our hot date

Friday night:

Neil comes home late. We eat leftover chicken pot pie and some freshly sliced pineapple.

I bathe Juliet while Neil responds to his email. I bathe Abigail when Neil slumps against the wall holding Juliet.

The girls go to bed. We watch twenty minutes of Rent and eat some homemade salsa and tortilla chips.

Neil kisses me goodbye and heads back to the lab. I slouch down in front of the computer and start another editing project. Every five or ten minutes, we instant message each other when we come across something that amuses us.

We're sure grateful for Sundays, our day of rest, which equates to "our day-long date."

Yesterday I made dinner while Abigail and Juliet were napping. Usually Abigail helps, but yesterday I was taking dinner to someone, so I wanted to get it done early since I was bringing it to her at 4.

So at dinnertime, when I was encouraging her to eat, I said "Oh, Abigail, this is such yummy food!"

And she responded politely "Thank you, Mommy. I made it all by self."

?

At least she's really got the manners thing down, if somewhat misguidely. We really try to emphasize please, thank you, you're welcome, thank you for my yummy food, thank you for my blessings (when praying), so it apparently is seeping into her little mind, if in somewhat haphazard fashion.

sigh...

Thus far today...

• abigail dumped very wet potting soil (from her little bean sprout plant that we planted to learn about seeds) all over the dining room carpet and living room carpet. impossible to get out, after several hours of trying. i really should have been keeping an eye on her (I was trying to show a girl in the ward how to design a budget in MS Money), so i can't get too upset--as a matter of fact, it might not even have been abigail, as the other little girl was quite dirty too. then again, they both had dirt around their mouths, signifying an attempt at consumption. why? did the dirt taste good?
• abigail pulled out, snapped, and broke the drawer of my very nicest piece of furniture (a solid cherry end table)
• a certain personal belonging that i loaned to someone was returned a month later broken, without a thank-you note for the loan of the item and the considerable investment of time on my part that also accompanied the item's original service, and without any acknowledgement of the fact that it was rendered completely unusuable and will have to be replaced

it could be a long day. gripe, gripe, gripe. whine, whine, whine.

ok, i'm done now.

back on the wagon...sort of

So remember how I was writing about how Neil and I met and dated and all that jazz? A really long time ago? Well, Kayli's blog inspired me to start again. Although I don't know how detailed this will be, because I'm not very good at being consistent when I try to make it too long.

Anyway, after I manipulated Neil into asking me out, we agreed that he'd pick me up at 8 the next night (Friday) after he finished volunteering in the TRC at the MTC. What I remember most about opening the door is that he was holding a brown paper sack in one hand, and he handed it to me, and it contained the most lucious mint chocolate walnut-studded brownie I've ever had. It was so gooey I had trouble pulling it out of the bag. Then he took some microwave popcorn out of his pocket and asked if he could pop it in our microwave for the movie. Then when we got to the movie, he pulled out some homemade peach fruit leather that he'd helped his mom to make.

I think it might have been while I was chewing the fruit leather that I decided to marry him.

I also remember we walked out to his car and I thought it was really cool that he drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee, since I thought it was a really manly car, and my dad used to drive one, so I thought it was a good car because my dad had one (even though it was technically a company car that someone else had picked out). And I also remember exactly what both of us were wearing, but I'll spare you the details. (What does impress me is that occasionally Neil will say "Hey! You wore that outfit on our first date!" which is I think more attention then he ever again paid to clothes in his entire life. Witness the infamous "Tuesday shirts.")

We went to the (outdoor cinema) movie, and I there discovered something that has plagued our marriage ever since: when Neil watches a movie, he's oblivious to everything else. I tried everything I could think of to get him to pay attention to me. I started a popcorn fight with Jen and her date (our friend Ben), but Neil just ignored us all. I told him I was cold (thinking maybe he'd scoot over a little closer, but it really was true, because it was about 10 pm in the desert and FREEZING, plus we were by the belltower on campus and it seems to get really cold there from the stream, but unfortunately that hill got razed so you can't watch movies there anymore, which was very sad for me when it disappeared), and he took off his coat and handed it to me, which was a nice gesture, but then he went back to watching the movie. I honestly really don't remember the movie at all because I was trying so hard to get him to pay attention to me, but he just sat there bolt upright the whole time, leaning forward, eyes totally intent on the screen. He may even have forgotten I was there. Fast forward five years...I've seen him come in while Abigail is watching Blue's Clues, which he professes to loathe, and he'll stand there brushing his teeth and staring transfixed at the screen, never noticing that he's really starting to foam at the mouth. So I feel a little better about my charms.

