It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Saturday was my birthday. It was swell. I got to drive this beauty that had arrived the day before.

We went to the zoo as a family.

I had a delicious birthday lunch at Mimi's Cafe.

Our fabulous friends, Will & Gretel, came over for dinner and stayed to chat until after we all should have been asleep. I loved it.

Oh, and I let my driver's license expire.

I was mildly panicked that Utah would make me take the actual get-behind-the-wheel-and-try-not-to-break-too-many-laws driving test, but they were kind and said that it hadn't expired that long ago and I could just take the normal written test that everyone who relinquishes an out-of-state license needs to take. That's right, I finally gave up my California license. It was kind of painful. The worst part is that my last two driver's license pictures have been really good. The secret is to go in full make-up with your hair not in a ponytail. I prepped for this one too. My sister-in-law came over and watched the boys so I could go shower and get all gussied up. I was fancy. The picture is all right, but my lip twitched just as the camera flashed, so the smile is not my huge "I love having my picture taken" smile. It's more of a "Oh I guess you really have to take my picture so tell me when-" smile.

I'm glad the stroller came when it did, because it was the only thing I was allowed to drive for two days.

Monkey See...

I'm looking at a box of birthday candles. Underneath the boxed warning label is an additional admonishment: Extinguish candle before throwing away. Can you imagine the lawsuit that prompted that amendment? "Well Bud here couldn't blow out all 96 candles, and the cake was covered in so much spit anyway we just decided to chuck the whole thing, candles and all. Who knew that plastic trashcan would burn like that? Woowee!" (I hope two things: 1-that I did not offend you with that scenario, 2-that you read that with a heavy redneck accent. Thank you.)

Yesterday at our ward conference our Stake President spoke about fear, natural fear vs. adversarial fear. Natural fear can keep us safe while adversarial fear keeps us from doing important things like sharing our talents or learning an important and wise skill because we don't think we're good enough. After introducing his topic he told a series of stories about people that had done really stupid stuff and then died. Cooper was getting noisy so he and I left part way through and I have no idea how those stories worked into the rest of the lesson. But they were still interesting in an awful and shocking kind of way. The one that stuck with me was about a young man who heard about people jumping out of helicopters and skiing down mountains for fun. He wanted to try it too so he got some old skis and attached his sneakers to them using screws. He went up to a high mountain, jumped off the first cliff, and smacked into the second cliff. Our Stake President learned this story from his friend who worked in search and rescue who had to retrieve the young man's body from the mountain.

My question is this: how do I teach the boys to use common sense so that they will stay safe and not light themselves on fire or jump off a mountain in sneaker-skis?

Also, common sense, it would appear, is not so common.

The Very Talented Artist

Face Time

I've been on hiatus from Facebook. It started when we were on vacation, it was just too hard to read status updates on Bryan's Blackberry. Then when we got back I never logged in because I was focused on reading all the blog posts I'd missed. (I've still have 260 to go.) Then I was doing other things in the evenings like weeding the garden and unpacking from Texas. Now I'm just afraid to go back.

Here's my dilema: I want to make sure that I keep up with everyone on there, but I don't have the time to sit for hours reading the status updates, quiz results, and comments that those on my friends list post. While I want to know the important stuff that's going on in their lives (marriages, births, graduations) I'm not so interested in the little things that often make their way onto Facebook (endless quiz results, pictures of pets, invitations to join virtual mafia organizations). Also, I'm kind of afraid that I'll get sucked back in and sit in my big red chair every night thinking that I should be folding the laundry or cleaning the kitchen, but updating Facebook one more time to see what's new.

See, I've discovered that I don't really like being on the computer for long periods of time. When Cooper was nursing it was a great way to pass the hours and not fall asleep. But now that Cooper is done nursing I have nothing tying me down to the computer. I'd much rather read a book or talk to my husband.

I may go back, I may not. I figure that I'll get an email notification if anyone sends me a message or writes on my wall, so I don't really need to be on there myself.

How do you limit your time on the computer but still stay update-to-date on your various forms of communication?

Bow-dacious

We spent allllllll day yesterday doing wedding stuff for Bryan's cousin Tricia. It was a beautiful sealing and a fun reception, but we are still tired. When we got to Bryan's aunt's house (the reception location) we asked what we could do to help. We were promptly put on bow duty.

Bows had been tied onto lanterns lining the driveway the day before, but those bows were looking rather sad and droopy. Now, the reason we were given this particular assignment was because my mother-in-law Shari is a pro bow maker. I am not. She had to show me what to do approximately twelve times. Even then I was nervous and had trouble making my hands fold the ribbon the right way. But then I got it. And so I did another one. And another one. And another one. You know what? I make a mean bow now.

