one-eyed wonder

rough morning

2012-02-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

i think we all woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. i was tired [been staying up too late and getting up too early all week], jack was grumpy [6 molars, a runny nose and the typical frustrations of being a 1-year-old] and only so much mickey mouse clubhouse can fix that kind of morning, especially when it's only 830 a.m.

so what did we do? went to target, of course. the solution for all of life's quandaries. except for the requisite car ride...which jack let me know he did NOT like. though he looks merely sad and pathetic in this shot, he was actually pretty pissed. mama was having a rough day.

by the time we got there, it was raining. surprise, surprise. this is a pretty typical view for me these days...target parking lot, rain, cranky kid. ha.

once we were inside, life was better. i found some turquoise slip-ons, jack found a loofah sponge with a rubber ducky head, all was well. i even let jack play in the toy aisle, which turned out to be genius because five minutes later our BFFs monica & violette randomly showed up in the same aisle. it was an official party.

finished up, grabbed our groceries and headed home so the dragon could eat lunch and go to sleep. which he is currently still doing, for almost the past 3 hours. guess he was tired! i am really, really grateful for naptime. i think both moms and kids need it very badly.

unexpected

2012-02-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

oh, hey. yes, we're still alive. it's been a busy week around here! b spent three days in tampa and atlanta last week, flying around on msft's private jet, no big deal. jack and i occupied ourselves with plenty of play dates, work meetings and SUN!

we had the most gorgeous five-day sunshine spell over the weekend and it was glorious. i guess my last post was a good omen. i mean, come on! 60 degrees in seattle in february?! what is this, miami beach?

we went to the park a few times to take advantage of the vitamin D. i keep a towel in my trunk at all times for our impromptu park outings, since even if it's sunny all the equipment is still wet and needs mommy to wipe it down prior to use. jack is too funny -- whenever we're driving in the car and the sun shines on him, he cries. guess we're official seattle-ites. here he is, playing in the little train at the park -- notice how he chose to sit only in the shady spot.

today, we got a quick reminder that things always work out for the best. the company b interned with during business school announced that they're closing down that office & moving the business to another state. if you recall our job hunt saga, he had originally hoped for an offer from them -- and if he had ended up working there, we'd now either be out of a job or forced to move far away. i feel really blessed by how things worked out!

and, my work is -- as always -- busy. i think i have a problem with taking on too much ;) it's all so fun though, and i feel lucky to be able to do work i love. being a mom is my favorite thing and still takes up most of my time -- but once naptime comes around, i'm off to my computer to be a professional again for a few hours.

this week i have worked on a TON of random, separate projects including the following: DIY party crafts, women's bidets, all-natural drink mix, online retail business, child abuse prevention author, blogger campaign. i also attended two local blogger meet-ups, one of which i hosted as founder of seattle bloggers unite. yeah, i know. i'm crazy.

sometimes, when i do things like write a pitch about a bidet or say "jack, please don't lick the carpet" or realize i'm not actually living in california like i always thought i would, i stop for a second and think -- WOW, my life is really weird right now. i may be doing things i never expected, but it's pretty dang fun all the same.

the weather.

2012-01-31T21:54:00.000-08:00

when we decided to move to seattle, the first thing out of EVERYONE's mouth was "oh, you are going to HATE the weather." yes, i realize it rains 9 months of the year here [according to sleepless in seattle, my source for all seattle-related information], and for a native californian that is a bit intimidating. especially since it poured the entire time we were in town touring apartments.

but, it really hasn't been too bad so far. i think this can be attributed to one of three factors:
1. the novelty hasn't worn off yet
2. we've had a "mild winter" (according to every person in issaquah)
3. two visits to sunny utah in the past month

we still get a really nice sunny day about once a week, on average. and when washington is sunny, it is goooorgeous. i feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place. however, only seeing the sun once a week has its downfalls -- i've started to realize i take certain things for granted, and when you don't have those things anymore your life feels really weird. like the moon. if it's raining, there's no moon. 95% of the time our night sky is pitch black. also, shadows. we only see our shadow once in a while and every time it solicits nonstop oohs and ahhs from jackal.

anyway, when it's NOT sunny, seattle usually looks like this:

brrr. cloudy, foggy, gloomy and WET. i take jack outside everyday unless it's pouring -- he likes to jump in puddles. i just wear my favorite boots and try not to freeze to death. then we come inside, turn on the fireplace, have hot chocolate and make soup for dinner. at night it's like living inside a white noise machine, listening to raindrops outside my window. like i said, winter is a novelty for me. so i'm making the best of it.

sometimes it's not the best, though. i bought happy lights (available at costco!) for me & b to put on our desks -- i've used mine a couple times, who knows if they work. also, our electric bill is kind of high because i turn on a bunch of lights during the day and leave them on -- i hate being in the dark. and i've pretty much forgotten what it's like to be warm or even hot on a regular basis, which makes me sad. our trip to CA in april will probably turn me into a sweaty drippy mess...but i can't wait. you can take the girl out of california, but you can't take california out of the girl.

wounded

2012-01-29T21:13:00.000-08:00

it's hard to be 1. i remind myself of this fact multiple times every day, usually whenever i'm faced with a crazy tantrum from my favorite little friend.

sometimes i call jack "the dragon," as in "don't let the dragon see your cell phone" or "don't look in the backseat or you'll wake the dragon" when we're trying to get him to be quiet in the car and i don't want to remind him that i'm there for fear of a scream-fest. that last one has been happening a lot since last week i got the bright idea to wean him off using a binky in the car.

anyway. i think 92% of his outbursts have to do with the fact that he is FRUSTRATED with communicating. he definitely knows exactly what he is trying to tell me...but unfortunately i don't speak one-year-old babble-ese. most of the time i guess wrong and it makes him maaaad. he knows a few signs -- but those can't really adequately express things like "please come over here, sit on the couch and throw the red football -- NOT the brown football -- across the room so i can go catch it."

the other 8% probably has to do with pain. he still only has 6 teeth in front, but he's getting 4 molars right now and who knows what else is going on under those little gums. also, he's had a crazy penchant for hurting himself lately. in just the past 5 days, jack has accomplished the following:

1. grabbed my straightening iron = minor burns on 2 fingers (i got him before he got an actual grip on it, but he still grazed his fingers)
2. smacked his head on our headboard = bump on forehead
3. spun around & landed right on his face = bruised lip in the unfortunate shape of a hitler 'stache, cut gums, bleeding mouth, swollen eyelid
4. ran into the wall while attempting a leap onto a pile of pillows = lots of crying

he's having a rough time. but at least it's not as bad as his friend emery, who randomly tripped and fractured her little foot this week! we admired her purple cast at church today [while emery's mom and i were both unwillingly chaperoning nursery -- let's just say the nursery experience has gone steadily downhill ever since our first blissful visit, thanks for asking] and marveled over how easy it is for these little people to injure themselves. i guess it's all part of growing up and learning about their bodies, but it's still sad. as b told me when i was freaking over the finger burns -- "just wait till we have to take him to his first ER visit." guess we still have a long way to go. and that goes for dealing with tantrums too.

bloggers & blizzards

2012-01-25T14:14:00.000-08:00

wow, sorry for the radio silence! last week, jack and i went to salt lake city so i could attend the altitude design summit, a conference for design bloggers.

we arrived a day and a half early so there was lots of time for important stuff like in n out, playdates with long lost friends, and a random visit with my mom & sister while they were in town.

i kid you not, this is the ONLY picture we got -- out of a looot of tries -- where you can see most/part of everyone's faces. oy, toddlers! :

then it was time to get down to business. ALT was a-maz-ing and i was so, so happy to be there. if we're grading my performance at alt based on my CONNECT new year's resolution, i'd definitely say i nailed it -- saw old friends, made new ones, got some new biz going, and hung out with some freaking awesome people. [for example: anya from project runway / brooke white from american idol / dooce / design mom / ben from pinterest.] if you want to know more about the trip, check out my top five moments of alt on my stationery blog.

[image]

me & ben, founder of pinterest! he may look happy in this photo, but i'm pretty sure he hated his life at that moment. after his incredible keynote speech, bloggers lined up down the hallway to meet him. let's just say i'm even MORE of a pinterest fan now than i was before.

me & brittany from one charming party -- i'm SO lucky to have a client who has become a good friend! we hung out the whole week and i loved it.

anya is sooo pretty and nice. i didn't tell her i only watched 3 episodes of her season :)

a major highlight of the week was seeing my friend dana! (yes, THAT dana -- she's a bonafide internet celebrity.) we were friends in pasadena, then both moved away the same summer and i hadn't seen her since! can i just say how GREAT it feels to catch up with old friends -- we chatted for hours just like we used to. dana taught a sewing class at the conference and is pretty much having a baby this week. way to squeeze in the important stuff!

while i was gone, jack spent his days with b's parents and had a BLAST. they went to an aquarium, played with cousins, shopped at costco, and climbed up and down the stairs 20x / day. basically a toddler's dream. i was SO happy and grateful to know he was in good hands -- but i missed my little buddy!

and meanwhile...
b was SNOWED IN during the worst seattle snowstorm in 30 years.

it snowed a little before i left, but everyone was saying a giant storm was due to hit on wednesday. we had no problems leaving on tuesday and i was so glad! a bunch of my seattle blogger friends ended up scrambling to change flights so that they could make it to utah in time for ALT.

the snowstorm hit on wed and dumped 8ish inches of snow on the greater seattle area. luckily the roads were plowed on our mountain, so b could still get around. thursday the power went off, and stayed off for THREE DAYS! b grilled steak with our neighbors for dinner, lit our newly-purchased candles (glad i stocked up on emergency supplies!) and tried not to open the refrigerator. he went to work -- they still had power -- and charged up his cell phone, kindle, etc. friday night he spent the night with our awesome friends the davises because he was bored and sick of being in our cold apartment. then saturday the power returned and we came home.

the snow was mostly melted by the time we got back to town -- i missed the WHOLE thing! not going to lie, i was a little bummed to miss the adventure, but it was probably for the best. so many of our friends ended up going to hotels for a few nights or suffering through the darkness with their little kids, so i'm glad i didn't have to deal with that. the only evidence i have of the whole thing are giant snow piles in the target parking lot and a bunch of rotten food in my freezer.

crazy! so, anyway, i'm happy to be home safe and so grateful that a.) i got to have a successful, fun trip and b.) that we survived snowmageddon without major issue. what a week!

