule.

In case you want to eat breakfast and open your mail out front. Oh, and then just leave your trash on the couch.

Unidentified furniture items…another television…more trash on the ground…see a pattern?

And all I can say about this one is…wow. Just wow.

I did see a few nice neat piles like this one:

And I like how the throw pillows are arranged here in case you want to have a seat:

But for the most part, the piles just make me sick.

I realize that by driving around my neighborhood with my camera and then posting these pictures I’m taking the chance that one of my neighbors might see their own pile here and get offended…if that’s you I’m sorry. I don’t mean to offend anyone, and I really have no problem with people putting out some old carpet or large furniture. Oh, and if you are offended, DON’T THROW YOUR TRASH IN THE STREET!!!!! Thanks!

Produce Problem Solved!

2010-07-18T15:20:00.001-06:00

I don’t like fruit. It’s mostly a texture thing. I can tolerate a very crisp apple, but the thought of biting into a peach or a banana makes me gag just a little. I make myself eat from sometimes anyway – because it’s good for me. I’m pretty good with vegetables though. Especially if they’re covered with butter or cheese sauce. ☺

Despite the fact that I’m not big on fruit, my family really likes it – which I’m glad for. Maybe my kids stand a chance. Lately I’ve been really disappointed in the produce available at my local supermarket. They don’t have very many options and what they do have is just old and sad looking. Luckily Jen, a friend of mine, told me about Bountiful Baskets. BB is a volunteer Co-Op which specializes in fresh fruit and vegetables. For $16.50 (including the $1.50) you get a huge basket of produce each week.

How it works: You order online on Monday/Tuesday (depending on your location) and select your pick-up location. Then on Saturday morning you show up with your basket or box and take home your fruits and veggies! I’ve been so happy with the quality and while a few of the things we’ve received might not be what I would have picked out on my own (white asparagus anyone?) I kind of like that it pushes me out of my comfort zone and makes me learn to cook and eat new things.

I should note that for $16.50 you get a TON of produce. They say that on average you receive $50 worth of food. It’s more than my family of four can eat in a week so I’ve been coordinating with my Sister-in-law, Jo-Elle, and splitting it. It’s nice that way because I only have to get up early to pick up the food every other week. Bountiful Baskets is available in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Texas, Arizona, Nevada & Washington so check it out at www.bountifulbaskets.org. Their website is a little confusing so if you have questions let me know!

This is the produce I got this week – remember this is HALF of what came in the basket (Except that there was just 1 pineapple which Jo-Elle was nice enough to give me). There are bananas back there behind the grapes and that is a mango in front of the squash. The stalks in the middle are white asparagus. Any fun ideas about what to do with that?

My New Favorite Mash Up

2010-07-03T12:13:00.001-06:00

When I was in junior high one of my favorite movies was the Disney musical Newsies. My friends and I all thought Aaron Lohr was “super cute” and I’ll admit that when I see Christian Bale I think first of him singing “Santa Fe” and secondly of him clad in black armor with bat wings.

I recently saw this Newsies/Lady Ga Ga mash up posted over at Rage Against the Minivan and I just couldn’t resist posting it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Taco Seasoning

2010-06-16T20:58:00.001-06:00

Up until a few months ago I always seasoned my taco meat using this:

That’s just what I did. It’s how I learned to make tacos growing up and to be totally honest with you it never crossed my mind that I might be able to do it without the brightly colored envelope. Then one night I was making tacos and realized I didn’t have the oh so essential seasoning packet. After a brief moment of panic I decided to turn to Google and ask the all knowing “Internets” what to do. Turns out that packet is just filled with a bunch of stuff I already had in my pantry. I’ve tried a few different recipes since then and finally came up with a combination of stuff I like. Here it is – enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if you like heat)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Just brown 1 lb meat (I use ground turkey) and drain the fat and then add in about 1/2 cup of water and the seasoning and let it cook for a few more minutes. I promise it’s even better than the stuff in the envelope!

Yes, I lost it.

2010-06-06T22:14:00.001-06:00

I’ve been debating for a while now about writing this post. I don’t want to write a post about how I look…but people keep saying “You look so great! What did you DO?!?” so I guess I should probably write something about what I did. Warning, this is probably going to boring. Feel free to quit now.

On September 1, 2009 I woke up, took a shower and went to my closet to find something to wear to work – a process which was always sure to put me in a foul mood. Nothing fit. Nothing looked good. I put on a pair of pants that should have fit (they were a size 12) and they were tight. I was so frustrated and just DONE.

You see, I got married in 2001 and by 2004 I had gained about 20 lbs. That was on top of the 1o lbs I gained after high school. I’ll be honest, I just ate whatever I wanted. I figured I could work out a little harder and everything would be ok. I’m sure (SURE) I was just about to do something about my weight when I found out I was pregnant with Brad. At that point any ideas about weight loss went out the window. I had a good pregnancy with Brad and didn’t gain much weight. Any time the doctor checked my weight she would say “Well, you were a little ahead of the game to begin with.” Ouch.

I was one of those lucky women who loses weight while breastfeeding and Brad nursed like a champ so I was able to get back down to about 18 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight a few months after he was born. I pretty much ate whatever I wanted again. I’m pretty sure that’s a trend there.

Just when I started thinking I should lose those extra 15 lbs, I found out I was pregnant with Lucy. Another good excuse right? It was another good pregnancy and my weight was pretty good, although I looked like a stuffed sausage at the end there. Unfortunately for me, Lucy wasn’t quite as good at nursing as Brad was, but by that time eating whatever I wanted was a way of life.

~Fast forward back to September 2009 and my too tight size 12 pants~

I decided right then and there that I needed to lose some weight. I figured that I could take off a few pounds and fit back into my pants and all would be right with the world. I knew quite a bit about health and nutrition, because I had taken several related classes in college, but I had never really put them into practice. I knew the basic equation to losing weight was to burn more calories than you ate. I was really lucky that an online friend had recommended myfitnesspal.com for calorie counting and I remembered the site. This turned out to be key.

My Fitness Pal is a website which allows you to quickly and easily track all the food you eat and the calories you burn (and it’s free!!). It’s amazing what an eye opener it is to know how many calories are in the food you eat. Add that to the fact that I just didn’t want to have to record that I ate an entire bag of cheetos, and I found the website to be really helpful.

The main plan I followed was to have a daily net calorie intake of about 1475. Net calorie intake means that if I burned more calories than I normally would through exercise I also ate more calories. This helped me feel full and have enough energy to go through my day and to keep exercising. Quite often I hear about people cutting down to 1200 calories a day, but that was way too low for me and I found I was still able to lose very quickly at 1475.

Next I cut out fast food and soda. That was a really big deal for me because there have been some times in my life where I was eating fast food as many as 10 times a week and drinking more than 50 oz of diet soda a day. That just makes me sick to think about now! Cutting out the fast food proved to be a lot easier than I thought it would be – it just took more planning. Quitting soda on the other hand was really hard. I replaced my morning caffeine with Crystal Lite On The Go “Energy” mix and I still drink one of those every day. Someday I’d like to quit caffeine completely, but today is not that day. By cutting out soda I was also able to increase the amount of water I drink. I shoot for at least 64 oz a day and usually drink more than that.

About a month into my “lifestyle change” I discovered Zumba. Zumba is a type of aerobics designed around Latin dancing. I am NOT the most coordinated person and I have never done Latin dancing, but I LOVE Zumba. It’s so much fun that the hour goes by quickly and I burn 500-700 calories every class. I go once a week to the class at the local Rec. Center and I’m still not super coordinated but I love it so much I don’t care.

In addition to doing Zumba once a week I also hit the gym 2 other times. Generally I do a 10 minute warm up on either the Stairmaster or the elliptical and then I do about 30 minutes of weight lifting. I really like the Body for Life weight lifting program which is to do sets where you increase weight and decrease reps each time. I usually do upper body one day and lower body the other. After weights, depending on how much time I have that day I’ll go back and do 20 – 30 more minutes on a cardio machine. I never had to work out or exercise more than 3 times a week the whole time I was losing weight.

Sticking to the routine described above I was able to lose 20 lbs in 3 months. Ironically, I reached my goal weight the week of Thanksgiving. I felt great and had so much more energy than before. I started getting comments on my appearance from friends and co-workers and was thrilled when I got to buy size 8 pants and a SMALL sweater for my holiday party at work.

Over the next 3 months I continued to eat well and exercise and dropped another 1o lbs and 2 sizes. I was honestly shocked by the additional loss since I now weigh less than I did in high school. At that point I settled in to what I believe is my “healthy weight” and I have now maintained that for another 3 months. The day I walked into Ann Taylor and bought a size 4 skirt and top I almost dropped over dead. I have NEVER been a size 4 in anything. I can honestly say I feel healthier, stronger and happier with my appearance now than I ever have before. Who would have thought that would happen at age 32?

By losing weight at a slow, steady pace, through a healthy diet and exercise, I truly feel like this is something I will be able to maintain throughout my life. The irony of the whole situation is that I decided to lose weight because nothing in my closet fit. I now have the same problem, however I’m much happier to need a new wardrobe because everything is too big than I was when everything was too small.

I should also mention that I had a companion on this weight loss journey – my sister Tenille. Tenille has lost over 40 lbs and looks amazing. We have encouraged each other along the way, and I’m sure that a healthy little bit of sisterly competitiveness has helped too. In fact, just yesterday Tenille and I completed a fitness milestone together. We rode 33 miles in the Little Red Riding Hood bike ride in Logan, UT. We had such a great time. It was hard, but so much fun and totally worth it. We’ve already decided next year we’re doing the 57 mile ride. I can’t wait!

Zion National Park

2010-05-25T22:19:00.001-06:00

Even though I have lived in Utah for pretty much my whole life, I have visited very few of the state and national parks. We have so many here and I decided it was about time to start taking advantage of them, so Joe and I planed a 3 day trip to Zion National Park and went this last weekend. I have to say I was not disappointed in any way. The vivid color of the mountains and the peace of being in nature there was just amazing and I loved every minute (well…almost).

We left after Joe got off work on Thursday and drove down to Cedar City to spend the night. I have to say that I don’t know what parents did before portable DVD players, because our kids would have been a nightmare. As it was it took them like an hour to fall asleep after we got to the hotel, even though it was late because they were just wired. (Side Note – I have to give a quick shout out to the Best Western Town & Country in Cedar City – it was VERY nice and a we got a great price. The room was clean and new looking and they had a full breakfast included in the price. If you ever have to stay in Cedar City I would highly recommend it.)

On Friday morning we drove east out of Cedar City and took the scenic route to come into Zion through the East Entrance. This gave us the chance to see some of the unique features of that side of the park. The colors are so rich and it was just a wonderful ride. We drove all the way through the park and checked in at our hotel in Hurricane (which I will not give a shout out to…) and then had to go swimming because that’s pretty much the only thing Brad wanted to do on the whole trip. We discovered Lucy has basically no fear of water, which is not really a good thing. Then we went out for pizza and let Lucy open her presents because it was also her birthday! It was even more impossible to get the kids to bed that night. They are both so used to being put to bed in their room with the lights off and the door shut that being in a room with everyone else was just too much. They did eventually fall asleep about 9:30 and I think Joe and I were asleep right after that.

On Saturday morning we had signed up for a 2 hour guided bus tour of Zion Canyon with one of the park rangers. It was a great way to get our first look at the canyon because the ranger, Rosalie, told us all kinds of interesting facts and stories that we would not have heard on our own. The ride was a little long for the kids and by the end Lucy was saying “No stay with the group!” but Joe and I were both really glad we did it.

From April through October no cars are allowed into Zion Canyon – you have to take one of the shuttle busses that are run by the park. Before we went I was a little worried about that, but once we got there I understood why. The canyon is only about 8 miles long and it’s very narrow – just one lane of traffic each way. Apparently before they started the shuttles there were cars and RV’s everywhere and you couldn’t even get through. Now there are just the busses running every 8 minutes or so and it’s very efficient and peaceful. I honestly can’t imagine it any other way.

After lunch of PB & J’s on Saturday we started out on a hike to the “Emerald Pools” which are 3 different pools you can get to in just under 3 miles round trip. Joe carried Lucy in the backpack and Brad managed to hike the whole way (not that he didn’t complain, because believe me, he did. We just kept telling him how tough he was and that not may 4 year olds can do a 3 mile hike and that kept him going). The hike to the first pool was pretty quick and easy but to get to the middle and upper pools you have to hike up what amounts to irregular stone stairs. It was fairly steep but the scenery was so beautiful and when we got to the upper pool it was totally worth it. The colors there were just amazing – really like nothing else I’ve every seen. Because there is a lot of snow run-off right now we saw 4 or 5 different waterfalls and were able to hike through their spray. Such a great hike!

That afternoon we had to go swimming at the hotel again (ask Brad and he’ll tell you that was his favorite part) and then Joe had the idea to have a cook out at one of the local parks. We picked up some hot-dogs and chips and some marshmallows for roasting and hit the park where the kids played while we cooked. It was a great evening and a low cost way of doing dinner on the go. The kids also tired themselves out and went to bed much better that night.