Check it out, I have cutesy skills:

Fashion Statement

Bryan is into free stuff. We have a small but growing pile of free samples that have come in the mail addressed to Resident At, Bryan's moniker of choice. He has at least one free magazine subscription for himself and found a free 12-month run of Parents magazine for me. I also like free stuff and read every issue of Parents that I get.

A few months ago another free magazine showed up. I've read the two issues that I received and have cracked the spine on the third, but I have to tell you, it's totally outside my realm of experience. I'm still not sure why Bryan signed me up for it, and I'm not sure he knows why either. What title has me scratching my head? Elle.

This is a seriously girly magazine. It's all about fashion and, um, well, it's pretty much just about fashion. There are short interviews with actors and writers and book and movie reviews, but it's mostly ads. Did you know that the picnic look was popular in April? You know, gingham patterns, picnic baskets, ant accersories, that kind of thing. Also, denim made a big comeback, including denim fedoras and denim espadrilles.

I read each issue with the timid fascination of an outsider. Do people really dress like this? How can they afford it? How long does any of this stay trendy?

And the most important question: do I really care?

Deep in the Heart of Texas

I'm going to take a cue from Beth and talk about our trip to Texas in list form. Are you ready?

The Awesome:

• We got to spend a week with Bryan's family, which was fabulous. We even stayed at their house, which meant lots of time with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, and Uncles.
• Bryan's youngest sister is eleven and Bryan's parents have kept many of her toys. The boys now think that the attic is a magical place because that's where many of the toys came from. Both boys played happily with a toy kitchen, a dollhouse, and a Barbie cash register. They also drove cars around, so I figure it all balanced out.
• Did you know there are camels in Texas? I don't mean in a zoo, I mean camels just roaming around. We saw a herd of them it west Texas. Seriously, camels.
• We went to the aquarium in Dallas (which is a misnomer because it's really more of an aviary) and a bird landed on my father-in-law's shoulder while he was holding Peter. Peter was both fascinated and totally freaked out.
• We watched cowboys wrangle long-horned cattle. I know that it was just for the viewing pleasure of the tourists, but it was still entertaining.
• We saw signs like this one:
  
• Peter got lots of bonding time with his Aunt Lorna.
  
• We watched Bryan's youngest brother Spencer graduate from high school.
• 
• Oklahoma is gorgeous! I had no idea. Also, Wyoming is really beautiful. Granted, there weren't a ton of people in either state, but the trees and the landscapes were very pretty.
• The boys both discovered their inner cowboy.
  
  

  

The Not So Awesome:

• I really don't love tornado warnings. No, that's not right. I'm thankful for the warning, it's the tornado I don't dig. Earthquakes don't scare me, but giant swirling vortexes of air and debris do. Go fig.
• Cooper can climb up stairs.
• Cooper loves to climb up stairs.
• Cooper also loves to throw himself backward off of the stairs, which meant that we either had to block his path to the stairs, hold him the whole time, or follow him very closely as he crawled up the stairs, giggling as he went.
• New Mexico makes me sad. Sorry to those of you from New Mexico or who have recently moved to New Mexico, but it's true. Maybe I went through the wrong parts. Albuquerque was nice, but the small towns we drove through looked as if no one there cared about keeping anything in good repair.
• Freaky scary hailstorms that last for twenty minutes and, at times, limit your visibility to zero are not fun.

The Stuff We Learned:

• Fort Worth and Dallas have some fun things to do as a family.
  
  
• If we can drive to and from Texas and stay sane, then driving to California will be cake.
• Watching a movie on the laptop in our little car doesn't work so well.
• Listening to audiobooks makes up for the lack of movies.
• Texas has the best rest stops. Except for the big sign that said "Watch Out For Snakes", the rest stop we had lunch at was great. It had clean bathrooms and a huge, fully-fenced playground.
• If you need a restroom while on a road trip, and you're not near a Texas rest stop, stop at McDonald's. With the exception of a slightly sad McDonald's in eastern Colorado, they were all very clean.
• Sleep makes everything better.
  

The End.

Begin Your Celebration Early

I was all set to write about our trip to Texas... until Bryan sent this to me. Although it has been a week of cop-out posts, I promise that this does not fall into that category. It's about seven minutes long, but worth it.



So to my dad,

Bryan's dad,

and Peter and Cooper's dad,

thank you for honoring your Priesthood and loving your families so much.

Happy Father's Day.

P.I.

Watch this:



And then watch this:



Nice.

Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?

This is what happens when you put off unpacking your bag of snacks from a long road trip and leave the bag on the floor. I was pleased he went for the graham crackers because there were also Red Vines and a handful of Swedish Fish in there.

Turning off the flash on my camera equals a blurry, but still very cute picture.