18 monther

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

last week was me & jack's half birthday! it's a totally weird reason to celebrate, i realize this, but it has become a fun tradition in our family so i figure we might as well keep it up. we got some party hats and blowouts and some yummy rice pudding [i didn't get my regular half-bday cupcake until saturday night, on my date with b] and had a great night.

i can't even believe how tiny he looks in last year's half birthday pictures -- jack is a grown up now! not to mention that apparently he thinks 18 months is the age to begin the terrible 2's. in just the past week, he's developed the most hideously grating whine-scream [used whenever he's mad about something, so pretty much = every 30 seconds], hates to share, and PUSHES other kids when they get in his way. what happened to my easygoing, friendly, happy baby?! ugh. this is one phase i can't wait to get over.

snow day

2012-01-15T21:52:00.000-08:00

today we got our first seattle snowstorm! pretty exciting, since it only snows a few times a year here. we know this because, since we arrived, people have told us that over and over. if i had a dollar for every person who has told me "no, seriously. snow is CRAZY," i'd have a lot of dollars.

seattle's formula for snow is as follows: rare weather occurrence + no investment in snow plows & maintenance + people who don't know how to drive in snow = major disaster. all my friends here tell me about how when it snows, it takes 12x as long to get anywhere as it usually does, people abandon their cars on the side of the road and walk home even if they are miles from their destination, etc. coming from 2 years in utah i find all of this comical, but whatever.

so when we looked outside this morning and saw THIS, we were pretty excited to see what the day would bring:

all it brought us was an early exit from church (they told everyone to leave when it started snowing heavily) and some really beautiful winter wonderland views. luckily, even though we live on top of a mountain, we didn't have trouble driving back up. i don't plan to go anywhere until it all melts [or until tuesday, whatever comes first] but poor b has to work tomorrow. can't wait to take jack out to play in it!

magic ketchup

2012-01-13T22:33:00.000-08:00

jack has always been a pretty good eater, but some days he's definitely more picky. b discovered a lovely trick last weekend, which we now use to get jack to eat lots of food. ketchup! he will eat anything as long as he can dip it in ketchup first -- and i mean an-ny-thi-ing [thank you anchorman]. including but not limited to scrambled eggs, meatballs, macaroni and cheese, blueberries, toys.

he is definitely his daddy's boy. b has been known to go through fast food drive thrus and request THREE times for more ketchup. they never give him enough. i'm a ketchup fan too, don't get me wrong -- so i guess jack was destined for it. i'm just happy we found a way to entice him to eat -- for this week, anyway.

CPW

2012-01-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

one of my favorite ~~friends~~ bloggers [can she be my friend if i've only talked to her IRL 3x?] wrote a post a while back about CPW, or cost per wear. i had never heard this term before but once she identified it i realized i'd already been using a metric like this in my head for years.

upon further inspection i discovered there's an actual formula for determining CPW. total cost of the item / estimated number of days you'll wear it = cost per wear. and who said i'd never use algebra and economics in my real life? i usually don't realize the full CPW until i bring a purchase home. wish i could be psychic while shopping and do it in my head because right now i'm sitting on a regrettable anthropologie shirt that's gotta be looking at a $36 CPW. ugh.

luckily, i've also scored some SERIOUSLY great CPWs the past few years. take for example these boots. i bought them on gojane.com in early fall for around $18. I KNOW! they were a steal. since then i have worn them oh, approximately every single day. they are super comfy, my feet stay warm & dry, i don't have to tie any laces, and i can pull them on and off quickly whenever jack's little heart desires an outing. which is often.

anyway, the CPW on these babies has got to be down to $0.03 by now. i tell myself that every day when i wear them AGAIN and think, wow, the checkout people at target probably think i'm a total loser for wearing these boots... and for going to target three times already this week.

another sweet CPW? this leather jacket i got for jack. bought it at h&m when i was barely pregnant, spent a mini-fortune on it [$40 i think? i can count on one hand the clothing items i've bought jack that cost more than $15...just doesn't make sense when they'll outgrow it in like 2 days] but have never, ever regretted it. it fit him last winter AND this winter, we get stopped in the street every time he wears it with people commenting on how cute he looks or asking where i bought it, and i think he looks adorable. gotta be a $0.20 CPW at least.

resolutions 2012

2012-01-02T20:14:00.000-08:00

woo hoo! our new year's is off to a great start. we rang it in with friends and tons of food in issaquah, and then went to bed as quickly as possible -- apparently i am getting old because staying up late is too hard these days. we spent january 1 in church [and at nursery] and spent the REAL new year's, today, crying during the rose parade and watching lots of football. and eating more. yay for holiday weight gain!

anyway, all of this means it's time for new goals. i was happy to discover i pretty much reached all my 2011 goals -- see notes below:

1. stop committing to things i don't want to do [or stop complaining about it if i do say yes]

eh, kinda. can always get better at this one, but i DID manage to stop double-booking myself this year.

2. figure out how to wear red lipstick & then actually wear it. also, dress up more.

CHECK! i purchased mac's "viva glam cyndi" and wore it whenever i was feeling sassy. sort of dressed up more, but can do better.

3. use my bosch

uhh...sort of. i think i used it 3x, which is 3x more than 2010! win.

4. plan & execute our first family vacation as wells, party of 3

DOUBLE check. we went to san diego and vancouver this year.

thus, we're on to 2012. here are this year's goals:

1. talk to a far-off friend ON THE PHONE once a month

2. take better -- and more -- pictures

3. start playing my flute again

4. dress up more
5. make a difference

i think i'm most excited about #1. i've been doing this randomly lately -- we've moved so many times over the past few years that i really miss the good friends i've made, so i've started calling people up once in a while for a nice catch-up call. i'm pretty good about keeping in touch via email, facebook, text, etc. but there is just something about hearing a friend's voice and chatting for 30 minutes that makes my heart feel good.

CONNECT -- my buzz word for 2012. this will be my year of keeping up with old friends, making new friends, building professional relationships, networking, being a more present mommy & wife -- and i can't wait.

hello, nursery

2012-01-01T19:01:00.000-08:00

today was jack's first day at nursery! at our church, kiddos get to go to nursery as soon as they turn 18 months -- it's like a toddler paradise, with zillions of toys and games and snacks and songs. we had basically been counting down the days till this milestone ever since jack could walk -- well, b more than me, since i now teach the 5-year-old sunday school class each week, leaving b to chase our cranky mobile baby all over the church. but still. we were excited.

i had to go to my class, so i asked b to take jack over there but stay with him -- mostly to spy on the nursery activities and see what it's really like in there, but also to avoid a potential meltdown. b didn't even have to stay 20 minutes -- jack went right in, starting playing with toys and making friends. the teachers said b could leave so he did.

i had little spies report back to me throughout the day, and apparently jack did awesome. my friend leads the singing time for nursery and she told me jack lit up when they started singing "itsy bitsy spider" and when they had snacks. another nursery leader told me he was totally happy the whole time, EXCEPT the two times they sang "i am a child of god" when his little eyes would well up with tears. that's the song i've sung to him at bedtime every night since he was born, so i'm thinking he either a.) thought it was time for bed or b.) realized his mommy wasn't there with him and got a little sad. i hope it's b. because that just warms my heart.

anyway, i went to pick him up at the end of church and he was sitting on his knees in a circle with all the older kids, watching everyone sing like a perfect little student. i was so proud! here's to a MUCH more uplifting and peaceful service at church every week from now on.

we came home and celebrated with chocolate milk, his favorite treat in the whole world. jackal definitely isn't a baby anymore...he looks so big in these pictures!

now, if only i could have gotten him to stop drinking the bath water he peed in during his tub tonight, the whole day would have been a win.