Sunday morning we got up early again and hit the park by about 8:15 to ride our bikes up the canyon. Because only the busses are allowed on the road it makes a great place to bike. The first 3 miles or so were pretty difficult because of the incline, and at one point I made Joe stop so I could just catch my breath, but after that it leveled out a little and the rest of the canyon was great. It was 7.8 miles from the visitors center to the end of the road at what’s called the Temple of Sinawava (the whole canyon circles around two columns which represent the alter to Sinawava) and it took us a little more than an hour. Not very fast, but we were pulling the kids uphill! We took a break and went on a little walk along the river there and then headed back and I can say that I really enjoyed the ride down the canyon more than the ride up. It was an incredible place to be able to ride. It was so peaceful and the grandeur of those mountains is just breathtaking. We were out early in the morning in the crisp cool air, and it was perfect. I wish I was more poetic because I just can’t do it justice. It truly makes you think about God’s love for us in providing such a beautiful world for us to live in.

Anyway, we drove home Sunday afternoon and stopped in at Joe’s parents house for a little break before hitting the last 60 miles into Salt Lake. It’s wonderful to live so close to places like Zion so that we can do it in a weekend. I’m really looking forward to more of these quick trips now that the kids are getting older. I guess as long as the hotel has a swimming pool the kids will enjoy them too!

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures, but I posted the rest of them on Facebook. You can view the album here.

Lucy Mae is Two!

2010-05-25T21:01:00.001-06:00

On the 21st of May our little Lucy turned 2 years old! We were on a little vacation to Zion’s National Park (which I’ll write about later) so I didn’t get to post on that day, but she had a great day. Here are a couple cute pictures of her opening her presents at the hotel:

(Of course Brad is right there to “help” her)

Lucy is such a fun and happy little girl. She laughs and smiles and sings all the time. She sings “Follow the Prophet”, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and of all things “Good Morning Baltimore” but she just sings “Oh Oh Oh, look at my hair!” over and over again.

She loves Brad so much and wants to do everything he does. She copies what he says and follows him around like a shadow. So far he seems to enjoy her most of the time and doesn’t mind her tagging along.

On the flip side, Lucy is also very stubborn and likes to do things HER way. The thing that drives me the most crazy is when she just whines instead of actually speaking and saying what she wants. For some reason she thinks if she just whines enough I’ll figure it out. She also likes to be the queen of the castle and order people around. Earlier tonight she was sitting at the table saying she wanted her binkie and I told her to go find it. She said, “No, Mommy go find my binkie.” I told her I was busy doing dishes and that she should go find it and she said, “No, I’m busy eating my snack". Gotta love it. (I did not go find it for her by the way, she can think she’s the queen, but really she’s only the princess and things always go the queen’s way).

When we got back from out trip on Sunday night Lucy decided she wanted to sleep in the toddler bed instead of the crib and has been in the “big girl bed” every night since. I’m hoping at some point she’ll give up the binkie just as easily if I let her do it on her time.

Two is such a fun age and I look forward to spending this year watching Lucy grow and develop her personality even more. I love her so much and can’t imagine our little family without her smile.

Here she is with the cupcakes she took to daycare for her birthday treat – Happy Birthday Lucy Mae!

My Nana’s Diamond

2010-05-14T22:34:00.001-06:00

My Nana (my mother’s, mother’s, mother) was an amazing little woman. She was born in January of 1900 and live do be 97 years old. Having seen nearly an entire century gave her an wonderful perspective on things and she had this way of making everyone she came into contact with feel accepted and loved.

When I was little I always looked forward to going to Nana’s house because I knew she had a candy jar and she would offer me a piece as soon as I came in. She had a display case full of figurines and music boxes from her travels all over the world and I would sit in front of it looking at all the knick-knacks for what seemed like hours. She would tell me stories about the places where she got them and the people she met. Her home overlooked the entire Salt Lake valley and I looked forward to walking out on the balcony and taking in the view. Visiting her was always very special.

Nana was five feet tall, although she always claimed that when she was young she was 5’6” and that she had shrunk. She was very healthy and happy until nearly the end of her life and she was an important part of mine.

When Nana died, my grandmother, Nadine, inherited Nana’s wedding ring which Nana had worn along with her husband’s on a chain around her neck when it would no longer fit her finger. One day just after Joe and I had announced to my grandparents that we were going to get married my grandmother asked to talk to me. She asked me if I had an engagement ring and I told her that we had not bought one yet. Joe and I had both just recently returned from missions for our church and we didn’t have a lot of money. I was not really interested in having us go into debt for a ring and we hadn’t decided what to do. My grandma then told me that she wanted to give me Nana’s diamond for my ring. I was completely overwhelmed by the gift. Not just because of the monetary value, but because it meant I would always have something to remember my Nana by. Joe and I were able to pick out my ring and Nana’s diamond was mounted in it – giving me exactly what I wanted and a very special gift.

Today I threw my ring and Nana’s diamond in the garbage can in my kitchen. I was an accident of course. I was making cookies and I’m usually very good at placing my ring in a specific spot on the windowsill when my hands are dirty, but for some reason this time I left it on the counter and when I cleaned up it was swept into the garbage. As soon as I realized it was gone I started frantically searching the kitchen. I looked on the counters, the floor, and even in the garbage disposal. I quietly said a prayer that I would be able to find my ring and soon realized I would have to search the garbage. I took a few things off the top and figured I would need another bag to move things to, so I got another bag and was just about to transfer a mostly empty can of pineapple tidbits when it slipped out of my hand. When it hit the floor my ring rolled across the room. I was so thankful to have found it, tears filled my eyes.

The sad thing is that this isn’t the first time I’ve lost my ring. I’ve misplaced it a few minor times and once I was literally sitting in a Broadway show when I noticed it was gone, only to find it in the finger of my glove. The only other time I really thought it was gone was while I was pregnant with Brad. It was summer and I was very pregnant and my fingers were huge and puffy. I had moved the ring from my ring finger to my pinky because it was just too tight. I was walking back to my office from lunch when I suddenly looked down and realized it was gone. Being pregnant and overly emotional probably didn’t help the situation and I totally panicked. I back-tracked to the cafe I had eaten at and asked the man behind the counter if he had seen it and he replied that he had not, however he knew I had been wearing it when I came in because he specifically noticed it on my pinky finger. I walked outside and began looking around the sidewalk table where I had been sitting to eat when a random man sitting on a bench asked me what I was looking for. Choking back the tears I told him that I had lost my wedding ring. He said “Look in your purse. My wife always loses hers when it drops into her purse.” I opened my purse and sure enough Nana’s diamond was at the bottom.

I love my wedding ring. It’s beautiful and the simple band suits me. I love that it symbolizes the commitment Joe and I have made to each other for eternity. I also love that the diamond came from someone else I loved and that loved me. I can’t help thinking each time I’ve lost the ring that Nana has had something to do with helping me find it. Whether it’s placing someone with good advice on the street at just the right time or making me drop the pineapple can, or maybe it’s providing me a feeling of comfort during a particularly difficult day, I’m grateful to have my Nana watching over me.

Photos by Brad and a trip to the Zoo

2010-05-08T14:50:00.001-06:00

A while back one of my co-workers, Nick, upgraded his digital camera. He found out that his old one wasn’t worth much in the world of e-bay and decided to pass it on to me to give to Brad. I didn’t give it to Brad right away since I thought it needed to be a special occasion, and I decided when I took the kids to the zoo that it was the perfect chance to let him try it out. He did take a LOT of pictures of the sky and the sidewalk, so I’ll try to spare you those and give you the best ones.

Lucy and the back side of an elephant.

Lucy and some garbage cans

Me – from Brad’s perspective

Self Portrait

Porcupine

Wild Cat

Meerkat

Tiger (we went up to the back of the tiger enclosure and the mother and 3 cubs were all sitting really close to the cage, it was so neat!

I think he’s quite the budding photographer – what do you think?

And just for fun here are some of the out-takes:

The hardest job in the world

2010-04-25T08:43:00.001-06:00

The hardest job in the world is being a parent. I’d like to see anyone argue with that. Being completely responsible for the health, education and well-being of another human – one who starts off completely helpless and progresses to a state of curious self-endangerment – is stressful, tiring and mind-numbing.

I recently read a fabulous blog posting over at Her Bad Mother called 10 Things I Hate About Motherhood (And One That I Love). I so completely identified with this posting. Being a mom is hard. The sleep deprivation is insane and the act of putting someone else before yourself 100% of the time is very difficult.

But – when Brad looks at me and says “Mom, you’re my best friend” or when Lucy pats my head and says “Mommy, hair pretty.” it melts my heart in a way that nothing else can. My children are smart, funny and incredibly entertaining. They make me laugh and smile way more often than they make me cry.

How could I not just love them?

Article – Strength in Numbers

2010-04-11T16:33:00.001-06:00

I already posted this to facebook, so if we’re friends there you’ve probably already seen it, but I thought I would post it here too. Joe and I were featured in an article in In This Week magazine which is put out by one of our local papers. The article was about participants in an upcoming bike ride (Little Red Riding Hood) that my sister, Tenille, and I are doing for cancer research.

You can read the article here.

You can read more about Joe’s cancer story here.

It was kind of fun to be part of an article like this and it was really amusing to watch Joe sign a “Model Release Form” at the studio. I know he only did it because I wanted to and he likes to give me what I want. I really feel like Joe’s survival story can be an inspiration to others. I was a little disappointed that the writer didn’t mention our kids. To me the most best part of the story is that just a few years later Joe and I were able to have our own family despite the massive amounts of chemo he received. Anyway, I hope we’re able to inspire someone to stay strong and have hope even in the worst of times.

Minute to Win It: Face the Cookie

2010-04-11T16:17:00.001-06:00

Have you seen Minute to Win It? It’s this show on NBC where people have to play all these 1 minute games to win money. They are tasks that seem like they should be easy, but are actually really hard, like emptying a whole box of tissues using one hand. Well, they have a game called Face the Cookie where you have to move an Oreo from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands. Joe’s aunt Sharon decided that the family should try it out at our last gathering. I wish we had had a video camera because it was hilarious. I did get some pretty good still shots. Enjoy!

Uncle Craig starting us off

Josh – Believe it or not this Cookie popped back out of his mouth!

Uncle Mike

Josh P. with the floating Cookie

Joe working it down his face

Brandon

Me!

Cassidy using her tongue to the fullest

And very best of all – Grandma Pitts! She’s never one to turn down any kind of challenge.

Peace be unto you

2010-04-04T09:13:00.001-06:00

John Chapter 20

1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.

Happy Easter!

Lest We Forget

2010-03-26T21:17:00.001-06:00

It’s been just over 10 weeks since the massive earthquake devastated Haiti. Many things have happened since then which have captured the attention of the media (an election in Iraq, an earthquake in Chili, the healthcare reform bill) all of which are important, but just because we aren’t hearing about Haiti every day doesn’t mean everything is ok there.

This story has captured me from the very beginning and I’m not quite sure why. I don’t actually know anyone in Haiti, or anyone from Haiti. I was at the gym the evening of January 12th when I first saw the story break on CNN. I didn’t have headphones, so I was trying to figure out what was going on from the captions on screen and although I was just getting bits and pieces I remember thinking, “Oh no, this is really, really bad.” Since that day I have been following the stories of several people who live and have lived in Haiti, learning more about the country and their culture and praying for them to be able to overcome the huge trial they have been dealt.

I think one of the reasons I’m captivated by Haiti is that Haiti was a mess before the earthquake. The government was corrupt, their economy was basically non-existent and there were more than 300,000 orphans – yes BEFORE the earthquake. Yet, it took a disaster of this magnitude to turn our attentions to the island nation. I hope that now they will finally get the help they desperately need, but there is a lot to overcome.

One morning on the way to work a story by Debbie Elliott was played on NPR. The story (which you can read or listen to here) was about a group of orphans in Haiti – teenage boys who lost their families in the earthquake and have been living in a park ever since. Social workers found the boys and promised to take them to an orphanage where they could return to their education and maybe some sort of normal life. The social workers returned a few days later to tell the boys they were too old for the orphanage and instead offer them a tent in one of the camps in the city. One of the boys had written a poem:

My name is Luckson
I'm sixteen years old
My mother and father's dead
I don't have no one to help me
I don't have nobody in haiti
My sister and my brother's dead
I'm sleep in the street
I don't have no one to take care me
Please lets me go with you
I need adoption.
Please help me.

I had to sit in my car and pull myself together before I could go into work.

Of course Luckson will likely have to remain in Haiti despite the dozens of people who contacted NPR saying they would gladly adopt him, because the Hatian government (under pressure from UNICEF and other international organizations) has put a stop to international adoptions. The folks at UNICEF believe it’s better for these children to be raised in overcrowded orphanages so that they are in their own country than to be taken to another country where they might have a chance with a loving family and a high quality education. I hope you’ll read the whole article – I especially like the quote where the woman from UNICEF compares living in destitute poverty in Haiti to a lack of air conditioning. Classy.

