Mmmm mmm good

I had a French dipped sandwich for breakfast this morning. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE being an adult and choosing my own meals?

I had fresh bread and butter with strawberry jam for dinner last night. And then a zesty dill pickle for a late night snack.

What are your oddest eats?

This cracks me up

It's not even THAT funny, just amusing... thought I'd post a brief little Adrie snippet for you.

She loves this newborn pacifier. Luckily it's not even close to big enough for her to get any good sucking on it, so occasionally she chew on it or plays with it, but it doesn't stick around long :)

Her new nonsense phrase this weekend sounds exactly like she's saying "Oh sh*#"! Over and over! I about died of embarassment in church today. Hopefully those good people surrounding me don't have gutter minds like mine to hear what she sounds like :)

My Weekend

Night #2 in bed with me wasn't as exciting and she actually layed down and slept a little bit before I moved her back to her own bed. Yay! Dumb ear infections and the pain they cause... We are on to meet with the ENT doctor next week to see about ear tubes.

She loves to dress up! She insisted on three different tutus earlier. The cutest is when she gets my clothes and gets creative in figuring out how to wear them. This afternoon she came out with my swimsuit bottoms around her neck and some shorts on her head.
Unfortunately, she has also begun to show interest in choosing her own clothes. This lovely little outfit to your left was what today started out with until I could convince her otherwise.

She is obsessed with brushing her teeth. Anytime we are upstairs she grabs her toothbrush and paste out of her bathroom drawer and brings them to me. Once she's sucked all the kid-friendly toothpaste off, she comes back for another round.

In other news, I finished sewing my dream diaper bag! It finally matches her nursery... 17.5 months later. Sadly, the diaper bag I have used and loved was lost when I drove away with it on the roof of my car a month ago. :( It was the motivation I needed to create this masterpiece. Hooray for the smartest class I ever took at BYU - Introductory sewing. I suck at clothing but I really enjoy bags, curtains, and other home items.

Yes, my weekend consisted of mostly Adrie. Work isn't exciting to talk about, and I live for the weekends when I can just play stay-at-home mom! We never even left the house today. I stayed in my pajamas until 5 pm. That's the life ;)

Sweet Whispers in the Night

1:00 am - Adrie is crying/moaning because she's hurting. As I wait for the Tylenol to kick in so I can lay her back down, I bring her to bed with me in hopes she'll just fall asleep there. (Wishful thinking). Our interchange demonstrates the amazing way in which she can carry on a conversation:

Adrie: "Mama?"
(I try my best to ignore her.)
Adrie: "Mama? Mama? Mama?" She adds a poke to the eye to check if I'm really there.
Me: "What?" I ask softly.
Adrie: "Hi!"
Me: "Lay down."
She falls over and plays dead for about ten seconds.

Adrie: "Raaa?" "Raaa?" (she is sitting up, looking for the cat, as this is her very realistic cat sound.)
Adrie: "Hi!" (she saw my eyes open in the dark.)
Me: "Adrie - Lay down."
Adrie: "Tank-t0o."
Me: "LAY DOWN."
She does a half spin as she collapses artfully by my side and snuggles in. How could I be mad?'

This lasts twenty seconds before she's climbed up on me, digging through my hair to find my face.
Adrie: "Hi!" (silence) "Hi!"
Me: "Do you want to go night-night in Adrie's bed?"
Adrie: "No!" "No-no-no-no!"
Me: "Lay Down."
She collapses and plays dead again.
Adrie: "No. No. No no no no no no-no-no-no."
Me: "Adrie, we don't say that, what do we say?"
Adrie: (silence)..... "Yeah." Nods her head emphatically.

Needless to say, snuggling in bed didn't last very long and luckily, she went back to sleep in her own bed without a peep. Will I ever learn!?

Happy Vee Day!

Valentines was a HAPPY day!

Reason #1 "We are pleased to inform you that the remaining balance of your student loan listed in the table below has been forgiven as a way of thanking you for taking care of your loan obligation in a diligent manner." $476.52 principle forgiven! Happy Valentines Day to ME!

Reason #2 We tried out a new hairdo:

Reason #3 Kurt and I got out to dinner long before the crowds hit, and had a very nice meal without talking about kids or work. That's what "real" dates are supposed to be like, right!?

I forgot to mention my FAVORITE new Adrie things in that last post - whenever she sees a truck she goes (loudly) "Wa-WAH wa-WAH" to mimic its sound. NO idea where she got this one, totally created it on her own!

Below you see pictured 1) learning to feed herself, 2) why you don't give a baby a warm chocolate chip cookie, and 3) grabbing onto my legs in the morning.