2011 in review

2011-12-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

my favorite photo of 2011

i love the end of the year -- it's fun to reflect on what we've done, and plan ahead for a new year. 2011 could have been a lot scarier if i didn't have my faith and my family to rely on, and i'm grateful for that. as a family we did a lot of growing and learning, and i think it was good preparation for future curveballs down the road. after starting out 2011 with a completely blank slate ahead of us, i'd say we ended up in a pretty good spot.

a look back at 2011:

i defied all odds as an "indoor girl" [read: non-athletic] and ran my first half marathon!
b graduated from MBA school and, after many interviews, sleepless nights & faith-building experiences accepted a job with microsoft.
so we moved to seattle! the transition was a little rough but we love exploring our new city.
jack turned 1! [and i turned 27, but no one cares about that.]
our little buddy mastered finger foods, learned about snow, stood up in his crib, got his first haircut, maintained his role as cutest baby ever, started walking!, learned how to throw poop, became obsessed with rocks, got a forward-facing carseat, and met santa and hated it
we had visitors! my mom came in july, b's parents in august and my parents for thanksgiving.
said goodbye to summer with a blissful day in west seattle and the sleepless in seattle houseboat!
working for the man can stick it -- in my first full year as a freelancer, i had arguably my best professional year yet with meaningful projects (and awesome placements), landing my first independent client, jumping into the seattle social media world, becoming a producer for the mormon women project and attending my first blog conference.
i traveled with my little sidekick to rancho, san diego, las vegas, provo, idaho falls, yellowstone -- and solo to las vegas (my first time leaving jack for 24 hours)
b traveled to los angeles, new jersey, los angeles, seattle, pullman
as a family, we traveled to rexburg, san diego, seattle, vancouver, leavenworth, salt lake city

[see also: recaps from 2008 | 2009 | 2010]

can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us! let's just hope it doesn't involve the apocalypse ;)

christmas 2011: the gifts

2011-12-29T13:08:00.000-08:00

we definitely had a handmade trend going on this year for christmas gifts. probably my favorite present this year came from my mom -- a raincoat, made from scratch (and amy butler fabric) for my first seattle winter! read more about how she made it here.

my favorite present to GIVE went to b. i was inspired by my friend paige when she turned her blog into a book for christmas last year. genius! i've been blogging regularly here since 2007, so i thought it would be fun to make a book of my own.

i used blurb -- they have software that's super easy to download and use. blurb just sucked up my blog, and i ended up with 800+ pages from ONLY the posts from 2007 and 2008! oy. it took me probably 5-6 hours to go through and edit all the photos and text, but i got it down to 200 pages. it was sooo hard not to say anything to b as i went through and read all my old posts -- there were so many happy, funny and special memories from those years. i felt super nostalgic while working on this project.

i finally got everything the way i wanted it and made my order -- the book arrived less than a week later! i was THRILLED with how it turned out. i feel like a real author, something i've actually dreamed of becoming since i was a little girl. little did i know i'd publish my memoir before i wrote a novel :) blurb is the best. can't wait to create the 2009-2010 book in the next few months.

i also made jack a stocking this year. my mom helped me with it over thanksgiving break and i was pretty happy with it. [b told me i was forbidden to cross-stitch it, like my own stocking from my mom, because that is too 80s...so applique was our middle ground.] i still see flaws every time i look at it, but i hope jack loves it & uses it his whole life the way i've loved mine.

for jack, we stuck to our three gifts rule. we got him a tool kit, some tiny toms, and brown bear brown bear. he is pretty much obsessed with all three. he also got a handmade rocking horse, made by b's grandpa -- it is a work of art and jack rides it at least 20x a day.

oh, and we also got THIS bad boy. i feel like such an idiot whenever i try to use it -- it's soooo complicated. sometimes technology is hard.

we were so blessed this year. sometimes i think presents are silly because all i really need to be happy is b, jack, and a good batch of cookies -- but it's pretty fun to get a new roll of washi tape in my stocking too.

hooray for the 2011 wells family christmas!

a utah christmas

2011-12-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

we're back from a quick 5-day utah christmas trip! i think i'm still recovering because whenever i think about taking jack on an airplane [which, unfortunately, is happening again in less than 3 weeks] i start to feel nauseous. flying with a 12-month-and-under kid is WAY easier than flying with a 12-24-month kid and that is all i have to say about that.

but anyway! our christmas was awesome. i'll have more photos later -- our family gift this year was a new camera, but i don't really know how to use it and/or remove photos yet -- so stay tuned. in the meantime, here's how jack looked the majority of christmas morning:

jack is the most patient, grateful little gift-opener ever. he'd say "ooOOOHHhhh!" or "whooooa!" at each new present we pulled out for him, then would sit quietly waiting for us to open it before inspecting the new item closely. he's so cute and christmas is more fun every year with him around.

other highlights of the trip included:
-- freezing my A off at zoo lights. i never want to do that again. the zoo is NOT fun when it's 21 degrees -- it literally took me 18 hours to warm up.
-- planning my day around food. my first full day in utah involved blue lemon for brunch, sweet tooth fairy for lunch and cafe rio for dinner and it was DIVINE. also that new city creek center in downtown SLC is fabulous.
-- talking to my brother [currently living in mexico for 2 years] for an hour on skype and planning all the movies we're going to watch when he comes home in april.
-- game night w/ all of b's family...those people know how to party.
-- church ON christmas day. i thought it might be a little weird to take a break from our christmas morning festivities to hit up church, but it was actually awesome -- such a nice way to focus on what the day is all about.
-- finally seeing my proactiv commercial! ha. it came on during a band of brothers marathon on spike.

more to come, especially about how we almost had to sell a kidney just to get our christmas presents home. stay tuned.

santa is a communist

2011-12-20T22:19:00.000-08:00

on friday, jack and i joined a group of local bloggers on a fun little seattle outing which included a visit to macy's santaland. i didn't have high hopes for a great santa meeting due to j's reaction at the reindeer zoo, and those hopes were exactly correct. as soon as we got close to santa, jack started shaking and whining and grabbing my arm in a tiny toddler death-grip. i couldn't bring myself to be one of those moms who throws their screaming child onto santa's lap and hops away, so i obliged and sat in the photo. even then we ended up with a hilarious shot.

notice his little hands clutching me for dear life. oh jack. i don't know where you get this from. [actually yes i do. i still tear up and feel nauseous when i have to get close to someone in a character costume -- mickey mouse, chuck e cheese, cosmo the BYU cougar, you name it. hopefully i can defeat this phobia before jack's first disneyland trip.]

jack and violette

2011-12-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

looks like our awesome neighbor luck is holding strong. right after we moved in, i noticed a little girl around jack's age walking in our complex once in a while with her mom. we started talking one day and i invited them over to play, and the rest is history. the little girl [violette] is jack's BEST friend. i mean, not that one year olds can play favorites, but just by sheer proximity i'm pretty sure she is his fave. violette & her mom, monica, moved to WA the same time we did and live right in our building, three floors down. we see them usually every day -- either a scheduled play date, a babysitting swap, or just out getting the mail. every time we go outside, jack walks over to the door that leads to their staircase and throws a fit if i won't let him go downstairs. having a playmate who lives one minute away is super convenient, especially when the dads are working late or traveling -- and when you happen to live in a place where you need lots of indoor activities.

i'm so, so lucky to have made a great friend right here in my neighborhood, and these kiddos are way too cute together. watching them run and play and scream and giggle together is the most adorable thing on the planet....these pictures speak for themselves.

not blonde.

2011-12-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

there's a hashtag on twitter [if you don't know what a hashtag is, go here because i don't want to say it again. i have to explain this to b and my mom on a regular basis] called #firstworldproblems and it makes me laugh. basically people share all these totally inane "problems" that only spoiled brats in first-world countries would have. and now i am one of those people. this is a story about my current first-world problem.

a few weeks ago i needed to get my hair done baaaaad. i hadn't found a new hair stylist yet in washington and i was desperate! i started asking around and got a bunch of expensive recommendations, so when another friend said her hair stylist made house calls and charged less, i was excited. i made an appointment even though i'd never gotten my hair done at home before. eh, might as well save a buck.

things started going wrong when she rinsed out my foils and got peroxide in my mouth. gross, but nothing a few spits & rinses couldn't handle. then she put toner on my hair and it started to burn. i've been dyeing my hair for 12 years and i know that is not normal. we rinsed real quick and i was good to go. then, at the end of our 3-hour session, she straightened my hair [she DID straighten my hair well, i'll give her that] and i looked in the mirror and...my hair was my natural color.

i wanted to keep my same blonde color [is it blond or blonde? we're going with blonde], JUST fix the roots. that is all. not complicated, right? so when this chick highlighted my hair her own version of "blonde" and spent 3 precious hours on it [and a good chunk of change] i was NOT happy. ugh. see for yourself -- before [left] and after [right].

bah. i thought about having her fix it but she was booked solid for another 2 weeks, plus it would take another couple hours out of my life. so instead i'm just living with it, and going to see my CA hair stylist when we visit in april. at least my roots won't show before then since they will be the SAME color as my hair! wah wah.

there you have it, my silly story. i realize in the grand scheme of things this is NOT a big deal. i'm lucky to even HAVE hair. but it annoys me nonetheless.

german town

2011-12-15T19:51:00.000-08:00

all right, here it is -- my post about leavenworth. i still feel queasy when i think about it so i'll make it quick.

leavenworth is a tiny german town up in the mountains, about 2 hours from seattle. we love anything german, and had heard that they do a big tree-lighting thing for christmas each year, so going seemed like a slam dunk. we drove up saturday [after jack got the most atrocious haircut of his life -- that should have been a sign that the day was already doomed]. jack napped in the car, we saw sunshine, b and i discussed zombie invasion and the benefits of living an agrarian existence. life was good.

then we got up into the clouds again and it was downhill from there. the town was small and cute and definitely german-esque, but it was CROWDED. and COLD. jack wanted nothing more than to run free, but that was impossible because the outside was freezing and crowded and the indoor shops were full of breakable knick knacks and crowded. he had a complete meltdown while we were waiting for the tree lighting. everyone around me was shooting hateful glares our way and jack kept trying to punch me in the face and b was using up all our camera battery and i was OVER IT. i took my screaming child and bolted for an enticing german restaurant.

we grabbed a table in the back and met up with the davises and ate tasty food. this is what i ate. [still can't talk about it.] and by "ate" i mean "attempted to shovel giant bites in my mouth while chasing a stir-crazy toddler all around the restaurant." the big highlight of dinner was barely saving jack from being trampled by our cranky waitress, carrying a tray of overflowing beer steins. it was crazy and i do not wish to ever go through something like that again.

sometimes: toddler + public = total nightmare. but the lights were pretty.

and then we drove home (in thick fog, with a very awake kid, fearing a deer collision at any moment) (please note -- b was a very safe driver and the deer thing was completely my own imagination) and fell into bed exhausted. and as if the day could get ANY better i woke up 4 hours later with food poisoning. the end.