Now that I'm describing this, I'm not quite sure I decided after our first date that he really might be the guy I wanted to marry (oh wait, I remember, it was the fruit leather!) When he took me back to my apartment, I invited him in to play some board games or something with Jen and Ben and I, since I wasn't sure he'd had a good time at all, but he said he had to get home (he was living with his parents then, since they lived about ten minutes from BYU and he'd just gotten home from his mission) because he didn't want his parents to worry about him. I hugged him goodnight (I think...do you remember for sure, honey?) and went back in and thought "Hmm...not sure if I'll ever hear from him again."

Despite the fact that I still wanted to marry him for the fruit leather.

pictures, part one

Normally I look at all the pictures after a trip to my parents' and just give up on posting them, because there's so many. But then a certain ROSALIND harasses me with these things that I can't even decipher, like "hey QT, r u going to post pics, u should, <3 u" and i finally realize that she wants pictures, but then she's left another message like "r u krzy, whr r pix" and then it gets even worse, like "gv m px r n vwls evr agn" (give me pics or no vowels ever again). Just kidding...I had to tease Rosalind again about her crazy computer-speak.
Anyway, Rosalind, these are for you, because I love you.
And MB and Ruth, these are for you, because you little weenies went to Park City and played in hot tubs over Thanksgiving, so these are to make you homesick and remember how much you want to come hang out with us cool people in just a few weeks!

And mostly, these are going up because that crazy Neil went back to his lab tonight, and so the computer is free. But I'd rather have you home, honey. :-) I just love you like that.

And lastly, these are in two parts, because Blogger got riled up at the number of pictures I was uploading and started just giving me little x's.

And while I still have your attention, can I tell you that we saw enchanted this weekend and despite those naysayers (like my husband) I think it was an absolute sugar plum of a movie. So fun! So cute! So just fun! Funny! Fun! My favorite part is when Giselle makes herself a dress out of the sort-of-hero's curtains. And then hangs them back up, with dress-shaped pieces cut out of them. You really should go see it.


When we first got to my parents' house, we were all really excited to see each other. We had lots of energy and did cool stuff. As you can see.


My grandfather used to be a little wary about holding babies, which I can certainly understand--they are so wiggly and squirmy and there's nothing to really get a grip on. In recent years, he's become more comfortable with the idea of these squirmy little wigglers, and I really and truly cherish moments and pictures like these. I feel so blessed to live so close!




After Thanksgiving dinner, we did more fun and exciting and energetic things.


At least...some of us did.


I spent a goodly portion of the weekend on the treadmill repenting of my Thanksgiving-dinner sins. Also, my mom makes this really good salad with romaine, bacon, feta, toasted almonds, tomatoes, and cucumbers that just kills any restraint I have. I love it so much that she made it a total of three times throughout the weekend. She left it out on the kitchen island and I was eating it out of the bowl with my hands. I also ate it when everyone else was eating pie. Then I ate a piece of pie. Then I had another serving of salad.


Abigail had such a blast doing the dishes with my grandpa while everyone else lay around on couches and digested. We're lucky to have two such stalwart workers.



And then the Christmas decorations began...

This was my favorite part...Abigail followed my dad and Rosalind around the tree, holding onto the strand of lights. Rosalind was following Dad to keep them from getting tangled up, so Abigail decided Rosalind needed a follower too. It was really funny to watch the three of them traipse around and around, mostly because Abigail kept bumping into everyone as she marched.

This is Elise. Sometimes I pretend we're not related.

Unfortunately, nobody ever believes me because I make this face too.

We made Julesie her "very own special blankie," as Abigail called it.

If your family is like ours, then you have a collection of homemade ornaments, or ornaments purchased before Children Grew to the Age of Good Taste, which parents refuse to throw out, because a) they really cherish the memories behind each ornament and they know we will too once we pass the Age of Embarassment at Ugly Ornaments Featuring Our School Pictures and b) they delight in saying things like "Hey Abigail! Look! This is your mommy! No, it really is!"

I think this one takes the Heinousness Cake. Elise and a certain prize drawing at a local drive-in are responsible. Fortunately for all concerned, this ornament developed a nastily dangerous crack in its glass surface, relegating it to the rubbish bin (ooh, how delightfully British that sounds).

That's all for this post! Scroll down for some more holiday cheer and semi-witty remarks.

so. many. pictures. part deux.

um i think i ran out of space. i'll have to make this a two-part post.

Jules and the sleigh bells that I used to con my sisters into thinking that Santa Claus was outside our house...no...wait...nope, he definitely went on past. Maybe next year.

They had a rough childhood.

I just love this picture. Don't you?

