I've been so upset lately by the events in our country that I have been purposefully ignoring them. Hence, no political wisdom from me. Instead I will share a very funny story from Mailee, everyone's favorite lady.
Last Saturday was a busy day for us. Mailee and I had ballet class in the morning and then Mark had rehearsal. After that we ran home and quickly ate lunch and then it was off to Mark's sister's house for a 1pm birthday party for their 4 year old. It was great. The kids ran around like crazy people and played with toys and ate cake and candy. Very laid back and awesome.
Then we rushed home to pick up the truck and it was off to birthday party number 2 which started at 3pm. This party, also for a 4 year old, was held at GAGE gymnastics, a HUGE indoor gymnastics gym. Essentially, what we had was 13 kids under the age of four, including 2 just barely under 2 running around on mats and trampolines designed for kids over the age of 8. Total chaos. It was especially difficult to keep track of Brick who seems to have inherited the curse of the Olsen short legs and kept getting lost in the depths of the foam pit. After about 30 minutes Mark had to leave (hence picking up the truck) to go to a welfare training meeting so I was on my own.
Somewhere in the middle of all of this Mailee had to go to the bathroom, so I took her to the gym's unisex bathroom and she hopped up. While in there she started pooping, and just like Rachel she also feels the need to pep talk her poops. Not wanting to be disturbed, I locked the door.
"Mom, why did you lock the door?"
"So no one will come in while you are going potty."
"Oh. They might come in and not see me and sit on me and squish me down into the potty and then I'd be all dirty." I'm holding back the laughter.
"I'm sure they'd see you if they came in honey."
"Oh." And then she laid it on me. "They might see me and see that I'm so beautiful and then they'd sit on me and it would make their butt beautiful."
Priceless.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Pictures
Here are some pictures we have taken recently.
First up: San Francisco pictures.
We climbed a whole bunch of stairs like these to the top of Telegraph Hill where Coit Tower sits.
This is Coit Tower. We got some really great shots of the city and of Alcatraz from up here.
A great one of Mark in the shade of the foliage on Telegraph Hill.
Mark and this really funny street performer we saw on Pier 39.
Me on the pier with Alcatraz in the background.
Mark got too close to the binocular thingies and bumped his nose.
On the ferry to Alcatraz. I like this one because I am in so much awe that it looks like I might crap my pants any minute.
The requisite "I'm in jail!" pictures. Whereas I am relatively at ease with being behind bars, Mark looks a little more apprehensive, perhaps because he knows what happens to good looking guys like him in prison.
It seemed like nothing was free in San Francisco, so we were pleased to find that the Cable Car Museum was.
This is the cable car we rode from the Cable Car Museum down to Fisherman's Wharf.
Here is the submarine we got to tour: the Pampanito. Very very cool.
This guy was a crazy homeless man (or street performer) we saw on two separate occasions. He liked to hide behind branches and jump out at people as they walked by. Totally hilarious.
That's all I have time for for now. Stay tuned for more pictures and more posts.
First up: San Francisco pictures.
We climbed a whole bunch of stairs like these to the top of Telegraph Hill where Coit Tower sits.
This is Coit Tower. We got some really great shots of the city and of Alcatraz from up here.
A great one of Mark in the shade of the foliage on Telegraph Hill.
Mark and this really funny street performer we saw on Pier 39.
Me on the pier with Alcatraz in the background.
Mark got too close to the binocular thingies and bumped his nose.
On the ferry to Alcatraz. I like this one because I am in so much awe that it looks like I might crap my pants any minute.
The requisite "I'm in jail!" pictures. Whereas I am relatively at ease with being behind bars, Mark looks a little more apprehensive, perhaps because he knows what happens to good looking guys like him in prison.
It seemed like nothing was free in San Francisco, so we were pleased to find that the Cable Car Museum was.
This is the cable car we rode from the Cable Car Museum down to Fisherman's Wharf.
Here is the submarine we got to tour: the Pampanito. Very very cool.
This guy was a crazy homeless man (or street performer) we saw on two separate occasions. He liked to hide behind branches and jump out at people as they walked by. Totally hilarious.
That's all I have time for for now. Stay tuned for more pictures and more posts.
Gay TV Shows
Hey, Spence. I don't watch "Life on Mars" and so for that I owe you nothing. In fact, I am so superior that I don't even watch tv on a regular basis. What do I do? I read fluffy bubblegum novels that require no thought. Cause I am so cool.
P.S. Cheating is cheating. It doesn't matter who (or what) you are doing it with.
P.S. Cheating is cheating. It doesn't matter who (or what) you are doing it with.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Adventures in Single Motherhood
Mark is in San Francisco this week at a VS Live Conference. For those of you who aren't familiar this is where geeks and techies and software developers of all kinds get together and salivate over number sequences (Just kidding. No one programs in binary anymore). Seriously though, it is a bunch of "techie geeks" talking about software development and technology. And they do salivate.
