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.

Christmas, Giblets, and Tasty's

Hello blog readers. Here's my Christmas post, now that everyone is completely over Christmas and is no longer in the mood to read about it. Or write about it, for that matter. I do have to say, however, that on Christmas morning I opened my eyes and rolled over to find that Santa had brought me exactly what I wanted for Christmas: Jason and Addie, my cute little family, all healthy and all together. What more could a person ask for? It was a happy Christmas indeed. "Enough mushy stuff," you're thinking. "We want to see the presents!" How about just some photos instead?

Grandpa, Uncle Nate, Aunt Caitie and Addie playing with a pink raquetball.

Jason resting on his new pillow tie. Yes folks, this tie inflates for comfortable in-church napping.

We had our own Christmas at home before we left. Addie got a Mr. Potato head and some Mega Blocks. Oh, and a potty and some bubble bath.

This was at our Christmas event at my parents' home. They got a new piano and so Grandpa and Addie plunked out a few songs together.

Addie was not very much into presents and unwrapping. No, my child was far more interested in the edible parts of Christmas. If we had attached a thought translator to her forehead this is what we would have heard: "Food! Food! Food! Why are there so many nicely wrapped obstacles in my way?! Food! Food! FOOD!!!" I think I was more excited about her presents than she was. Okay, I'm positive I was. Hey, who do you think plays with her all day everyday? And who do you think keeps her toys warmed up for her while she's napping? A new batch of toys is something to really look forward to.

This was taken right after she woke up, but this is about as excited as she got all morning. The donkey next to her sings "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch (you know that I love you)" and she seemed to enjoy turning it on and letting it sing right in her face as she ate some cereal. She also learned how to turn it on and off in the middle of the song, so she's been putting together some remixes. The same goes for a little ride-on-car she got from my parents (e.g. "Do you know the muffin Do you Do you Do you know the muffin man that Do you Do you").

Caitie and Cami got dwarf hamsters from Santa and were really excited about them...until one of them bit Caitie. I was downstairs doing my hair when she came down and asked me if I wanted to take home her hamster. I asked her why and she told me her story about getting bit. I asked if she bit it back. It might surprise you to know that she didn't. "We might have to get rid of them if they bite again. Do you want to take it home?" I dried her tears with the blow-dryer and then told her that I don't want a biting hamster, either. "Maybe it just needs to get to know you a little better," I said. I never heard anything more about it, so I assume the friendship is progressing nicely now..

Along with some movies, a four-wheeler ride, and some other fun stuff we also went on a hike to view some Indian pictographs. I quite enjoyed it since I've been itching to go on a hike for some time now.


Yesterday we went to Wheeler Farms with Jeff (Jason's cousin), Melenie, and Adam. You might think that 30 degrees is not an ideal temperature to stand outside in for longer than a millisecond (two if you're a polar bear), but you would be forgetting one important benefit of being out in the cold: no one else is out there. You can park wherever you want. There are no lines, no crowding, no competition whatsoever. We were Wheeler Farm Royalty. One con to being out in the cold is that nothing is open. No milking cows or feeding chickens. No snacks or "Gifts Made in Utah" (actual sign). You are on your own. If the turkeys gang up on you and tear out your giblets no one will know until spring. So, we were Wheeler Farm Royalty Survivor-Style. I know, I made that sound so appealing that you're already yelling at the kids to grab their coats and get in the car. Have fun.

This is the only picture I took because it was too cold to get the camera out.

I wanted to have this done for Christmas but it's far more work than I anticipated. It will be fun when it's done. And it better be fun forever because I don't think I'll make another one after this. My dad made the PVC pipe frame that comes apart for easy storage or transportation. I've been working on sewing the tent part and this is what I've got so far:

The front, complete with a mail slot and sliding drapes.

The side (the other side will hopefully look just like it), fancified with a flower box (flowers are removable so you can put in new ones or candycanes or whatever fits). The inside has pockets for storing toys and things stolen out of garbages or mom and dad's room.