I think my dad could be an Eddie Bauer model. Doesn't he have that rugged handsomeness look down? I'm glad we have such good genes running around in our family. :-)

Legend has it that I could recite Sleeping Beauty word for word at a very young age. Disney preferences aside, this about melted my heart when I saw my two girlies sharing some quality time.

Since we got out our nativities on Monday, they have become Abigail's best friends. She uses them to enact various dramas. My personal favorite thus far:

Shepherd: "I want to see the baby Jesus!"

Wise Man #1: "Me too!"

Wise Man #2: "Me too!"

Wise Man #3: "Me too!"

Sheep: "Excuse me! Baaa baaa!"

Mary: "Can't see! Squishing me!"

Wise Man #2: "Move over, okay? Thank you!"

Wise Man #3: "All done now, okay guys? Time to go home."

Homemade Craft Theory #1: If you cover the edges in dots, people might not notice the shoddy paint job elsewhere.

Then again, they might.

At least it'll be better than the first year you were married, when you said to your husband "let's make macaroni angels for the tree!" and he gave you a really dubious look, but acquiesced anyway, and it wasn't until you were all done that you found out he thought you were going to be hanging wet noodles on the tree. That's trust. And newlywedness.

Last year I helped host this ginormous nativity thing at our church, and lame mother that I am, I picked up the kids' craft for Abigail but um...forgot to do it until I pulled out the decorations this year. Oh well. She really had fun making it this year, and she probably wouldn't have last year.

Reason #787825 why my dad is amazing: Cranberry Orange Bread.

Reason #787826 why both parents are amazing: they send loaves home with me.

This (the ornaments piled inside the hurricane lamp) is my favorite decoration that I "made" this year. Neil thinks it's way better than noodle angels.

And lastly, can you believe how big and just adorable this kid is getting? Love it.

She can now grab her toys (more or less). Today one fought back and bonked her in the face when she waved it wildly around...she burst into tears of indignation for about ten seconds, then tossed the toy away and looked for another one.

somebody is giving me a free piano!

a little beat up, but hey, what's free all about?

i am excited because when i originally called the guy said it was probably gone, but then he called me back a couple hours later and said i could have it if i wanted it.

score!

also today i have been researching treadmills, as neil and i have decided over the last four months that we will buy each other one as our christmas/anniversary/birthday/festivus/valentine's/what-have-you gift for the next however many years. i am excited. let's face it folks...it is HARD to work out with a baby who won't go to bed until 10 and then wakes up at 1 am, 3 am. 5:45 am, and 7 am. that crazy kid. she's biting my arm right now. i think that means she's hungry. i better go feed this ravening beast.

Ruth

This post has really been rumbling around in my brain for awhile...since it's so late.

And while I was thinking about what cool things I could write about Ruth, like the fact that she has an amazing operatic voice, or the fact that she studies her little backside off all night every night in the library until closing time so she can have stellar grades for the business management program at BYU, or that she's completely and utterly gorgeous, I mostly kept thinking of funny Ruth stories, because she's quite a character.

For instance, when I thought about what a beautiful voice she has, I remembered how we discovered her beautiful voice: she was singing in this fake opera voice trying to be really obnoxious, and after awhile my dad said "Wow...that actually sounds pretty good." Fast forward a few years of vocal training, and you get this when she sight-reads (there's a good characteristic moment about a minute and a half in!):

ok...I tried for almost two hours to upload the video, but it was really slow, so you'll just have to imagine Ruth's awesome opera stylings in Latin and Italian and the like. Just trust me...she is GOOD. She won lots of grant things because she's so good.

And when I thought about how similar Ruth and I are, I thought about how when Elise told Ruth that she was acting like me, and Ruth threw a curling iron at Elise. :-) Which was kind of like the time that I said something snippy at her when she was about six, and she was making a PBJ, and she threw the peanut butter-coated knife at me.

And when I thought about that, I remember the time that Ruth was mad at my dad and he said "Oh, go stick your head in the toilet," and she really did, and then she lost her balance and fell in. And she was sixteen or so, I think.

And when I thought about how gorgeous she is with her super-long legs and bright blue eyes and curly blonde hair, I remember how she used to think that my parents had bought her at the grocery store, because she looked so different from the rest of us, and then she was convinced that we were just fattening her up to eat her, and she used to yell things to that effect when we were in public places.

Those all sound sort of scary, but what I mean to say is...Ruth is really funny. (And melodramatic sometimes, but that's what makes her funny. And after all, who am I to call someone melodramatic?)

