within these walls

Third wheel

2012-02-11T17:38:00.001-08:00

Art, wine, and cheese. Minus the wine because we don't drink wine, although Chris loves to look at the bottles and their labels. One time in Nappa Valley he went dumpster diving for a wine bottle because the label was cool(come to our house and you can see that prized bottle on display in our kitchen). Also minus the cheese because it had been sitting out on a table all night long and I don't know whose fingers brushed against the piece I want to eat. GROSS!
You guessed it Ogden Gallery Stroll!!!

We have been to the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll and the Park City Gallery Stroll. *WARNING* I may or may not be very proud of my husband and I may or may not brag right here right now on this blog: My very awesomely hot husband has brains and talent. He's been featured in both the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll and the Park City Gallery Stroll.
Click----->Here. In the Salt Lake Gallery he and 3 other people did an installation(whatever that is. It is the bamboo sticks in the box with rocks in his portfolio). A lady from the gallery 'The Pickle Company' saw it and asked if she could put it in her gallery. The 'Kimball art gallery' had all the graduate architecture students do a remodel of their building and they displayed them. Chris would be super mad if he sees this, good thing he doesn't read this blog :) *This concludes the prideful, bragging part of post.
Anyway, last Friday all three of us got all dolled up, no not the sister wife she was home doing the dishes because I'm the date wife not the cooking, cleaning wife. I mean the baby, Chris and I headed out for a night on the town.

Most of the art was not my cup of tea, but there were a few pieces that I liked. Because it was someones heart and soul on the page, and I think if I had art hanging on the wall I would feel like I was standing naked in front of everyone, wearing a sign the read 'judge me please.' Of course, it was all beautiful.
Navigating with a baby provided to be a little troublesome

Babyfaces first gallery stroll, ahhhhh.
Chris hated my outfit

I liked his

Recap and Moving On

2012-02-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

Now that January has melted away, along with the snow that never covered my doorstep welcome mat, I thought that maybe I should recap the first month of the new year. Because who doesn't like a little glimpse into someone elses most exciting day to day, month to month life?

RESOLUTE: MY NEW YEAR GOALS
-I have always wanted to be a few inches taller. I'll work on that.
-My alarm clock has been blinking 12:00 for 3 months now. I think I will work on that also.
-This year I will wash my dishes everyday so I don't have to shove them in the oven when someone knocks at the door(I think I will start this resolution in March, March seems like the perfect month to start this goal)
-Take a bubble bath everyday...I need to change this to continue to take a bubble bath everyday. Huh, don't mind if I do. Done and done.

BOOKS I READ THIS MONTH:
Good Night, Mr.Tom by Michelle Magorian
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Edwina by Patricia Strefling
Astronomy 101 by Dr. Vook, Ph.D
Half of American History by Dr. Vook, Ph.D

MY JANUARY PLAYLIST:
Optimistic, Radiohead
Both Hands, Ani DiFranco
Sound of Pulling Heaven Down, Blue October
Somebody That I Used to Know, Gotye
32 Flavors, Ani DiFranco
Far, Far, Yael Naim
Beautiful, Smashing Pumpkins
High and Dry, Radiohead
Blackbird, The Beatles
Cupid De Locke, Smashing Pumpkins
Overweight, Blue October
Levater, Yael Naim
I Bleed, Pixies
Falling is Like This, Ani DiFranco

CDS I DIG THIS MONTH:
Making Mirrors, Gotye
Fleet Foxes, Self titled(Thank you Dari!)

THINGS LITTLE BOSS LOVES TO DO:
Giggle after she sneezes
clapping
High 5'S
Blowing raspberries when her mouth is full of milk
Watching the fluffy chickens out the window
walking, while holding on to furniture
Crawling up stairs
Holding a sock in her mouth while crawling around

This is the House that Jack Built

2012-01-13T18:10:00.000-08:00

Chris and I think differently. Our brains are not on the same frequency. He can look at the lines and numbers on blueprints and see beautiful 3 dimensional buildings, I on the other hand see only lines and numbers.

I can look at a horse for hours and notice every detail about how they are put together. Chris sees fur.

So after being married for 9 years I should have realized, when I asked Chris to make quick a gingerbread house, it would take more then a few minutes.
Every year my sibling and I give treats to each other for Christmas. This year I thought it would be fun to make a gingerbread which has a roof that could come off and we would fill the gingerbread house with candy. Easy, right?
I gave that task to Chris and I started wrapping presents.
A few hours into the project, I thought Chris would be putting the finishing touches onto the house. I went into the kitchen and Chris was in 'architecture program mode'. He had made a base for the gingerbread house that was terrenced and sturdy. If the base had taken 3 hours, man you should have seen the house after the 3 hours... oh wait the house hadn't been started yet. But we did have a base that my horse could stand on.
A few more hours I walked into the kitchen and Chris was cutting graham crackers with an xacto knife, then he would grind the edges of the crackers together so that they had a perfect fit.
Finally at 2 am I took over and slapped some frosting on that thing and candied it up and in 2 mins ruined the beautiful house Chris had made. Hansel and Gretal would have loved to find our gingerbread house in the woods, I'll tell you that.

So that is the gingerbread house that Chris made.
I can't help to think what frequency the lil' bosses brain will be on.

* * Snow * *

2012-01-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

Chris and I made a snow angel

5,4,3,2,1...

2012-01-06T18:49:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years!!!
Where were you that night? Now don't be jealous but Chris, the Baby Face and I were invited to a very exclusive...very V.I.P...very super glam party. It was the annual Page family New Year's Eve party. This year 'Beyonce' was going to make an appearance but she is having a baby or something(darn it, cause I love me some of that music she sings).
Even though we had no 'Beyonce', we did have some 'Beatles rockband'. New Years Eve just happens to be the one time a year that I will play Nintendo and every year I have to control myself from wanting to throw a drumstick through my bros big screen. Drums are hard. But look who got a score of...

Oh yes I took a picture of my score...drums are hard. And I'm not going to tell you that Chris may have gotten a 100% on the guitar and a 97% on the drums.

Honestly man, look at that concentration on the guitar.

Of course, what is a red carpet party without fireworks? Ours may or my not have been of the illegal variety

Not all of them were, just the cool ones :)

The Sweetness cashed her chips out early and went to bed at about 9. We woke her up at 1 and loaded her in the limo. This is how she wakes up

I'm sorry not everyone got a ticket to the hottest party, it was killer!

Holiday Captured

2011-12-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

What a magical time our little family had celebrating the birth of our Savior. What a wonderful gift the world was given. How thankful we are for that night, for our Savior.

We had fun and because words can't describe the joy, here are some of our Christmas life moments:

Man we have fun.

Better Late Then Never, Right?

2011-12-27T20:13:00.001-08:00

This should be in your mailbox. Didn't you get it? Well you should talk to your local post office. I'm sure I sent them out.

Falling for Christmas

2011-12-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was the last day of school, it should have been Tuesday but because a tornado ripped its way through Farmington, wreaking havoc throughout all of the land, and cancelling all of school for two whole wonderful days. We had to have a make-up day on Wednesday ):
In true Kelli fashion, I needed to go out with a bang.
We were with our students in the lunch room, I got up to throw something away and went to step gracefully around one of the student's chair. My Adidas indoor soccer shoe got caught on a nail from the chair and BANG!

It was so humiliating I ran out of the building crying and then might have started it on fire with my mind.
* Please make a special note of how tan my legs are.
** Also please make a note of how toned my legs are.
***Have you seen the movie 'Carrie'?

'O Christmas Tree'

2011-12-21T20:02:00.000-08:00

Christmas is officially here in the Brown household.
There are only 5 days until the man in red arrives to leave sweet Nora a few presents and I literally just finished hanging the Christmas decor. (don't tell Chris but I have decided that we will be painting the living room after Christmas so I figure that it wouldn't be a problem if I hang a lot of pictures on the wall because he can just fill the holes before we paint :))

I think Christmas trees are great so I did a whole wall full of pictures of Christmas trees...Christmas trees out of scrap booking paper, Christmas trees from the baby's handprints, some Christmas trees I made Chris draw, Christmas trees out of baby faces feet

Look at those toes, don't you just want to kiss and tickle those tootsies?
Chris and I made these in photoshop, well Chris made them, I directed.

We have a lot of fake trees in our house, but take a look at our real Christmas tree that we cut down. Definitely the prettiest one to date. I usually like to pick the ugliest 'Charlie Brown' one, but I saw this tree and knew it was the one.

Elanora sat on Santa's lap and I was very surprised at her indifference about the whole situation. She just sat there, she never just sits anywhere.