The back (or other front). I'm currently working on this one so it's still missing the striped valances, the sprinkles on the ice cream cone, and the window shade with the "Closed" sign. This side is for her to run her own business, whether it be a diner, ice cream parlor, or candy shoppe. It says Tasty's on the top, which I think covers just about anything she'll want to vend from her little store. I figure she can use the window as a service window and take orders through it as well as serve food. After I finish this side I'm going to do the other double window side and then the roof (which will be pink with scalloped edges). Then it will be finished forever. She already thinks it's fun even though it's all currently safety-pinned together. I'm glad she plays with it now since it is taking over the entire front room.

The Boxing Princessa

Okay, I'm going to try this again. I sat down to write a post about a week ago and TWICE I lost the post in the middle of typing it. The first time was because the computer decided to reboot itself without permission (naughty computer) and the second time was because I unknowingly pressed a magic key that deletes everything you've written in the blink of an eye and exits you out of the page entirely. I wish I knew which key it was because it would sure come in handy if I ever become a spy that types up top-secret documents that I may need to erase all evidence of it a matter of milliseconds. Anyway, I'll try to remember everything I was writing or was wanting to write. First of all, Merry Christmas everyone! There are two specific things I want to write down before they exit my mind completely and it takes a brain surgeon with a shish kabob stick poking around in my gray matter to remember them.

First: We (meaning Jason, Addie and moi) went to Orem/Provo (I don't know which one...is there even a difference? Let's just rename the whole area Orvo for simplicity's sake.) to have dinner with Eric, his lovely new bride Megann, and Uncle Marty and Aunt Linda. We went to Maria Bonita and as luck would have it, Maria Bonita herself waited on our table. What I really want to remember about this are the nicknames Maria bestowed upon us. Addie and I were "Princessas" and Jason was "Champion (Shamp-yon). It was nice. I think I may write a story called The Princessa and the Champion. Anyway, it was tasty food and excellent company. It was fun to get together with family that we don't see that often. Also, as we were leaving one of the waitresses told me to take care of the baby. I wasn't going to, but since she said that...

Second: Addie got a Christmas dress from my mom. It's really adorable and she looks like a little Christmas present in it. One of the coolest features of this dress are the little silky red shorts that come with it. You know, a diaper-hider. I took off her dress after church two Sundays ago and saw her standing there in her silky red shorts and her black tights and I thought, "Well whaddayknow! She looks like a tiny old-school boxer." This was the beginning of boxing lessons for Addie. She's pretty good. As soon as I figure out how to get the video footage off of Jason's phone I'll post it because its pretty funny. Anyway, fast forward to a week later when Addie and I were having lunch: she was pointing and things around the room and I was telling her their names when she pointed to a box. I said, "Box," and she started boxing. And so, when Addie sees the box or hears the word box, she starts boxing. For her next lesson I think we'll have Addie box a box.

That's all I'm going to write right now because I've got to get back to work on Addie's house. I'm sewing her a play house for Christmas. I'll post pictures when I'm finished. Happy Holidays everyone!

Squid Brains, Eyeless Fish, and Thanksgiving Dinner

So I've been working on a photo book of Addie's entire life up to this point. After spending a million hours getting all the photos in one spot and then figuring out where to put them and which ones to eliminate (I swear I have more photos of her than minutes she's been alive), it came time to put in some text. I started writing but found that I couldn't quite remember everything and it was going to take another million hours to complete. Then I had an Edison moment and decided to go through every post I've ever written on this blog to see what I've written about Addie. It was during this process that I truly discovered the value and awesomity of blogging. Everything from Addie's birth up until now has been recorded with fabulous detail and timely accounts. I just copied and pasted stuff from this blog and put it into my book (it's one of those Blurb books I'm doing). Voila! It was so great to go back through and remember so many things that my squid brain had already forgotten. I'm going to have to make a book out of our blog, too! I also realized how awful my posting frequency has been these last two months. Absolutely despicable! Therefore I am recommitting myself to regular posting for the sake of my posterity and your entertainment. Consider it done.