Ruth and her roommate Amy

Some of my favorite "young Ruth" memories:

• insisting on being named "Pancake" whenever we played make-believe games


• running away from our horse (who was really named Pancake) while Pancake tried to eat Ruth's pigtails


• her imaginary friends were named Goo-gah and Gah-gee


• she did this smile called "Barbie lips" whenever anyone told her she was cute, which involved flipping out her bottom lip and then curling her tongue out over her top lip. It was kinda scary.


• she would never sleep on her sheets--instead she slept between her blanket and her comforter--but she would insist on her sheets being washed every week

Cool things about Ruth:

• she loves reading the Wall Street Journal
• she's not afraid to go swimming in glacier lakes
• she landed a stellar job in part because she was the only applicant courteous enough to write a thank-you note after the interview
• she has a really amazing sense of style. really. she has really, really, good-lookin' clothes, and she pulls outfits together beautifully...when she's all fancied up, it's the iconic Audrey Hepburn type of look. Very elegant and beautiful.
• she went skiing the day after my wedding and wound up in the ER and now has a pretty sweet scar on her stomach from sticking a ski into her abdomen
• once she painted a mural on her wall with acrylic paints while my mom was gone. So my mom came home, and there was this random palm tree and sunset mural on Ruth's wall. It actually looked really cool...and it's still there.
• I remember looking around Ruth's room for something and noticing the book she was reading for fun on her nightstand: Anna Karenina. She's cool like that.
• She's really fun in this crazy maniac way. When she was little, she and her best friend Tina used to go buy dollar store Barbies and pull them apart and stick their arms back in the leg holes and vice versa. It sounds a little demented, but it was funny, and she still does funny crazy things that are just funny and crazy because she's Ruth. I can't think of a good example, so Ruth, why don't you leave one in the comments? :-) But basically, if you want to do something really fun at like 2 am or something, you should take Ruth, because she will make it x1000 "funner."
• she really does study in the library every night until midnight. that's some serious work ethic and dedication. way to go, Ruthie!
• and she's so gorgeous that random people just walk up to her and ask her out, cause she's good-lookin' like that. She must take after me, right? ;-)

I love you, Ruthie! Happy (late) birthday!

apologies

Ruth, I promise you I will give you your birthday post sometime soon. And I am deeply sorry that I am now...three? days late.

And Neil, I really should write you one too, seeing as how your birthday is the same day as Ruth's.

But today we're decompressing from the excitement of the weekend...and it may take awhile.

But we love you both!

For all you other readers...did you know that you can melt the mascara on your eyelashes if you peek into a very very hot oven to check on its contents? And did you know that Abigail's grandpa (whose job often involves working with Kellogg) goes to work every day "feeding the tigers?" (aka Tony the Tiger)? Now that's a grandpa to make the other kids envious!

picture overload

Psst! Scroll down for a new batch of Abigailisms.

This weekend was so much fun! We really had a good time just all hanging out together.

On Saturday, we got up early to go clean the church, which got us off to a good happy start. Then Neil and Abigail went to go to the campus pool (which unfortunately was closed for a unannounced-on-the-website swim meet, so they ended up at his lab instead, which was where we all ended up Saturday night again--fun fun) while I stayed home to make Neil some surprise birthday food.

Neil's birthday is the 23rd, so I always feel bad because he gets Thanskgiving instead of a birthday. Which really isn't bad at all, but I feel like I should make a little extra effort since it sort of gets lost in the hubbub of Thanksgiving.

So here is what Neil wanted for dinner for his birthday, so that his birthday wouldn't get lost in Thanksgiving: turkey, pumpkin pie, salad, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and homemade bread.

Yeah. Glad it's not getting confused or anything.



Since we didn't have 27 candles, my brilliant husband decided to put 3 raised to the 3rd candles on his pie, equaling 27.



And Abigail had a really hard time waiting until dinner was over...

Aside from that, we're having so much fun watching Julesie get bigger and develop more every day! She's now starting to really reach for toys, and she's getting so that she can grip them. She just loves the animals on her mobile, and smiles at them every time we lay her down in her crib. I heard her laugh for the first time on Thursday, and she is just on the crux of being able to roll over. She's still a sunny-tempered little sweetie, and we love her to pieces.

Our Friday night: our turn for date night babysitting, aka The Six Kid Marathon!

Abigail is always running over to "help my baby Zul-yet get her toys!" She's very sweet with Jules, and informs me every day "Zul-yet getting bigger, huh Mom?!"

I think this is one of my very favorite pictures, ever.

One of the perks of a king-size bed: everyone can cuddle up comfortably together for a nap (while poor Neil does his homework). Most days Abigail comes into bed with us in the mornings before our alarm goes off, and we all snuggle together for awhile. It's lovely.