Man is this baby sweet! This is her party dress (stay tuned for pictures of her Sunday Christmas dress)

oh yes Christmas is in full swing. I love this time of year. What a wonderful celebration of the birth of our Savior.

I love this video and it may or may not have made me cry, silly melting heart.

Toe Tappin' Ear Pleasing Tunes

2011-12-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

I'm picky about music, but boy am I really picky about Christmas music. I may be a ba-humbug, but if I have to hear Mariah Carey's Christmas song...you know the one I'm talking about. It comes on the radio every 6.2 minutes, yes that one, I will tear down all my Christmas lights that Chris so painstakingly put up and scream.

So here are three fav's of mine that are not so common but oh so good!

Chris hates this one but oh how i love it...it has to be this version :)

All you cats are going to love this hip little hot plate...enjoy daddy-o. I can't get enough, I dig this song!

This song is my favorite of the 3. Beautiful music, beautiful voice, beautiful lyrics. My heart just grew 3 sizes too big.

Thanksgiving Revisited

2011-12-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

My last post was mushy and gushy and left my cold, cold heart feeling warm and fuzzy. We all know that gratitude is what it's all about. But it's also about family, food, football, and in our case, a throw-up stunt that cleared the Thanksgiving table.
*Leading up to this tasty event, poor little Nora had been a little under the weather :( She had a runny nose, a little cough, and a sick tummy (resulting in a loss of lunch a few times throughout the week. Poor sweet baby!)
*Also leading up to this event, I was feeding the girl organic baby food, which I make myself.
(Those 2 things are important to note because they become relevant later in the post).
This year it was the Page's turn to have the the Brown family for dinner. I'm sure my family was super stoked (remember when the cool kids used that word?) because I would be making my famous "rainbow jell-o" which takes a very long time to make. And this year it may or may not have been set up all the way, despite putting it into the freezer.(I also made some veggie crap no one liked)

(The glowing jell-o trick was done by Chris after a 25 min. search for a flashlight and 100 pictures to get it just right. I left the project after the first shot).
Jell-o wasn't the only thing we did a photoshoot for. We also did one with all the grandkids (although the jell-o was slightly more cooperative through the process).

This is the kids table, where all the action is.

I mentioned before that I make Elanora's baby food and I use organic fruits and veggies. Well, everyone(mainly my beautiful sis, Amber) thought I would be mad and it would be funny if they fed the baby girl food that had been salted, sugared and poisoned with pestisides. For the record I don't mind, everyone deserves a little salt, sugar and poison on Thanksgiving.
I made her organic yams

Everyone else gave her everything they could think of, including

Lil' Boss was sitting on Grandpa Page's lap while he was feeding her those heavenly mashed potatoes. I paused from shoveling in all the fixins' in my mouth to glance at Nora and noticed she was looking a little off. I told my dad "I think she's going to throw up." He laughed and said, "No way, she loves this real food," and at that exact moment the poor baby threw-up all over my dad. Boy does she know how to clear the Thanksgiving table.
What a great Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

Due to the holiday season we've just embarked upon, and seeing that Thanksgiving is the first and quite possibly the most delicious stop on this years holiday ride, I feel that it would be apropos to write about the things that I am most thankful for.

To be honest, as I've reflected on Chris' and my journey together these past 9 years, I feel as if we have been blessed so abundantly and have been so happy that it seems almost unfair. We will never be able to give thanks enough.

We don't always have what we want, but we definitely always have what we need. We live pretty simple in a little house that may occasionally have a few leaks in the roof and not enough space for all the babyfaces clothes and equipment. A little house that is nestled in a very interesting neighborhood. But we think it's perfect(well Chris thinks it works functionally, i.e. a roof over our head, but thinks aesthetically it has a ways to go). We are so blessed and we are so happy!

Life has given us a few bumps and bruises and interesting plot twists to keep us on our toes along the way. The most interesting plot twist to our little earthly life story and definitely the one thing we feel most grateful and blessed for, is our sweet little Elanora.

When Chris and I got married, kids were a part of our picture perfect plan. As our two plans started to unfold and knit together, kids just didn't seem to be on our blueprints. A few years went by, and then a few more with no luck. Finally 7 years were laid out behind us and we were missing what we most desired.

So we mourned. We mourned for my perfect body that was functioning so imperfectly (we nicknamed me the 'red barren' ...long story about a talk in church, a red dress I was wearing, and laughing really hard). We mourned for our perfect family we were supposed to have, a mini van full of screaming, singing, fighting babies.

When I was too sad to continue Chris would pick me up. When he was too sad to keep on truckin' I would slowly continue on for the both of us.

We finally made the decision that we were going to have to have faith in our Heavenly Father's plan, whether or not that included kids. It was not easy. We started telling our families that we couldn't have kids, then a few months later I started to feel sick and 9 months later...

We are so thankful for Elanora. We are so thankful for each other and we are especially thankful for our faith to help us through this crazy world! Happy Thanksgiving!
(pictures and written adventures to come about baby girls first Thanksgiving... family, food, fun and the baby may or may not have thrown up on my dad, you will have to wait to see :))

La Leche League Dropout

2011-11-15T18:41:00.000-08:00

The lil' boss is almost 8 months now and that cliche that everyone says, you know the one, "they grow up so fast, cherish every moment because before you know it they will be in college." It happens to be true. I almost don't remember having to wake up every 2 hours in the middle of the night, or how hard my sweet baby girl was those first months. You know, the acid reflux, the colic and the 70 different meds we tried...none of which worked.

But I still remember how terrified I was to bring this sweet little thing home. I was never scared about the delivery, I can handle pain. The real terrifying part would be the fact that I was going to have to be responsible for this perfect little girl. I would have to do things like clip teeny, tiny finger nails, bathe her fragile frame without breaking her, clothe her, and feed her.
I'm not delusional, I'm being realistic. I'm fully aware that I'm probably going to screw up this parenting thing. But I wanted to be as prepared to fail as possible.
Before Elanora was born I read a lot of books and took some classes. One of the classes that I took and forced Chris to go to with me was a breast feeding class(can I say breast on this blog?). I wanted to be the best darn nursing mother this side of the Mississippi.
But never in a thousand years could any class prepare me for nursing. Every nurse in the hospital had a different technique, two lactation nurses gave me 2 completely opposite helpful hints.
The day we took the baby home she had only eaten maybe 4 times. I cried all the way home. How in the world could the hospital send me home with her when I couldn't even feed her.
It did get easier, but I never really enjoyed it so much. Some women told me it would be the best experience in my life. Well it was kind of a pain. I always had to be the one to wake up and feed her in the middle of the night. Or if Chris and I were eating, I was the one that had to stop eating and go into the other room and feed the cute, hungry girl. But I stuck with it and I was sure I would make La Leche League proud and feed my baby until she was 3 years old.
Well.... I'm a La Leche League dropout. I made it to a little over 6 months and between nursing in the morning and at night and pumping twice at work, I wasn't producing enough. So Nora now nurses in the morning, sometimes at night and formula the rest of the time.
I'll tell you a secret...I miss it. I never enjoyed it, but now I miss it. And now I change my mind, I loved nursing! Holding, so close, my sweet little girl. I miss it!
Darn it, I'm a Le Leche League dropout.