Just a little footnote: "squid brain" has become one of my favorite things to say since I watched a show on Animal Planet about Colossal Squids. Here's the funny thing about squid brains: they are shaped like doughnuts and their esophagus goes right through the middle hole. The result of this crazy design is that if they eat something too big it could give them brain damage or kill them. Pretty fascinating, right? Just another one of those animals I'd like to have been around to see created. Heck, maybe I was.

And now for some pictures:

The last Wednesday of every month from November to February is Wild Wednesday at the zoo. Wild Wednesday is wild because admission is free and you get to wear long johns, sweaters and a pile of coats to walk around and look at animals in. It is no misnomer, I tell you. The day before Thanksgiving was one of these wild days and so we took our little pink puff to the zoo. It was pretty cool! It was cold but clear and not windy, plus no one else wants to go to the zoo in the winter so its not even busy!

They have a little playground complete with a snake slide (you come out of its mouth, right between its fangs!). It was so cold the slides weren't slippery, so kids slowly squeaked down them, Addie included. However, this large egg was still fun.

We wandered around and checked out all the cool animals and watched Addie get excited about them. She's been to the zoo once before but it was before she could walk or point. She was most excited about the bats, turkeys and tiny orange monkeys. Of course, she fell asleep before we got the elephants or giraffes which are usually zoo highlights.

There were so many awesome animals at the zoo (I'm sure they are always there but its usually too crowded to really get to see them all) and we really had an awesome time. My favorites were the cave fish (they don't have eyes) and the baby elephant. Jason's were the mountain sheep (we watched it eat snow) and the tigers (a mom and three cubs). I don't think we'll be going to anymore Wild Wednesdays until next year since I hate even going out to get the mail in this cold, but you might consider going. You'll probably even have the whole place to yourself.


This was Addie's first Thanksgiving dinner. We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house with my mom, dad, two brothers, Grandpa Brough, and the dog. It was a special treat to have my Grandpa there because he usually goes to my aunt's house (she lives closer). He told us stories about crazy stunts he pulled when he was a kid and explosions he's set off, been in and/or both. We were in awe.

Addie only wanted to eat cranberry sauce, rolls and pumpkin pie. In that order. Now, I like a tasty cranberry sauce, but that doesn't mean I like to eat straight handfuls of it one right after the other. Addie, on the other hand, prefers to eat hers that way. Hey, we all have our strange habits. After dinner we played Scrabble where I averaged about twelve million points a word. Then we watched Monster's Inc. and followed it up with turkey sandwiches. It was a tremendous Thanksgiving. We truly have a lot to be thankful for.

Addie reached another milestone three days ago. No, not the Speaking one or the Master Pianist one. We're talking about the Ponytail Milestone. Her hair is officially long enough, at least in the back, for ponytails. Pigtails. Whatever kind of tails these are. Congratulations, little one. We are so proud! I think this means she's graduated out of the Infant Class into Toddlerhood. She definitely looks older with them in, anyway. Not that I want her to grow up, but what can I do about it? I don't really want to be taking care of a one-year old when I'm eighty, either.

So here's the table I've been talking about. This is Stage 1: Brown. I sanded it, primed it, sanded it, and then painted it a lovely shade of Sea Tickle. Or maybe it was Sea Shimmer. This brings us to...

Stage 2: Pleasant Plain. At this point it was permitted to come inside the house for its next step in the make-over. I then made paper pattern after paper pattern, which were then used to make the final petal pieces. After cutting cardstock to the point I developed a juvenile form of arthritis, Stage 3 was set in motion.

Stage 3: Speechless Beauty and Awe. I arranged all of my precious pieces of paper on the table top and then left them there for two weeks.

This is the final design I decided upon for the leaf. Without the leaf the table has a complete Dahlia flower on the top. With the leaf it has to Dahlia halves with a smaller, complete flower in the middle. I explained all of that for those of you that are photo blind. After the two week period (a time for me to prepare myself for Mod Podging....having never done it before I was nervous and needed to gather my wits about me. That sounds funny. "Come wits! Gather round and let us be one!") I pulled out my bottle of Mod Podge and my sponge brushes and went to work. Stage 4: Majestic Phoenix Rising from the Ashes in Full Glory and Light has been completed. I'll post pictures after everything has dried and I can put it all back together. I really love this table and I'm excited to have finally finished it. Now I just need some chairs.

