Monday, January 03, 2005


Addie loves oranges grown at Papa Bill's Arizona orchard! Posted by Hello

How can I ever have a bad day when I wake up to THIS!?! Posted by Hello

Self-Censoring

In my quest to be a good mom I have had several tragic failings. The worst are inconsistent discipline, losing my temper, and saying bad words like damn, hell, and jerk.

And of course, in true kid fashion, Addie has picked up those words, even if she's only heard them once or twice. The other day she was in a sassy mood and we were contemplating taking her to the thrift store and leaving her there with her old clothes and toys. She was jumping on my bed and I told her to stop and turned off the light. In her most evil shreiking angry voice, she said, "Mom, you don't turn of that light while I am jumping! MOM! You are a dammit!"

I am a dammit. But wait, there's more.

The next morning, I fixed her breakfast and she said, "Thanks mom! You are a good girl. You are not a dammit."

Phew! I was so worried about going through life as a dammit.

Yes, I am trying to watch my language. I can't have her cussing out her Primary teacher, can I?

Sunday, January 02, 2005


Sunday--Addie was looking forward to going to Primary with Daddy... Posted by Hello

...Until they got there! Posted by Hello

But evenutally Addie calmed down, sang songs, and even had a fun class with her Sunbeam teacher, Sister Orton. Posted by Hello

Too bad I couldn't get Addie to give me a normal smile! She's officially a Sunbeam now. Posted by Hello

Ringing In the New

I spent the last day of 2004 riding around in a blizzard in a car full of tired, feverish, hungry toddlers observing the handiwork of my sweet and talented brother in law, Mike (he is a mason and he does fancy custom rock work for billionaires at ranches and ski resorts). My instincts told me to keep my virus-ridden, whiny children home, but I succumbed to the peer pressure and joined all the in-laws on the trek to Big Sky (and we were all sorry, although it was cool to see Mike's work). The day ended with absolutely fantastic pizza at MacKenzie River Pizza in Bozeman (if you're ever in Montana, find a MRP and eat there--you'll thank me later).

We rang out the old by sleeping over at the in-laws.' Most of Rich's siblings were there and we planned a big board game olympics while we waited for midnight. Alas, our overtired kids did not cooperate, so we had one round of Taboo, then wrangled kiddies until midnight. We toasted with some Martinelli's, smooched and hit the sack 10 minutes later.

New Year's Day was equally exciting--we slept in, ate breakfast burritos, and I did about 5 loads of laundry, then brought my still-sick kids home to my house for a nap. After our nap, we ate chicken enchiladas and green beans for dinner, watched some TV, got ready for church on Sunday, and went to bed (or so we thought--the kids were up all night, and I got up with Heidi at 4:56am...we took a shower, ate breakfast, and THEN she was ready to sleep for an hour-- until 8am). I toyed with the idea of not going to church--I felt sick this morning, too--but I just couldn't miss my Adeline's first day in Primary!! (Primary is the 2nd and 3rd hour of church for kids age 3-11...they have a little Sunday School class and then do music and sharing time all together...the kids can start going the first Sunday in January after they turn 3).

I still feel like warmed-over death, but it was nice to be at church (even though I could hardly concentrate, what with the axe-in-my-skull feeling I had). I just fed the monkeys leftovers and Heidi had her first little pureed meal--turkey, rice, and vegetables, instead of just single fruits and veggies. It'll be intersting to see how that goes down. I always hate the part where you've got a kid who's still in diapers who eats meat. Ugh!

The pillow is calling. When I get this axe out of my skull I will talk about my aspirations fo 2005. They aren't real lofty--at this point, I'll be happy to keep doing what I'm doing--keep my kids alive, finish the *%#*#* house, take better care of my ol' bones, and enjoy all my blessings. Like a big overstuffed king size log bed on Sunday afternoons.

Friday, December 31, 2004

Love Shack


Here's one of the houses Mike worked on in Big Sky. The rock work is hard to see down on the lower level, but we like the look of the rails, since that's what we're doing on our porch and eventually, our deck.

Posted by Hello

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Regarding Napoleon

Okay, it's a week late, but here it is.

Overall, I liked Napoleon Dynamite. Funny, slightly heartwarming. I get it. And, dude--the dance scene. Oh, Darrin's Dance Grooves. Classic.

Things that bugged me:

Above all, the pace. SO ANNOYINGLY SLOW. Timing, people, timing! This was a 30-minute short stretched to 88 minutes. I realize that this may have been an artistic expresion of life in Preston, Idaho--it may truly be slow as molasses--but I'm glad I watched this on DVD so I could watch it with the forward on the slow parts.

Related to timing--the action. Plot, people, plot. Get to the point. I've got two kids to feed, bathe, and put to bed while folding three loads of wash and cleaning up dinner. If I give you 90 minutes of my life, I want ACTION. (I don't mean an "action movie"--just a really moving or hilarious plot)The plot was good, but again, it was only enough to fill a half-hour.

Mean-spirited/ Inside joke. In all the funniness, I felt that the characters you're supposed to sympathize with were almost unloveable caricatures (overboard on the costuming and anachronisms--but again, maybe that's Preston). Except the girl--man, she was really good. And of course, by the end, you like all the heroes and stuff, but it takes so long for them to do the heroic stuff! Holy cow, I was like, "wake me up when it's the election day!" It was hard to like anybody in the movie until the end. The movie also felt like a big inside joke between high school friends. When I went back and watched some of the movie witht he commentary on, I found out that's pretty much what it is.

So for a really long SNL skit written by boys making fun of their home town, it's really good. I will watch it again sometime, but that doesn't mean it wasn't annoying as heck.


PS: Coolest thing about the movie--the cinematographer was my next door neighbor in Provo '95, and that guy is the most fun, elf-like person I have ever met. He used to dance when he saw his finacee (now wife) coming because he was excited to see her. And they had the coolest wedding announcement I have ever seen. Hmm. Fun coincidence.

Saturday, December 25, 2004

FAMILY LETTER 07.28.19

Dear Loved Ones,                                                                                                        We have just ...