Another part of what makes the recovery so difficult in Haiti is the atmosphere of corruption they must overcome. This blog post by Barbie, a PA from Alaska working in Haiti really brought that home to me. She tells of being in a pick-up truck holding a dying child at the gates of the hospital where the guard tells them they cannot come in because the hospital is closed. They can clearly see it is open but the man will not let them in until he sees that Barbie is white. Had she been a Haitian the child probably would have died.

My heart has been truly touched by the people who have dropped everything and made sacrifices to help in Haiti. Did you know Sean Penn has been in Haiti almost continuously since the earthquake? He lives in a tent city there and runs a newly formed relief organization which gives food, water and medical care to the people. But it’s not just high profile celebrities offering this kind of sacrifice, there are hundreds of regular people who have gone to Haiti hoping to ease some of the burden. There is a part of my heart that wishes I was in a position in life that would allow me to help in that way, but I have responsibilities here that make it impossible.

Instead all I can offer is my support. A little bit of financial support (I recently chose to give to Heartline Ministries – a well established organization on the ground in Haiti able to help people immediately with their needs), the support of my thoughts being with them, and a lot of prayers. Prayers for Haiti are offered in our home every day. If they didn’t come from me they would still come from Brad who has prayed for the people in Haiti each time he has prayed since I told him about the earthquake. He prays that “the people in Haiti will be healthy and strong and have the things they need to build their homes.” He never, ever seems to forget.

I hope none of us do.

A Little Bit Lost

2010-03-24T15:09:00.001-06:00

On Saturday the missionaries from our church stopped by to talk to Joe and I for a few minutes. Lucy was napping and Brad was running around with a balloon and making a lot of noise. I off-handedly told him to take the balloon downstairs, and he did. It was much quieter and we spent about 15 minutes visiting with the missionaries. After they left I needed to make a few phone calls and after one or two of them I realized that Brad was being a little too quiet. I asked Joe if Brad had gone outside and he said he didn’t know, so I asked him to check. I made another phone call assuming everything was fine but when I got off I realized that Joe was still looking for Brad. Oh oh…

Our backyard is fenced in, so I’m pretty comfortable with letting the kids play outside. Brad has never left the yard. He knows better.

Immediately we started looking everywhere for him. I ran through the house yelling his name while Joe went to talk to the next-door neighbors who had been working in the yard all afternoon. They had not seen him. I walked quickly around then block hollering “BRAD!” at the top of my lungs and asking anyone outside if they had seen him…they had not.

At that point I started to get really mad. For some reason I was not terribly worried. I was pretty sure he had decided to walk to the park or the school and because Brad has no concept of the fact that he’s only 4 he probably assumed it was fine. I was mad that he had left the yard and that I would no longer be able to let him play out there by himself.

I also kept praying over and over that he would be ok.

Lucy was awake at that point and Joe had her and agreed to stay close to the house while I hopped in the car and drove to the park and the school. I figured I would come across him on the way, but I didn’t. I got out of the car to talk to the people who lived right next to the school and ask them to keep an eye out and at that moment I started to get a little panicked. He wasn’t in any of the places I expected and I didn’t know where else to look. I was just starting to think we actually needed to call the police when my cell phone rang. It was Joe saying he had found Brad.

Joe had gone across the street to ask the neighbors and the neighbor said to Joe like four times “Have you checked ALL over the house?” Finally Joe agreed to come back and check the house again and when he did he found Brad in a CLOSET in the BASEMENT, ASLEEP under a sleeping bag. He was completely out and did not hear us calling his name. He didn’t even know we were looking for him or that anything was wrong.

I was so happy to see him and I couldn’t even get mad because he hadn’t done anything wrong. He hadn’t even gone outside without asking. He had taken his balloon and gone downstairs like I had asked.

I’m sure there’s a lesson in all of this…I’ll try waxing philosophical and I’ll let you know if I come up with anything good. For now I’m just glad he’s ok.

Go Dino!

2010-03-12T21:36:00.004-07:00

Tonight in the car with Brad we somehow started talking about smoking and how it was bad for you. I told him I didn’t ever want him to smoke cigarettes and he said, “Oh mom, I won’t”. Then I asked him what he would do if someone offered him a cigarette and in true Brad fashion he replied:

“I would ‘Go Dino’ on them!”

Only Brad would rely on transforming into a dinosaur to defend against peer pressure.

Why you should close the lid

2010-03-09T16:46:00.001-07:00

I like the lid of the toilet to be closed.

There are many reasons for this. The main one is that it’s just gross to have to look at the toilet bowl. Think about what goes in there…eeewww.

Joe thinks it’s a waste of time to close the lid when you’re just going to have to open it back up. I scold him for leaving it open and he rolls his eyes at me.

This morning while I was still in lying in bed Lucy went into the bathroom where Joe had finished showering and was getting ready for the day. The next thing I heard was a splash, followed by Lucy crying and Joe laughing. Lucy had hopped up on the stool we keep in the bathroom and she intended to sit on the toilet and watch her daddy get ready, however Joe had left the lid up and the next thing Lucy knew she was sitting IN the toilet instead of on it.

I’m guessing there are other women out there who have had the unfortunate experience of going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and thinking they’re going to sit on the seat only to find that the seat has been left up and they’ve just dipped their bottom in the ice cold water. It’s happened to me more than once.

Just me? Really? Huh….

I don’t miss my kids…

2010-02-19T21:26:00.001-07:00

I love my kids. Really, I do. They are so dang cute and say the funniest things. But they are so DANG much work! From having to wake up with them at the crack of dawn to finding things to entertain them all day long to just trying to keep them from hurting themselves. It makes me tired.

I’m always hearing about how much people miss their kids when they are away from them, but you know what…

I don’t miss my kids!

I need time away from them. When they go to grandma’s for the night, or just to day care for the 4.5 hours a day that I work – that’s my time to be sane. It’s my time to think about things other than poopy diapers, snotty noses and the last time someone else took a bath.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my children immensely, I’m just one of those people who also needs time away. I’m sure that if I was away long enough I would miss them. In fact when we were in Mexico last summer I started to miss them…a little. If I was away from them for too long I might miss one of those funny Brad-ism’s and that would be a shame. But I just cannot identify with people who never want to be away from their kids.

Ok, you all probably think I’m evil now, so why am I telling you this? I’m just trying to keep it real. Today I read Kristen’s blog and it totally hit home that we often blog about the best of times – the amazing art projects we come up with, the great outings we go on, how crafty we are, etc. I suppose that’s because if we blogged about the entire afternoon we spent sitting in front of the tv eating goldfish crackers it would be pretty boring. Either way, it’s real.

So how do you keep it real?

He’s obviously thought this through

2010-02-16T11:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I told Brad he could not do something that he wanted to do. It happens several times a day because he wants to do things like invite everyone he knows over for an impromptu barbecue, fly down the stairs with a bungee cord attached to his knight costume or trade his sister her valentine’s day candy for a piece of toilet paper. It happens a lot.

Anyway, when I told him no this time he informed me he was going to run away. I told him that was a really bad idea and that if he ran away he would have no one to take care of him, to which he responded “DUH! Tenille!” (Tenille is my sister who I’m sure would take him in without notice). I said, “How would you get to Tenille’s house?” (which is 35 miles away) and he replied “I would take a cab.” I’m not even sure how he understands the concept of a cab except that this kid remembers everything. So then I asked “How would you pay for a cab?” to which he answered “I would hold a sale of all my McDonalds toys.”

He’s obviously thought this through, so my question is, how much would you pay for this?

Blog Makeover

2010-01-25T16:29:00.001-07:00

It was time for a bit of a blog makeover. I decided to go with something a little more light and happy. I would like to think spring is on the way…but I know it’s too soon for that.

I made my blog layout using the new digital scrap kit Everyday Happenings by by Spinky Dink Scraps and Misty O'Brien Designs. It’s available for 20% off this week. Swing on over to Lindsay’s Blog for more details.

Thanks Lindsay!

My Heart Hurts

2010-01-16T15:09:00.001-07:00

I don’t usually watch the news. I find it annoying, depressing, partisan and just plain lame. However, I can’t seem to pry myself away from the coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.

I simply cannot fathom how life is ever going to be ok for the people who live there. They have so little to begin with and now they have lost everything.

I was absolutely overwhelmed on Wednesday when I learned about Kristen Howerton and her daughter being stuck there. I’ve never met her, do not know her, and yet I almost cried when I read her Twitter post yesterday that they were back in the U.S. Her son Keanan will have to stay there until his adoption is final and it’s hard to say when that will be now that the country’s infrastructure has been completely destroyed.

There are dead bodies lying in the street. They are being moved to mass graves where they will be buried, most likely without people knowing who they were.

People who survived the quake are going to die because they can’t get food or water. There is food and water being flown in from around the world and people can’t get to it because the roads are blocked.

How will they ever rebuild their homes?

This morning I went to the gym, exercised for an hour, took a hot shower and got ready for the day. My little family went to a really fun birthday party for one of the most amazing little girls I know. Tonight we’re headed up to the resort town of Park City where I know we’ll have something REALLY yummy for dinner.

I feel guilty.

How can my life go on like normal while there is so much suffering? What should I be doing? We’re going to donate some money. We have some to spare. Is that really enough?

At the same time I don’t feel like I should have stayed home from the gym so I could pour over CNN.com and cry more than I already have and I certainly don’t feel like I should have told Brad he couldn’t go to the birthday party because people are dying in Haiti.

I thank my Heavenly Father every day that I’ve been so very, very blessed. I know I have it good. My family is amazing. I have a nice home and a good job. I have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. Is saying thank you enough? I try to serve those around me and be generous with my time and what I’ve been given. I guess I’m just having a hard time reconciling everything.

I am in awe of those who are more willing to step out of their comfort zone and take the extra step - like Leslie Moss who is a friend of a friend. She’s putting together hygiene kits that will be sent down to Haiti to help. Hop on over to her blog for more details and if you would like to help. I know at this point every little bit counts.

No more Qubo

2010-01-15T17:12:00.001-07:00

First I should probably explain that qubo is a TV station. It’s one of those random stations we picked up when we got the digital antenna. It plays cartoons all the time. Most of the cartoons are ok – not particularly educational, but not as annoying as some of the ones on Nickelodeon. The biggest problem with qubo is that all the commercials are those 90 second long infomercials for all those products you can only buy on TV. Things like Moon Sand, Snuggies and the Windshield Wonder. Brad, being a typical 4-year-old tends to think that anything he hears on TV must be true and therefore those products must be amazing and worth every penny. He asks to have every one for his birthday.

A few weeks ago Brad was trying to explain to me that we needed to get the “Touch and Brush” because it dispenses the perfect amount of toothpaste every time. I explained to Brad that that was just silly and that we were perfectly capable of dispensing our own toothpaste. A couple of days later I heard him screaming from the basement. Thinking something was wrong I went running downstairs just to have him say “See mom!! It’s the perfect amount every time.”

At that point I resolved not to let Brad watch anything but PBS kids. Unfortunately PBS kids isn’t on in the evening so that resolve only lasted a few weeks. Just yesterday we were making brownies and Brad told me we simply could not make them without the pan that cuts them into squares. He simply did not believe I could cut the brownies straight. I’ll be honest, my brownies were not quite that square, but they still tasted good.

Anyway – last night was the kicker. We were eating dinner and Brad announced that the next day would be a “Happy Mother’s Day” for me. He said he was going to be my big helper and get me something nice. I told him that would be great and would make me very happy. Then Brad said to Joe “What do you think we should get her?” Joe said “I don’t know Brad, what do you think?” and Brad proudly announced - “I think we should get her some Cash 4 Gold!”

I wish I didn’t let my kids watch TV at all, but I think we would all go nuts. At least I’ve recommitted to only letting him watch PBS kids…and maybe a dvd or two.

My Decade

2010-01-12T22:22:00.001-07:00

First of all I must thank Joy for saving my blog. She suggested Windows Live Writer and I think I’m in love. Secondly I have to give credit to Amanda for the idea to blog my decade. I met Amanda once and she’s every bit as funny in person as she is on her blog. I hope it wouldn’t freak her out that I read it.

2000

I was on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in British Columbia when the decade started. I was there that whole year.

2001

I came home from my mission. I found out my parents were getting divorced and that my mom was gay. I learned to be ok with that.

Joe came home from his mission in August. We were engaged in September.

And married in December. Best decision I ever made – Bar None.

2002

Salt Lake hosted the Winter Olympics. Joe and I went back to Vancouver for the wonderful wedding of my friend Lindsay. I apparently have no digital pictures from that whole year. How did that happen? Here’s one I didn’t take.

2003

Joe and I went to Brazil. Such an amazing, amazing trip. I want to go back.

I graduated from college on my birthday. How cool is that?

The rest of the year was pretty much horrible. Joe was diagnosed with cancer in July and spent all of August & September in the hospital. Luckily his doctor was either a genius or else he figured Joe was so sick it wouldn’t hurt to experiment on him. Either way the treatment worked Joe beat the cancer.