Also, I can't take full credit for this idea since I pretty much swiped it from here: Juicy Bits. She's so creative and I thought her table was so cool that I stole it. I had to have one, you see. Anyway, if any of you feel like stealing it too here's some advice: 1. Use paper, not fabric. It goes on smoother and resists bubbles. 2. Buy all the materials you'll need before you start. Namely paper, because if you realize that you need more paper of a certain print so you go back to buy another piece it will be gone. And then you'll have to buy a different print, which still works, but is annoying to incorporate.

Wedleafrallowunt

This post will follow the pattern of every post I've ever done (I do try to be consistent). It will be outrageously long, jam-packed with a month's worth of photos and events, and require two days to fully post. Cowabunga, dudes. It begins with Tyler and Clare's wedding (October 10th) and ends with a lovely pheasant hunt (November 6-7th). Most photos are of Addie because, let's face it, she is the best-looking one out of the three of us.


Addie's first taste of wedding. What could be better than running around a huge room with a roll in one hand for intermittent munching? To a one year old, absolutely nothing. Actually, it sounds pretty fabulous to me, too. The wedding was quite lovely and enjoyable. My favorite part of the whole celebration (after the actual ceremony, of course) was dancing with Cami and Caitie. They really know how to rock.

I like all the random elements in this photo. If you're looking for a word to describe it, it's "wacky". Maybe just Jason is the wacky part.

How I wish I could fall asleep anywhere in any position. I often feel tired enough to sleep like this but my brain will never shut up. I don't think I'd mind so much if I just thought if really cool things, like mudskipper races, and not lame things like library due dates.

Every year we get unfathomable amounts of leaves in just our backyard. It takes millions of raking strokes and dozens of orange leaf bags to get it all cleaned up (nothing crappier than a foot of leaf-slime in the backyard because you didn't bother to rake before it rained or snowed). Oddly enough, I really enjoy it. I love feeling like a super-rich woman raking in piles of lush gold and bagging it for a hefty bank deposit. Except its better than that, even. And I still like jumping into the giant piles. This is the first year that Addie has taken part in the raking. Last year she refused to help.

I took this photo from on top of the shed. I'm not exaggerating about the amount of leaves. Addie couldn't even walk in them because they went up to her waist. Jealous?

After an entire day spent raking (even into darkness...we raked by patio light) we had sixteen bags to show for it. That's one big pile of work.

Some of you might think you're hardcore snackers, but Addie puts you all to shame. On a side note: Never give a one-year old the entire Goldfish bag to eat out of and then leave the room.

It's funny the things Addie just knows how to do, like play an arcade game for instance. She doesn't even have to look at the screen. She loved this thing and wouldn't leave until she'd had her fill. She took it seriously like it was her job. Maybe she'll grow up to be a bus driver.

Now I know its not pretty, but someone had to keep the spirit of Halloween alive, bathed or not. Right after breakfast, on the very morning of Halloween, I went about carving up a latern of the jack-o variety. I tried to enlist some help, as you can see, but I guess I was the only one "cut out" for the job. Ha ha.

I purchased Addie's costume last year with Annie's mom, so they were matching rats/mice this year. A couple of R.O.U.S.', if you will. Unfortunately Annie doesn't live by us, so Addie was a lone rat. She didn't seem to mind wearing the costume, but occasionally the nose and whiskers would get in her face and ruin her groove.

This is a classic photograph. Doesn't every American kid have a photo like this one? Or at least every kid born in the 80's? I love it. It makes me laugh. I don't mean that I love it when Addie cries or that I laugh at her when she does, I'm just referring to this photo. That's all.

The first moustached pumpkin to every grace our porch (and probably the neighborhood, too). Yeah, I carved glasses on it. You'd think every pumpkin would have twenty-twenty vision what with all the beta-Carotene in them, but not this one. Poor guy.

