Life in the Fast Lane

Before I begin my chapter book on the last two weeks I want to show you my child's newest and completely self-invented trick:

Sure, this is cool, but she can kick it up a notch...

Ta-da! No hands! She cracks us up every time she does this trick. Maybe it's funnier in person. Or when you're the parent.

This photo was taken at the dinosaur exhibit we took Addie to a few weeks ago. Delayed, I know. Addie remained rather calm and professional despite the girl next to her blurring up.

And now for the main event: we have been having far too much fun lately. Evidently, the problem with too much fun is a: no time for posting, which means one long mega-post and b: people get sick. The ill victims of the recent fun are Jason and Addie. I have a feeling my turn is coming up, though.

Now let us begin the reminiscing of the weekend prior to the last one (February 12-13th). We went to the lovely land of Logan to visit our friends, Tork and Crystal, and rate their new home. We give their home an A and their hospitality an A+. We had a rockin' good time despite the dreary weather and sneering snow. Okay, the snow wasn't really sneering, but it was the crusty kind with the layer of rough ice on the top. Pretty close to sneering. We spent our weekend eating delicious food (thanks Crystal!), looking for geo-caches and playing with the largest Little People collection I've ever seen. It was awesome.

We also went over to the local Macey's where the girls decorated their own Valentine's cookies. Addie prefered to save time by skipping the decorating part and going straight to eating part. She ate her piles of frosting first and followed up with the candies next. I ate the cookie. You snooze you lose.

She threw a fit after the all frosting had either been eaten or smeared across her overalls. Multi-tasking begins at an early age, proof being found in the fact that Addie can have a tantrum and watch a movie about horses at the same time. I regret (as always) that I didn't take more (or any) photos of that wicked weekend.
We had a great time hanging out with Scack Attack too, and thoroughly enjoyed our "Take your friends and their child to work day" with him. He paints people's houses (although not for long, thanks to some awesome luck and a new job) and we came along to help. Hey, spending time with friends is important to us and if that means going to work with them then so be it.
Dear Logan friends, I propose we begin digging a tunnel that connects our homes and start saving large amounts of money for underground rocket packs. Instead of 1 1/2 hours we could cut the travel time down to five minutes. Think about it.

The following Monday we went to Ikea with Tyler and Clare for the all-you-can-eat pasta for $1.99 and free entertainment night. Oh, and kids eat free. Apparently they do it every Monday night, which is cool. So we stuffed ourselves and then waddled around the maze called Ikea for a couple of hours. No one bought anything, but we did learn that Addie is completely fearless when it comes to climbing on things and then jumping off. Addie also had her first time-out there, due to running away from mom and threatening a set of glass lamps with their lives. Fortunately, the lamps lived to light another day and Addie came out unharmed, although de-funned (meaning I took away her fun and made her sit in the cart for five-minutes). All in all, still an event that counts as fun and therefore is being mentioned in this post.

And now let's skip to the next weekend and say the weekend starts on Thursday (February 18-20th). Jason's family (mom, dad, Cami and Caitie) came to town for a dental convention. Somehow Tyler got conned into watching all three girls while the rest of us went to a comedy show starring Jason Hewlitt. Now, I wouldn't normally consider sitting in a room full of dentists as a gut-busting good time (more like a gum-busting uncomfortable time, not that I dislike dentists or having my teeth cleaned I just have a hundred other things I prefer doing) but add Jason Hewlitt and it's suddenly a really funny place to be. He is a great comedian with an amazing vocal range and odd facial flexibility. It was a good time. The laughter continued once we got home and discovered the girls, being the awesome aunts they are, had changed Addie's diaper and put her in her pajamas. Unfortunately for Addie and her chubby thighs, the diaper was put on backwards causing excess material and friction in the front and partial bum coverage and waste capture in the back. But hey, a backwards diaper is better than a soggy one. You can't get better babysitters than Cami and Caitie, and Addie had the time of her life. I bet she didn't even know we were gone.

(not a photo taken in the time frame written about, but a photo that shows the adoration and care of Addie's aunts nonetheless. This was taken in January.)