2004

Joe got better.

I became the Director of Housing for the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. I was in over my head, but worked with a lot of great people who helped me figure things out. I still work there.

2005

Just before Valentine’s day I found out I was pregnant with Brad. We were SHOCKED. One of the side effects of chemotherapy is generally sterility. We’re very blessed.

We decided if we were going to have a baby we better have a house.

Brad was born October 12 at 10:12. He was 8 lbs 1 oz and 22 inches long.

I spent the rest of the year learning how to be a mom.

2006

I fell madly in love with this guy:

And really…who wouldn’t?

We dragged him all over the place on my work trips. Joe would put him in the back pack and go wherever he wanted. We went to Orlando, Boston, Tampa that year.

2007

Went to Toronto (took Brad there too).

I played with Brad a LOT.

I found out I like riding a bike.

I got pregnant again. Didn’t throw up as much as the first time.

Joe and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas.

2008

I anxiously awaited Lucy at the same time my sister, Tenille, was awaiting Carly.

(In my defense this was like 2 days before Lucy was born and Tenille still had a couple of month left. But ok, I was huge).

I gave birth to Lucy minutes after being wheeled into the hospital screaming at the top of my lungs. She was 7 lbs 11 oz and 22 inches and just lovely.

My brother Nick’s wife, Lacy, also had a baby that month (Jack), so once Carly was born we had a matching set.

I learned to be the mother of two.

I got a new camera and learned to use Photoshop.

2009

Joe and I went to Mexico.

We also bought another house and completely remodeled it. Or at least paid other people to. I really should take some pictures of the house.

I lost 25 lbs and ironically ended the decade weighing the same amount as when I started the decade.

I started singing again. It had been a long time.

It’s been a good decade. I love my life and couldn’t ask for more. Bring on the next one.

I don't wanna blog

2010-01-11T20:48:00.001-07:00

I just don't. I have no desire. My kids are still cute and funny, I just don't have the urge to write about it on my blog...

I think one of the reasons is that it's so dang difficult to post pictures on blogger. It's a pain to do them a few at a time and they're never in the order I want and it loads them all at the top of the page so I have to think through the pictures before the text.

Any ideas?

Happy 4th Birthday Brad!

2009-10-12T17:28:00.003-06:00

Today Brad turns 4 years old. It's hard to believe it's really been that long. I can't imagine my life without him. He is incredibly funny, super sweet and insanely aggravating all at the same time. For his birthday I decided to ask him some interview questions and here's what he said:

Favorite color: Orange & Yellow
Favorite food: Corn Dogs
Best Friend: Anela
Favorite book: If I ran the Zoo
Favorite movie: Ratatouille (even though he hasn't watched it in months)
Favorite thing to do: Eat Pizza
Favorite animal: Dinosaur
Favorite word: Birthday
Favorite joke: "Knock, Knock" - "Who's there?" - "Justin" - "Justin who? - "Justin time for lunch!"

And here are some birthday pictures - enjoy!

Scrap Pages

2009-10-04T21:36:00.004-06:00

I've mentioned before that I'm on the Creative Team for Lindsay at S pinky Dink Scraps. Well she's expanding her designs in a big way and I've been busy doing some new pages with her kits the last couple weeks. Here's some of my work!

These 2 are using Future Star and are both from May of 2006 when Joe graduated from the University of Utah:

These next two are both made using All Good Things.

This is Brad & Jayden at the family reunion in August

This is one of my favorite pictures of Brad

And these last two are made using Corduroy & Lace Reloaded.

This was the first time Lucy, Jack & Carly met.

This is actually a re-make of one of my first ever digital scrap pages. I think it came out better this time. In my defense, this was taken just a few days before Lucy was born and Tenille still had a couple of months to go.

I really enjoy digi-scraping and it's a great activity for those few minutes of quiet after the kids go to bed since I don't watch TV any more. Oh yeah, did I mention that I don't watch TV any more? Well, I watch some PBS kids shows with Brad and Lucy, but those don't really count. It's not really by choice. You see, a few months ago Joe presented this idea to me where we would get rid of Dish Network and our DVR and replace it with a Home Theater PC which Joe would build. We would be able to get regular TV channels and watch any show that was online (which is a lot these days) and he would work it out so that we could use a computer program like a DVR. Well...let's just say it hasn't gone as planned. We do get regular TV channels, but the DVR thing has never worked and I just refuse to watch TV without being able to skip commercials and fast forward through the stupid parts. I have watched 3 or 4 shows online, but frankly it's kind of a pain. All this boils down to me just not watching TV any more. And you know what...mostly I don't miss it. Obviously something is going to have to change when American Idol starts again, but until then I'm sure I can find plenty of other things to occupy my time.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2009-10-01T16:22:00.002-06:00

I almost got out of bed at 10:00 last night to come down and write a post when I realized that it was the last day of September and that I will have missed a whole month. Then I decided I cared more about sleep than my blog. Ha ha!

Well, September has been one of changes for us. The biggest change has been Joe's new job. After a very long hiring process (5 weeks between second and final interviews!) Joe was offered a job at Amerinet. This is a big step forward for him and takes him back to the health care industry which is something he knows. The last 2 years at Marquette have been stressful and not as fruitful as we would have hoped, but I'm very proud of him for sticking it out and using it to find something better. He'll be working closely with his former associates at Intermountain Health Care and he's very excited about that. I think it's going to be a really good thing.

Another change is that we're in the process of trying to buy a new house (I was going to post a link but just realized that's not smart blogging). Actually we've been "in the process" since April. It's a short sale, which is the biggest misnomer in the history of real estate. A couple of weeks ago we actually got a signed purchase contract back, which is much further than we've ever been before. The house is around the corner from where we live now, which is a plus for us because we love our neighborhood. It's a bit bigger than our current house and has a much better layout for us. The kids would both have their own bedrooms near ours and we would have a family room which means I could get the toys and books out of our living room. I'm still not holding my breath, because this whole process has been pretty much a joke, but I'll keep you posted.

Both kids are doing well. Brad never stops talking. Ever. I'm blaming that on his Tibbs genes. I'll take the blame for his overactive imagination, but they have to claim the non-stop talking. When he's being especially vocal Joe always says, "Hey Brandon!" If you know Brandon you'll know it's true.

Lucy is 16 months old - crazy! At her 15 month appointment she was 23 lbs and 31 inches. She has 13 teeth with 3 more on the way. I swear she's been teething non-stop since April. I wish they would just come in so it could be done. Lucy talks much more than Brad did at this age. She calls us all by name and has some cute funny phrases like, "I want a snack." She's quite the little dancer much to her daddy's chagrin.

We've had a great summer with lots of hiking and biking. It just starting to get cold and I think that's coming to an end. I'm very sad about that, but I do enjoy the nip in the fall air. I'll try to get some pictures posted soon!

This is what happens...

2009-08-14T16:50:00.001-06:00

...when you're too tired to even finish your Corn Dog.

A Hiking We Will Go

2009-08-09T21:45:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Joe and I took a drive up Mill Creek Canyon and ever since then we've been wanting to take the kids hiking up there. Today we took the afternoon and headed out for a hike. Unfortunately we didn't do a whole lot of research on which trail we should take before we went, but we looked at a couple of things on my phone on the way there and thought we knew where we were headed. The Elbow Fork trail was described as being an "Easy" level hike which "follows the road at low altitudes and is well shaded with beautiful views of Mill Creek Canyon." I'm sure that the Elbow Fork trail is just that. What I'm not sure of is what trail we hiked. I think we went up a trail on the south side of the road when we should have been on the north side.

The trail we took was beautiful, but it was not "easy". It had a lot of switchbacks at the beginning which took us straight up the face of the mountain and it pretty much continued uphill from there. I have to say that even though the hike was far more difficult than we had planned, we still had a great time. Brad was amazing. He walked the whole way with very little complaining. He did turf it a few times, but with no major injuries and nothing could damage his positive attitude. Lucy rode in the back-pack and was a trooper too. We hiked for about an hour and a half in the fresh, clean air and I think all of us felt great afterward. Here are some pictures for you!

This is the view of the canyon from about half way through our hike. You can just see the city where the mountains meet in the middle. You can also see how the air gets dirtier the further down you get. :(

Here's Lucy chilling in the back-pack. It looks like she's blowing a kiss, but really she's stuffing her face with goldfish crackers.

Joe and the kids. It's a good thing he can carry Lucy like that because I don't think I could.

The kids and me.

Brad leading the way. This was my view for most of the hike. He really did an amazing job and I was really proud of him.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that while we were hiking I got stung for the first time in my whole life. It really hurt!! Luckily it turns out I have no major allergies, so disaster averted.

Playdough

2009-08-05T14:22:00.004-06:00

I got a playdough recipe off my friend Joy's blog a couple of months ago and have made it twice now with huge success so I thought I would share!

1 c All purpose flour
1 c Warm (not hot) water
2 Tbs Cream of Tarter
1 Tbs Vegetable oil
1/4 c salt
1 pkg Unsweetened Koolaid (Optional...I haven't actually tried this part)
Food coloring as desired (I add mine after it's cooked so I can do several colors in 1 batch)

You combine all the ingredients in a pan and mix it until it's smooth. You then put it over medium heat and stir it continuously until it's one big ball. Then take it off the heat and knead until smooth. I then separate it into smaller balls and add different food coloring to each one. If your playdough is sticky even after you've cooked it you just put a little oil on your hands and knead it in - don't add more flour.

I like homemade playdough so much more than the stuff from the store. It's smoother and smells better and is super easy to clean up. If it gets dried on anything you can just dissolve it with warm water. Plus, if your kids eat it (as we know they will) you know exactly what's in it and don't have to worry.

Enjoy!

Brad-ism 7/20/09

2009-07-20T20:52:00.003-06:00

I know I just posted yesterday, but this was too good not to share.

This morning before I left for work Brad was making a house out of the kitchen chairs and a blanket. Lucy was being "helpful" and kept pulling the blanket off. Brad was getting pretty frustrated and I was trying to keep her away, but I was trying to get ready to go and she kept at it. After a few minutes I heard Brad quietly from the kitchen say,

"Dear Heavenly Father, Please help my baby sister to stop ruining my house. Amen."

I had to try so hard not to laugh, and I figured if it was that serious I really better keep her out of his hair. Glad to know he's at least getting the message that he can pray any time he needs help.

New Layout and a Brad-ism

2009-07-19T21:28:00.003-06:00

Like the new look? I felt like it was time for a change. It's from a scrap kit called Tomfoolery made by some of my favorite designers at Elemental Scraps, Bella Gypsy, in collaboration with designer Amanda Heimann. I just love everything Bella Gypsy does! Check them out some time at their blog, Our Life's Mosaic, or at Elemental Scraps.

I haven't shared any Brad-isms for a while, sorry about that! It's certainly not that there haven't been any. Here's a good one - the other day I asked him to go downstairs and get his shoes and socks so that we could get ready to go. With a thoughtful look on his face he said, "I'm really not an expert at shoes and socks." I wanted to tell him that I wasn't asking him to design them, just to go get them...but instead I just had to laugh.

Mexico

2009-07-09T20:45:00.013-06:00

Yes, I know I've been home for almost 2 weeks and have not yet blogged about Mexico. Joe and I had such an amazing time in Cancun that it was almost like a dream. Coming home was a harsh wake up call...but I'm re-adjusting...slowly. I took a ton of pictures and have just picked my favorite 3o or so (ha ha!) for you here.

Joe and I were invited to go down to Cancun by our good friends Justin and Angela Baker who had a 2 bedroom Villa at the Royal Mayan resort. Justin's dad has a couple of time shares and this was a trade from a week in Hawaii, so it was upgraded and we were all just shocked when we got to our villa on Saturday afternoon - it was literally on the beach. You would walk out the patio doors onto the grass and then down about 8 steps to the beach. It was beautiful. I loved being able to open the door or window and hear the ocean. Of course you couldn't leave the window open all night because the humidity down there is insane and I can't sleep when it's hot! Here are a couple of shots of the view from our room:

Saturday night we decided to go shopping for some groceries so we took the public bus (which was like $.60 to ride) to where else...Wal-Mart! The food there was cheaper than at the food at the markets at the resorts and it's always comforting knowing that Wal-Mart is pretty much the same no matter where you go. The bus ride was a little crazy, but very efficient. The driver hits the gas as soon as your money is in his hand so you better hold on!

On Sunday we were all a little tired from traveling and wanted to take it easy so we had a relaxing day. We hit the pool and the beach. There was this guy on the beach trying desperately to sell these really ugly hats. We didn't buy the hats, but we paid him a few pesos to let us take a picture with them on.