reindeer zoo

2011-12-14T22:42:00.001-08:00

i had a horrifying realization the other day. 2011 will end in just a few weeks and i've only posted on this blog 94 times. that is the LOWEST number of blog posts i've written in a year since i started in 2007. [by comparison, i posted 197 times in 2008. i seriously miss sitting at a desk all day.] i mean, i knew i'd have less time once a kid came along, but i'm disappointed in myself. i still want my blog to be a decent documentation of my day-to-day life! so, i'm going to try to post more regularly during the next two weeks and hopefully we can top 97 [the official number of 2010].

anyway. last friday we went to the cougar mountain zoo! as zoos go, this one was pretty much non-existent. ha. it's super tiny, but it has its benefits: 1.) nestled right up on the same mountain we live on, 2.) does a big santa-and-reindeer thing each year, 3.) did i mention it takes me 4 minutes to drive there? in my ongoing quest to check out all the christmas-y things seattle has to offer -- a quest that ended abruptly on saturday night; see also: food poisoning -- jack and i rounded up our bffs and made a trip to the zoo.

jack, emery & violette were bundled head to toe and could barely walk. it was totally cute.

we saw some reindeer, but they were kinda tiny. and homely. "rudolph" had some type of reindeer disease and his antlers were all screwed up. the kids were unimpressed. also, the reindeer pen led right up to santa's house which was more like a den of horror for jackal. he flipped as soon as he saw the man in red and wouldn't let me put him down. wah wah.

actual highlights of the zoo? the tigers. also a little statue park with life-size bronze animals. who needs real animals when you can crawl all over fake ones?

we've been really lucky to make some good friends in washington already. [unfortunately -- or fortunately? -- for jack, all his little friends are girls.] violette, emery and jack play together really well and always get so excited when they see each other. and lucky for me, their moms are awesome and so fun to hang out with. i get excited when i see them too :)

overall, it was fun. and FREEZING. seattle is suuuuuper cold. i mean, i lived in utah for 6ish years of my life, but for some reason i feel like i've never been as cold as i am here. that's for another post, though. anyway. we probably will not visit this tiny zoo again, but it was fun to go and see santa and all the holiday decorations.

the end.

slow start

2011-12-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

gotta love mondays when you don't get in the shower until 2 p.m. i spent half the weekend laying in bed wishing i'd never heard of german food [thanks to a lovely bout of food poisoning] so this week is already off to a slow start.

but that's okay. jack and i have been hanging out and we even did a winter craft [see above] [brought to you by no time for flashcards, my fave new toddler site]. i had to keep him from eating glue most of the time, and he preferred sorting & dumping cotton balls in & out of the jar, but he was really good at sticking them on the paper.

anyway. we've been doing a lot of fun christmas-y things lately and i'll have more info on that once i manage to get my life back together. i'm so glad i got sick on a weekend so b could take care of jack and i could stay in bed [between this weekend & the relish subscription, b has earned major bonus points around here lately] but dang. moms can't have a sick day without the house going to pot. my goals for the afternoon: clean the house & go to the grocery store. tenacious, i know.

meal planning: the epilogue

2011-12-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

wow! talk about blogging making a difference. thank you thank you for ALL your amazing comments on my post yesterday -- it is so good to know i'm not alone in my meal-planning hatred. seriously. i read everything you wrote and felt a million times better.

and then i felt a ZILLION times better because i have the best husband on the planet. last night b came home from work and said "i read your blog. i'm going to give you one of your christmas presents early." and he handed me a printout with a subscription to relish on it.

two weeks ago, b bought me subscription to a meal-planning site! ha. apparently i have either a.) made one too many bad meals lately or b.) talked about my hatred for meal planning a liiittle too much. or c.) i just have a really thoughtful, caring hubs.

so, FYI to all my fellow planners -- relish is A-MAZ-ING. for reals. i was skeptical at first and would probably never have bought this for myself, but b already paid for it so why not? i watched their little intro video and now i'm hooked. you pay to sign up and then every week they give you 15 menu options (entree + side dish), with info on meal cost, prep time and nutritional info. you pick the ones you want, specify how many portions you need, and they put together a shopping list and all the recipes for you in one pdf. they even have options like freezer meals, slow cooker, vegetarian and kid-friendly. all the options sound pretty yummy -- we'll see if they pass the rigorous lyndsey+brandon taste test. [b got a deal via living social, but the regular monthly subscription prices are super reasonable.]

and yes, i feel a little silly PAYING for someone to do this for me [karla, i'm talking to you!] but hey. time is money. i just spent 15 minutes completely planning all my healthy, homemade meals for the next week. the 1 hr 45 minutes i DON'T have to spend, plus all the stress & anxiety involved in a typical week, were toootally worth paying a couple bucks a month. (and these recipes actually sound good.) plus it was a christmas present so who cares!

anyway, just wanted to share. maybe you guys should add a 3-month subscription to your christmas lists! ;) and thanks again for being good friends and making me feel like i'm not the only one who hates to feed her family sometimes.

meal planning sucks

2011-12-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

when i was growing up, my mom cooked dinner for us every night. that was the norm. she meal planned, coupon clipped, grocery shopped and cooked -- my dad came home from work at 6 p.m. and we all sat down to eat together. so i have spent 27 years thinking that's what moms do.

annnd now i'm ready to quit. since we got married, i've tried to follow my mom's example. i totally believe in preparing home-cooked meals [as opposed to eating pizza or warmed-up frozen meals every night] AND in eating together as a family every night, and i'd like to continue doing those things. but seriously -- it is hard.

i completely DREAD saturdays when my planner says "plan menu." i loathe combing through recipes week after week after week. i've tried cookbooks, food blogs, allrecipes.com, friend & family recommendations but i feel like i'm starting back at scratch for every meal. finding something both b and i like is difficult -- i prefer salads & don't particularly need to eat meat every meal; b likes comfort food & thinks it's NOT a meal unless there are copious amounts of meat -- and i'm bad at keeping track of which ones succeed.

also, finding time to prepare dinner is tough -- my day is already pretty busy, so i don't have tons of time to research & prep recipes, plus it's universal knowledge that all children turn into demons between the hours of 4 and 7 p.m. so all my cooking time has to fit into a 30 minute episode of mickey mouse clubhouse or i'm screwed. trying to make dinner is hard enough when you don't have THIS guy pulling on your leg:

oh, and did i mention i'm not the best cook? so there's that.

anyway, after devoting more time that i should to planning & preparing a stupid meal, i finally get a semi-well-balanced dinner on the table close to the time b comes home from work and i feel sort of proud of myself -- and then b says he doesn't like it. UGH. [to his credit, he probably likes 3 out of every 5 meals i make...but he dislikes meals so frequently that my mediocre chef pride takes a hit anyway.]

take last night, for example. i made chicken taco salad & quesadillas [we need to eat a lot of salad right now because for some reason i bought a 6-pack of romaine lettuce at costco, seriously what 2-person household needs that much produce?!] and b wouldn't touch the salad. which was mildly offensive to me also because that salad is one of my faves and i literally ate it for lunch every day i was pregnant with jack so it's basically family. i felt like i was living with TWO toddlers.

now i'm starting to think maybe we should just all have separate dinners. i already make two each night, since jack is hungry around 5 and b doesn't get home till after 6. why not just eat with jack and make b fend for himself if he's so picky?

i know a lot of my friends don't meal plan, or they have their husbands cook, or they don't worry so much about dinner. maybe i'm trying too hard to push my mom's round-peg example into my square-hole life and should just give it up. should i make b start cooking his own meals? should we trade off? or is it my motherly duty to just suck it up and meal plan the heck out of the comfort foods i despise?

so...i guess i need help. any tips or suggestions on dealing with dinnertime? seriously. we need it.

look who's facing forward...

2011-12-06T12:08:00.001-08:00

this guy!

after an extensive facebook survey and much research, we tapped cyber monday and got the kiddo a new carseat. he loves it. and i love seeing that cute face in my rear-view mirror.

christmas with kids

2011-12-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

b and i put our christmas tree up this week. we spent monday night decorating it [a beloved fake tree, purchased at target with leftover wedding gift cards three months after we got married & used every year since] and putting out all of our decorations.

the next morning jack woke up and could barely believe his eyes at all the exciting new things in our apartment. he spied the advent calendar first and inspected every number. then he went around the corner and saw the TREE. oh it was hilarious. i wish i had gotten it on tape. he checked out all the ornaments, poked the lights, said "ooooohhhhh" at every new piece. that tree has become his favorite toy and he played with it every day this week.

he especially likes this wooden nativity scene, made of wood blocks & mod-podged stickers. i made it in 2008 at a church activity. i thought it was kinda chintzy but everyone around me kept saying, "oh, but your kids will LOVE it." of course i had no children then, and i was typically pretty bitter toward being surrounded by a zillion babies at all times. and, of course, i had chosen not to have kids for the time being -- b and i wanted a few years to get settled and work and do our own thing before babies came along, a choice that i felt [and still feel!] strongly about. but i knew that i REALLY wanted kids, when the timing was right, and sometimes it just wore me down that i was the only one on the planet without a baby. or at least i felt that way.

fast forward 3 years and here i am, with a little toddler of my own who absolutely adores those silly blocks. especially when he can stack them up. christmas really IS more fun and magical with children in the picture, just like i've always heard, even if that child is only 17 months old and thinks the only purpose of a christmas tree is to provide raggedy andy-shaped teething rings. those few years of waiting for us to be ready for jack were tooootally worth it, because life with him now is awesome.

tour guide x2

2011-11-26T22:54:00.000-08:00

we love having family come to town!

this week we hosted my parents and it was awesome. i forget how nice it is to hang out with the fam. b had to work on monday and tuesday, so jack and i played host. we did lots of sight-seeing -- snoqualmie falls, space needle, REI flagship store, bellevue restaurants, old town issaquah -- some of which jack liked, and some of which he hated. here he is, mid-meltdown at the top of the needle:

probably because he had to skip his nap that day. sorry buddy, we had places to go!