I took Addie trick-or-treating while Jason manned the house. It was a emptier street than most Halloweens around here, but still fun. Addie wanted to eat every piece of candy as soon as she got it. She also wanted to hold every piece of candy and refused to put any in the bag until it became humanly impossible to hold any more. Funny kid. She was awed by all the decorations and was even so stunned by a few that she couldn't move or respond to my calling her. Every time she saw a jack-o-latern or vampire she would do her dracula laugh, "Ah, ah, ah!" I think we went to a total of seven houses. Including ours. She couldn't refrain from grinning when she got home and dumped her candy out. She even clapped about it. She has the same reaction every time I pull it out to give her piece (we're eating it slowly).

I took Addie to the library the other day and she was amused by this bus stop. She wouldn't come out until she had thoroughly examined everything and picked up every germ present. It being a very nice and warm day, and with nothing to rush home to, I let her explore for as long as she wanted. That's just as good as Christmas to her.

My first pair of mittens that I've ever knitted in my whole short-legged life. Sure, I knitted two prior to these, but they were both right-hand mittens and didn't match. See below. I made these mittens for Addie and custom-sized them to her little hands. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty superhuman right now.

Every mitten I've ever knitted.

Addie wearing my mittens, which made me so proud. And they did a good job of keeping her hands warm and protecting them from sticks. As in branches, not blood draws. We went pheasant hunting on the family farm this last weekend. There are three friendly white cats on the farm and they all have a thing for Addie. She seems to like them, too.

Addie really loves the farm and the weather was perfect to be outside in once it hit late morning. They have cows, horses, cats, dogs and flies on the farm and Addie likes to wander around and check it all out. Last time we were on the farm Addie tried to feed the cats hay.

The four of them (Jason, Eric, Dan, and Ryan (a friend of Eric's)) walking the line. This is a technique to scare up any hiding pheasants so you can shoot them and cook them up for dinner. Addie and I stay behind the people with guns, a wise suggestion for any situation.

Just playing on a farmkid playground. Honestly, hay bales are fun to play on/under/between/around. I don't know why I wrote under. I've never played under one, but I imagine it would be uncomfortable.

Jason out to get one.

Addie and grandpa playing with cats and sticks, a sure recipe for fun.

Huntin' fools.

I really like this photo with just the barrels of their guns poking above the corn. By the way, corn stalks are surprisingly sharp when they're all dried up.

Shootin' one out of the air. This one should be put on a trading card with his stats on the back.

We had twenty-one birds total. It sounds incredible, right? Well, I guess I'd better explain the bounty: There aren't too many pheasants left in Richfield which made for kinda crummy hunting (we only got two). So, Dan went to a sort of Pheasant Farm (or Pharm) and bought twenty birds. We brought them back to the field behind the house to plant them and then hunt them. The process goes as thus:
1. Take a poor bird out of the cage
2. Spin around and around until its completely disoriented (this keeps them from running off as soon as you set it down).
3. Tuck its head under its wing and nestle it under some bushes.
4. Wait ten minutes or so for the bird to come to and start moving around
5. Bring in ten or so hunters and four dogs to scare them up out of the bushes
6. Shoot.
Dan, Bryce (a cousin) and I went around to plant the birds while the rest of the crew waited. We figured it would be more fun if they didn't know where they were placed. It was exactly like an Easter Egg Hunt, but with pheasants. We'd get all excited when they'd get close to one or say something like, "You should look over in those bushes. You might find a surprise in there! " which is a total Easter Egg Hunt thing to say. I know its not glamorous, but it was fun. One bird got away and is, as far as we know, still living life on the lam. Before you start warming up your fingers to leave me a comment about how inhumane it all is, let me remind you of the average life of a chicken up until it finds its way on your plate. These birds lived a better life, I'm sure, and even got a chance to get away. All the birds will be eaten and are healthier for us to eat, too. So there.

And here's another fabulous family photo. This one's going in the book, for sure. Addie had a good time just picking up dirt clods and corn husks in the field and "Ha,ha, ha"-ing at the dogs (its a panting sound. How do you write that?). Did I mention Shovelnub came, too? It was his first hunting trip ever. He must have enjoyed it because he's considering getting his Hunter's Safety for next year. Anyway, it was the last hunt of the year and a good ending, too.