The Day Heavenly Father Sent Me Flowers

2011-11-11T18:01:00.000-08:00

I've always liked to learn. I was one of those crazy students in High School that honestly loved school and not just because I sat by the cute boy in history, although I in fact did sit by the cute boy :)My Kindle is chuck full of history, math, and science books. I'm currently reading Astronomy 101. I know, I know, I'm a pretty exciting person. Can you just imagine what my Friday night is like (it might involve changing stinky diapers, making up songs to the baby Mozart CD, then 8:00 bedtime story and a bedtime song).
But what I really love is when I learn an old concept in a new way...some might say having an epiphany or having an ah-ha moment (although I hate when people call it this, I don't know why I don't like it, I just don't. So if you are one of the everyone that calls it this, don't hate me because I don't like this little phrase, just don't say it in front of me :)) .
I had an epiphany Wednesday night at Relief Society. I know what you are thinking, "When did Kelli start going to Relief Society?" It just kinda happened...and don't tell anyone, but, I think I love to go now.
We had a yummy dinner and then two speakers from the ward spoke. Their talks were on service. This is where I have to be honest. Once I heard what they were going to be talking about, I was less then enthusiastic to listen. Thinking to myself, "It's service, what is there to learn? How many new angles can there be?" Boy was I wrong.
The speaker...we will just say her name starts with an "E" and ends with a "MILY." For the record, she makes really yummy food and she told me I could post this.
She told a story about when she was in college and like most college students she was on a tight budget. Squeaking by with just enough for groceries(or in my case forgoing the groceries for a concert ticket...food is over rated anyway, right?). She described a day where she was running errands and she drove by a flower shop and thought to herself "Man, I wish I could buy myself some flowers today," but seeing that she was on a tight budget, she finished running her errands, not stopping to buy any flowers.
When she returned home, laying on her bed were flowers with a note from her friend. She asked her friend why she had given her flowers. Her friend replied "I felt an impression that I should buy you flowers, so I did." Emily, I mean "E" said that only One person knew that she had wanted those flowers, so that was the day that Heavenly Father sent her flowers.
She continued to say that she was telling another friend about the flowers and this friend was crying. Emily thought this was strange because although it was a great thing that had happened, it had happened to herself and she wasn't even crying. The friend told Emily that she had the same impression to buy her flowers but failed to act upon it. The story brought up two very good lessons. The first is that Heavenly Father loved her so much and knows us so well that He knew that she needed flowers that day. And He loved her so much that He prompted not one, but two people so that she would get her flowers.
The second lesson was, do we listen when Heavenly Father asks us to do something or does he have to ask someone else because we don't act upon the prompting?
Isn't it so wonderful to know that Heavenly Father knows us and loves us? There are many times when I think, "I should send a note or give someone a call." Then I second guess myself and say, "That's dumb, they don't want a note or call from me." and then Heavenly Father has to ask someone else.
I just hope the next time Heavenly Father gets an order for flowers, He'll choose me to deliver them :)

Life Under the Big Top

2011-11-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better then Halloween...I don't think so.
This year I decided that we need to celebrate my favorite holiday in style. Unfortunately for Chris that meant... COORDINATING COSTUMES!!! And because most days its a little like a circus around here, I thought we should run with it. So I made the executive decision that Chris would be the Strongman (because his muscles are super big and he is already so strong, he wouldn't need much of a costume). The baby would be a sweet little elephant and I would be the chick who performs with the elephants.
I also decided a few days before Halloween that because I had so much extra time on my hands and because I have never sewn a button on a shirt that I should make the costumes myself.
We only had 3 hot glue gun burns, 1 homemade muscle man costume that did turn out like the Internet said it would, 1 barbell that fell apart the minute the strongman picked it up(only because he was that strong), 1 baby who hated wearing her costume, and 1 mental breakdown due to post-pregnancy body image problems. Other then those minor problems the circus was up and running!
So without further adue I present to you Halloween '11

Notice the weights that fell off the barbell and Chris's awesome muscle that for some reason just look like balloons under panty hoes

I didn't make my costume, it was my sisters old ballet costume. I just cut it up and rearranged it and added ribbon to my plastic Mary Jane shoes.

Have you ever seen a cuter elephant? I had a red bow to go by her ears to match my outfit but alas I forgot it :( Because she is so cute, here is another picture of her.

She only lasted 6 pictures and then she was done being an elephant so I changed her into her backup Halloween costume

We also added disgusting new food to this years menu

Scooby Dooby Doo, Where Are You?...

2011-10-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

...He happens to be solving a mystery at Eagle Bay Elementary. There seems to be a haunted classroom, or is it a haunted school bus, or maybe a haunted playground...are you scared? Well no worries, let me alleviate your fears by telling you ***SPOILER ALERT------> that the episode with the haunted classroom, or the haunted school bus, or the haunted playground will all end up not really being haunted, it's ok, it's really not a ghost, just the principal trying to scare the teachers and trying, for some reason, to sabatoge her very own school. I won't bore you with the intricate story line, which takes so many interesting and unexpected twists along the way, but I will tell you that it's a ghost story definetly in need of detective skills from...

Oh yes my friends, they were all there at Eagle Bay Elementery(minus Shaggy and Scooby Doo. They unfortunately had other ghost tracking commitments involving a haunted circus, so a stuffed Scooby helped solve the mystery at the school), protecting the sudents from the classroom *gHoOooOSt*
There was the strapping Fred,(the teacher I work for actually dyed his hair for the ocassion...so awesome!)

There was the beautiful Daphne (We forced her to wear this costume, with the threat of diaper duty for a month if she wouldn't wear it ;))

And the nerdy, Thelma (awesome Savers skirt and sweater combo, I might have to wear to church and my moms prescription glasses, which I couldn't see out of, perfect!)

Of course we needed to travel in style (I spent a whole morning working on this beauty, but well worth it!)

We have the cutest students! I wish you could see how cute they all are, you would just die! We had a Pirate, Santa Clause, a witch, a blue m&m, a ghost, a frog, and a cat.
We made these monster mouths (thank you Pinster... I mean, Pinterest)

This is the monster mouth the teacher made :)

Did Scooby solve the mystery? Well of course, and the gang had a great time doing it!

I Guess it's Time

2011-10-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

I wish I was able to be home everyday, all day with the babyface, but that isn't going to happen this week. Luckily for me I absolutely love my job. It couldn't get any better. I work as a special education teacher's assistant. I work with the most beautiful children and everyday they make me smile.
A couple of days ago I was at work and one of the students was sitting next to me. He grabbed my upper arm, he looked at me and said "squishy, squishy." I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair. Now he thinks it is funny so everyday at least twice he grabs my arm and says "squishy, squishy."
So I guess it's that time, time to work out. The baby is 6 months old, it's definitely time to start working out again. no more 'squishy, squishy'.
I start right after I finish this

The Case of the Runaway Shopping Cart

2011-10-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

The case of the runaway shopping cart has yet to be solved, but its path of destruction still lingers upon my foot. The facts are listed below. Nancy Drew, can you figure out what happened?
-6:00 p.m. Chris and I are doing a little Halloween shopping at Target.
-Chris and his 'manly muscles' are pushing the shopping cart.
-I'm leisurely strolling to the right of the shopping cart.
-Sweet Princess is chillin' in her car seat, riding in the shopping cart.
-6:13 p.m. Out of the blue, the shopping cart wheels out of control and over the top of my unsuspecting foot.
- The proof of this crazy turn of events is instantly left upon my left foot(picture is 4 days after the fact, can you imagine what it looked like when it happened...the injustice).

-6:23 p.m. Chris felt bad, I laughed (after I cried) because clearly even though Chris thought we were turning right and I did not, something or someone interfered with the wheels of that shopping cart. A stick in the aisle? A broken tile on the ground? A banana peel? A Halloween ghost you ask? We will never know. The case of the runaway shopping cart may never be solved.

Yaaada Yaaddaa Yadaa... We Saw a Zebra

2011-10-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

This last week the Brown family of three had their first vacation together.
Wednesday night we packed up our little blue car (we were going to rent a car so we wouldn't put more miles on the luxurious Dodge Neon but yaada, yaada, yaada... no rental car) with all our junk, the babyface, and our friend Ashley(her sweet daughter was already in St. George and her hubby Jason drove down Friday night).
We left at 6:00pm. It was a very stormy night and some parts of the drive were really scary. We hydro-planed, I kept asking Chris if he was nervous, he got tired of me asking, baby slept and yada, yaddaa, yaaddda...we got to St. George at 11:30pm.
We stayed at Hotel Jensen, the beautiful home of our friend Ashley's very nice parents.
The main reason we went down to St. George was to watch my pops play softball in the senior games.

When we woke up Thursday morning we walked out on the balcony of Hotel Jensen and across the street just happened to be the park were my dad was playing and guess who just happened to be in the parking lot...my dad, funny.
The last couple years his team, 'Second Wind', have won a couple of gold medals, a couple of silvers and a few bronze medals. Unfortunately one of their players got hurt, not enough players to play and yaaddda yaada yada... no metal.
I'm so proud of my dad, he's amazing. We loved watching him play and can't wait to see him and his team dominate next year!

We made Elanora a cute little onesie(shout out to Dawn who helped us print the transfer)that said 'Second Wind' and had #19 on the back(my dads number). Someone put 'Second Wind' on the onesie upside down(Chris) and yaadaa, yadda, yaada...we had to get creative to fix the upside down 'Second Wind'(shout out to Ashley who helped us fix the upside down 'Second Wind' at 1:00 in the morning.