at the falls:

we also did lots of relaxing. my mom helped me sew jack's christmas stocking [more to come on that!] and my dad and i went running each night. b, my dad, and i went to a shooting range one night and shot a bunch of guns -- it was crazy and i pretty much loved it. we went black friday shopping and played games and watched the middle and went out to eat. staycations are so fun, especially when you have cool people to share it with. it was a perfect week. and now i have a LOT of catching up to do -- and we're missing you tons, grammie and pop pop!

grateful weekend

2011-11-26T22:31:00.001-08:00

it's officially the christmas season! hooray. but -- before we get to that -- i have to say that i love thanksgiving. i've always felt a little bad for this non-commercial holiday, the one that usually gets lost between halloween and christmas. i never put my xmas decorations up or start listening to christmas music before thanksgiving, just so i can actually pay attention and reflect when thanksgiving day comes.

my parents were in town all week, and we spent thanksgiving day with extended family in redmond. my mom's long lost cousins and aunts live here with their families, and it's fun to be with a large group for a holiday again. we got to know some new people and even observed a surprise marriage announcement [turns out the host's son has actually been married to his live-in "girlfriend" for the past 18 months, surprise! enjoy your turkey!]. jack was the hit of the party and i didn't have to watch him at all, thanks to two 10 year old girls who played mother's helper all night. loved it.

last night on the radio [b and i only listen to talk radio now, we're soooo exciting] they were saying we should just do away with thanksgiving all together, that everyone ignores it, that you can be grateful all year long. it made me a little sad. sure, we can be grateful all year long, but are we?? i don't think so. i get so caught up in day to day life that i forget to pay attention to all my blessings. i love taking a time out on thanksgiving each year to realize and thank god for all the good things in my life. i feel happier and start to realize that what i have is enough.

so, in light of that, here are some of the things i'm thankful for. like a cute husband who works hard all day, comes home and plays with jack, compliments my dinner efforts and then does the dishes. and an adorable little boy who gets smarter, funnier and bigger every day. i'm thankful to live in a warm apartment with nice carpet and kind neighbors. and to be in a beautiful city, to have new friends who have welcomed us right away, and to see autumn leaves everywhere i go. i'm thankful to live in a free country even though our financial situation scares the crap out of me.

i'm thankful to be able to pray everyday and know that god hears and responds to what i say. i'm thankful to go to church every week. i'm thankful for technology that allows me to continue my career AND stay home with my baby. i'm thankful for toddler time at our community center that lets jack get all his energy out even when it rains. i'm thankful for trader joe's new multi-flavored joe joes [peppermint, dark chocolate, peanut butter and gingerbread!] and heck, i'm thankful just to live in the same city as trader joe's again. i'm soo thankful for the sun and that it still makes a regular appearance around here. i'm thankful for clients who make work fun, and naptime that makes work possible. i'm thankful that jack has four grandparents who adore him. i have so much to be grateful for, and i'm thankful i could spend this weekend paying more attention to it.

t-giving & another video

2011-11-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

thanksgiving is ONE week away! my parents are coming to town and i'm totally excited for a week of playing tour guide, eating yummy food, and taking a break from the day-to-day.

while this could be my first opportunity to actually cook + host thanksgiving dinner, i'm actually off the hook thanks to some long-lost extended family in redmond. BUT, if you're hosting the big meal this year [or just need some good decorating / activity ideas], i highly recommend checking out this month's parents magazine.

one charming party designed some super cute thanksgiving DIYs (there are even how-to videos!), like the paper bag turkey and kix corn-on-the cob, as a perfect addition to your celebration this year. and i'd be saying that even if they weren't my client :) [do you read parents mag? it's my favorite.]

and, while we're sharing adorable things, here's a little clip of jack showing off his latest tricks.

farewell regis

2011-11-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

this friday is regis philbin's last day on "LIVE with regis and kelly." if you aren't aware of that, you're probably under the age of 50. [i have a tendency to love media also adored by older generations. see also: readers digest.] but for me, this is a big deal.

i've watched LIVE almost every day since i was 10. i loved summertime as a kid because it meant i got to watch regis with my mom each morning -- she always had it on while she did laundry, cleaned up breakfast, etc. as an adult i dvr the show daily; i used to watch it while i made dinner after work, or during my lunch break when i worked at american crafts and actually came home for lunch. last year i'd watch it while i nursed tiny baby jack and got used to the stay-at-home-mom routine.

in 2002, regis was the grand marshal of the rose parade and we were there, sitting on the street waving at him when he drove by. in 2006, i interned in NYC and finally made it to an actual taping after dragging my friend brittany out of bed at 4 a.m. one day -- and, figures, neil patrick harris was guest hosting because regis was out of town. wah wah. [i actually tried to dig up a stealth photo i took of us in the audience at the taping, but it is lost to cyberspace. sad.] regis' grandbaby was born two days after jack. we're practically family.

in january, regis announced he was retiring in the fall. not going to lie, i wasn't entirely surprised [the man is basically checked out and totally crochety] but i was still really sad. this is the end of an era!

every day the past two weeks jack and i have watched the show, live, at 9 a.m. each day. they've been doing a countdown to regis' last show, with guest stars and hilarious sizzle reels of past episodes and funny moments, and i've been eating it all up. and once friday comes, it will all be over.

i'm not quite sure what i love so much about regis and LIVE. maybe it's the familiarity of being able to count on that show being on, every day, no matter what else is going on. maybe it's the memory of hearing regis' queens accent signalling the start to my summer mornings as a kid. maybe it's a show that generated my freakish obsession with pop culture and celebrities, or my love for new york city.

whatever the reason, i feel like i'm losing a friend. i'll still tune in to watch kelly [i like her too, of course], but my mornings just won't be the same without that cute little old guy.

the rock thief

2011-11-07T23:33:00.001-08:00

look at me, staying up super late! i should really be in bed right now, it is sooo past my bedtime [also, daylight savings time really sucks if you have kids] but hey. guess what. jack did something funny today.

our apartment complex is very nicely landscaped with lots of small rocks. also many large grates, draining to nearby creeks. bad combo for a kid who loves to sort things.

i take jack outside every day -- some days we go to the park if i'm feeling overly ambitious, most days we just run around the parking lot and up to the mini-park on a hill nearby. sad childhood for a kid who lives in an apartment...one day you'll have your own backyard, jack. he has his favorite little routes to take to the mailbox, to our neighbors with the awesome halloween decorations, to the clubhouse, to the bridge. but lately the route always ALWAYS involves rocks.

he grabs a rock, runs to the nearest grate [he only runs now, walking is for babies!], leans over, drops his rock, waits for the plop!, then runs and gets another rock. it's pretty funny and really cute...until he does it 20 times in a row and i start to get nervous that he's destroying the landscaping.

last week i announced to b that rock-dumping was OVER [after all, it was b who taught him this in the first place] and so far it's been going okay as long as i keep the distractions going. but today jack was cranky [see: daylight savings] and therefore i was cranky and therefore i let him dump a couple extra rocks. then he started dumping leaves which i figure is okay because they're all biodegradable and stuff, and plus he's probably doing the maintenance guys a favor by cleaning up the leaves right?

after 20 rounds of rock dumping [up the hill this time, away from organized landscaping...it's okay if it's at a park, right?] i made him stop and carried him home and jack threw his first all-out tantrum. arched back, flailing limbs, swiping fists aimed directly at my face. that was pretty fun. no need to send me to prison for letting my kid destroy rock gardens...just turn me over to the wrath of jack and i'll definitely get due punishment.

anyway, the walk wasn't all bad. i can't get over how incredibly gorgeous the leaves are here. we sort of live on a mountain and you can see millions of trees of all different colors on the nearby hills. i love it. but i still miss the dry barren wasteland of california.

the end. i'm going to bed.

family photos 2011

2011-11-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

i met a fantastic local photographer, adele cabanillas, at our blogger meet & greet this summer. i checked out her website, fell in love with her amazing photos and asked if she'd take some family portraits for us. we hadn't taken "official" family photos since jack was born [plus it's almost christmas card season!] so i figured a shoot was in order.

however. this is seattle. we literally rescheduled the shoot FIVE times due to inclement weather & other issues. ugh. by the time we fiiiinally got a semi-sunny day a few weeks ago, i was ready to jump on it. and -- of course -- the sunny morning turned into an overcast afternoon by the time we met with adele. blast! but, i guess they show an accurate depiction of seattle, so that's okay. [and, naturally, this week it has been sunny every day! oy.]

anyway. we shot these in gas works park, right on lake union. despite the clouds and the freezing temps, i love how they turned out. i love my little family and i love that we've been able to preserve this moment in life.

on a mission

2011-11-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

sometimes mr. jack makes me laugh out loud. on halloween, i was putting laundry away and had a few drawers open. he really likes to sort / organize things. it was a match made in heaven.

my favorite part was his determined little run back to the bedroom to get a new item to add to the stash. so focused.

i love this kid.

sugar-high aftermath

2011-11-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

our halloween ended up better than anticipated. jack and i spent the afternoon crunching through leaves and visiting target, where everyone was already dressed up. then we got together with some friends from LA for chinese food and a 6-house trick-or-treating extravaganza in their neighborhood, which was FILLED with small children in costume. just the way halloween should be! jack had no idea what was going on [and let's be real, i don't think he's ever walked anywhere in the dark before] but was such a good sport to ~~collect candy for mommy & daddy~~ try it out.

are these not the cutest little trick or treaters ever? ewok & skeleton:

we were home by 7 p.m., put jack to bed, and i headed to the gym to work off my halloween bounty.

today we visited one of my best friends from high school, who lives in puyallup. puyallup is far. it was so so good to see her and i love catching up with longtime friends. and jack loved playing with her daughter.

since jack was such a good boy for our crazy day of road-tripping, i took him to the park when we got home. supervising a one-year-old at the park kind of sucks. his whole up the stairs / through the tunnel / down the slide routine gets old by the 20th round, and i crawled through that plastic tunnel ONE too many times because now my knees are killing me. geez i'm getting old. we did, however, meet another mommy with two little kids and had a nice little chat. it's amazing how easy striking up a conversation can be once kids are your point of contact.

by the time we got home i was WIPED. it was all i could do to get a mickey mouse clubhouse episode going before i landed a power nap on the couch. [oh come on, you know you've done it!] is it the weekend yet?

jack the pumpkin king

2011-10-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

the moment you've all been waiting for! this year, mr. jack dressed up as jack skellington from the nightmare before christmas.

he looked pretty much adorable in his outfit. [even more adorable? costume's price tag. those are old navy pj's and i made the hat. $15 for the whole thing.]

last night we went to our ward's trunk or treat and he clutched that little pumpkin all night long. he walked from car to car and let people throw candy in, but really he had no idea what was going on. then mom & dad got to eat all the candy! this is a brilliant tradition.

