Things I Never Thought I'd Do

Disclaimer/Warning: The following is not for the feint of heart/stomach, or those who think children's bodily functions are inappropriate to blog about...which is me...usually. Momentary lapse in propriety, I guess, but..sorry. Just look at the cute pictures and skip over all the silly words. :)

Things I Never Thought I'd Do:

1. Speak the phrase "Throw up on Mommy!" Yes, words I never thought would come out of my mouth, but when you have a sick 3 year old and it's a choice between me (with blanket), both of which clean fairly easily, and the couch, which does not...well...

2. Dance around the room with my two children singing a song about...well...potty (Thank you, Karen - and Elmo's Daddy of course-, for the song). But when are trying to potty train a 3 year old and have had no success you will do almost ANYTHING when you do have some success. Yes, success! And that is worth a song and dance as far as I'm concerned. And a few phone calls to important people (Dad, for one). In fact, I was so excited that when we went to Liam's doctor's appointment today for his "Owee sick", as he calls it, I had to fight back the urge to share our triumph with the doctor! (Seriously, what's happening to me???) But I think my mother would be proud of the self-restraint I exercised. :) As for the dancing...the kids love to dance around anyway and watch their mom be totally silly.

So there you have my week. A sick 3-year old who apparently felt like being sick was the perfect time to take an interest in potty training. A haircut, managed through tears, screaming and Peanut Butter M & M's. And Caleb, who has started shouting "No" about everything and is practicing his faces: Mad Face, Surprised Face, Scared Face, etc. Here he is doing his Surprised Face:

To Sew, or Not to Sew

So, I sewed. It is only the second sewn quilt I have ever made in my life...I tend to crochet more than sew, but I was pretty happy with how it turned out. My bobbin quit about 3 seams short of finished, of course, but after many fights with it, counsel from others (thanks, Mom! And Karen!) and letting my machine rest overnight (ha ha), it finally got completed, and just in time. Happy birthday, Charlie! And love to proud parents, Jim & Kate!


(And my picture loaded sideways for some reason...hmm.)

A Little Behind

So, I'm a little behind on my posting, but I wanted to get up some of the pictures from the hiking we did with the Olsen's a week or two ago. It was so beautiful up there and the boys loved being in the mountains. I was about done halfway through, so the girls (myself, Allison, and Avery) rested on the trail for a while, then headed back to the cars, while the boys pressed on the see both waterfalls. Thanks for not letting Caleb fall out of the backpack and into the rushing river at the dropoff, babe! :)

The boys were exhausted afterwards.

My Favorite Things

Just a quick post with some pics and some of my favorite things that the boys are saying, doing these days:

They are both obsessed with ramps (for cars, balls, anything that rolls)...they'll make a ramp out of books, cardboard, pillows, my body, anything that works.

They both love to play chase! We run around the kitchen/entryway, living room circle taking turns chasing each other and they just squeal and laugh the whole time. Talk about cardio!

So a week or so ago, Liam put on his pants all by himself for the first time, and I cheered for him and told him how proud I was of him and gave him a big hug, to which he grinned and replied: I'm proud of you, too!"


This morning: "You look so pretty, Mom." Aw...

"Baby K-Bob, you're making mom so angry up." (I think he means angry and upset)

And my personal favorite from the other day, "My life is so hard, Mom." Wonder where he heard that one. ;)




Well, what do you think? Look familiar?

Snowshoeing in Boise

I went snowshoeing again this year in Idaho. This time it was the day after Christmas up at Bogus Basin ski resort in the mountains just north of Boise. My brothers Alexander and Sam, Sam's friend Tyler and I were at about 6,000 feet and it was 15 degrees the whole time and snowed a bit - luckily, we made it out alive and didn't even have to eat each other. It was great.

Amazon Q4 Beard Challenge

The Amazon.com Movies team, of which I am a proud member, recently decided to meet the combined challenges of a dour economy and the fourth quarter (busiest time of year for us retail folks) by launching an initiative to improve team productivity (actually, it was all my friend Nick Love's idea): the Q4 Beard Challenge. What better way is there to save a few extra minutes each day than not having to shave? So, that's exactly what we did. Starting November 1st, about thirty or so of us (including some of the Music and Video Games guys) stopped shaving and just let our natural manliness manifest itself. There was supposed to be a contest and official judging for the best beard on Dec. 19, but Seattle was completely snowed out and the event was canceled because no one could make it to the office. Judging will be handled online (of course) at a future date. But, here are a few samples of my meager contribution to the effort - the devolution of a beard.