What is a vacation without lots of food? We ate at (in chronological order) McDonald's, Chuck a Rama, Egg and I, Taste of St. George
(this was held at the park. Local restaurants had booths set up so you could taste their food. Pic is of Elanora and Addy at the park.), Anasazi Steakhouse. Anasazi Steakhouse was really yummy! I give it 5 stars, a smiley face and two thumbs up. We had cheese fondue to start with and that was super good. Then I had steak and Chris had chicken. They serve the meat on a hot stone. You're able to control how well done you want your meat. The longer you keep the meat on the stone the more well done it gets. Fun. Then we had chocolate fondue, I hate chocolate but I did like the fruit! Yaadaa yadda yada...add 10 pounds to my belly.
We had many more wondrous adventures: We went to Tuacahn, and took a picture of the cast of 'The Little Mermaid'

Wait a minute, that is the cutest little red crab I've ever seen!
'The Little Mermaid' was sold out but my parents took us up there to look around. I've never been there. It was breathtaking!

We went to a fun pet store, did some shopping(I got a cute hoodie, Chris got a cute hoodie, when we got home he tried his on, the zipper was on the wrong side, yaddda, yaada, yada...I got two hoodies),went to the splash pad, Climbed on some red rocks

To get this picture I set the timer, I ran apparently not fast enough yaddaa, yaada yaaddaa...best picture we took :)
What vacation is complete without a little brush with the law?

We really did get a ticket, but so did our friends Jason and Ashley. Funny.

yaddada yaada yadda...we saw a zebra

Not Quite Sunshine in Jar

2011-09-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

I have a new obsession...Pinterest(I'm pretty sure I'm the first person to say this about Pinterest, I have always been an original thinker). But for some reason I can't remember the name Pinterest, so I always call it Pinster. Pinster has a nice ring to it.
I saw this------> yummy recipe on Pinster. It made me think of the Care Bear with the rainbow on her tummy. Oh, so sweet.
It seemed like a tricky recipe, baking is hard. So I recruited my 2 sweet nieces to help me

We had so much fun staining our clothes and my brothers really nice countertop with neon food dye. Don't worry my bro was out of town and I put a cup over the stain. When they move the cup to wash it, I'll be long gone and he will blame his kiddos. Perfect.

This is what the websites picture looked like:

This is what ours looked like:

Doesn't quite look like sunshine in a jar but we definitely had sunshine in our hearts. It just happens to look like we shoved that raindow flavored Care Bear into a blender and...well, sunshine in a jar, yummy

What is it with Famous People and Their Killer Arms?

2011-09-28T21:04:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it's already my favorite time of year? Have you been to the mountains yet? Have you see this yet?

Saturday we drove to Snowbasin to see the Xterra race. Xterra is where a bunch of insane people swim, bike, and run. Why, oh why would they do this to themselves? They didn't get to score a goal or push anyone down.
We saw him there

That's Lance Armstrong. I wish I would've noticed if he had a yellow bracelet on. He said this about the race "I wish I could say this race was fun, but it wasn't".
I wish I could say that I recognized him or heard him say the aforementioned quote, but I was too busy looking at this...

and this super cute lovie...

The gals who did this race had killer arms and shoulders, maybe I should try something like the Xterra...just kidding, I'll just wander down the trail, not recognizing famous people, and not having killer arms, looking at things like this

Life Lessons

2011-09-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

In the Oxford Dictionary of English, which I conveniently have on my Kindle, 'competitive' is defined as 'having or displaying a strong desire to be more successful than others.'
This term has been used on a few occasions to describe certain people in my family. Let's just say that growing up, my parents learned very fast that board games should not be played in our household. My brother and I would end up yelling(that might be a little bit of an understatement) and my sister crying, helplessly trying to keep the peace. After only 4 or 5 "hungry hungry hippo" boards being thrown against the wall, board games were banned from the house.
Being a rational adult, I understand that my intensity can be a little over-whelming at times, so I try to control the crazy as much as possible. I try not to be the person screaming, "In your face!" or "We need to reread the rules." Unfortunately when I try to stifle the crazy, the worst thing that can happen to my personality happens...boredom. Me and boredom don't mix. Playing board games are so boring that I start to do things that are slightly more annoying than tackling someone when their gingerbread man gets to move to the snowflake queen space and my piece lands on the black dot making me lose a turn. I start to get bored. So I start to pretend I don't understand how to play and make people explain the rules over and over again. Then I do the thing that annoys those die hard board gamers the most...I CHEAT! Yes it is true I ruin the game for everyone by cheating.
There are a few times when the crazy can't be contained. One of which is when my favorite college football team plays my least favorite college football team.
I think there are life lessons to be learned from these games and this year is no different, (even though the game this year was not as exciting as past years) we should learn and grow from experiences in life. For example, the other morning I was so tired as I was cutting some veggies for my lunch that I almost cut my finger off. I thought to myself, "Man that was close, I'll keep cutting these carrots but will be a little more careful." Then I almost did it again and I thought, "Man, I'm really tired and not focused, I shouldn't be holding a sharp object." But unfortunately, I really wanted carrot sticks in my lunch. Well you can guess what happened, Not very fun my friends, no fun at all. Life lessons.

Very important, don't cut carrots when you're really tired and also equally as important, don't try to throw a football if you don't have one in your hands. GO UTES :)
Look how happy baby face was to see her team win!

2011-09-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

Time flys when you're having fun...or when you have to go back to work and leave your sweet baby. I get home from work and just want to kiss, hug and cuddle the sweet babyface and nothing else.
Yesterday, I realized just how much I haven't done around the house. Not when I walked into the kitchen and saw the sink of dirty dishes, not when I walked into the bedroom and saw a pile of clean clothes not folded(more like three piles, but at least they were clean)still in the laundry basket and on the floor, but when I went out to the chicken coop to feed and water the cute fluffy birds. I couldn't find Ebo so I opened the hen house and Ebo was sitting on her egg, so I gently nudged her off her nest and oh my, she did not have one or two eggs, she was laying on 17. Yes, some how my chicken had layed 17 eggs and I didn't notice.

The last 2 weeks I was feeling a little like I've been juggling a lot of...well eggs, trying to catch all of them but instead of catching them, I've ended up dropping most of them. Hence my chicken sitting on 17 of those eggs without me knowing.
Between waking up at 6:30, getting me ready, feeding lil' miss, getting her ready, dropping her off at my moms(this includes me crying, hopefully the third week is a charm and it gets easier),driving to Farmington, teaching cute kids, locked in a bathroom pumping, potty training, no lunch break, chasing kids down the hall, changing diapers, locked in an office pumping, organizing art projects, walking kids to the bus, driving to Layton, feeding sweet Nora, driving to South Weber, feeding horses, Driving to Clearfield, and loving my baby girl and hot hubby. How in the world can I check the hen house for eggs, let alone workout to lose those baby pounds, fold laundry, cook dinner, read, blog, ride my horse...ahhhh.

I saw that video and realized my chicken didn't mind warming her 17 eggs a little longer. The clean laundry didn't mind laying on the floor, the dishes were fine chillin' in the sink, but my baby did care that I held her until bed, or laid in the grass that needed to be cut, staring at the trees, or singing everything we did that evening. Plus, I'm blessed to have a wonderful hubby to pick up the slack :)

Back to School

2011-08-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today was a very sucky day. I cried the whole day. I had to go back to work and leave my beautiful baby girl with my mom and dad.
What a complainer I am, I should turn that frown upside down and deal with it. I am choosing to have a good day tomorrow because I can control my attitude and have a better day tomorrow...blah blah blah. It was a horrible day and it will be horrible tomorrow, so there.
But wouldn't you be sad if you had to leave this precious baby girl?

This is what the lil' miss and I have to say about me going back to work!

Minus the Hiking

2011-08-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

Every July, my 'knows every lake in the whole Uintahs and has a crazy story about each one' dad, my 'lets just hike up that cliff face because I know the lake we're heading to is on the other side' brother, my 'hot hiking hubby, who tends to trip over logs a lot' Chris and the 'translucent, pasty, pale chick who is too white to wear those really cute hiking shorts' i.e. me, go backpacking through the Uintahs.

Last year, my beautiful brown eyed niece Kira was able to go with us.
She did amazing!

Also last year I was a month preg-o and didn't realize it :)
We always have some classic adventures like two years ago when we started out just like every horrible hiking trip, where the people have to be rescued, start out. We began hiking way too late (we stopped to get a burger at the famous 'polar king' before starting our hike). When we arrived at the trail, it was already getting dark, so we had to sprint the first 2 miles then scale a cliff-like trail(at one part my bro had to hoist me and Chris had to push me up some rocks because my pack was too heavy and I couldn't lift myself up...despite my massive muscles). Finally as the sun was going down we decided to sleep under the stars, which ended up being amazing! but we almost got trampled in the middle of the night by some crazy big animal that came crashing down through the trees. I'm pretty sure it was Bigfoot but it was too dark to take a picture.