Hope your day was just as great!

Oh my Adrie - and Kevin's Farewell

She is growing, changing, and doing so many new things so fast that I can hardly keep up with her! I want to document a few, though:


* She still destroys my bathroom when we get ready in the mornings. To the right is a picture of this weekend's mess:

* I finally have a name! Instead of "Mom" or "Ma", it's an excited and fast "MaMA, MaMA!" Always said twice, always with the emphasis on the last syllable. I LOVE to hear it.

* When it's time for a diaper change she (ususally) lays right down, legs spread out, and even holds still when I say "I'll be right back" and leave to get powder or something.


* Just yesterday she started going up on tiptoe. It is so darling to watch her rise up on her toes and hold that pose. At other times she tip toes around a few steps at a time.

* Her dancing has expanded to include her arms! Sometimes up over her head like a ballerina, other times just moving in the air, but overall her dancing is full-body now. She dances to most music, and surprisingly on beat, too.


* New word - "Whoa." This cropped up during church today, and everything I pulled out of the toy bag warranted a loud "Whoa" of appreciation. People within three benches of us were laughing.


* New sound - she grunts in her throat like a little pig. It's like the sound of most people clearing their throats. SO funny! Anyone who hears it can hardly believe it. Her other funny animal sounds include a cow - "Bhooo" and a cat - "Wahhh?" Both sounds mimic the actual way the cow/cat make their noises, not the typical "moo" and "meow" that books & parents teach.


* Old Navy had a huge baby/kid sale this week that I just couldn't resist. This sweater (pink one in picture) was my favorite purchase. She looks so grown up!


* She says "No" with more voices, inflections, and facial expressions than I ever knew possible. The funniest is with a furrowed brow and pursed lips , slow and drawn out - "Nooooo" (usually accompanied by a shaking head.) A cute one - when you hand her something she doesn't want and she'll say sweetly "No!" like, "How could you possibly think that I wanted that?" When another kid tries to take something from her it's "Nonononononono" while clutching the item to her chest. We work SO hard on saying "Yeah!" but the most I can force her to do is nod. She will do that emphatically when she reeeeally wants something.



Today was Kevin's farewell. (Here's Adrie being a real sweetheart for their last picture together). He departs next week for the New Hampshire Manchester mission. He looked so studly in his new glasses, new suit, and his farewell talk was hands down the best mission farewell talk I have ever heard. He spoke for thirty straight minutes from a carefully prepared, well-researched talk. His topic? Procrastination. When did he write the talk? 4 am today. But it was great. I am uber proud of him and will miss him terribly.


Last note - isn't my sis-in-law Holly gorgeous? I just couldn't stop snapping candids of her today. What a pretty girl! She works full time and attends cosmetology school full time. What a beauty. If any of you want fun, discounted services go visit the American Beauty Academy in Payson.

Show and Tell - 1946

Once upon a time I had a Grandpa in the Army.
He was of the 188th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the Army of the United States.

I found a leather-bound album from 1946 today. In all my family scanning, I've NEVER seen these pictures! They are downright breathtaking photographs, given that it was 1946 in the middle of war!

Let the stoning begin

SO.... has it dawned on anyone else that this writers strike could be like the proverbial plagues of ancient Egypt? At first glance it appears a punishment, a nuisance of grand proportions, but upon closer examination..... could be a marvelous blessing?

I realize I may be stoned for even proposing such a fact - by members of my own family even - but, really: Has television become an idol of sorts?

I listen to people bemoan their favorite shows, brag about the lengths to which they're going for entertainment, shake my head at the waiter Saturday night so desperate for tv talk that he pulled up a chair and sat right down at our table to join the conversation, and otherwise listen to what a hot topic of discussion this strike has become. Idol-like proportions, I tell you.

Who has used the time for more family togetherness? Temple attendance? Great works of literature? Service to others? Home/Visiting Teaching? Exercise? That extra fifteen minutes of scripture study? Maybe if we get better at all of those things the Lord will end this plague.

I'm not pointing fingers - REALLY! In fact, anybody that wants to write a blog about something that's a weakness of mine, just ask for title suggestions and I could give you a whole page of them. I just wanted to share my thoughts, since I can't stop thinking about this subject today.

And quite frankly, I'm a little glad for the strike.

New Song

"Gravity" by Sara Bareilles. On super repeat today. Beautiful! I keep finding alternative symbolisms for the lyrics.

The rest of this cd is pretty good, too - some songs more than others, but overall great! Thank you, Mallory, for a new artist. Keep 'em coming!