[jack and emery, bff's: ]

if you're just joining us, FYI: jack will be required to wear a jack-related costume until he's 12 and/or realizes he can pick whatever he wants. last year was a jack-o-lantern.

for some reason, halloween is always kind of a bummer for me. i always get REALLY excited about it and then our actual plans turn out totally lame. [see also: 2010 with a 3-month-old / 2009 / 2008] this year, our apartment complex threw a party on thursday night so the three of us dressed up -- jack: skeleton / me: witch / b: ghostbuster -- and showed up to find we were the ONLY adults dressed up. totally awesome. after that, b said he wasn't dressing up anymore this weekend. hence the lame cat ears / ute fan attire we are wearing. sigh. better luck next year.

halloween prep

2011-10-29T13:46:00.001-07:00

it's halloween weekend! yay. b and i carved our first pumpkin as a married couple last night [ok, i drew the face, he did most of the hard work] and i have the seeds baking right this minute. we also tried to watch hocus pocus ["let's light the sucker and see the old broads." // "say whatever you want, just don't breathe on me!"] but both got bored 20 minutes in. sad, maybe tomorrow we'll try again.

jack got into the halloween spirit by covering his body with spooky stickers from grammie. too funny. [p.s. should i be worried about that giant gap between his two front teeth? granted, i DID have completely jacked up -- no pun intended -- teeth AND wore braces/retainer for 7 years but i'm really really hoping he didn't inherit those genes from me.]

last week, i threw a DIY halloween party -- a night of witchCRAFT, get it? -- for some crafty ladies here in seattle. my partner, marie from make & takes, is the best sidekick ever. read more about the party on my stationery blog.

so basically, i feel like it's been halloween for two weeks straight already, and it's not even here for two more days!! oy. come back on monday for a shot of our greatest jack-related costume yet.

canada eh

2011-10-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

to celebrate our anniversary, we headed up to vancouver this weekend. to clarify: the THREE OF US went to vancouver this weekend. this is pretty much how jack felt about the whole thing:

until he was about a year old, i was all about taking the jackal with us everywhere. dinner, shopping, road trips, whatever. then he became mobile and i realized non-kid date nights were an essential for my sanity. for some reason that didn't translate over into the travel category until this past weekend. traveling with an opinionated toddler is HARD. i'm not saying we'll never take him places again, but i am saying this: no more kids will show up in our anniversary dinner pictures from now on. :)

anyway, canada was awesome! we'd never been before and i was especially excited about the border crossing. they asked us all these hard questions like "what do you do?" and "why are you going to canada?" and i felt like if we answered wrong we'd be detained in border-town jail [which is probably a lot like disneyland jail but way less fun]. luckily we made it! here's what the washington/british columbia border looks like in case you wondered:

vancouver is just a 3-hour drive from seattle, no time zone changes or language barriers or anything. plus, come on, it's canada -- the u.s.'s quiet little brother to the north. right? not really. i was a little surprised at how culture-shocked i felt as soon as we reached the city. vancouver felt more like frankfurt than seattle. it took a little getting used to.

friday we checked into our hotel, drove through stanley park, and tried to find dinner. starting a romantic anniversary weekend off in a foreign land is a lot more fun without a screaming starving one-year-old in the backseat. we were all a liiiiittle tense that evening. luckily, we ended up at a cute thai place, hit up a safeway for a half-gallon of whole milk afterward and made it back to the hotel by bedtime.

we stayed at the westin bayshore, right in downtown on coal harbour, and it rocked. they gave jack a little "kids club" backpack filled with treasures at check-in, upgraded us to a suite [for a small fee, but we'd booked on priceline so it was still a smokin deal] AND sent up a complimentary cheese plate our first night there. westin? definitely a do-again.

this was the view from our balcony:

saturday we went to breakfast and then checked out granville island. they have awesome shops and a cool farmers market, sort of like pike place but smaller. so many fun things to see, including dessert of course.

we went back to the hotel for naptime. i got to read on the balcony, take my own little nap, spend time with b -- it was glorious. once the kiddo woke up, we went for a long walk on the seawall overlooking the harbour.

it was amazing and gorgeous and probably my favorite part of the trip. we collected leaves, pet (petted?) dogs, talked to strangers along the path. we admired boats, seaplanes, ducks and city skylines. jack ran and jumped and threw rocks. it was perfect.

the leaves there were AMAZING. british columbia in the fall is just as incredible as everyone says. here's another picture i snapped on the street leading to our hotel:

that night we went out for our anniversary dinner at cardero's, which consisted of us trying to keep jack quiet and happy while also trying to enjoy our amazing meal. it was a little rough. but hey, at least it's documented:

having the monkey around wasn't all bad. i always love spending time with my little family, and i quite liked the quiet time that was built in to our day because of him -- it ended up being a pretty relaxing trip, which was just what the doctor ordered. sightseeing + relaxing = the best kind of vacation.

plus, jack looks really cute when he dances in puddles. i love this kid.

this morning, after checking out we went to church in a nearby meetinghouse [being mormon is great because you can find sunday services pretty much anywhere you go]. then we grabbed lunch and headed for the border, making it home to a sunny seattle by dinnertime. all in all, a great anniversary weekend.

FIVE!

2011-10-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

today is our 5th wedding anniversary!

i was super nervous to get married. like, i spent part of the morning of october 20 2006 trying to talk myself out of running away. not quite sure why, since every day since then has been totally perfect. (with the exception of a few killer fights. eh. who doesn't have those, am i right?) i'm really glad i didn't pull a runaway bride.

b makes me laugh every day, and that's all i ever wanted when i used to imagine my future husband. well, not true, i also wanted a really handsome husband with good teeth. score! got that too.

five whole years. i really, really love you, b.

october 20, 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010

autumn weekend

2011-10-16T20:27:00.001-07:00

friday night b and i had date night! i loooove date night. seriously. i think a weekly kid-free night should be mandatory for all parents. this week, we went to the seattle symphony.

they did a "sci fi at the pops" program, hosted by jonathan frakes of star trek fame. the orchestra played soundtracks from some of our favorite movies: ET, ghostbusters, independence day, star wars, star trek. it was so much fun. we also got dessert at gelatiamo...mmm.

then saturday, we went to a pumpkin patch! this is so much better than the way we got pumpkins growing up in southern california, which usually involved a grocery store. we went to an actual farm and picked a pumpkin right off the vine.

we saw farm animals, drank hot apple cider, took a wagon ride, ran through the dirt. or, fell in the dirt. jack couldn't quite figure out the whole walking-through-vines thing. but it was fun anyway!

such a fun harvesty weekend. washington keeps getting better!

get ready.

2011-10-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

i haven't blogged in over a week! where does the time go? oh yeah, most of it gets sucked up by a certain adorable one year old, his handsome daddy, the new season of parks + rec, some play dates, some super fun projects, etc etc -- or, in other words, life. i'd been debating catching up with a zillion posts, but decided to just do it in one huge shebang. so here we go!

a. WEATHER & STUFF

it's been rainy + cloudy + gloomy for a few weeks now, with only brief appearances from the sun. i'm totally ready to embrace this, and we've been doing so thanks to the fireplace, homemade soup, snuggling w/ blankets on the couch, sweaters & scarfs, etc. BUT sometimes i start to really miss the sun. then out of nowhere we have a day like yesterday -- blue skies, sunshine, crisp fall air. it was amazing. washington is gorgeous. [however i've already rescheduled a family photo shoot FIVE TIMES (no exaggeration) due to inclement weather, so i'd really love to get a sunny weekday. is that asking too much?]

b. JACK

my favorite topic of course :) this kid is getting better every day. he understands what i say and i can't get over how amazing that is. you say "where is your ear?" and he points to his ear. you say "let's go outside!" and he brings you his shoes. you say "can you bring me the remote?" and he walks clear across the room, grabs the remote, and brings it back to you. you start cutting strawberries and he sees it and signs "please" to you from his high chair. [granted, it's not exaaactly the correct sign, but it's close enough.] life with a one year old is more miraculous and fun every single day. i am SO lucky to be with him each day and watch his little brain develop.

plus he's got some pretty kick-A rainboots :)

c. OUTINGS

last weekend we stayed close to home, watching the general conference of our church. yes it was 8 hours long [10 hours long for b] but there is NOTHING i'd rather have been doing. my soul soaked up every word and every song and i loved it. all the inspiration + motivation i need for the next six months was right there. [and did you watch two brothers??]

