A Refined Palate

On Wednesday after storybook lady at the library I stopped at McDonalds and picked up a happy meal for Jonah and one for myself. Jonah was not impressed with the chicken nuggets but he did find doing this amusing:


Yes, that is a chicken nugget skewered with a crispy french fry.

Yesterday, Jonah insisted on sharing my lunch of Indian Chicken Tikka Masala rather than having his more bland lunch with roasted chicken.
He also learned to say, "spicy" today.

On a sidenote: I love Mondays cause everyone blogs Sunday and Monday about their weekends n' stuff so there's always lots of good new stuff to read.

Board Meeting

I'm not sure why I love this so much, but I do.

A Visit to Grandpa Bob

The first weekend in September we went down to the tiny town of Teasdale, Utah (right near Canyonlands National Park) where my mom's dad lives, to visit family and go to my Uncle Richard's memorial service.


Dad, Aunt Liz, Mom, Uncle Cori, and Aunt Lori watching home videos of Richard.




In front of Grandpa's huge, organic garden and greenhouse.



My cousin, Theo, with his daughter Cally in the overgrown asparagus.



The view from Grandpa's house.



Claire with Grandpa's four sheep.



Cousins hanging out in Grandpa's backyard.




Sleeping Elora, Mom (showing off pictures), her brother Cori (here from Florida), his son Kyle, and Cori's wife Lori.




Claire and Spencer checking out the windmill.




Elora with her great-grandpa.



Grandpa was quite taken with Jonah (who isn't?).

My Pose Idea

Admit it, this is great.

Randomness

1- I don't know anyone personally who can pull off a side ponytail like my sister Karen can.

2- Just found out that my brother Ted talks in his sleep all the time. I found that out here.

3- My mom talks in her sleep a lot too. She sleeps a lot too. (Double "toos").

4- Brandon told me 2 hours ago that I had to blog that when he tucked Jonah in bed Jo said, "night, night" and then started fake snoring. That kid cracks me up all day!

5- I rented Penelope but have nobody to watch it with tonight:( Brandon refuses and the girlfriends I called were all unavailable. Normally I don't mind watching movies alone but this is a chick flick with well-known actresses in it and I feel like I should be sharing. Plus, I need a social life and mine can only begin after 8pm if Brandon continues to refuse to give Elora a bottle.

6- I've been finding and being found by so many old friends and aquaintances on facebook lately. Pretty cool.

7- It is so much funnier when I fart than when anyone else does. You probably feel that way too.

9- Suddenly, out of nowhere, earlier this evening I decided that spinning the toilet paper roll should be like spinning a buddhist prayer wheel and we should chant while doing it and get points up in heaven for thinking holy thoughts while doing it.

10- People without jobs who are over 18 annoy me. People over 22 without career plans bother me. People who are hippocrites irritate me. People who are selfish and don't even know it frustrate me. And these are just the people I've been in contact with in the past week!

Gavin

I am so lucky to have healthy children.
I just read an email my mom forwarded to me from her good friend Shelly. It made me sob. Sob. I literally put my hands over my face while reading it and sobbed.
Shelly has a daughter, Bethany, who is several years younger than me (25, I believe). During the summer of 2001 (or was it '02, I seriously have the worst memory) while I was temporarily living in Mesa, Arizona and working my own Mary Kay business I met Bethany for the first time in years. She joined my Mary Kay sales team. She is a beautiful girl and a hard worker. She was a very young mother at that time. I believe she has remarried since then.
This week was the first time I've heard anything about her in a couple years. It was not happy news. Her little boy who would be one next week died last week. I can't even fathom the heartbreak.
Here is a link to his webpage: http://www.giftforgavin.org/
I couldn't bring myself to read it, already knowing more details than I wanted to know. It was nice to see a few pictures of this gorgeous child though and of his family. His funeral is this coming Saturday in Mesa. A lot of my readers live there and may know of this tragedy.
I just wanted to tell you all to be grateful for your health and that of your family. It is the one thing I always try to remember to thank God for everyday and I feel that may be partly why I am continued to be blessed with it.
Say a prayer for Bethany and her family today.

Moqui and Charlotte

I know, I know, I'm picture happy today.
These are my two 2 1/2 year old neices. Even though I couldn't get them to smile, they are still looking gorgeous. They will both be three in December, they have birthdays two weeks apart.

Family

My little family plus my parents, all my siblings (except Mark, 20, who is in Mexico), their spouses, and their children.



Ted & Lauren with all of their neices and nephews.



Frolicking nephews.



All of my nephews except for Henry, and Elora.

Complete Family Photos

These are the first pictures we've taken together as a family since Elora was born.

Paisley Jane

Elora with her new cousin, Paisley. They are almost exactly 4 months apart.



Little Paisley has to stay at the hospital until tomorrow because she contracted Strep B in the birth canal (Robin's labor was too short for her to get a second dose of antibiotics).


The gorgeous "new" mother.

Introductions

Mr. and Mrs. B.; Teddy & Lauren, married Sept. 18th


My newest neice, Paisley Jane. Born Sept. 19th.

Just Moments Ago

I took a blanket out of the linen closet and left the door partly open. When I came back this is what I found.
I said, "Jonah, what are you doing?"
He said, "Boat. Bath."

Mommy Me

Word of the Day

COCKOLO, which is what Jonah calls chickens (obviously!). It derives from the North American phrase, "cock-a-doodle-doo."

Thinning Hair

An explaination of why I cut 5 inches off my hair a couple weeks ago when I was previously trying to grow it out...

(From babycenter.com)
Sandra Johnson, dermatologist, says:

All new moms experience hair loss, though some lose more than others.

Here's why it happens. During pregnancy, changes in your hormone levels cause your hair to stay in a resting phase for longer, so you lose less hair on a daily basis. (You may have noticed that your hair seemed thicker than usual.)

After you've given birth and your hormones have settled down — usually at about 12 weeks after delivery — more hair shifts into a shedding phase. You may be alarmed to find hair coming out by the handful.

Normally, you lose about 100 to 125 hairs a day, but after delivery, you may be losing about 500 a day. This can be very disturbing, but try not to worry too much — you won't go bald!

Backpacking

Brandon and Alan returned last Monday from their annual backpacking trip. It was four days in the Uintas in a totally distant spot from their previous trips in the Uintas. Here are my favorite pictures from their trip.

I'm a Bumble Bee

The haircolors that were supposed to be medium brown and a medium ash blond turned out closer to black and yellow.

And to match, I have a hideous, huge, mystery bruise on my leg that is practically black and yellow too.

Markers!