Anyhoo, since Mark is gone I am playing single mother and I do not like it one bit. I absolutely don't know how Roxann does this with Spencer gone all the time. I asked my mom how she did it when dad used to work on the road and she said she didn't. She literally went crazy and had to be heavily medicated. Now, I love my kids and I try to be pretty laid back with them, but I also have never been known for my patience or sanity and I can go from fine to overwhelmed and on the edge of a breakdown in about 3 seconds.
Mark and I have a pretty good routine down. He goes to work and I stay home all day with the kids. When he gets home instead of flipping on the sports channel or the Xbox360 like a lot of dads we know he actually engages with the children and often takes over their care. If I have had an especially rough day he sends me to my room for some alone time. We do all the shopping together since it is hard for me to go to the store with the kids. Mark gives them their baths and tells them stories and I help him put them to bed. Three times a week instead of complaining about how he never gets time to play golf or WoW he takes the kids while I go to ballet. And almost every week he tries to get a babysitter and take me out.
You see, Mark gets it. He absolutely gets that being with kids 24/7 with no time to yourself, no matter how much you love them, is hard. He gets that they are his kids too and just because he goes to work doesn't mean he has done his job and now he may go and do whatever he wants. He gets that his number one priority is his family and building a strong relationship with his children. He gets that I didn't stop being a human being with my own needs and wants the minute I became a mother.
Maybe if he was a less hands on parent and he and I were less obsessed with spending every waking moment together this would be easier for me. But you know, I'm glad I'm so dependent on him. I'm glad that he is so much a part of my life that 4 days without him has been agony.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Tomorrow I am flying out to San Francisco to join him for the weekend. Our families have pitched in to take care of the kids for us and I am looking forward to 3 days together (thank you to everyone).
Mark rocks.
Anyhoo, since Mark is gone I am playing single mother and I do not like it one bit. I absolutely don't know how Roxann does this with Spencer gone all the time. I asked my mom how she did it when dad used to work on the road and she said she didn't. She literally went crazy and had to be heavily medicated. Now, I love my kids and I try to be pretty laid back with them, but I also have never been known for my patience or sanity and I can go from fine to overwhelmed and on the edge of a breakdown in about 3 seconds.
Mark and I have a pretty good routine down. He goes to work and I stay home all day with the kids. When he gets home instead of flipping on the sports channel or the Xbox360 like a lot of dads we know he actually engages with the children and often takes over their care. If I have had an especially rough day he sends me to my room for some alone time. We do all the shopping together since it is hard for me to go to the store with the kids. Mark gives them their baths and tells them stories and I help him put them to bed. Three times a week instead of complaining about how he never gets time to play golf or WoW he takes the kids while I go to ballet. And almost every week he tries to get a babysitter and take me out.
You see, Mark gets it. He absolutely gets that being with kids 24/7 with no time to yourself, no matter how much you love them, is hard. He gets that they are his kids too and just because he goes to work doesn't mean he has done his job and now he may go and do whatever he wants. He gets that his number one priority is his family and building a strong relationship with his children. He gets that I didn't stop being a human being with my own needs and wants the minute I became a mother.
Maybe if he was a less hands on parent and he and I were less obsessed with spending every waking moment together this would be easier for me. But you know, I'm glad I'm so dependent on him. I'm glad that he is so much a part of my life that 4 days without him has been agony.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Tomorrow I am flying out to San Francisco to join him for the weekend. Our families have pitched in to take care of the kids for us and I am looking forward to 3 days together (thank you to everyone).
Mark rocks.
Monday, February 9, 2009
In the Spirit of Births
The other night while we were having prayer Mailee prayed for Grandma and Papa, but she didn't stop there like she usually does. You see, Mailee seems to only like Grandma and Papa and so she never prays for anyone else no matter how much we prompt her. She doesn't even pray for Mark and I or Brick. Well, this night was different. She also prayed for her new cousin Maggie (ahh, that is so sweet). Then she prayed that Heavenly Father would give her a new "PJ Sparkles" toy for her birthday (not until April). Then she prayed for a baby sister.
It went from sweet to cute to What the Heck! You can't just let your kid go around praying for siblings. What if Heavenly Father decides to give them one? Or worse yet, what if they don't get one and it shakes their whole belief system? So, Mark explained to her that we can ask for things but that doesn't mean we will get them. Then he told her to stop praying for toys. She hasn't prayed for any toys since then, and she has only prayed for a new sister once since then, but she continues to pray for baby Maggie every night. I think she is branching out.
To be fair, Mailee is only obsessed with babies because 4 of her 7 married aunts are either pregnant or have just delivered a baby. She has babies on the brain. I've been thinking a lot about babies myself and eventually I do want another one. We just aren't ready yet.