but anyway. between sessions we snuck out and visited the salmon days festival, the biggest thing to hit issaquah every year. or so i'm told. basically it was a bunch of artisans & food vendors, and these cute little tap dancing ladies:

jack was obviously thrilled by the whole thing. mostly he just liked the bites of elephant ears that we snuck him.

the whole festival happens because of, obviously, salmon. every fall the issaquah creek fills up with ginormous salmon trying to swim upstream. or, something. i'm not really clear on the whole thing, but i DID get to see some salmon!

the actual salmon sighting was a few days before the festival -- jack & i went to check it out on a little play date with friends. [YES! it's true, i am making friends!!] here's jack with his new friend rose. and yes, if you're wondering, i drew the titanic connection the day i met rose's mom. JACK AND ROSE!! meant to be.

we went on another random sunny day. i miss the sun. look how much we're squinting! ha.

yesterday we got to tour our local fire house at a community open house. jack has a little fire truck that he loves to push everywhere, so i thought maybe he'd connect the REAL fire truck with his toy...but alas, he did not. wasn't too impressed with the whole thing and even made me wear his hat.

d. CELEBRITY

i hung out with one of my idols, grace bonney, at a private craft night + book signing in seattle last week. i was reallllly excited. read more about it on my stationery blog.

and that's a wrap. hopefully i'll blog a lot sooner this time around :) thanks for making it to the end!

two brothers

2011-09-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

last friday night, b and i had a real live date night!! with a babysitter and everything! it rocked and i think we need to do that way more often. i was in a good mood for the rest of the weekend just because we had such a fun time.

[tangent: another recent revelation of having a 14-month-old is WE NEED DATE NIGHTS. we've been dragging jack along to movies, restaurants, museums, etc ever since he was born -- but holy cow, now that he's more mobile and more opinionated, it's so much more work. i still like to bring him places with us, but when we do both b and i are so focused on / distracted by jack that we hardly ever talk about anything else. now i know why parents say non-kiddo date nights are a must.]

we had dinner at lot no. 3, a swanky comfort food restaurant in downtown bellevue [i had a gruyere & carmelized onion grilled cheese, b had chicken & waffles -- yum!] and then we drove to seattle to attend a private screening of a new documentary, two brothers.

two brothers is part of the 5000 days project, a compilation of yearly interviews with hundreds of kids over the past 10 years. the director, rick stevenson, hosted a small group of us in his gorgeous sound-front home as a sneak preview and i loved hearing about his experiences in filming. mr. stevenson focused on these two mormon brothers -- luke and sam -- for this film, which debuts on BYU-TV this sunday at 4 p.m. MST right after general conference.

i LOVED this film! it is so touching to see the lives of these two boys unfold -- the bulk of the movie is about sam's mormon mission in chile [during which they had that huge earthquake] and luke's pursuit of getting a spot on BYU's football team. it's not technically a "mormon" movie -- the director isn't even mormon -- but more of a documentary of the lives of two boys who happen to be mormon. such great messages about faith and commitment and family. i seriously loved it.

in particular, all the footage from sam's mission was especially touching. mr. stevenson got permission to film sam IN the missionary training center (a big deal, since that place is typically locked down better than fort knox) and on his mission in chile. there are interviews with his companions, his mission president, families he taught. sam even kept a video diary. all of this combined creates such a unique, personal look at his mission, something i don't think we've ever been able to see on film beyond a corny "called to serve" music video if you know what i'm sayin'. i think EVERY person who's served a mission for the mormon church would love to have their work documented in this way, or at least will be able to relate to sam.

here's a peek at the trailer:

i TOTALLY recommend setting your dvr to record this film on sunday -- or you can watch it online here.

two brothers

BYU-TV

sunday, october 2

4 p.m. MST

14-month-olds have lots of needs

2011-09-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

now that jack is becoming less baby, more toddler, i feel like the game is changing. i've been learning and adapting my day-to-day and thought i'd share a few of my new favorite things.

a. the proper care & feeding of self-eaters

[this one's for you, leandra ;) ]

jack's pretty much only interested in food he can feed himself. usually i just give him small cut-up pieces of whatever i'm eating, minus the 8 cookies i eat daily of course. he loves blueberries, cheese, cheerios, broccoli, waffles, the typical stuff. one thing he has started to LOVE is something i would not have expected -- dr praeger's california veggie burgers. i buy them at trader joe's but you can probably find them elsewhere. the kid can eat a whole patty on his own -- they're pretty soft if you cook them in the microwave, so no choking -- and it makes me feel good that he's getting his veggies. plus i think they are sooo good. lunch for both of us!

i also love to give him annie's organic fruit snacks. they're not made with any gelatin or corn syrup or anything gross -- and every pack has 100% of daily value of vitamin c. pretty sure they're just a sugary treat, but at least they're sort of healthy. jack goes nuts when i pull out a pack.

b. transportation, via stroller

i had three strollers: cheap umbrella, snap n go car seat carrier, jogging stroller. the cheap umbrella is CHEAP and also made for short people [i am not short]. now that jack is 1, he's getting too big for the snap n go. the jogging stroller is way too heavy to carry up & down 3 flights of stairs all the time, and has a hard time fitting in the trunk of my accord. what to do? upgrade.

i did some research [i.e. read amazon reviews and put out a few facebook queries] and the verdict came back clear: i can't afford a BOB stroller. haha. no, really, the consensus was that maclaren strollers are the front-runner. i found an awesome one on craigslist and snatched that puppy up -- and i LOVE it. it's super lightweight, i can steer with one hand, it folds easy & fits in my trunk. everyone needs a maclaren.

c. transportation, via self

i'm a non-zealous baby-wearer -- i liked toting jack around in a sling or the baby bjorn when he was tiny, but i was never obsessed or anything. now that he's pushing 23 lbs that's definitely no longer an option. no big deal, since he prefers to walk on his own anyway [most of the time he'll reach for my hand when we're walking and i melt on the spot, so cute!] -- but this is washington. there are trails everywhere and plenty of hiking opportunities, and i'm not going to pass those up because of the kid.

enter my kelty child carrier. i was given this product to review for blogher, so i can't say for sure i'd have bought it on my own because i never really did any research -- but we LOVE it. both brandon and i can wear it comfortably, jack seems to like riding in it, and it definitely makes it easy to tote around a squirmy kiddo. i prefer to let b strap it on [i threw my back out in august and am still feeling the effects] but i've worn it on a hike and had no problem. i highly HIGHLY recommend this child carrier if you're in the market.

d. mommy entertainment

lately, i can't get enough of this song [seriously weirdo lyrics but it is SO freaking catchy]. i've also been spending some time shopping online -- cheap shoes! baby rain boots! -- and reading blogs that make me snort out loud like this one. and now that i'm working less hours, i have more time to hang with b -- we've newly discovered the middle and i love it. [parks & rec is back!!!]

there you go! a few of my favorite things. anything to add?

the fair

2011-09-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

this week we went to the puyallup fair! we got a sweet 2-for-1 groupon deal and i was really excited to go. considering my last fair experience involved the LA fair and my high school boyfriend bringing another girl along with us on our "date," i'd say this time around trumped.

what's the best part about the fair? wearing plaid and cowboy boots of course.

second best thing? gorging yourself on fried food. we opted for the deep-fried oreos.

jack was in HEAVEN checking out all the animals. he got to pet a dog and a pig!

he especially liked poking the bunny cages. what do people feed rabbits? some of those things were as big as jack.

jack walked up and down the rows of bunny cages like he owned the place. he is getting so big! i feel silly calling him "baby jack" these days because he really is more of a toddler.

we went with our seattle bffs, friends from MBA school who also moved here this summer. [they have twin babies and jack really wants to play with them...he never understands why they won't crawl around too. haha.] the fair is full of some serious weirdos, so people watching is always a good time. guess we just got a little too into the whisky-tango spirit and decided to take some awful out-of-focus pictures of ourselves. oh well -- for posterity's sake:

i think my fair quota has been filled for another 10 years, but it was fun while it lasted. and now i know how to properly pronouce "puyallup" [i.e. = PUGH-ollip]. all in all, a great night.

my projects

2011-09-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

just a couple things i've been working on lately -- i told you i've been busy!

in august, i threw a little seattle blogger party with my friend jenny from the blog hank + hunt. [hey, if you don't have any friends, why not throw a party and make some?] it was SUPER fun. i can't take credit for how freaking adorable the party was because that was all jenny, but at least the party and the goodie bags were my idea :) more details on the party on the stationery place.

[photos by abigail reese photography]

today my latest mormon women project interview is live. i interviewed lindsey redfern, author of the adoption blog the r house. she was totally inspirational and i'd love it if you read the post and leave a comment. read it here.

speaking of mormon women project, before we left utah i did an interview for the "mormon identities" program on the mormon channel, an online radio station run by the mormon church. i was interviewed with mwp founder neylan mcbaine (and fellow contributor marintha miles, who called in) -- you can listen to the interview here to learn more about what MWP is all about and our work with the site [my section starts around 15:55 and again at 19:20 if you care].

i've also learned how to streamline my schedule and only go to target 2x/week. so basically i'm very productive these days :)

my new nightlife

2011-09-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

jack likes to take baths, finally, and we have a lot of fun together when he's in the tub. he especially likes when i smack his toys into the water.

that laugh is the best sound EVER.

our weekend

2011-09-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

the weather lately has been SO beautiful here [though the past few days have been gray and cloudy -- i actually kind of like it, but that's a story for another day] and i've been feeling super motivated to get out and enjoy it before seattle's month of summer is over.

saturday we drove out to alki beach in west seattle. we had lunch on the patio at duke's...