The next day, Friday, Cami and Caitie came over for a few hours to hang out and keep me entertained. We played board games and sang Wiggly Giggly songs. Then I left for a Faith in God Activity (I'm one of the leaders. Have been for two years, that's all.) at the Church History Museum. Jason, Tricia and the girls went to Discovery Gateway, which is a cool place for kids...I know because I sneaked in for twenty minutes before we all left for dinner. They have awesome toys. Then we all went to dinner at Pat's BBQ, which was pretty tasty. J and I (and Addie) are done with BBQ for awhile though, since we went to Smokey Blues BBQ in Logan the week before. You can only eat so many large'n meaty meals before you start feeling like a gluttonous villain and crave vegetables like air. Then we went swimming at the hotel and played games in the hotel room. After tuckering ourselves out we went home and tucked ourselves in bed around 1 a.m.
We woke up in the morning and gathered together for breakfast at Bruges Waffles and Frites. Yum. They only sell waffles and fries. And one kind of sandwich. It's really delicious (anything with sugar chunks in it has to be) but I would recommend going there in the summer since they have no indoor seating. Okay, maybe two seats. But that's it. Then we all went to the zoo. We bundled up and walked around to look at the animals (all of which hate the cold and wish they had hot tubs and bathrobes). Addie had fallen asleep in the car and so we just put her in the stroller and piled jackets on top of her. To other people at the zoo it probably looked like a portable coat rack. ( Don't leave home without it.) Addie didn't wake up until an hour or so later when we were looking at the elephants. Let's now enter the mind of Addie for the coolest point of view on the event of her waking up: "Oh, I'm waking up from a nap like I do everyday. I'll make little noises and kick my legs to alert everyone that I am now awake and ready for my needs to be met. Why is this jacket draped over my stroller and obstructing my view? Oh good, they are removing it now. Wowza! Before my infant eyes what do I behold but two elephants!" I know, she's a genius with a large vocabulary. She audibly gasped when the absolute first thing she saw when she woke up was an elephant and her baby. I just thought it was cool.

I would like to someday fall asleep in a normal place, like my bed, and then wake up to unexpectedly find myself in the company of elephants... in their natural habitation, of course (I would not like to find elephants in my bedroom).

Caitie riding a Zebra.

Addie and Grandma riding a tiger and Cami on a panda bear. Carousels rock.

Giraffes have 18-inch tongues that are blue in color to prevent sunburns. They must have their tongues out a lot. I must say, a sunburned tongue sounds incredibly awful. Anyway. Every time a giraffe would take a bite of food it would drop some on the floor (a long drop, by the way) and Addie would say, "Uh-oh!" I think she relates well with giraffes because she has the same eating issue.

After animal-gazing we ate at the Corner Bakery. Delicious! But we ate entirely too much. If this weekend of fabulous food hasn't helped me gain weight then I will have to come to the conclusion that food is actually escaping through my skin like air from a popped balloon. It must happen while I am sleeping since I haven't actually witnessed it. It would, however, explain the piles of tacos and pistachios on my pillow every morning. Back to the Corner Bakery. What's cool about being part of a big family, I am learning, is that when you eat at a restaurant you still feel like you are at home. It's hard not to when more than half the people in the entire place are family. Anyway, we had a really fun-packed weekend (it's cool when you feel like you're on vacation when you haven't even left home) and we were sad to see it end. We had to say goodbye to J's family and send them back to warmer weather (does that sound like we banished them? If we were in the business of banishing we would banish ourselves down south and leave them here). We all went to bed at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night and didn't even flinch for ten hours. Yeah, we were exhausted. Addie woke up with a cough and Jason felt icky. Not to the touch, of course, just overall sick. Such is the price for living life in the fast lane.

The Secret Marriage and the Double Date Weekend

I read an article in the paper today about Utah's longest-married couple, Willis and Marie Barnes. They've been married for 82 years! I quote from the article in the Deseret News: "The couple went swimming one weekend in Utah (they were living in Wyoming at the time) with friends and decided to get married on a whim after their hair dried." She was fifteen at the time and so had to lie about her age. "She and Willis returned home in time for dinner but didn't tell their parents about their nuptials. 'We each lived at home and kept it secret for two years,' she says." When Marie was done with school she showed her mother her marriage license and she and Willis finally started their lives together. And they've been together ever since. Isn't this a great story? Pure magical love is what that's all about. If that doesn't put you in the mood for upcoming Valentine's Day, nothing will. In a day when marriages seem to be falling apart it's truly inspiring to read about a marriage that started years and years ago and is still going strong. Go Willis and Marie! Aren't old people great? One day Jason and I will be old and we'll be so rock'n roll, all wrinkled, age-spotted and wise and still kickin' it together. Life is good.

So, last weekend Jason and I went on TWO dates together. It's been so long since we even had one that two in one weekend is just wild. Friday night we went to Wal-mart and met buddy Stanton and his date Billie. Oh, and Addie was with us (I don't care what you say, being at Wal-mart with Addie is still a date and I'm counting it. Stanton and Billie were on a date, so we were, too. Family style.) Each couple got a cart and twenty-five minutes to gather as many random items we wanted. After time was up, we switched carts and had thirty minutes to try and put everything in the cart back. First one to finish wins. It was really fun running around trying to find where the socks and Crayola juice goes, even if we did lose. They had some tricky items. Who knew Wal-mart could be so fun? (You may remember my last Wal-mart post about when I hit a kid with a cart...not fun.)