On Monday we rented a car to head out into the jungle. Justin is fluent in Spanish and Joe's Portuguese was close enough for him to get along, so that gave us a real advantage. I think you could easily do the Cancun area without it, but it sure helped, especially with the driving. Before we went down there we heard all these horror stories about how the Mexican police pull tourists over all the time and you have to bribe them to let you go, so we were a bit nervous. Since Joe was the only one of us with foreign driving experience (Canada doesn't count) we elected him driver. I must say he did an amazing job. He never got pulled over and by the end of the 4 days we had the car he was driving like a native (although I'm not sure that's a good thing). There are two very annoying things about driving in the Mayan Riviera, the changes in speed limit and the accompanying speed bumps. We were on a fairly major highway and there was honestly a change in speed limit about every half a mile. It would go up and then back down and up again. Obviously the Mexican Government doesn't understand anything about gas efficiency. At the beginning or ending of any little town (or just when they randomly felt like it) there were these HUGE speed bumps. They look like this and you have to slow down almost to a stop to go over them. It was insane and don't even get me started on the caution signs. Anyway, Joe did a great job driving and I was very proud.

On Monday we drove down to Tulum which is a Mayan ruin site. It was a port city so it is right on the ocean and its beach is just stunning.

On the way in, this guy basically handed me his giant iguana and then quickly told me it would cost $5 to take it's picture. I guess I should consider it a donation to the Mexican economy. It WAS a pretty cool iguana:

Here are some of my favorite shots of the ruins and the beach at Tulum. Don't let the breezy conditions and overcast skys fool you, it was like 90 degrees and 100% humidity there. I've never sweat so much in my life!

These things are everywhere!!

When we left Tulum we went to the Dos Ojos Cenote. A cenote is a sink hole which means it's basically a lake in a cave. We didn't really know what to expect and on our way in they tried to talk us into paying for a tour guide, but we thought we would just try exploring a bit by ourselves. We took our snorkel gear and headed down to the water. The water was so cool and incredibly clear. It's probably the cleanest water I've ever swam in and it felt so good to cool off. It was so neat to swim around and look at the stalagmites and stalactites which have formed in the caves.

There were only a very few other people there which turned out to be a huge stroke of luck for us because the photographer that usually goes around with the tour guides was sitting around bored. He came down and was swimming and talking with us for a little while and he asked if we had been to the "bat cave". We told him we didn't even know there was a bat cave, so he offered to take us to it. It was a cave you had to snorkel to through a small opening and it was just beautiful. There were a few bats in it, but they certainly weren't bothering us in the water. The photographer took a bunch of pictures of us and gave us a great deal on the CD of all the images. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

This is my favorite picture of the whole trip:

We left Dos Ojos and drove to Playa del Carmen for dinner. I loved Playa and I think if we go back to the area we would probably try to stay there. Several blocks around the beach are closed to traffic and it's full of shops and restaurants. We found a great place with a really affordable buffet for dinner and then walked around the shops. Everyone was so friendly! We also had my favorite Spanish faux pas in one of the shops there when Joe asked the shop keeper if she would accept a "Carta" for a wrap I wanted to buy. Apparently in Portuguese Carta is "Card" but in Spanish it's "Carton". The lady just laughed and told him no, she would not accept a carton, but would accept a "Tarjeta" meaning card.

On Tuesday we took on an even bigger adventure and traveled to Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza is one of the seven wonders of the world and has a very large Mayan Temple. It is about 150 miles from Cancun, but by then we were confident in Joe's driving. On the way there we stopped in Valladolid which is a colonial Mexican town. It has Mexico's oldest continuously operating cathedral which was really neat. I'm not sure we would have actually stopped, but Joe and Justin spotted a shop on the street selling insanely inexpensive barbecued chicken and they just couldn't resist. We got half a chicken with rice and tortillas for about $5.00 and it was really good. Here's a picture of Joe and me with the cathedral in the background.

Chichen Itza was truly awe inspiring. The scale is just massive and it's been so well preserved that you can really imagine how it looked in its time. I really loved it.

There are 2 different roads from Cancun to Chichen Itza. One is a toll road and one is not. Our map didn't really say which was which, but on the way there we ended up on the toll road. It was a great road. The speed limit was consistent and the road was straight and not very busy (except for the thousands of yellow butterflies with a death wish). When we got to the toll booth we found out the toll was about $20.00. That seemed like a lot to us so on the way home we decided we would take the non-toll road. It ended up being the worst/most entertaining decision of the whole trip.

I think it took us about 2 hours to get to Chichen Itza, and about 4 hours to get home! The road wound it's way through ever little town between there and Cancun and every one of those towns had six of the gigantic speed bumps. It was beautiful and wonderful to drive through the "real" Mexico, but after a couple of hours we were all so over it! At one point when we slowed down for one of the hundreds of speed bumps our car was mobbed by about a dozen children and old ladies trying to sell spices, peppers and tamales. They were hanging on the car and banging on the windows. Talk about determined sales people! We also ran into construction where Joe had to navigate between a five foot drop off on one side and the oncoming traffic on the other side with about six inches to spare. In the meantime a crazy city bus driver kept trying to PASS us!

We finally got back to "civilization" and were following the signs to Cancun, but after about 20 minutes we realized we had somehow passed the turn off to Cancun and were too far north. We were getting a little giddy with our fatigue and just started laughing and laughing. We pulled over and asked directions and the man chuckled and said "Usted está muy perdido" or "You are really lost." He pointed us in the right direction, but it took asking 2 more people before we really found our way back. Luckily everyone was very good natured about it and we just viewed it as an adventure.

On Wednesday we got to take advantage of the sail boats that our resort offered use of for free. Joe got a 15 minute sailing lesson (which he didn't really need because he's an experienced boy scout) and then took me out to sail around the Lagoon. It was a really nice surprise activity that we enjoyed more than we expected.

That night Joe and I went to dinner at a place called Hacienda Sisal. I have to say, ALL the food we had down there was just amazing. I don't know how they make their refried beans, but they are SO much better than the ones here. Nothing was too spicy and I loved it all. At Hacienda Sisal we had a great waiter who really wanted to chat. We talked with him about politics and tourism and he gave us a lot of insight into life for Cancun natives. The Swine Flu panic has had a really negative effect on everyone who works in tourism (which is pretty much everyone). Everywhere we went people would tell us that it was so slow and although it made for a really nice vacation for us, I do feel bad for the people there.

On Thursday we drove down to Xcaret which is an "eco-park" sort of a zoo/theme park/water park/beach with a big cultural show at night. It was wonderful. We saw their animals and enjoyed some great snorkeling. They have an underground river that was like one of the cenotes and we followed it out to where it met the ocean. We didn't really see fish in the river, but once we reached the ocean we saw a lot, including some BIG suckers that made even Joe and Justin scream like little girls.

On the last day we did something that all of us had always wanted to do - swam with Dolphins! We took a ferry out to Dolphin Discovery in Isla Mujeres where we got to play with a sea lion, swim with dolphins and also manatees! It was truly one of those "once in a lifetime" experiences. The dolphins are so smart and well trained. They would even come up and push you by the feet back to the dock. The manatees were so gentle and very different than I thought they would be. Dolphin Discovery is one of the few places that will let you swim with manatees because they are endangered. They feel like if you get in the water with them and get to know them you will become an advocate for them, which is totally true. I never really even knew what they were before, but now I'm very interested in them. I don't have any pictures of us actually swimming with the animals because they wanted like $20 per picture, but here are a few I snapped from the shore:

That night we went to our last big dinner out at a great sea food place. As much as I missed my kids while we were gone, it was so nice to just be able to go out every night and do whatever we wanted.

Well, I could probably write a lot more about the trip, but this is already longer than I intended it to be. I do need to give my mom a HUGE thank you because she and her friend Janet took care of our kids while we were gone and Brad and Lucy both got sick. Lucy had an ear infection and Brad got a virus that won him a trip to Primary Children's hospital for a chest x-ray. Even though she's a nurse, my mom got a lot more than she bargained for, and I'm incredibly grateful because I knew they were in good hands and didn't have to worry. Thank you mom!

And now back to your regularly scheduled posts about real life....

Bad News Bears

2009-06-12T14:29:00.003-06:00

In an effort to continue to help Brad get some exercise, meet new people and just generally have fun we signed him up for soccer again last month. This is the outdoor season and there are a lot more participants and it's taken a bit more seriously than the indoor season was. You might remember that while Brad enjoyed indoor soccer he wasn't really "into" the game. We were hoping that being six months older might help, but really, not so much. He would rather:

chase bubbles, or

hang out in the net

Now the fact that Brad's not really into it isn't that bad. The problem is that the whole team is like that! They are a very young team, mostly 3 or 4 year-olds, with very little experience and they would rather drink their gatorade, chase the babies on the side-line or play hopscotch. Their team name is the Bears and we quickly nicknamed them the Bad News Bears. They lost their first game about 40 to 1 (and the 1 was made by someone on the other team going the wrong way). The only time they kicked the ball was when they kicked off after the other team scored. We were really hoping Emelio Estevez would show up to turn things around!

To top it all off the woman who signed up to be the coach went MIA before the first game and so Joe became the de facto coach. Coaching the kids at this age is fairly involved and you have to stay out on the field with them the whole game telling them where to go and what to do. Considering the fact that Brad won't even stay on the field Joe has been a real trooper. It's good karma, right?

The two good parts of the story are 1 - we did get one late addition to our team, a little boy named Jesus who is 6 and is great at soccer who has helped make things slightly more even, and 2 - Saturday is our last game. Gotta love community sports. There's a tumbling class next month...I think we'll try that instead.

Here are some more pictures:

Brad being a "Bear" which for him consists of running around growling at the other players.

Brad and Harrison wrestling while Joe marches down the field to try to get the rest of the kids to play.

Stretching - Brad does participate in that.
Team photo - Brad, Joe Alex, Sefyia, Harrison and Jesus. The Bears!

You want to watch T.V. at my house?

2009-06-08T16:22:00.002-06:00

Good Luck.

Lucy's Birthday Party

2009-05-27T21:24:00.006-06:00

So, I've decided that it's much easier to upload pictures to Facebook than to Blogger. I hate how it loads them backwards. Anyone with me? I had these up on Facebook on Monday and am just getting them here now!

Anyway, back to the point - We had a fabulous birthday party for Lucy on Saturday. I was a bit worried that it might rain, but it stayed just overcast enough to keep it cool and everything was perfect. We served Frito Pie and of course cake and ice cream. Here is a picture overload, enjoy!

The backyard all all decorated and ready.

Grandma Tibbs with Lucy and cousin Lincoln.

Lucy and uncle Alex.

Cousin Chelise, Grammy Lynne, Lucy & Grandpa Larson

All the kids got to decorate a foam visor with stickers which was good because not too much later Brad dumped a bottle of bubbles over Corbin's head and the visor kept it out of his eyes!

We had a lot of good friends that came - in the picture are Jen, Shannon, April & Shawn.

Lucy and Grandpa Larson

Lucy's cake which was made by Julie Hoskins from our church. It was SOOOOO good. You don't get that from Costco.

Lucy Loved the cake too. She wasn't quite sure what to think at first.

But then she realized it tasted really good.

Good enough to rub into her hair (it's her highest compliment).

This is one of my favorite pictures ever. "So good I'm going to lick the plate!"

Lucy enjoyed opening presents and did not enjoy Brad's help.

She was very curious.

And even shared her toys with Great-Grandpa Burnett.

With the party winding down cousin Hailey and Lucy spent some time on the slide.

Overall I think everyone had a really good time. Thanks to everyone who came and especially to April for taking the cake pictures!!

Happy Birthday Lucy Mae

2009-05-21T21:37:00.005-06:00

At 2:30 this morning Lucy turned 1 year old. It has flown by, but that's to be expected. I can honestly say that Lucy has been a joy. She was such a mellow baby and very rarely cried. I remember asking her doctor at one of her first few appointments if something was wrong with her because she just never cried. By the time she was 6 months old she found her voice, but she's more likely to use it to sing and laugh than to cry. I will say I have seen her dramatic streak. If she falls or gets bumped she will look around to make sure someone is watching before she bothers to cry. She's learning and growing every day and I can only hope the next year will be as fun and challenging as this one has been.

I did a little photo shoot with her last week to get some pictures for her party invitations. She hated being in the grass and tried to keep every body part possible off the ground.

It helped when daddy lifted her up in the air and made her laugh.

I got to snap the best blackmail picture. It doesn't get more lady like than this:

I had to take about 50 shots, but it's totally worth it when you get the perfect one.

Happy Birthday baby girl!!

Lucy is walking!

2009-05-12T21:12:00.001-06:00

It's official, Lucy is walking. Last night she took about 3 steps between Joe and I and I thought maybe it was fluke, but tonight she was going back and forth like crazy taking up to 5 or 6 steps. My grandfather was disappointed that she didn't do it by the 10 month mark like he did, but I think 11.5 months is just fine.

Uninspired Blogger

2009-05-10T21:36:00.004-06:00

I'm not unhappy...just uninspired. I don't feel like writing. I knew this would happen. I actually thought it would happen a whole lot earlier. I thought I would fail at blogging right from the beginning, but I've made it several months.

