Not On My Watch

At the end of February the wild child decided it was time to stretch out those chubby little sea legs and take her first shaky steps. Chris and I have been a little surprised that it has taken her this long, she has done everything pretty early. One of the reasons it has taken her this long is she hates to be hurt. When she crawls under a table and bumps her head, the next time she goes under it she almost army crawls, tucking her head down low so she makes sure her head is not anywhere near the pain. Even now when she walks, she will cautiously sit down if there is even a small chance she is going to fall.
We loved watching her sit down and get back up with determination in her beautiful blues. She would curl her little toes around the carpet searching for traction, those curling toes causing her to fall even more. She would walk back and forth between Chris and I, taking 3 steps then waiting for us to cheer. She started to just throw herself at us and then she would cheer for herself at the top of her lungs. Bumps and bruises are inevitable. Luckily this happened on Chris's watch, while I was feeding the horses.

Recap and Leaping on

February 2012 has leapt not so graceful out of my life. Hopefully taking those colorless, heavy clouds with it. I really don't know what the deal was with February. It just didn't fit right. I have always loved the way the dark winter clouds fall silently on the mountains. Leaving the rocky treeless peaks uncovered to kiss the grey sky. But February just didn't fit. Melancholy held my hand this last month. And luckily for me we got an extra day to intertwine our icy cold fingers.

BOOKS I READ THIS MONTH:
'Chasing Rainbows' by Kathleen Long(boring)
9% of 'On Little Wings' by Regina Sirois(boring)
'Sundered' by Shannon Mayer(got to love zombies)
Short Stories from 'The Works of Edgar Allan Poe'(love)
38% of 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte(so far so good)
'The Whipping Boy' by Sid Fleischman(Newberry medal-winning)

MY IPOD PLAYLIST:
Across the Universe, The Beatles
Better Times, Beach House
The Calculation, Regina Spektor
Child, Sayde Price
Congratulations, Blue October
Dear Prudence, Across the Universe Soundtrack
Go Do, Jonsi
Happiness is a Warm Gun, Across the Universe Soundtrack
Here Comes your Man, The Pixies
Red Rabbits, The Shins
Redemption Song, Bob Marley and The Wailers
Somebody That I Used To Know, Gotye
En El Muelle De San Blas, Mana
Rome, Phoenix
How to Disappear Completely, Radiohead

FEBRUARY CD'S I DIG:
Wilt All Rosy, Sayde Price
2 Door Cinema Club(Thanks Dari)

THINGS BABYFACE LOVES TO DO:
Stand up by herself without holding on to anything and then taking 3 steps
Cheering loudly for herself when she walks
Growling when I say "Where is the monster'
Signing 'more'
Make a chicken sound when she sees the picture of the chicken on my kindle
Crawling down stairs
She said her first words (besides mom and dad), "What's that"
Pointing to things

Amore

The moon did in fact hit my eye and it was in fact Amore.
Valentine's Day was picture perfect. An exclusive, fancy restaurant, a beautiful table spread, and just wait until I tell you what I got Chris.
We started with bruschetta, heart shaped sour dough and all

Caesar salad, cheese-stuffed baked potatoes, chicken saltimbocca(one of the chefs doesn't like to touch chicken, good thing there were two chefs. Also the chefs couldn't find anything in the kitchen to flatten the chicken so they went to the shed..ahhh, perfect!)

Chocolate dipped strawberries

The table looked beautiful. This very fancy restaurant happened to have napkins from our wedding day

They also had the very wine glasses we got on our honeymoon
A perfectly yummy Valentine's Day!

Chris got me a bathrobe and bath salts because even though I take a nice long bubble bath every night, I have never owned a bathrobe.
We got the baby a puzzle.
I got Chris a kitchen knife sharpener...man I'm so romantic!

It's the Thought that Counts

I had a great idea(which I probably stole from pinterest). I was going to take a picture of the baby holding her arms out and I would photoshop a Valentine's Day card that would say "I love you this much Valentine'.
Now this should have been easy enough because the sweet girl loves to play patty cake. She opens her arms wide and then claps, over and over again.

Oops didn't take that picture fast enough.


Not quite the look I was going for.


She isn't looking but look at those gorgeous baby blues.


She won't hold still to take the picture despite the awesome faces we are making and the wonderful treats we are holding over her head.


She won't keep the super cute sparkley shoes I put on her for this Valentine's day photoshoot.


'High 5 Valentine'.


I made this lady bug clip.


She is bored of this photoshoot.


After all this crazy picture taking stuff, I had lost motivation to make the Valentine in photoshop. So happy Valentine's Day...yesterday.

Third wheel

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

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

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.