The next morning, we crawled over a log that had been strategically placed to make sure that hikers turned left instead of heading straight...we headed straight and got lost for a while but no worries, we found our way back and didn't need search and rescue to come find us.

Last year we got caught in a monsoon during the middle of the night and my bros tent was leaking. Kira(his sweet little daughter) had to sleep with her legs on my bros chest so she wouldn't get wet. It was so bad that at one point we thought we would have to leave our stuff and hike out during the night. We all thought we had ruined Kira from ever wanting to hike again. Luckily she woke up and said "Did it rain last night?" We saw mountain goats with their babies play on the rocks, which was awesome and made up for the crazy lightning and thunder storms.

Chris and I had been trying to figure out a way to pack our backpacks and the little miss, but alas we decided we would have to wait until next year for her first backpacking trip. But we did go up for a day of fishing and hiking. Minus the hiking, add a couple of camp chairs, the view of beautiful Butterfly lake and that ladies and gentleman is one perfect day.(Although there was a little more crying than I imagined).

My mom did the most fishing

Chris was the only one that caught anything

My dad and baby face napped the most

And I carried this cute little girl the most

I think she is going to love our backpacking trips!

The Price of Free Crack

2011-08-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

We went to the Twilight Concert Series last Thursday. It was our first time going and why we have never been before, I don't know. Great music and entertainment all for the price of...FREE! It was held at Pioneer Park and I was out of my crack, so double bonus, I picked up my stash and heard great music(lies all lies...no drugs for me and if I wanted any I wouldn't have to venture out any further than my own neighborhood. Man, I should not say these things, my mother would not approve. This is what I believe, no drugs for me:))
Anyway, moving on. We went with these fabulous people, Dari and Chris (their friend was there, but I forgot his name, oops, must be the drugs)

We saw 'Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.' They were awesome! As soon as the sun went down, everything cooled off and the stage lights came on. It looked awesome!

What is a concert without a couple of hot groupies, right? Right!

My mom watched the baby, so Chris and I snuck in a little action, look how comfortable Chris looks, not embarrassed at all!

A few people have asked me who 'Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' are...well here you go, take a look and a listen.

BCF

2011-07-29T09:03:00.001-07:00

Notice the cute little whip of a thing, Lexie, in the background of the pictures(She is the cute little girl in the blue shirt being held by her mom, my sister-in-law). She is one of my brothers twins. She is so funny and can never sit still. She loves Elanora so much. She always wants to hold her...

...and wants to kiss her :)

They are going to be bff's for sure! Or I guess bcf, best cousins forever :)

Rope and the Mud, the Steers and the Blood....

2011-07-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

...You guessed it...RODEO!!! I'm pretty sure that is how the song goes. In the scary teenage years when I was a little lost and my musical taste was underdeveloped, I did dabble in country music(almost not willing to admit it). The haze of my adolescence cleared and I stopped the evil practice of listening to country music(although I will admit I love classic gun fighter ballads and Johnny Cash).
This was the sweet lil' things first ever rodeo. I love rodeos and do intend on forcing Nora to love everything horse...minus country music(just ask Chris, if I would have known that he listened to country music before we were married, it would have been a deal breaker:)).
What a perfect first rodeo for Elanora! My niece Jaycee rode in the mutton bustin' event. For those of you ignorant in the ways of rodeo, 'mutton bustin'(important to note that there is no 'g' at the end of bustin') is when you ride a sheep. She was decked out in the cutest hat and pink boots. Not only did she look cute but she hung on to that little sheep like it was her job! She got a whoppin'(notice I omitted the 'g' that's how us seasoned rodeo folk talk)73, which happened to be fourth place! You betcha, I was keeping track. Pretty awesome! There was no mud or blood but she did land on her shoulder which was a little sore after but just added to the tuff(again that is how we rodeo folk spell it) girl's ride.

The rest of the rodeo was pretty great too! It was so hot when we got there that we couldn't put little Nora in her cowgirl shirt until half way through the rodeo, so she chilled in her wife beater onesie(that is how we do it around these parts) for the first part of the rodeo. She is having fun! Remember that thing I said about forcing her to love all things horses :)you thought I was joking. She LOVES this outfit!!!Look at the perfect little cowgirl boots my Aunt Ann made to go with the outfit. I love these, her first cowgirl boots :)Elanora really did good for her first of many rodeos. I probably would not have dared to take her if the voodoo was not working so well:) We had some good ol' fashion family fun.
Some pictures of my beautiful family enjoying the rodeo

The Power of Voodoo and Eating Chicken Heads

2011-07-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Motherhood has been one crazy trip, that's for sure. I basically have no idea what I'm doing 99.9 % of the time. I'm the youngest(and cutest:)) in my family. I was a tomboy and never played with dolls(so dressing Elanora has been an adventure in and of itself), and I never really did a lot of babysitting (I had a horse...why watch kids when I could ride a horse?).
When my lil' babyface would eat she would be all smiles and happy, then out of the blue she would cry...more like scream for 20 mins. Nothing I did would calm her. I would hold her, put her in a swing, a bouncy chair, a car ride. Nothing stopped the crying until she would just fall asleep out of pure exhaustion. Needless to say, there was a lot of crying in our house. I'm not quite sure who cried the most, me or her. Her crying spells were happening almost 7 times a day. I took her to the Dr. and she said she had acid reflux, they gave her medicine and sent us home. Still crying and crying, my ears would ring because Nora would cry so loud. I took her to another Dr. and he put her on Prevacid and an anti-spasm medicine. The crying went down to about 4 or 5 times a day and not as long. But my baby girl was still in so much pain. I felt helpless and like a horrible mom because I couldn't fix my baby. I was tired and some days I would think to myself, "What did I get myself into?" Then I would feel so guilty because we had waited so long for this baby and I do love her so much. I thought I must be the worst mom for feeling that way and for not being able to help my baby.
Then Shalae, my beautiful sister-in-law (who sells stamps, her website is here)suggested a kinesiologist. I did some research and I'm not going to lie, the info. was really...hmm...interesting, to say the least. But it was like my dad said, he would do anything at this point to help my beautiful baby feel better. And if that meant eating a chicken head (not this chicken head...that's FiFi)
then he would eat a chicken head. Kinesiology did sound a little like voodoo, but luckily I didn't have to go to the deep dark forests of the amazon to find a witch doctor...I just had to go to Sugar House. And since the testing that would be done on Elanora was non-evasive(he hardly touched her)I thought I would give it a shot.
It would take too long to explain what he did. It only involved a little chatting and a few candles. This is his website. Have a look. He told me he was going to find her problem and treat that, not just the symptoms. That sounded good to me. I was nervous to take her there but it was painless and interesting. He found out she had a hiatal hernia(he said he fixed it) and that both her upper and lower digestive systems were immature. She couldn't break down the milk so it would sit in her tummy. It was pretty crazy because he said he could feel her energy through me and he told me to hold my arm up and try not to let him push it down. It was pretty easy to push down, then he put the enzyme that Nora's body needed to break down the milk on her belly. When he tried to push my arm down he couldn't. He did this three times to my arm and I was really trying to prove him wrong and in fact my arm was sore the next morning from trying so hard...yes I'm in that good of shape...AWESOME. But the results were the same every time.
He gave her all natural enzymes and probiotics. It has been a week and she is doing so good! Most days she doesn't have a crying spell. There's been 2 days right after we started her on the supplements that she had 1 crying spell a day. But nothing since. She is happier and I'm happier! It's wonderful! I hope that it continues to work. Oh the power of voodoo... for the record he didn't light any candles or chant but that would've been awesome, right? Right! This song sums up the experience. I should have just posted this instead of boring you with the details. It also includes the super cute David Bowie. Can't go wrong with a little Bowie!

Title Pending

2011-07-18T22:07:00.001-07:00

I decided that I should do another weekly post because I am doing so good with "Terrific Crafting Tuesday" or whatever I called it. I can't keep these things straight and I'm way too lazy to look back at old posts.
I love to read and I read a lot, so I thought I could do a book review post. I probably could do a weekly review, but just like I don't intend on doing "Terrific Crafting Tuesday" every week, I fully intend on not doing a book review every week. :)
Of course I need a catchy name ideally with an alliteration...how about 'Media Monday?' I have a kindle and often read the fantastic free books on it.(If you have read one of the free books you would think that line is funny. But every once in a while you find a gem and all the classics are free so that is great!). So maybe it should be 'Kindle Konnection'...OK enough meaningless babble, we will call it 'Title Pending', Clever girl!
Last week I read the book "Canaries on the Rim: Living Down Wind in the West" written by Chip Ward. This book is great for so many reasons. First, it's written by Chris's neighbor while he was growing up. Chip Wards family is so amazing and the nicest people you will ever meet! They are like family to Chris's family and when I met them I instantly fell in love with all of them! Second, Chip talks about Chris's family in the book (page 39). Third, I love a good conspiracy theory and I love nature and want to protect it and my family. The list goes on and on about why I like this book.
'Canaries on the Rim' is about hazardous waste disposal, chemical weapons incineration, industrial pollution and nuclear waste storage. All of which is happening in our backyards (Chris was raised in Grantsville so it happened in his front yard :)). Chip is a story teller and has had many adventures, so the book is full of great stories as well as information that I think everyone needs to know.
It is a great book. I enjoyed reading it!