Just so you don't worry, things are good for the Tibbs clan. I had an amazing birthday which consisted of breakfast in bed, a facial, a pedicure, getting my hair cut and colored and a wonderful dinner with Joe at The Melting Pot. It was the best birthdays I've had in a long time (maybe ever). Today has been a very nice mother's day although we just had a massive battle getting Brad into bed. Some nights are better than others.

Lucy will be 1 in a couple of weeks. I can't believe it. She's almost walking. She could if she really wanted to, but most of the time if you try to get her to stand she just sits down. She has like 7 teeth now and gives the cutest toothy grins.

I got accepted to another Creative Team for digital scrapbooking. I'm now part of the team for Un-Leash-ed-Scraps. Leasha is one of my favorite designers and I'm so glad to be able to work with her kits.

Here's a page I did with her kit Uplifted:

And with her newest kit Monkeying Around which will be released this week:

Oh, and I got to do my first blog project for someone else. Pop over to A Little Red Ladybug and visit my friend Adrienne to see the header I did for her. She's a great writer so you'll want to do some reading while you're there.

Anyway, I'll try to be back soon with new pictures of the kids and more about what they're up to. Until then, take care!

Brad-isms 4/16/09

2009-04-16T16:17:00.004-06:00

Just a few more funny stories from Brad for you. He cracks me up every day.

We're in a bit of a frustrating stage with Brad where he thinks that when he doesn't get his own way he just needs to say what he wants over and over, louder and louder. It can be infuriating. The other morning he wanted to get in the bath tub before I left for work. We simply did not have time so I told him no and that he could do it later. He got very mad and just kept saying that he wanted to take a bath. I replied "Brad, you don't get everything you want!" and he screamed, "Yes I do! I'm the king of the world!!!" Awe, wouldn't that be nice?

Last Saturday the kids and I went to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum (pictures to come in a later post) with my mom. On the way there in the car we were listening to the radio and suddenly Brad said, "Mom, what do you want to be when you grow up?" I told him I thought I would like to be a mom and he said, "No, you have to be something with a costume." I wasn't sure where that came from but I thought for a minute and said maybe I would like to be a queen. Again Brad said, "No" and then he said "Maybe you should be an Uptown Girl." You can guess what was playing on the radio. I busted up laughing and then asked Brad what exactly an Uptown Girl was and he said, "It's a girl that a boy wants to marry." I figured that was an ok thing to be.

Later that night we had a fun Easter activity with some friends at our church (again, pictures to come). Immediately following dinner our babysitting co-op was taking place and we had told Brad that we were going to leave him while we went on a date. When it came time to go I didn't want to make a big deal out of it in front of Lucy, so Joe and I kind-of slipped out without really saying goodbye. Apparently Brad forgot we were going because about half an hour later he approached my friend Angela who was one of the adults watching the kids. He said, "Angela, can I get a ride home? I think my parents left me." What other 3 year old do you know who reacts to thinking he's been left somewhere by simply asking for a ride home? I'm just glad he didn't try to walk.

I also wanted to record a couple of the cute/funny things he says:

He has nick-named Lucy "Little" and calls her that a lot. It's really cute.

Instead of "Upside Down" he says, "Side Side Down"

He calls dreams "TV Dreams" and we haven't quite figured out why. I think it might be because seeing a dream is a little bit like watching tv?

That's all I can think of how...I'll have to see if I can come up with some more later. Oh - and he's officially potty trained now! Yeah! He's only had 2 accidents in the last 2 weeks, so I think we're on a roll!

Blast Off!

2009-04-06T21:48:00.003-06:00

For about a week now Brad has been telling Joe that they need to build a rocket. Joe has a tendency to sometimes just agree with or placate Brad just to get him to be quiet (as most parents do) which is fine except that Brad remembers EVERYTHING. If you tell him you're going to build a rocket, you better build a rocket. Brad wanted to build a rocket that would actually fly him to the moon, but Joe was able to get by with a little contraption given to him by his parents. It's made of PVC pipe and hooked to an air compressor. You put a soda or water bottle on the tube pointing up and when the air pressure builds you press the launch button and the thing flies 40 feet into the air. Brad absolutely loved it. It kept him entertained for a good 20 minutes, which is a lot.

Here they are getting it ready

Brad was very excited that he got to launch it.

He would count, but the number on which he launched was totally arbitrary and changed every time.
Getting it read to go again.
Here you can see how high it goes - it's that white blob over the house.
Waiting for the pressure to build
"Look, I have the power!"
Again, and again.

It was a really fun activity for Brad and the rest of us had fun just watching him. I think their next project is going to be to decorate the bottle so it really looks like a rocket and then launch it. If anyone else wants to come over and try it just let us know! It's probably good Brad doesn't know how to hook up the air compressor himself.

Brad-isms 4/4/09

2009-04-04T08:39:00.005-06:00

I haven't posted any Brad-isms for a while and just thought I would share a few stories from around here lately.

There will be ducks
I have no idea if anyone else will think this is funny, but it was funny at the time. Brad was headed to a sleep-over with my mom and his cousins Chelise and Corbin. Grammy had promised them that one of the activities that evening would be feeding the ducks. Brad was very excited about that because it's not something his mother would EVER take him to do. :) Anyway, my brother, Alex, was there with a friend and Brad asked if they were coming and Alex said no. Brad looked at them like he had the best secret in the world and slyly said, "There will be ducks!"

Joe's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, day
Two weeks ago we had a very sick family. Lucy was the worst. She had a stomach virus, a cold an ear infection and was cutting four teeth at the same time. It was bad. One day I had been home with the kids all day and was very glad for Joe to get home from work. Not 5 minutes after he sat down and took Lucy from me she threw up all over him. He went and changed and 5 minutes after that Brad yelled from upstairs "Dad! I Pooped!" so he got to take care of that. We decided to put them in the bath which led to an inevitable discussion with Brad about the difference between the anatomy of boys and girls. He asked Joe if girls have a penis and when Joe said no he asked, "then what do they have?" I'm pretty sure if Joe had known that's what he was coming home to he would have stayed at work.

Hey Julie!
This story relates directly to the one above although they happened about a week and a half apart. On Sunday Matt and Julie were at our house for dinner and I was in the kitchen with Julie and Brad was sitting at the table. Out of NO WHERE Brad says, "Hey Julie! Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina." Seriously?!?! Out of NO WHERE! I suddenly realized he's going to be that kid. The kid who knows way too much for his own good and wants to share it with everyone. I'm just glad that this time it was just his aunt who is very familiar with human anatomy and that he didn't decide to share that gem in Sunday School.

Puppy Names
Josh and Jo-Elle have a dog named Molly who is about to have puppies. Brad is at their house every day and is quite excited about the puppies. Last night in the car Brad told us he was going to help name the puppies. I asked him what he thought were some good puppy names and he said, "Arthur (from the tv show), Lisa (no idea on that one) and Foster (the name of a friend's dog)." I told him those were all very good names and I was impressed that he came up with them. He then broke the streak by saying if there were four puppies the last one should be named "Dog Biscuit House" and that if there was another one it would be "Dog Biscuit House 2". I hope for Josh and Jo-Elle that there are only 3 puppies!

Brad has also been really into singing this last week. He can sing the alphabet all by himself along with other classics like Twinkle, Twinkle, The itsy bitsy spider and Little Bunny Foo-Foo. Be sure to ask for a concert the next time you see him.

Gender Rolls

2009-04-01T18:53:00.005-06:00

In our house we don't strictly stick to traditional gender roles. We share household chores with Joe doing the majority of the cooking and a lot of the cleaning. I do all the laundry and always do the bathrooms. Joe and I have both always worked outside the home and at various times have both worked full and part time. We both try really hard to do things as a team, and for the most part it works really well.

We have also tried not to inflict a specific gender role on our kids. We don't go to great efforts to avoid them, but if Brad wants to play with a doll he can and I find myself often handing Lucy a truck or a ball because it's handy. I'll be honest that if Brad wanted to grow up to be a dancer or Lucy wanted to race cars we might flinch a little, but I like to think we would support whatever makes our children happy.

I've noticed that they seem to pick a lot of these things up anyway. On the rare occasion that I watch a tv show containing commercials with Brad (I can't STAND commercials) he will often ask me if certain toys being advertised are "for boys or girls". Usually this comes up when a particular toy looks like fun to him, but is obviously directed toward girls. I generally tell him that anyone who wanted to play with that toy could, and the discussion ends there.

The reason for this post is that we recently watched the Disney movie Wall-E with Brad. This movie has 2 main characters who are both robots. They are Wall-E:
And Eve:

There's very little dialogue in the first half of the movie and the only thing the robots ever really say is the other's name. The movie does not specifically define either robot as being a 'boy' or a 'girl' but to me it was obvious. I came away from watching it knowing that Eve was the girl and Wall-E was the boy. That's why I found it so very interesting when Brad kept refering to Wall-E as "she". I said, "Brad, Wall-E is a boy" and he said, "No mom, Wall-E is a girl. Eve is a boy."

When I really thought about it I couldn't put my finger on why I thought it was one way and Brad thought it was the other. Obviously Eve is a feminine name to me, but to Brad it was close enough to "Steve" to pass. Eve is new and clean, one might say more fashionable whereas Wall-E is older and dirty or tough, but to Brad those didn't lend themselves to one gender or another.

I've asked a few people who had seen the movie what they thought and have found that they all agreed with me. I also found this interesting becuase everyone I spoke with had assigned a gender to the robots although technically there's no reason to. Obviously it's something we do naturally.

I don't think I'm qualified to draw any conclusions from this. I did think it was a good reminder to look at things through a child's eyes and not to judge people (or robots) by how they look or what their name is. I don't know that it matters whether Wall-E is a boy or a girl. Wall-E is a loving character with a pure heart who gives everything when he falls in love with someone who is opposite him in many ways and therefore compliments him well.

We should all be so lucky...and I am.

Antelope Island

2009-03-21T16:15:00.008-06:00

Last Sunday afternoon we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go out to Antelope Island which is an island out in the Great Salt Lake. There's a causeway to drive out there and it's a beautiful drive. I took lots of pictures so here they are to share!

We try not to have Brad nap on Sunday's since his usual nap time is during church and if he naps after church he won't go to bed. You can see here how well that worked out.

Aren't they cute?

When we got out at the first rest area on the island we walked a little ways off and suddenly a flock of seagulls swooped in to get some potato chips someone else had dropped off. They totally cut off our way back and for those of you who understand how much I love birds you'll understand how happy I was to have to walk through this to get back to the car. Ugh.

My buff guys. Next time you see Brad ask him about getting your tickets to the Gun Show.

I took this picture because I was struck by just how close to the mountains Salt Lake is. It really doesn't get any closer than that.

There are several bison on the island and even though the ranch was closed (a fact we didn't discover until we had made the 7 mile drive down the island to find it) we did see some bison roaming around.

Brad is prepared in case they decide to stampede.

She's just happy to be along for the ride.

Brad's favorite part was when we walked down a piece of land jutting out into the lake to throw rocks.

I can't remember whether throwing the big rock was Joe's idea or Brad's.

Either way it made a really big splash.

Lucy loves to wave at everyone now.

And here's my favorite shot of the mountains. I love how they look reflected in the lake. I don't think I could ever live somewhere without mountains.

It was a great little afternoon trip and we all had a good time. I highly recommend a visit.

Lucy - 9 Months Old

2009-03-05T21:49:00.006-07:00

On Feb 21st Lucy turned 9 months old. She's growing so fast. It seems like in just in the last couple of weeks she's really gained a lot of new skills. She claps, waves hello and goodbye and signs "more" and "all done". She finally figured out how to crawl on all fours last week and at nearly the same time started pulling herself up on the furniture. She does it and looks around for applause and then realizes the only way to get down is to fall and she freaks out. I wish I could say she was sleeping better at night, but she's not. The one nice thing is that she's taking a bottle at night so Joe is really helping out and I'm getting more rest than before.

Lucy has the cutest smile and the best belly laugh. She still thinks everything Brad does is hilarious and just adores him. He is a wonderful big brother and is always helping me make sure she doesn't go anywhere dangerous or stick things in her mouth that she shouldn't.

Also, when I found out I was going to have a girl people started telling me how much more "drama" there was with girls than boys. I kind-of blew it off thinking that Brad was pretty dramatic and I was sure it wouldn't be that bad. Well, with Lucy only 9 months old I already TOTALLY know what they were talking about now. Every time something bothers her she screams. If she gets hurt, she screams. If I tell her no, she screams. If she's bored, she screams. Don't get me wrong, she's a lot of fun too...but boy is there a lot of screaming.

At her doctor's appointment on Monday she weighed 18 lbs 7 oz and was 27 1/4 inches long. She's just moving up from 6 month to 9 month clothes, so right on schedule. She's also getting a new tooth on the top (her 3rd) but it's not one of the middle ones. Not sure what to think about that...but I'm sure it will be fine.

Here's a picture of her showing off her new trick:

We Love Cousins

2009-03-05T21:10:00.005-07:00

My children are incredibly lucky to have lots of cousins. These very special friends are an important part of their lives in many different ways.