So, I'm a wimp...

I don't think I signed up for this...
Yes, that is my backyard.


The boys, of course, loved it.

Fragrance Flashback

So, I was in Walmart today doing some Christmas shopping when I decided to stroll through their fragrance aisle, just for fun. What a trip down memory lane! As I stood there, perusing all the latest fragrances by Brittany, JLo, Shania, and everyone else who has ever had any sort of music career to speak of, I was suddenly plunged back to 7th grade as I got further and further down toward the bottom shelves. There were all my old favorites: Navy, Sand & Sable, Exclamation (just to name a few). And of course, the classic tiny aerosal sprays of imposter designer scents featuring the 80's modern art splash-of-color cans...you know what I'm talking about: The bright yellow lid on a can that said "If you like Giorgio, you'll love PRIMO". Ah, suddenly I was 16 again, and I thought I was so sophisticated.
It was so fun to see all my old favorites there on the shelf. I have often heard that woman associate smells more closely with memory, and I had never experienced that more powerfully than the time I was getting a drink of water in the JSB hallway (at BYU), and some guy walked by wearing Obsession for Men. I turned around quickly because I totally expected to see Ryan (a boy I went out with in high school) walk by. Of course it wasn't, but it certainly brought back all kinds of memories. So strange. And then today, standing in that aisle remembering things like my first date, and what my room looked like when I was 17, and the first time I bought a "real" bottle of perfume (Navy), graduating from the aerosol cans. *sigh* Good times. And why did I ever stop wearing Curve after college? I loved that stuff...maybe I'll have to go retro and revisit my fragrance roots.

It's Christmastime in the City

So, this past Saturday, we decided to take in some urban Christmas activities in downtown Seattle (thanks, Audrey, for all the good suggestions!). We started at the Seattle Center (Space Needle) where they had a winter train village that the boys loved! Capturing that on film...well, less than successful. Then we took the monorail into the heart of downtown, and Liam thought that was about the coolest thing ever to ride "the big train up high".

We went to a gingerbread house display, saw the carousel in downtown, and rode the elevator in Macy's several times trying to figure out why there was a separate M button to push, but it never took you to the mezzanine, just back to the first floor. Still a mystery, but we finally found the FAO Schwartz and Santaland. No, we did not visit Santa (the wait was astounding), just stopped in to look at the moving reindeer and take in some general Christmas ambiance. Caleb was so excited about the whole trip that he fell asleep (which is why is in not in most of the pictures).


I think the most alarming thing to me was as we walked past the Nordstroms, and saw the waiting line to see Santa. It was like summertime at Disneyland, except that the "ride" only took one person at a time, for several minutes. Yikes! Many crying children in line, and an elf selling mini boxes of cheerios for $10. Okay, so I don't actually know how much she was selling them for, but when the man next to us on the street asked her how much they were, his exclamations and expletives lead me to believe that it was pretty pricey for a box of cereal. Ah, the holiday spirit of price gouging desperate parents who have run out of snacks and whose children are crying and whining. ;)

All in all, we had a wonderful time, and it totally put us in the mood for Christmas! Happy Holidays everyone and love to all!

My Friend, Santa!

Okay, so there are no pictures (yet) to go with this post, but I had to share something Liam said yesterday that was too precious and funny. We were in the mall and they have the "Pictures with Santa" set up, so as we were leaving we walked by to see Santa. There was no one in line so Santa was standing back by his "helpers" with his jacket off, checking messages on his cell phone, or maybe he was texting, who knows... the elves, maybe, Mrs. Claus...Santa has to keep up with the times after all, right? Anyway, so he waved to the boys and said hi and the boys both waved back and Liam said "Hi, Santa", etc. So as we got in the car and were leaving the parking lot, Liam said he wanted to go say hi to Santa again, and I kept explaining to him that Santa would be there for lots of days and we would come see him again. No satisfied with this answer he said very emphatically, "Mom! I need to go say Super Hi to my friend, Santa!" So there it is...Liam has a much stronger relationship with Santa than I knew about, and when Hi is not enough, give a "Super Hi"! Happy Holidays, all!