My favorite lines in the book:
"Be a smart frog and recognize the sick canary when you see it. Then jump!"
(page 148)
"When asked by worried Utahns why their Department of Environmental Quality has "failed" I reply that it hasn't. Utah's DEQ is the perfect political expression of the governor who appoints its director and legislature that sets its budget and gives its marching orders. While Kentucky legislative leaders from both parties stand together on their Capitol's steps and refuse incineration, Utah's legislators have remained silent" (page 186).

Final thoughts on the book: We all live downstream.

Books I want to read because I read this book: "Hope's Horizon: Three Visions For Healing The American Land" by Chip Ward.

Bullet Hole in the Window

2011-07-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

It is 3:00pm and yes I'm still in my PJ's. I'm sitting in my Grandma's old blue recliner. The evidence that her Italian frame used to sit in it, can still be found upon the head rest of the chair in the form of a blackish/purplish hair dye stain, that no matter how hard I scrub won't come off the chair.
My sweet baby girl is wrapped in my arms and is taking a small hiatus from crying.
We are staring past the glittered, popcorned asbestos ceiling, staring past the bullet hole in the front room window where our neighbors teenaged son shot at my cat with his bb gun. We are looking at the pastel blue sky that is littered with fluffy, white summer clouds. Nobody can tell me my life is not perfect, not even the bullet hole in the window.

Baby You're A Firework

2011-07-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July is my second favorite holiday for so many reasons. I'm thankful for the freedom we enjoy and grateful for those who have fought to insure that freedom. I love fireworks and I love celebrating with my family!
We always have a day packed with fun things to do and this year the lil' miss got to celebrate her first 4th. And luckliy we have the cutest pictures of her first July 4 ...oh wait we had cute pictures, Chris may or may not have accidently erased them( and by may or may not, I mean he did). Including the cutest picture of Elanora's one year old cousin, Lexie kissing(more like licking) her cheek, Elanora watching the parade with her cousins and her first roll over from back to tummy(she has been rolling from her tummy to her back since 2 weeks, but this was her first back to tummy roll). Poor Chris felt so bad. I laughed, because it was kind of funny :) Luckily, he erased them before the fireworks so we got cute pictures at the fireworks and today I put babyface back in her festive outfit and took pictures and she rolled again so I got more rolling pictures too.
7:40-Put Nora in car seat
7:42-Take her out to fix the diaper blowout
8:00-Breakfast with family at the Layton park
10:30-Parade (not actual parade pictures...remember those were erased)
11:00-Walking around Layton park
12:00-Buying a whole stab of
ribs from the True Vine Baptist Church
(yummiest ribs ever!)
1:00-Alternating naps and baby watching duty
2:00-Elanora rolls over>>

(these picturesare from today, not yesterday...someone accidently erased the ones yesterday...poor Chris, I'm having too much fun at his expense:)
3:00-Chris erases the pictures and is dissapointed
I laugh,it is sad but pretty funny too :)
(Chris is cute when he is frustrated)
4:00 Chris tries to get the pictures to come back,
I read.
6:00-Fed the horses
7:30-Back to the park for fireworks

12:00-sleeping comfortable in a nice warm bed

Blessing Day

2011-06-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday Elanora got blessed. It was so wonderful! Chris did a good job and he even made me cry (I pride myself on the control I have on the flood gates).
We were so blessed to have family and friends there to support us! Chris's sister and her family were in from Georgia. It was the first time we got to meet our niece Kamryn, she is super cute! We love having them here and we all think they should move back to Utah :) we miss them!
Unfortunately my Brother and his cute family could not be there, they were in California visiting family. We really missed them.
Elanora wore the blessing dress that I wore when I got blessed. She looked so beautiful, although she hated wearing it.

It is a tradition that my mom knits a blanket for her grand babies when they get blessed. She keeps what the blanket looks like a surprise until right before the blessing day. It was fun waiting to see what it would look like. Elanora's blanket did not disappoint, it is beautiful! It is the blanket she is laying on in the pictures.

It was a wonderful day. Boy, do we feel blessed to have a wonderful family, great friends and a beautiful baby girl!(who was not so happy when getting her pictures taken :))

1 half craft + 1 half craft = 1 whole craft

2011-06-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

This is my weekly crafting post, although I don't do crafts every week. I don't even do crafts once a month, but other awesome blogs I have seen and thoroughly enjoy do weekly posts(i.e. weekly questions, crafts, song, and style). So here is my weekly...looks like it is Tuesday...so I'll call it Terrific Tuesday craft. And I fully intend on not doing a craft every Tuesday.
My first craft I did is a magnet board with ribbon on it. The use... hold Elanora's hair bows. Technically my friend from work gave me the magnet board. I painted the frame and added the ribbon and voila, a hair bow holding thingy. Now this is what I call a half craft because my friend did most of the work.

My next craft that I did is Elanora's name to hang on the wall over her crib. I painted the letters, the frame I found at Hobby Lobby. I painted that too. I put material that matches her crib quilt(I have the material but have no idea how to make a quilt, so the quilt is pending)behind the E. Now this is also a half craft because my talented husband(who also has a nice butt among other talents) painted the detail on the 'E'.

So there you have it, 1 half craft + 1 half craft = 1 whole awesome Terriffic Tueday craft!

3 strikes and I'm out

2011-06-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the big day...little Nora's first time at church and let's just say it did not go as planned.
I had anxiety all week about going, but was excited to get back into the swing of things and what better time. Elanora is on meds for acid reflux so she no longer cries that sad, loud, pain cry. She had her first round of shots, so she would be able to fend off all those awesome nursery kid germs. And I was ready to run down the street screaming because of cabin fever. Really everything was in place for a perfect day at church. Right?
Things did not start out quite as I had planned. I wanted to make a handout for my calling so I could pass it out at church, but because I worked on the handouts I was behind in getting me ready...Strike one.
The cute babyface woke up later than usual, throwing her eating schedule off, so she ended up needing to eat at 11:30. I had wanted her to eat at 12:30 so I could get her to sleep before church, now she was going to be hungry right in the middle of church...Strike two.
I had wanted to drive her around before church so that she would be nice and asleep before we got there, but because I made handouts I did not get ready until 12:30 and by the time we got in the car it was time to be there...Strike three.
Three strikes, I was definitely out and I had not even started the game yet. Oh boy. This was going to be fun.
Now the sweet little doll has colic so when she starts crying sometimes it does not stop and she is loud. I was nervous. I had a baby who was wide awake and does not like to just hang out, she is a mover and a shaker.
We did not even make it to the Sacrament. She was tired and fussy, so we had to walk out, then she was hungry, then she had a complete blowout in the diaper region.
Chris had to give the Bishopric message in Primary so I was trying to carry my baby(who was very messy and fussy because of said diaper region), her carrier, and the diaper bag. I don't know how you mothers with 10 kids do it.
We did not make it very long at church...But she looked cute and there is always next week :)

DON'T MAKE ME BUST OUT THE NAKED PICTURES!