Joe and I both have lots of cousins too. We were very close with many of them growing up and are happy to be able to stay in touch with them via facebook, blogs and family gatherings. At the end of February we got the chance to visit some of Joe's extended family in Denver while I had to work at a convention for several days. Joe (along with his parents) brought the kids on a plane and they stayed with me in the hotel at night and spent their days hanging out with the cousins. Joe's cousin Tracy has a son named Taven who is very close to Brad's age and they really hit it off. They spent the whole time being super heroes and searching the world for clues. We've been home for a week and a half and Brad is still talking about Taven. Thanks to Tracy and her family along with Joe's aunt and uncle, Margaret and Marvin for keeping them busy and showing them around Denver.

Actually Taven is the first new person in a long time that Brad has been willing to acknowledge as a cousin. For a long time my sister's oldest two kids, Chelise & Corbin, have been the only people he would call his cousins. He's older than all the other kids on Joe's side of the family and as those new babies have been born we've told him they were his cousins and he just says, "No, Chelise & Corbin are my cousins," I think now with Taven he's realized that having more than 2 cousins can be fun.

Lucy is really lucky to have 5 cousins that are within 15 months of her age. She'll never have a shortage of playmates. Today Tenille and her kids were visiting when Lucy had a massively poopy diaper and had to be put in the bath tub. We decided to plop Carly, who is 8 weeks younger than Lucy, in with her. Here are the cute pictures we took:

Carly has amazing blue eyes.

You can see Lucy's cute little teeth in this one.

We were commenting on how opposite they are - Carly is fair skinned, blue eyed with light hair and cute chubby rolls. Lucy has olive skin, dark hair and eyes and is just a tiny thing.

I snapped a couple more of Carly after the bath

Isn't this just perfect? Kisses anyone?

We feel very lucky that our kids have all these built-in friends and playmates and hope they continue to enjoy them and stay close to them as they grow up.

Trip to Mars Brad-isms Feb 16, 09

2009-02-16T20:31:00.002-07:00

This afternoon Joe & I were both off of work so we decided to take the kids to the Clark Planetarium. They have a lot of fun exhibits on space and science and Brad had a really good time. He especially enjoyed the spots where you could explore what it was like on the moon and on mars. Please excuse the terrible quality of the pictures as they are from my phone. I grabbed the little camera on the way out the door and of course the batteries were dead.

Brad also liked the telescopes. One was set up so that it was pointed at a little tiny picture of the planet Jupiter on the wall. When you looked in the telescope it was very large and pretty. As we were waiting for Brad's turn at the telescope I was standing at the other end and the boy in front of him looked in and said "Oh, it's Jupiter." Brad quickly informed him, "That's not Jupiter, that's just my mom!"

On the way home we got back in the car and I realized that I had tucked the parking ticket somewhere I would be able to find it and had promptly forgotten where. Brad asked what was wrong and I said I couldn't find the parking ticket. In the most dramatic voice possible Brad cried "Oh no! We're Doomed!" Luckily I found the ticket in my cup holder and we were saved.

Valentine's Grandma Dinner

2009-02-16T20:08:00.002-07:00

Joe's Grandma does a great job of getting her family together every couple of months. She sends invitations in the mail to a "Grandma Dinner" with a fun theme or cute idea. This month she invited us all to a Valentine's Day Grandma Dinner. There was good food, games and even some dancing!

For the first time Joe's parents had all 5 of their grand-children together. From the top left they are Hailey (with Jo-Elle), Camden (with Katie), Lincoln (with Julie) and in front Brad & Lucy with me. This was the best of the shots with pretty much everyone looking at the camera except me!

It was also the first time I got to meet Camden since we had had kids with colds and sicknesses in January. He's just tiny and cute.

Lincoln is starting to get so big! He's got the cutest little smiles.

We played pictionary and Josh pretty much dominated the game. His drawing skills left a little to be desired as you can see here, but I think he guessed about 75% of the words others drew.

Here's the lovely Hailey Joy.

JJ and Lucy. She sat on his lap for like 15 minutes!

The highlight of the night by far was a rousing game of "Duck, Duck Goose". Brad ALWAYS wants to play this game, but it's a little hard when it's just Brad, Lucy and me. Lucy can't exactly run around the circle and I get tired of always being "it". Brad was in heaven having a whole group of people to play with and it seemed like they all had a good time too.

Thank you Grandma-Great for bringing us all together for a very good time. I can't wait for the next one!

Mob Wars

2009-02-12T14:09:00.002-07:00

I'm afraid I'm starting to fail at blogging. I actually expected to be bad at it when I started. I did a lot better than I thought I would in the beginning, but now it's catching up to me. I just feel like nothing exciting enough to write about is happening in my life...here's an example -

My co-workers introduced me to Mob Wars (you know who you are and you will pay for it). It's this completely useless game on facebook where you are a mob boss and earn money by doing all sorts of illegal activities and attacking other mobs. Well, actually all you do is click buttons and wait around. It is COMPLETELY pointless and yet I'm addicted. And for some stupid reason I feel some sort of real life success has been achieved every time I steal $70,000 from someone and send them to the hospital. I currently have a gross income of $298,400 an hour. I own 21 villlas, 24 restaurants, 12 apartment buildings, 15 hotels, a highrise apartment and a shipping yard. I also own dozens of high powered weapons and fully equipped combat vehicles. I spend the majority of my Mob time robbing banks or smuggling drugs by sea. The first thing I do after I get dressed in the morning is go online and dump my money in the bank so no one steals it.

It's bad. It's got to stop. But it's so much more interesting that my real life....

Maybe when the weather gets better I will have more to blog about...bleh.

2009-02-05T15:15:00.002-07:00

I've been doing some more digi-scrapping this week and wanted to share some of my layouts. These first 2 are both using the kit Brighten My Day from Spinky Dink Scraps:

This is one of Brad's first photos. He was so tiny and little! The page was made using In Perfect Harmony by Tracie Stroud at Elemental Scraps.

And this is one of the sweet little nephews I was blessed with a couple of months ago, Lincoln Scott. He's Matt and Julie's first baby and he is just a doll. Of course he has Matt's genes, so they better enjoy him now before he gets mobile! The page was made using "Monsters" by Leslie Bodoh at Elemental Scraps.

Brad-ism of the day 2/3

2009-02-03T16:35:00.004-07:00

I had to go to the post office today to pick up the key to the mail box at our rental. Of course when I got there, there were like 15 people in line and only 2 windows open. Both kids were SO good, which is not normal in a situation like that. We waited in line moving up a few feet every couple of minutes. Finally when we were almost to the front of the line I moved up and everyone else in line moved up too. Brad looked up and said (VERY loudly):

"Mom, why is that lady following us?"

Everyone in line got a good laugh out of it. Hooray for comic relief in the post office line.

Update on Lucy

2009-01-29T22:15:00.002-07:00

Lucy is growing up so fast and starting to do so many new things. Just look at what I caught her at on Tuesday:

That was also the same day she cut her first teeth. Her two tiny bottom ones are just poking through. I don't want her to grow up. I want her to stay a baby...this age is so very fun. I'll have to try to get a video of her laughing because it's the cutest thing ever. She thinks everything Brad does is hilarious. I'm glad someone does!

A Quick Funny

2009-01-25T21:51:00.004-07:00

The other morning Brad saw me looking at the post below and I asked if he knew the name of the man in the picture. Surprisingly he did only he said "Bee Rock Obama". I thought that was just about the funniest thing until I was reading Shannon's blog and found out that Brad's friend Kennedy calls him "The Rock Obama"! I LOVE it! Thank you Kennedy for making me laugh!

Why it matters to me

2009-01-21T21:27:00.005-07:00

I have tried to write a blog post about my political perspective no less than a dozen times since I started blogging in October. I fill pages full of words. I save it all, but I just cannot do justice to my feelings. I wish I had a gift for writing so that I could truly express on paper (or screen I should say) what I feel in my heart...but the words just will not come.

I first started trying to write something clever and pithy about why I'm a liberal back in October when we were still in the midst of the election. It was scrapped. I tried to put facts and figures into a logical argument for why I feel the way I do, but it got boring really fast. I also tried to pour out my feelings of pride and relief on election night when Barack Obama was elected by such a huge majority but again, the words just wouldn't come.

Those of you that know Joe and me are probably aware that we are more liberal than your average Utahan. I would guess that if I asked you which of us was more passionate about it most of you would say Joe. The thing is, I'm not sure that's true. Joe likes to talk about it a lot more than I do, but when it comes to politics my feelings are fierce. I find it difficult to discuss with people because my emotions run so close to the surface on the subject.

Yesterday as I watched Barack Obama be sworn in as the President of the United States I wondered why it matters so much to me. I'm not African American. I don't come from a disadvantaged or minority background. I'm educated, upper middle-class white all the way. So why did it literally bring tears to my eyes to listen to him speak to our country yesterday?

I think the answer is hope. Hope that if this man can become the President of the United States, my children and YOUR children will grow up in a world where they can be anything they want to be. Hope that the people in this country can return to a "we" mentality instead of a "me" mentality. Hope that we can somehow reach equal ground where everyone has enough to eat and somewhere safe and warm to sleep. Hope that greed will be replaced with generosity. Hope that freedom will spread by example instead of by force.

"There is no obstacle that can

stand in the way of millions

of voices calling for change."

"There is no doubt that our road will be long. That our climb will be steep. But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard. I ask you to help me reveal that character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our forefathers that we celebrate today." (Barack Obama, Jan 18, 2009 at the Lincoln Memorial)

To be led into this era of change by someone who can inspire confidence and hope is a true gift and I pray that God will guide him every day as he makes decisions that affect us all and that God will guide us every day as we make decisions that affect each other. It matters to me because our world matters to me.

Yes, we can.

I started a fire

2009-01-21T21:08:00.003-07:00

But only a little one...
I am not the chef in our family. I have like 5 things I can make and usually try to cook once a week to give Joe a break. Tonight I was making spaghetti and decided to include some garlic bread which I was cooking right under the broiler in our oven. Apparently I left it just a tiny bit too long because when I opened the oven to check on it there were flames. Being the quick thinker that I am I heaved them, pan and all, out the back door into the snow.

The good news is that our smoke detector has been checked and is in working condition.

I also thought I'd include a few new pictures of Lucy. She's become very mobile by rolling around and doing the low army crawl, but hasn't quite got the hang of actually crawling. Just this week she's started to get up on all fours and rock back and forth, so I'm sure it won't be long. She was showing off a little tonight and I snapped these shots. Enjoy!

Face Lift and 10 Truths

2009-01-17T20:37:00.007-07:00

I finally sat down today and figured out how to do something more interesting with my blog layout. I liked what I had before, but it was pretty plain, so, I kept the same theme but scrapped it up a bit. What do you think?

And I've been honored by Lindsay with a little award/tag. I'm supposed to tell 10 truths. I'm not sure these are things you really want to know...but here you go:

1. I'm good at getting my laundry washed and dried every week, but horrible about putting it away. Right now there are 3 baskets of clean laundry that need to be put away.

2. I recently tried to read Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austin because I was feeling guilty that all I read is "escape fiction". I got halfway through and was so bored out of my mind that I rented the move and I LOVED the movie.

3. I hate shopping. HATE it.

4. I am a junk food junkie.

5. I have not slept for more than 3 hours straight in 3.5 years. My kids are both terrible sleepers. I'm tired.

6. I am madly in love with my husband.

7. I thought I would hate blogging when I started, but I actually really like it.

8. On the surface I'm not a very competitive person, but on the inside I'm insanely competitive. I can't even watch the BYU/Utah football game because the loathing I feel for the BYU team and their fans is not good for my soul. (Go Utes 13-0!)

9. I love to sing and took voice lessons for 5 years, but have not performed a solo for almost 2 years.

10. I have to go to an event for my job next month and will be away from my family for 2 nights. While I'm sure I will miss them, I am VERY excited to have a couple of nights to myself!

There you go, more than you ever wanted to know! And I pass this on to anyone who feels they need a little more honesty in their lives!

My "Other Job"

2009-01-15T15:21:00.005-07:00

Shortly after Lucy was born and while I was on maternity leave I got a little restless. I was used to having to get up every morning and be somewhere at a certain time and being accountable to other people. While having a newborn and a 2 year old was keeping me busy, I decided I needed a hobby. I ended up getting into digital scrapbooking. Digital scrapbooking is creating scrapbook pages on the computer. I LOVE it. To me, it's all the fun of scrapbooking with none of the mess and it's WAY less expensive.

Well, as part of the digital scrapbooking world I stumbled into making "Siggies" for people on the message board I'm a member of (www.justmommies.com). A Siggy is a digital signature used to show pictures or words at the end of each post someone makes. There are probably about 30 siggy makers at Just Mommies and they are a wonderful group of girls. They have taught me most of what I've learned about digital scrapbooking. Joe likes to hassle me about it and calls it my "Other Job" because it takes a decent amount of time and I don't really get anything out of it...except entertainment. That's enough, right?