Speaking of babies, my friend Rachel just had a baby (congratulations) and apparently it was one of those really difficult births where things wouldn't have turned out well without medical intervention. She had a C-section and it was probably the only way both of them would have made it out alive. I mentioned to her my mother-in-law's views on home births and she asked me if I had done home births. Let me state here for all the world to see that I have never nor will I ever have a home birth. I love epidurals. I think they are one of the greatest creations known to man. I love having nurses to take your baby to the nursery for you if you need some sleep. I love how they pamper you and give you pain medication and sleeping pills and cable tv to watch. I love having my babies in the hospital. I don't mean to be overly dramatic about Rachel's situation, but I feel really strongly about maternal safety. I think a good percentage of home births are reckless and stupid and selfish and put either the mother or the baby in danger. I am completely biased, and I base that bias on the women I know who have gone through with a home birth. I consider it nothing short of divine intervention that these babies survived.
Okay. I'm done ranting. In the spirit of trying to be tolerant and loving, if any of you decide to have a home birth I will try to support you. But, please, for the love of all that is holy, educate yourself as much as you can about the birthing process, get prenatal care, and please, please at least get a mid-wife. Birth is a natural process and women use to do it all the time without medical help, but they also use to die all the time.
It went from sweet to cute to What the Heck! You can't just let your kid go around praying for siblings. What if Heavenly Father decides to give them one? Or worse yet, what if they don't get one and it shakes their whole belief system? So, Mark explained to her that we can ask for things but that doesn't mean we will get them. Then he told her to stop praying for toys. She hasn't prayed for any toys since then, and she has only prayed for a new sister once since then, but she continues to pray for baby Maggie every night. I think she is branching out.
To be fair, Mailee is only obsessed with babies because 4 of her 7 married aunts are either pregnant or have just delivered a baby. She has babies on the brain. I've been thinking a lot about babies myself and eventually I do want another one. We just aren't ready yet.
Speaking of babies, my friend Rachel just had a baby (congratulations) and apparently it was one of those really difficult births where things wouldn't have turned out well without medical intervention. She had a C-section and it was probably the only way both of them would have made it out alive. I mentioned to her my mother-in-law's views on home births and she asked me if I had done home births. Let me state here for all the world to see that I have never nor will I ever have a home birth. I love epidurals. I think they are one of the greatest creations known to man. I love having nurses to take your baby to the nursery for you if you need some sleep. I love how they pamper you and give you pain medication and sleeping pills and cable tv to watch. I love having my babies in the hospital. I don't mean to be overly dramatic about Rachel's situation, but I feel really strongly about maternal safety. I think a good percentage of home births are reckless and stupid and selfish and put either the mother or the baby in danger. I am completely biased, and I base that bias on the women I know who have gone through with a home birth. I consider it nothing short of divine intervention that these babies survived.
Okay. I'm done ranting. In the spirit of trying to be tolerant and loving, if any of you decide to have a home birth I will try to support you. But, please, for the love of all that is holy, educate yourself as much as you can about the birthing process, get prenatal care, and please, please at least get a mid-wife. Birth is a natural process and women use to do it all the time without medical help, but they also use to die all the time.
Birthday Shouts
First off, Sharel and Andrea- Happy Late Birthdays. I'm sorry I didn't get to posting about them, but I am excited about them none the less.
Second-
Happy Birthday to Roxann, yesterday, Korynn, today and Me, tomorrow. I won't make any jokes about getting old, since I am starting to feel a little old myself. And, since I am older than my husband I will always feel old and I will die a little inside every time I have a birthday and he stays the same age. I am completely positive that at 40 he will be a stunning fox with salt and pepper hair and all of Mailee's friends will think he is so hot. At 40 I will be frumpy and look so much like a mom that I might as well walk around with a sign that says "Mom."
Third-
In case I don't get around to it- Happy Birthday to Eryn (who is 6 years old and won't be reading this anyway) and my friend Rachel who share a birthday on Valentine's Day.
Yeah for Birthdays!
Second-
Happy Birthday to Roxann, yesterday, Korynn, today and Me, tomorrow. I won't make any jokes about getting old, since I am starting to feel a little old myself. And, since I am older than my husband I will always feel old and I will die a little inside every time I have a birthday and he stays the same age. I am completely positive that at 40 he will be a stunning fox with salt and pepper hair and all of Mailee's friends will think he is so hot. At 40 I will be frumpy and look so much like a mom that I might as well walk around with a sign that says "Mom."
Third-
In case I don't get around to it- Happy Birthday to Eryn (who is 6 years old and won't be reading this anyway) and my friend Rachel who share a birthday on Valentine's Day.
Yeah for Birthdays!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
A Quickie (And not the fun kind)
First off, Congratulations to Bo and Andrea. I have many beautiful pictures of your new daughter and you may see them for the low low price of $39.95. You can paypal Mark.
No really, congratulations. She is beautiful.
Second, thanks to everyone who posted as requested. Roxann, what happened to you?
Third, John Huntsman is going to be on Glenn Beck tomorrow night. Is he the same one Grandma and Grandpa knew?
Ok. Gotta go to ballet.
No really, congratulations. She is beautiful.
Second, thanks to everyone who posted as requested. Roxann, what happened to you?
Third, John Huntsman is going to be on Glenn Beck tomorrow night. Is he the same one Grandma and Grandpa knew?
Ok. Gotta go to ballet.
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