2011-06-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have always thought that the first time I would traumatize little Nora would be on her first date. The door bell will ring and I'll anwser it, so she can make her grand entrance. As the cute boy waits for his beautiful date... you better believe I'll bust out all of those cute, naked baby pictures of Elanora, embarrasing her to no end! But alas, I'm traumatizing her now :(
Yesterday she had to get shots and it was horrible! I hated every second of it. Chris took off work because I figured it might be a little tough to deal with and we would need big, strong daddy to get us both through it.
It was so sad! The nurses put her on the table and as they were talking to Chris and me, telling us what was going to happen, Elanora was looking at them talk and thinking they were talking to her, she smiled and smiled at them. Not knowing they were going to stab her violently in the leg (a little drammatic...I think not, it was that horrible).
I watched the nurses put the needle in her leg and everything was in slow motion. I looked at babyface and her smile faded and she got a confused look on her face. I thought for a minute she was not going to cry, but then the pain hit her and she let out the most horrible cry I have ever heard. Now we've heard a lot of crying from my sweet little girl because she has acid reflux and colic, but this is the worst thing I have ever heard. Chris grabbed her fast, he held her tight and I grabbed her from him with tears filling my eyes, listening to the most horrific noise I have ever heard. The nurse was talking to us about the next appointment, I did not hear any of it(hopefully Chris did).
I thought I was doing good with just a few silent tears as we walked out the door, but when we hit the pavement of the parking lot I completely lost it and started sobbing along with my baby girl. Eventually we both calmed down, she was so tired that she fell asleep, but when she woke up an hour later she was hurting and crying that worst-cry-ever cry, so we gave her baby tylenol and she calmed down. Boy did my heart hurt, she was traumatized (as I write this she is sleeping peacefully in her swing and I'm tearing up, but it was her that was traumatized).
I guess showing her boyfriends her naked baby pictures won't be her first traumatic experience :) and for fun, here are the cutest bath pictures ever!

Don't Judge Me

2011-05-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

I really did not mind being preg-o, I never got too miserable. I was still feeding horses the night before I went into labor. But there were a few simply pleasures that were a little hard to give up. It has been one long year of not doing this...

So rain, rain go away come again another day, so that I can ride my big, blue horse!
Another one of my simple pleasures that I'm glad to have back(do not judge me), raw hot dogs. I love to eat raw hot dogs. I just can't wait the point three seconds it takes to cook them in the microwave and frankly,(the pun is for Chris who thinks this practices of eating raw hot dogs is disgusting)I love them and their yummy, slimy goodness! Now don't judge me, you should try them(although my judgment might be a little off because I have licked a giant slug for $5 and on Mother's Day I licked a snail so that my niece would lick one.)
Even though giving up riding my horse and eating raw hot dogs was hard, look at the perfect baby that two very imperfect people made.

Exciting Adventure or Just Dazed and Confused?

2011-04-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

During this pregnancy I really wanted to have the exciting adventure of going into spontaneous labor and having to wake Chris up and rush to the hospital, feeling excited and terrified all wrapped up into one.
But those of you who talked to me the Wednesday before my due date was able to hear the disappointment in my voice as I recounted what the Dr. told me, I was not even inducible at this point and that I would most likely be induced(when I was close enough to be induced) so that meant no exciting adventure rushing to the hospital. I came to the conclusion that I was in negative labor, not close at all and would have to be induced. (I may be a little dramatic but it is only for your literary enjoyment :)). I really was disappointed though.
So imagine my surprise when on March 28 (my due date) I woke up at 1:40 feeling not quite right. My stomach was feeling crazy so I got up and had a warm bath. After the bath I was still in pain. It was at this point that I thought it might be go time. It was also at this time that I realized yes it was my due date, and no, I had not packed a bag yet. I also had no laundry. So I put a load of laundry in and I dug in the very bottom of our storage closet. I pulled out sleeping bags and blankets and under all of it I found my hospital bag.
It was 3:00 in the morning and the pain was pretty good and pretty close together so I woke up Chris and told him I might be in labor. He got up and timed the contractions, they were about 6 mins apart. The pain was really bad but not screaming, yelling, crying bad so we were really confused, was I in labor? We got out all the books and started reading. They were no help. We were so confused but seeing or feeling that the contractions were 3 to 5 mins apart and each lasting 30 to 60 seconds, we decided to go. So the ride to the hospital was not so much of an adventure, we were more confused and a little dazed rather then excited and terrified. I thought they were going to send me home. This is right before we left to the hospital at 3:00 am.

I had not eaten and knowing that I would not get to once in the hospital we went through the McDonald's drive-thru to get me a fruit and yogurt parfait, contractions and all.(unfortunately, I could not eat it because the pain was too bad)
We went to the emergency room, we were supposed to go to the labor and delivery wing, but we didn't know that so they had to wheel me there. As we were going down the hall we noticed no lights were on, it was like a horror movie going down a very dark hospital corridor. Not knowing where we were going, it was a little eerie. The power was out in the hospital. Rocky Mountain Power had accidentally cut the power. While Chris did the paper work I had to change my clothes with a flashlight in a dark bathroom by myself all while have contractions. Now I love scary movies but it was a little unnerving.
They decided to keep me and the Dr. did not want my labor to last forever seeing it was my first, so they started me on pitocin. When I was dilated to a six the nurse, Amber(who was so amazing I would not have made it without her! I had an interseting bra situation that she helped me with and she helped me be ok with my biggest fear, which was not the labor, if you don't know what it was, you will have to ask me later. (the night nurse Sarah was just as amazing, so nice, so wonderful. Everyone should deliever at Ogden Regional just because of them!)) came in and told me that because the power was out they had not been able to fax my file over from the Dr. office but that it had just come in and I has tested positive for strep and they needed to stop the pitocin to slow down the labor and give me antibiotics so the baby would not get an infection. But even without the pitocin I was dilating very fast and was at a nine, I got the first dose but I would not get the second dose of antibiotics.
Soon the Dr. needed to break my water and she found out that the baby had swallowed meconium and the NICU Doctors would need to be there during the deliever in case they needed to suction her lungs.(Luckily they did not have to!)
When they brought all the equipment in Chris started to get very antsy and nervous. He was pacing all over the place and starting to fidget. I looked over at him and unbeknownst to him he had the epidural button(yes there was not way I was not going to have one :))in his hand and was about to give me an extra dose, Luckily I caught him before he did. He was so nervous.
I will not fill you in on the gory details, we all had bets that Chris would pass out, but he did great and there was only one part that made him sick(I'm not writing about that part, but I'm super glad I could not feel anything).
Now as they say the rest is history! Introducing the newest and definitely the cutest member of the Brown Family, weighing in at 6lbs 3oz. and 19ins long... Elanora Brown. Now the fun part, pictures!!!

celebrate, good times!!!

2011-02-08T19:46:00.000-08:00

It came with ribbons. It came with tags. It came with packages, boxes and bags.
Some of my best gals threw me an amazingly creative babyshower! The theme was Dr. Seuss. Oh man they went all out. It was so great.

Getting Christmas or birthday presents is pretty fun, but man oh man getting presents for this little baby that I've yet to meet doesn't hold a candle to me getting presents! It was killer! I received so many wonderful things. Thanks to everyone that came and made the night so much fun!

I don't have pictures of everyone that came(or if I had a double chin in the picture, which is more pictures then I would like to admit, I did not add those:)). so if you are not in one of the pictures I'm sorry, but still luv ya! And thanks so much for your gifts! I can't wait to try everything out on the baby face :)

These are the amazing gals that did this for me

Feel Free To Skip The Boring Parts!!!

2011-01-17T08:25:00.000-08:00

Most of my posts have been about the cute baby face that we have coming in March. So I have decided to venture out from my regular genre for this post. Unfortunately I have decided to tackle a subject that encompasses a life time. It might take a while so feel free to skip the boring parts:) I will try to keep it short and to the point!

For Christmas my mother-in-law gave Chris and I beautiful journals with a talk by Elder Henry B. Eyring called 'O Remember, Remember'. It is a wonderful talk about writing down what we are greatful for, so we don't forget all our many blessings(my synopsis doesn't do it justice, it's a wonderful talk!). Along with the talk, she gave us personalized letters that she wrote. While reading them on Christmas morning, more the one eye was filled with tears. After the cats dried their eyes (Chris and I are much to macho to cry) we started to talk about all our many many blessings. Just a small fraction of them are listed below, we truly have been blessed!

First and foremost is the blessing of both of us being born of goodly parents. My mother-in-law with her steadfast example of faithfulness, which helped our faith stay strong! My father-in-law with his quiet devotion to his children. Who else would drive an hour every couple of saturdays to help Chris with the baby room remodeling? My mom with her unceasing compassion, waking up at 1 am to rush to the hospital when I sliced my foot open. My dad with his humor and support, who still comes to my horseback riding lessons and takes pictures of me(I'm 28 mind you),and feeds horses with me almost every day because I'm prego. They all have taught us how to gain our own testimonies by building a foundation with their testimonies. Even loving us through the crazy teenage years!