Aren't these kids just so so darling? Sometimes I have to pick them up and squeeze them (until they pull away in fear of their internal organs exploding) because they are SO CUTE!!!!

keeping us laughing

Abigailisms from today:

• "No Dad no! I no want to go on the alligator!" (refusing to ride the elevator at Neil's lab)
• "Hey look! I licking some cookie off the floor!" (flat on her face licking up pumpkin pie filling I had spilled)
• "My turkey all gone, Mom. I share yours, okay?"
• "Hey look! I fold up my lap!" (after finally managing to sit Indian-style)
• "Look! Baby Juliet a animal boat!" (after lining up all of Juliet's stuffed animals on Juliet's back)
• "Hey Dad, is your birthday! What you want? Want some cookies, huh? Yeah, want some cookies!"
• "Mom, you cutting Dad's hair? Why? So he look so so pretty? Oh yeah, he going look so so pretty. Dad, you look so so pretty. Mom, he put on him dress, and den he look so so so bew-ful! Ok, Dad? Put on him dress and so pretty hair dat Mom cut!" (note...Neil and Abigail followed this up with a long discussion about how "Dad not wear him dress he is a boy not wear him dress, just Mom and Abigail and Baby Zul-yet wear dresses and are so so bew-ful").

A bazillion pictures are forthcoming--I took so many today that I wore out the batteries!

i am the luckiest

You might think, seeing as how I just spent an hour mopping up an exploded ink pen and little girl urine off my kitchen floor, that I would be grumpy.

But I'm not, because I am lucky and blessed and I love my family (isn't it nice to hear me say that for a change?) Really, though, I feel pretty blessed with my lot in life.

Our enrichment turned out beautifully (my personal part of it (making 4 crib quilts that were then tied during the service project portion) went without a hitch), Jules only woke up once last night, I had a lovely visit with a visiting teachee this morning, we had an uneventful grocery store jaunt, i have a washing machine churning all the yuckies away, my children continue to delight and amuse me and squeeze my heart by saying things like "Oh Mom, I just want to sit in your lap and snuggle...let's not go to friend's house, I just want to snuggle you, " one of my best friends just posted her wedding pictures, we're babysitting tonight, which means 3 of my friends get to have a date with their husbands, and I got the sweetest card from my ever-thoughtful grandparents. Life just is lovely.

Oh, and did I mention there's a bag of tortilla chips and half a dozen pint jars of homemade salsa waiting for me in the pantry? Little buddies. And in three days I get to see six of my favorite people in the whole world. As Abigail confided me in this morning while we were getting Julesie dressed, "Mom, I just wuv going to Papa's house and see all my families!" That pretty much sums it up.

enrichment committee calling + "big" quarterly enrichment meeting tonight + setting up with two kids in tow = tired me

security

It seems like the latest rage in blogging is to be worrying about security. I confess, I'm majorly jumping on the bandwagon--I just spent the last hour deleting every reference in every blog to the city and state we live in, as well as the university we're attending (so please don't mention them in your comments!) . As you noticed, last week I changed the blog address itself to be more anonymous.

Now I'm wondering if I should give pseudonyms to my family.

Taking it a bit far? I don't know. What I do know is that I don't want my blog to be password protected, because I like making new blogging friends, but I do want to preserve my family's safety. I've been surprised by how many people read my blog who I don't know personally--I love it, because I'm an unabashed reading-other-people's-blogs-person, but at the same time, it does occasion some reflection on the matter.

What do you think? Do you worry about this with your own blog?

On another note, I love Juliet (and Abigail too). She just woke up and I went in to cuddle her back to sleep, and can I tell you--there's nothing sweeter than a chubby little baby whose toothless little gums split into a huge wide grin at the sight of you and her little fat hands wave at you and clutch your shirt and just make you feel so loved, and when you set her back down in her crib she giggles rapturously and kicks her feet up in the air and you just have to go back and kiss her a million times because she's so cute and darling. I love babies. When they're happy like that, I think daringly about someday having another one. Someday. When this one starts sleeping.

a letter to neil

Dear Daddy,

Today Mommy said I was driving her crazy.


She said I needed "an outlet for my excess energy."

So since we really like you...

and your birthday is next week...

we had a party for you.

We just wish you could have been here to have fun with us.

We made cool hats, like this:



and then we made brownies in the shape of cupcakes, topped with cream cheese frosting and plenty of sprinkles.

We even made a special hat for you. You will probably think it's dorky, but guess what? You have to wear it anyway.



The brownie-cakes were pretty tasty.



If you hurry home soon, then there might be some for you.



But you might have to hurry kind of fast.