Recently one of the girls, Lindsay, gave me the opportunity to be part of her Creative Team. Basically that means that I get to use the scrapbook kits she creates in exchange for sharing what I make with them on my blog. Lindsay's a fantastic designer. Her designs are called SpinkyDink Scraps. Her newest kit is called Fly Me To The Moon and I got to make a siggy and a scrapbook page with it! Here they are, I hope you like them!

Brad is a Sunbeam!

2009-01-04T20:56:00.007-07:00

Today was Brad's first day moving from the church nursery into his primary class (fondly known as the Sunbeams). Part of me just cannot believe he's really that old! The past 3 years have gone really fast, and have at times been stressful, but I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoy being his mom. I don't want to turn this into a Brag-Blog, but I just wanted to take a minute to record some of the things I really love about Brad at this age.

Brad never forgets anything. You can mention something in passing and 3 weeks later he'll bring it up like it just happened. It makes it hard to placate him with empty promises! If you read him a book once or twice he will memorize most of it and the next time you read it you can leave out a word or something and he will fill it in. He keeps Joe on his toes, because Joe likes to try to get away with skipping pages to make bed time go faster.

Brad is a fantastic big brother. He loves Lucy soooo much. He constantly wants to play with her and is saying how cute she is. He is also very protective. We were at a restaurant on Thursday night and the waitress came over to see Lucy and he yelled "Don't touch her!" really loud. It was pretty funny, but also nice to know that Brad won't let a stranger walk off with his sister.

Brad has an amazing imagination. He always wants to play pretend. When we're in the car in the mornings he'll make up characters for us to be and scenes to act out. One of his favorites is to pick characters from the movie "Cars" but he always gets to be Lightening McQueen and I have to be Mater. On Friday night we had my best friend, Laura, and her family over to watch the football game (Go Utes! 13-0!) and Brad played all evening with Laura's daughter Ella who is 4. They were playing house and puppies and Brad really enjoyed having someone else to pretend with. The next morning he wanted Joe and I to play house with him and said I was the sister and Joe was the dad. I asked him who was the mom and he said she died. I said that was very sad and he said, "It's ok, she went to Kevin." Joe and I were laughing so hard it hurt. I told him it was "Heaven" with an "H" but he kept calling it Kevin.

Brad really is sweet. He can be really, not-sweet too, but for the most part he is very sweet. He is always telling me I'm beautiful and how much he loves me. He gives the very best hugs and never denies his mom a kiss. I realize he probably won't always be that way, so I'm trying to take it while I can get it.

And just for getting all the way through my post here are a few church related Brad-isms for you -
A couple of weeks ago we brought Brad into the older primary group for singing time to let him start getting used to it. He seemed to enjoy it, but the moment he got back to the nursery class he walked up to his teacher, Amy, and said "Those kids were Terrible!" I'm not sure if he was referring to their behaviour or their singing, but either way it was funny.

Last week he went up to the children's music director and said, "Sister Culford, if I had super powers I would make you disappear!" Luckily she has a very good sense of humor and didn't take it personally.

Brad is the only kid his age in our ward, so he was the only one to move up this week (thanks a lot Jen & Stephen for moving!!!). Since it's silly to have a class of 1 he will be in with the kids a year older than he is, but I think it will be ok since he already knows most of them and is good friends with a couple. He really enjoyed it today and I'm optimistic that it's going to be a really good year for him. I just wish he wouldn't grow up so dang fast.

Brad-isms 12/29

2008-12-29T17:08:00.005-07:00

Yesterday Brad says to me "Let's pretend that you're the mommy and I'm the daddy."
Me: Ok, sounds good.
Brad: (From the other room) Dear!
Me: Yes?
Brad: I need a Diet Coke!
Interesting to get his perception of our relationship!

Today, at the dinner table:
Brad: Mommy, do you like cats?
Me: No, not really.
Brad: (With a sweet expression on his face holding his thumb and finger together) Just a tiny little bit?
Me: Yeah, I guess a tiny little bit.
Brad: Ok! Let's get one!
We're going to have to teach him about the hard sell.

Bath Time!

2008-12-26T19:05:00.009-07:00

Wow, three posts in one day! Aren't you proud?

I know the day will come when I can't put my kids in the bath together, but that day is not yet. Lucy loves her big brother so much. She just laughs and laughs at everything he does. He also loves her and does everything he can to make her happy. There's been no sibling rivalry at all. Having two is so much more fun than I ever thought it would be!

The Gingerbread Rocket

2008-12-26T18:04:00.006-07:00

This Christmas season Brad has seen a few Gingerbread Houses and he wanted us to make one. I decided it would be better to use graham crackers because there was just no way I was going to make gingerbread from scratch. We went to the store and got candy and the crackers and frosting in a can (is that any worse or better than cheese in a can?) and came home to build the house. Upon arriving home Brad informed us that he didn't want to make a gingerbread house, he wanted to make a gingerbread rocket. It's a bit unorthodox, but it turned out great. Here are the pictures!

Brad spent a lot of the time eating the frosting and candy.

Here's the rocket starting to take shape.

And here's the final product. Pretty sweet for the first ever Graham Cracker Christmas Rocket.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T16:05:00.005-07:00

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Ours was wonderful. Wednesday night we had a great time playing games and singing carols. Joe read us the Christmas story from the bible and as we read each piece Brad put the ceramic nativity pieces into the stable. We also watched Joy to the World which is a DVD the LDS church put out last year (or the year before, I can't remember) which depicts the birth of Christ and the corresponding events in the Book of Mormon. It was a really nice evening.

That night both of the kids were TERRIBLE! Brad woke up like 4 times and Lucy woke up wanting to nurse like ever hour and a half. I don't know what it is about holidays but it just throws kids off. I was sooooo tired in the morning. Luckily both kids are too young to want to get up early for presents so we slept in until about 8:00.

Brad thoroughly enjoyed opening his gifts, however the first 2 he opened were both clothes and I think he got worried there were all clothes. He got some Legos (the big ones) and also a Little Critter Collection book which he loves. Lucy was way more into it than Brad ever was at her age, but still she liked the paper better than anything else.

Around noon we went to visit Grandma Pitts who is Joe's maternal Grandmother, who lives about 20 minutes away. There were other cousins and family there and we had lunch and enjoyed the company. She gave us the best present - Food Storage! What a great idea! She went to the cannery and packed oats and sugar and macaroni and other things and gave us a whole big box. I was really excited about that. She also put some of Grandpa Pitts' papers and pictures on a CD for us that I'm really excited to take a look at.

At 4:00 we had a family dinner hosted by Josh & Jo-Elle. We had turkey and potatoes and all the fixings. She had set a beautiful table and it was really nice. We then exchanged gifts with everyone in the 2nd annual Tibbs gift exchange. Last year we started a tradition where each couple buys for another couple and you have to get the most creative and fitting gift for $20.00. It is a lot of fun and also saves everyone money. Grandma Pitts even kicked in a $5.00 prize for the winners who were Jo-Elle & Josh. Brad had a great time wrestling with his uncle Matt and Lucy enjoyed being the center of her Grandparent's attention.

I feel truly blessed this year. It's been a great one for us and I'm so glad so many of you have been a part of it. I love Christmas and the time it gives us to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ and the reminder that we should be focusing on Him all year.

Ok, here are the pictures. There are a lot so I threw them into a slide-show. I hope you enjoy them!

THAT 8-year-old girl

2008-12-22T19:26:00.002-07:00

A couple of weeks ago our bishop announced that there were some families in our ward who could use some help with their Christmas needs. He said we could donate money through the ward and that they would make sure those needs were met. Joe and I felt strongly that we should help but we wanted to do something a little bit more personal to try to help Brad understand better about how Christmas is for Giving not Getting. Joe asked the bishop and was told that there was an 8-year-old girl in the ward whose family was short on cash for presents and that we could pick out a few things for her.

A few nights later we were talking to Brad and told him we were going to go shopping to get some Christmas presents for an 8-year-old girl. I didn't really think he would understand, but I did not expect his reaction at all. He totally went off the deep end! He was telling us that presents were only for him and his friends. He said we could buy presents for Kennedy, Anela, Kara, Abby & Alyssa, but not for THAT 8-year-old girl. We continued to explain that the girl's family didn't have enough money this Christmas and that we did, so we were going to share. Brad replied with, "We can't give THAT 8-year-old girl my dad's money! My dad likes his money!!" It was all a bit comical and a bit concerning at the same time. I told Brad that Christmas is to celebrate Jesus's birthday and that we give each other presents for His birthday and that Jesus would want us to share with this girl. Brad simply stated, "I will share with MY friends."

I am happy to report that the story has a happy ending. When we got to the store and started looking around for things an 8-year-old girl would like Brad had a change of heart. He helped us pick out the presents and even helped Joe wrap them. The hostility went away and Brad decided it was ok to share with a girl he didn't know. He even picked out a present for Lucy - something she would like instead of something he wanted. I think he's getting the Spirit of Christmas after all.

Lucy Sitting Up, Lots of Snow and Why We Don't Do Santa Claus

2008-12-19T17:32:00.007-07:00

I've taken some fun photos the last few days and wanted to share them. First of all, Lucy is officially sitting up. It's like one day she couldn't and the next she could. I put her in front of the Christmas tree and took some pictures. She loves the tree but she's not mobile enough to be able to get to it on purpose, so it's pretty safe. Brad is old enough this year to leave it alone, so we've had a good tree year. Here are the pictures (click to enlarge):

And here's the Signature or "Siggy" I made for my message board using my favorite one:

Today we had our second large snow storm of the week. I don't mind snow, but I HATE driving in it. It just seems that some people think they should be able to drive as fast and as recklessly as they usually do and those people make me nervous. My car is really good in the snow, so I can't complain too much. I just prefer to stay home when it's on the ground. Brad went out to play this afternoon while Joe was shoveling the driveway. He was really cute about it. He mostly wanted to eat it.

And now on to the topic of controversy for my post today: Santa Claus. I want to preface this by saying I have no problem with Santa Claus. I don't even have a problem with parents who want their children to believe in Santa Claus, but I don't, and I thought some of you might be interested in knowing why. This is not meant to offend anyone, just to give you a glimpse into what I'm thinking.

There are a few reasons we don't do Santa in our home. The first has to do with how difficult it is to keep Christmas focused on the birth of The Savior. I think most people would agree that Christmas has become very commercialized. While we all know what the "true meaning of Christmas" is, I'm fairly sure that if you ask most people between the ages of 2 and about 10 what they think about when they think of Christmas it would have something to do with Santa Claus and getting presents. It's the only time during the year other than your birthday that you can expect other people to spend money getting you things you want. I'm guilty of it - I used Christmas as an excuse to get my new camera. Of course that was like 2 months ago, but what the heck. My point is that no matter how hard you try to focus on the birth of Jesus Christ, the world puts presents and spending money right in your face. To me, Santa Claus has become the very symbol of the commercialized Christmas. I don't believe that's the way Santa or Saint Nicholas is supposed to be. He's to supposed to be be a symbol of giving in it's most basic form. In many of the original stories of St. Nick he gave only to the poor and needy. It's for that very reason that I will teach my children about the legend of Santa Claus but I will not teach them that he's a real, live, jolly, fat man living at the North Pole and bringing presents to children if they are "good". What does that teach children about those who have less? If one of my friends shows up at school with an ipod and the other shows up with new pencils does that mean that the first friend was better behaved throughout the year?

The second reason for not teaching my children that Santa Claus is real has to do with being honest. I just don't like the idea of creating the elaborate deception that Santa Claus actually comes into our house on Christmas Eve, eats our baked goods and leaves presents. Again, for those of you that do, that's totally fine, it just doesn't sit well with me. I want to be able to tell them that Santa is a fun story, and the Easter Bunny is a fun tradition, but that Jesus and Heavenly Father are real, and I don't want that to cause any confusion. I know for most kids it wouldn't, but it just feels important to me.

Maybe one of the reasons I feel so strongly about this is that I was not raised believing that Santa Claus was real. I was taught about the story of Santa Claus by my parents who were loving and wonderful and always made Christmas special and magical without having to try to explain how Santa was going to get into our mobile home when we had nothing even resembling a chimney. Did I miss out on something? I don't think I did at all. I still got excited about Christmas. I even crept out of my room in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve to check the Christmas Tree (wondering if my parents had put out the presents before they went to bed). I had a great appreciation of the spirit of Christmas and also an appreciation of the sacrifice my parents had to make each year to get us gifts when my dad's teaching salary didn't stretch as far as it sometimes needed to. I loved knowing that my mom had picked out just what I wanted and that my siblings were thrilled with what I picked for them. I actually feel that thinking Santa Claus was "real" would have taken away from the closeness I felt to my family during the Holiday Season.

I do love Christmas. I love Christmas music. I love having my tree up. I love Christmas lights, especially those at Temple Square. I love that the season is a reminder that our lives need to be focused on Christ. I even love the story of Santa Claus. So to those of you that now think I am Scrooge himself I will end by saying, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!