Chris and I were blessed to find each other in a distant land far, far away. At the College of Eastern Utah. How Chris ended up at CEU is quite a story, but you don't have enough patience for that story right now (those of you that haven't skipped this part). Call it fate or serendipity, but we know the real name "blessed".
Our 8 years have been amazingly wonderful! But most of all fun!!!
We have been blessed with a cute little house, that my need a little work here and there, but it is home sweet home. Silly pets(and a big stubborn horse). The opportunity Chris had to go to school and get his masters and be able to do something that he truly loves! Cars that run, work that pays the bills. Brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews that support us, Friends old and new, Church callings that help us grow. For the past and for the future, which is currently hybernating in my belly :) We have been truly blessed!

Blame It On The Hormones

2010-12-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas is not my favorite holiday (according to my last post it would be Halloween). Even though I do like the church lessons, lights, excitement and treats. I think that the true meaning of Christmas has been commercialized and almost lost and unfortunately I had been complacent and not focused on the Saviors birth.
When Chris and I got married, 8 years ago, it had never been a question of if we would have kids (as I recall I think I wanted like 6 kids...crazy). So after 2 years of marriage, it seemed like the time when people had kids. But 6 1/2 years went by and no 6 kids.
Chris and I are pretty chillaxed about stuff and we mostly go with the flow. But when Christmas would come around the whole fam would do the Christmas thing of cutting down trees, visiting lights and opening presents. Don't get me wrong we loved every minute of it and the excitement as my nieces and nephews would wait to open their presents, it was great. But in the back of our minds, we would think about our babies opening presents and their little faces lighting up and family home evenings where we would teach our kids the true meaning of Christmas. But it was not happening. Sometimes Chritmas was more sad for us because we were not focused on the birth of the Savior and the gift of Eternal life he gave to us.
How sad for me that I needed a life changing thing, like a baby, to really feel the spirit of the season.
That being said, this Christmas holiday has been amazing! I have listened to more Christmas music and read more 'Ensign' articles about Christmas than ever before. The spirit in our home is not because we are being blessed with a cute little baby face, but because we have chosen to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. This year has been magical. (what a sentimental and cheesy post, I blame it on the hormones. Hence the title of the post :))

On a lighter note, every year an elf visits my nieces and nephews on the 12 days of Christmas and brings little fun knicknaks and things. Well this year I was folding laundry on a cold and very rainy night and there was a knock at the door. Left on my door step was a gift for the baby girl and a cute little poem to go with it. The elves have been coming every night, so fun! (On a completely separate note I have amazing parents! Or should I say elves, wink,wink.) Merry Christmas!

We recieved some super cute baby things for Christmas. These are a couple of my favorites. The boots are from a lady I work with. She keeps saying that this baby will have my personality so she needs boots to match. I'm still holding out that she'll get Chris' mellow personality :)

My parents got this cowgirl shirt for the baby. It is the cutest thing I've ever see. I can't wait to get some boots to match and a pony for her to ride!

ThInGs ThAT gO BuMP iN ThE niGhT

2010-11-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

Now that it's the day after Thanksgiving I think that it's appropriate and it seems about right that I am now writing about Halloween.
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love everything about it. I absolutely love being scared. I think I saw all the 'Nightmare on Elm street' movies when I was eight. I can remember my mom and me making scary noises late at night, while watching 'Tales from the Crypt'. I used to sneak into my parents room late at night and grab their ankles. (for the record they did the same to me:)) One of my Life long dreams is to see a real ghost! Although I'm sure I'll pee my pants! Poor Chris puts up with scary movies and listening at night to hear the ghost creeping down the hall.
Every year my family has a Halloween party and we make all kinds of disgusting food to eat... eyeballs, cat litter cake, mice, and the list goes on and on. It is awesome!

With all that yummy food you would think that this outstanding holiday could not get any better, right? Well it did get better. Halloween was the first night that Chris and I felt the baby kick. I felt a little movement in my stomach and so I put my hand on it and she kicked so hard. Chris put his hand on my stomach and she gave him a great big kick. It was amazing! She has not stopped kicking since. Every ultrasound we get the Dr. tells us that our baby moves so so so much.I think she is coming out running!
So the bump in the night was not the ghost that I've been waiting to see, but something much, much better, a cute little baby face that we have been waiting for, for so long!

'Sweet Dreams'

2010-10-12T19:58:00.000-07:00

I have always had pretty awesome dreams and of course by awesome I mean terrifying. I have been stabbed, eaten by lions, spiders all over my hair, I've been shot, drowned... sometimes I even have two nightmares a night. Chris has to wake me up on a regular basis because my breathing patterns match that of a marathon runner on his 25th mile. We always joke that my theme song should be 'Mad World' by Gary Jules (just the chorus, not the other semi depressing lyrics. I do really like the song though)

So when everyone told me to get ready for the pregnacy dreams, I thought could they get any crazier?
Well the other night I had a dream that I delievered my baby, was it a boy? A girl? No, it was a.... hard boiled egg. But boy did I love that little hard boiled egg.
So whether we have a boy, a girl, or a hard boiled egg I know I'll love it! (for the record, it was a pretty creepy dream.)

2010-09-25T17:34:00.000-07:00

My second post is by far the most exciting of the two posts... I'm 13 weeks pregnant. Wahoo!!!

We knew that something was up when, while waiting in line to get into the 'Neon Trees' concert I suddenly got sick and ran into a little Bollywood store, Chris following close behind. I turned to tell him that I needed to lay down, but the only thing that came out was "I need" and I past out right on the gross floor (which I think I licked yuck!) right in front of the cash register. Everyone standing, waiting to get into the concert was watching and I'm sure they thought I was on drugs. (For the record I was not!) I sadly had to miss the first two bands while I was sick in the car, but I was not going to miss 'Neon Trees' so I crawled out of the car and proceeded to mosh through their whole set.(They were awesome!)

Then a week later I went to girls camp. I was so sick. I felt so bad, the girls wanted me in the skit, but I couldn't walk to the stage. I didn't go swimming with them. Everyday I would count the hours until I could go to bed.

When I got home from camp I was getting out of the shower and as I walked by the mirror, it was then that I noticed that something or should I say somethings had gotten larger. When I asked Chris he informed me that he had noticed about 2 weeks before me.

We put the pieces together and went to the doctor and sure enough I was already 2 months prego.

May flowers and... stitches

2008-06-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

May was a crazy month, it had a really rough start but ended on a high note!

It all started a couple days before my b-day. I was taking a nice warm bubble bath, after a long day at work. Little did I know the night would soon turn out to be very stressful. Chris was in the basement writing a final, 12 page paper. I had gotten out of the bath and was putting a towel around my wet hair. I must have hit a glass of water (that I had been drinking while in the bath) with my towel. The glass hit the side of the bathtub and broke then fell to the floor. I looked down at the glass thinking "oh that sucks" When I noticed a great big puddle of blood (this is were the story gets graphic), My blood. not just a little but a lot. The glass had cut the top of my foot. Not knowing what to do I put it in the warm bath water (I didn't want a mess on my floor), Very quickly the bath water turn bright red. I started to asses the situation. There was blood all over the floor, side of the bathtub, and now the water was more of a half and half mix. I called to Chris, He was on his way up because he had heard the crash. Chris does not like blood but he must love me because he came in and put pressure on it. Now I don't mind blood and guts, but the shock because it was my foot became too much, I got sick. So here we are, me sitting on the bathroom floor, covered in blood, twisting around to the toilet losing my last 5 meals and all the while poor Chris putting pressure on my foot. On top of that I was in my birthday suit. It was out of control and of course these things always happen at 11:00 at night. I didn't want stitches but Chris and my mom(who was so kind and rushed to the hospital to make sure I was OK) won the argument because when I would move my toes they could see my tendons move. Awesome! I had 4 stitches and couldn't walk for about 5 days because every time I would the stitches would pull and my foot would start to bleed again. I had to miss 3 days of work because I could not put a shoe on. When my family found out what happened they all wanted to know if I took a picture of it. Gross, but I do have a after shot of the stitches. YEAH!

A couple of days later Chris Graduated with his Bachelors in architecture. I'm so proud of him. he is the hardest working person I know. He put in long hours between work and school. Sometimes all night. The graduation was nice, Chris got a lot of cheers walking across the stage. Someone yelled "Chris Brown in the house" everyone jokes with Chris because he shares the same name as the singer. It was good times!

The next crazy thing that happened in May was that on my way to work a semi truck hit me on the freeway. luckily we were only going 5mph so it didn't do much damage to the car or me, but it was so scary I wanted to cry.

The best thing that happen, that ended the month on a great note was that Chris got his acceptance letter into the Master for architecture. We are relieved that he got in! They only accepted 25 people, both in and out of state. And its the only program in Utah. (Chris hates when I talk about him so he will not like all of this, but he is so humble and great he deserves it!) So May ended on a good note, I can't wait to see what happens next!