Our second date was Addie-less. Saturday Jason and I went to the matinee of Avatar...IN 3-D!!! I don't know about you, but sitting in a theater full of people all wearing the same Buddy Holly glasses really heightens the enjoyment of the experience. Every once in awhile I'd pull my eyes away from the screen and look at everybody in the glasses just for kicks. The movie was really awesome and we had a good time...even though every loud sound made me worry if it was too loud or too scary for Addie, and then I'd have to remind myself that she's not even there. I guess I'm just really used to having my little sidekick around. She was home having a blast with Uncle Tyler and Aunt Clare. They said she cried really hard for thirty second after we left and then was fine the rest of the time. She really loves those two and she had a lot of fun. A huge thanks to Tyler and Clare for taking care of our munchkin so we could see a cool movie. And that's it, folks. Our two dates. Probably we'll have one or two dates next year, too. We'll see.

Happy Valentines Day and Chinese New Year! And Presidents Day!

Crazy Messed-Up Dream, Dinosaur teeth and Patti

It is now time for a new post! Not too much is going on around here...Jason is working, shooting guns and playing raquetball (not at the same time, although that would be quite a game to watch) while I learn how to make new things (English muffins, felt hair clips and aprons) and play with Addie Pie. Addie has learned a few new things, like thumbs up, handshakes and cooking (mostly stirring and dumping ingredients into the bowl, not anything where heat or sharp things are required). Life has been good to us. Addie was sick a little while ago and had a stuffy nose, so we gave her nose drops. Since then she pretends that every bottle is nose drops and tries to give them to us. I really need to videotape all of the funny things she does before she stops doing them! I wish I had something funny to write, but I honestly can't thing of anything that has happened lately. I did have a super messed-up dream the other night that I was really happy to wake up from. I'll clearly define where it is in this post to make it easy to bypass, just in case you have a weak stomach or just prefer not to know about my crazy messed-up dream.

BEGINNING OF CRAZY MESSED-UP DREAM:
It was one of those huge-cast dreams where pretty much everyone you know is in it. It started out with me and all my cousins packing to leave for Florida. Halfway through I had to leave and go visiting teaching. Then I came back and we left for Florida. We had a house on the beach and I was enjoying the sand when my cousin came down the steps eating my cottage cheese. I yelled at him about how he ate it all and he'll have to buy me more. He said, "Maybe if you ask nicely." I gave him a sarcastic smile and then yelled, "Buy me more!" Kind of weird. And then Jason and I saw an Open House and so we decided to take a look inside, just for fun. The people seemed kind of nice at first, but the further we got into the house the meaner and creepier they got. They had a lot of junk and trash everywhere and they were complete hill-billies. They had dozens of big white dogs all chained up and foaming at the mouths downstairs. Oh, and a live fish skewered onto a broken broom handle. We were coming back up the stairs when the lady asked, "Do you like it? Either way (deep, demon voice begins here ) you're staying here forever!" We tried to run away but they locked us up in a closet. We managed to break out and we sneaked down the hall and peeked into a room where two guys were sharpening huge blades. One of them hacked at a bloody cow leg to see if it was sharp enough (the blade, not the leg) and mentioned something about how much they loved their hobby. We then sneaked past the lady talking to a portrait on the wall and then went out into the backyard. One of the sons was pulling up in a yellow truck so we hid in a bush. Then one of the daughters came walking by with a bag of Arby's. She saw us but was nice and gave us the truck keys so we could escape. We jumped in the truck and took off down the streets. There were a lot of women holding their children and walking down the streets singing some sad song. They would all stare at us as we drove by and I mentioned something to Jason about how I wish we could help them. Then I woke up because Addie was crying. I think she may have had a crazy dream, too.
END OF CRAZY MESSED-UP DREAM.
Feel free to analyze it and tell me what it means. The scariest part about it all is the fact that it all came out of my brain. I felt like a nice, normal person until I had this dream. It might (or might not) be comforting to know that other people have had bad dreams like this one. Now that I've written it all out I kind of wish I hadn't. Like I really want to remember this always. Oh well.

On to better things: we took Addie to a museum on Monday night to check out the dinosaur exhibit. She was so impressed! She loved touching all the rows of dinosaur teeth and excavating bones in the sandbox. While we were there I ran into an old high school friend, Patti, that I lost touch with and haven't seen for nearly six years. She helped educate me in the Latin Culture (she was from the Honduras) by teaching me how to Latin dance in her living room and giving me my first (and second to last) chicharrone (fried pig fat). When I had made good enough progress with my living room dance skills we moved on to Latin dance clubs (namely the Tropicana) which is where, incidentally, I had my first kiss. I know, classy. She was there for that, too. She taught me enough Spanish to be able to order horchata and a burrito at Alberto's. We've had a lot of fun together so it was so awesome to run into her and meet her little family. Awesome.