...rented one of THESE bad boys:

...and drove all around the boardwalk & surrounding neighborhoods. i think jack was a little too little to sit back there in the big kid seat and i was nervous the whole time, but he did great. he pretty much loved every second.

we rode up to constellation point and walked on the beach. since throwing rocks is one of jack's favorite pastimes, he was very happy. and very focused.

it was a perfect day.

then we ran a few errands and went home to watch the utah/usc game. it was bad news, don't ask b about it ;)

and if that wasn't enough fun for one weekend, sunday was great too. after church i drove up to snohomish to go to jolee's baby shower! she and i worked together in LA for a few years; she is still one of my best friends. lucky for me, her in-laws live in seattle and threw her a baby shower, so i got to go!! it was SO so good to see her and celebrate little secret-gender baby liepman.

THEN we had dinner with another former golinharris co worker who moved to issaquah with her family last year. this place is turning into reunion central. it's crazy. but i'm so glad to still keep in touch with all these people -- so nice to see some familiar faces!!

and that, my friends, is the way a weekend should be done.

my dream come true.

2011-09-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

so, on labor day, we took the in laws on the ducks of seattle -- a perfect tourist opportunity, if you're in the market. we felt a little dorky, but it was seriously so much fun.

i'd never done a city tour like this (similar to the big red bus tour in NYC, which i devotedly shunned while living there) and now i'm wondering when i'll do my next one. we learned a bunch of fun facts about seattle [i.e. seattleites are 4 times more likely to have a dog than a child], our driver was entertaining, jack sat still the ENTIRE 90 minutes, and we got a brief drive-by of a bunch of cool landmarks.

and, because it was a duck boat, we toured seattle by land AND sea. well, kind of. halfway through the tour we drove right into lake union. it was a totally gorgeous day and i'd been seriously jonesing to get out on a boat the past few weeks so i loved being able to float around and check out the lake.

i had heard rumblings that the duck boats took you near the sleepless in seattle houseboat so that was basically my main selling point for taking the tour. and guess what? WE SAW IT!!!

my life is now complete.

i've had a slight [/severe] obsession with that movie for at least the past 15 years. i've seen it easily more than 50 times, can quote the entire thing, use it as a main reference for how i live my life. b even proposed to me at the top of the empire state building because of it. i was totally fine with moving to seattle, even though i'd never been here before, just because of that movie. so there you have it. yeah, i was excited.

labor day weekend

2011-09-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

in case you didn't know, college football season is HERE!!!

poor jack. he doesn't really have a choice.

a bunch of my friends have posted facebook statuses in the past week saying something like "i'm so glad my husband doesn't care about football." to which i say, HA. you have no idea what you're missing. it cracks me up to see how revved up b gets about college football and i wouldn't have it any other way.

also, we see university of washington fans all over the place and it warms my heart. i love that we still live in a college town.

the in-laws are in town this weekend so we're busy playing tour guide. yesterday we went to downtown seattle and bellevue, today we visited snoqualmie falls. the weather has been absolutely beautiful -- washington is on it's best behavior and i love it.

and jack loves having the grandparents dote on him :)

in other news, jack's two top front teeth are coming in!! just when i thought he'd be a little two-toothed wonder for life, they pull through. guess that explains the little cranky-pants i've been living with for the past few weeks. BUT he's back to two naps/day, so i really can't complain.

[just blowing bubbles on the balcony -- in the background you can see the parking lot that is jack's playground. poor kid.]

jackal is also walking [/occasionally running] all over the place, will never sit still, eats blueberries like there's no tomorrow and throws a fit every time i change his diaper. we love that monkey.

<< rewind: mom visit

2011-08-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

geez i am so behind! before it turns into 2012 i figured i should catch up. back in july my mom came to visit [for the birthdays of course] and we had some seriously fun seattle adventures.

one day we toured boehm's candies, a chocolate factory right here in lovely issaquah washington. i was in love -- i mean, hello, it's chocolate -- because it's all german inside and out. they even make mozart kugeln which you can buy all over europe. yum!

you can see the candy factory through some windows in the back -- they even have a chocolate conveyor belt just like on i love lucy. awesome.

another day, we met up with my friend natalie & her girls at remlinger farm to pick raspberries! you will probably think i'm a totally naive city slicker for saying this but i seriously couldn't get over how COOL it is that i can drive 30 minutes and go pick raspberries on a real farm. what?! how is this legal? i mean, i paid for it, but that is so awesome. i've never been to a farm before this. washington is the best.

this is what a raspberry plant looks like in case you're wondering:

jack spent most of the day like this:

he was in heaven, crawling through all that dirt and eating raspberries. i, on the other hand, tried not to flip that he was getting filthy. i guess this is just the beginning of being a boy-mom.

those poor jeans :( [roxanne, we love the shoes!!!]

luckily mom was hard at work picking berries while i was baby-chasing, and we made off with a great collection. we brought them home and made freezer jam and a berry tart. MMM.

we loved having grammie visit! and now we are officially caught up.

good life.

2011-08-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

my favorite blog has a sweet playlist on it's page. [you have to push play -- it's not an auto-play like so many annoying blogs are these days] and through that i found "good life" by one republic.

it's funny, in high school and college my life was all about music. i used to know every up-and-coming band and went to concerts and made mixes for specific people. in the dorms, my friends and i would post lyrics to our favorite songs in our IM away messages and i spent so much time picking songs that explained exactly what i felt at that moment. music defined me.

music is good. but somewhere in the past few years, i've had to make room for better things like a career and a husband and a baby, and one by one these things pushed music to the back burner.

in fact, life has been a little TOO crazy lately. i've been so swamped with work that i'm barely keeping my head above water, trying to juggle housework and friends and being a good wife and being a good mommy and hobbies and my need for a spiritual balance...it's just too much. i'm in the process of re-evaluating things and dropping clients and picking up exactly what is most important to me. it's hard to realize i really can't do everything, but it's so cleansing at the same time.

anyway, once in a while, a song will grab me and take hold and make me feel music again like i used to, when it made such an impact on me. good life did that for me. everything from the tune to the lyrics to the beat seems to speak to me at the moment i'm living right now and i love it.

i feel a little silly to post these lyrics on my blog, but for old time's sake i thought it was appropriate. imagine you're my 19-year-old self, reading so much meaning and soul into words written by someone else. this song resonates with me. sure i've lived in four states in three years and i feel overwhelmed by my life sometimes (and really have been from paris to colorado), but it's all just so GOOD. this is a good life.

Woke up in London yesterday
Found myself in the city near Piccadilly
Don't really know how I got here
I got some pictures on my phone

New names and numbers that I don't know
Address to places like Abbey Road
Day turns to night, night turns to whatever we want
We're young enough to say

Oh this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight
Like this city is on fire tonight
This could really be a good life
A good, good life

To my friends in New York, I say hello
My friends in L.A. they don't know
Where I've been for the past few years or so
Paris to China to Colorado

Sometimes there's airplanes I can't jump out
Sometimes there's bulls*** that don't work now
We are god of stories but please tell me
What there is to complain about

When you're happy like a fool
Let it take you over
When everything is out
You gotta take it in

Oh this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight
Like this city is on fire tonight
This could really be a good life
A good, good life

Hopelessly
I feel like there might be something that I'll miss
Hopelessly
I feel like the window closes oh so quick
Hopelessly
I'm taking a mental picture of you now
'Cuz hopelessly
The hope is we have so much to feel good about

baby jams

2011-08-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

i mentioned before that jack really likes music. he hums little songs to himself, and he'll always stop whatever he's doing when a song comes on TV or the computer. therefore i'm happy to share good tunes with him -- raising him on something corporate and florence & the machine, among others.

i do try to give him age-appropriate music once in a while, since i am so lucky to live in an era where baby/kid music doesn't totally suck [mostly]. i'd rather gouge my eyes out than watch imagination movers BUT there are actually some good options out there.

we've had plenty of friends and friends-of-friends who work on the show yo gabba gabba...i thought it sounded cool before i had jack, but now that i actually pay attention to children's programming i really love it.

with songs like this, how could you not? thanks, elijah wood, for getting this song stuck in my head for five days. jackal loves the puppet master.

walking!

2011-08-26T23:00:00.001-07:00

jack has had a big week! on wednesday, august 24 he WALKED. it looked a lot like this:

he's just a wobbly mummy-armed blur most of the time. but he's really proud of himself.

before this he had mostly "walked" either by holding our hands or by falling forward with his legs moving in a semi-walking fashion. on wednesday, he'd actually walk across the room alone, stopping to regain balance along the way. it's adorable.

and since this is the week of jack updates, let me also tell you that he can point to both his tummy and his ears if you ask him where they are. and he will growl at you if you ask him what sound a dog makes. i'm so proud of him i might explode. heaven help me when he actually strings a sentence together.

he also still makes the squinty smiley face when he's in a good mood. nothing makes me happier than seeing those two loner baby teeth:

in other news we've also officially switched to being a one-nap household. i was seriously dreading this day, but i gotta say it's not so bad. that one nap is usually 2.5 hours long, so i can definitely handle this set-up.

he's also becoming increasingly affectionate and will crawl/walk over and plop himself in my lap for TV or story time. he sort of gives kisses and will bury his head in my lap/stomach/shoulder before giving me a hug. i love this kid.

the latest on JACK.

2011-08-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

guess it's been a while since i gave an adequate update on the little jackal and i'm pretty sure it's due, because this kid is growing and changing every day. seriously. (do you care about this? do you care about ANYTHING i blog anymore? i never get comments and it's bumming me out. come on stalkers, say hello!)

so, here's a list of jack's current faves, in no particular order.

[mom and jack on our sunday walk in the crazy-thick forest behind our house. i kept expecting an ewok or sasquatch to pop out. washington topography is the coolest.]

[jack and grammie at ONT]

a. CLIMBING

the stairs have been a fave for a while. he used to only climb the three stairs in our complex hallway, the five stairs to the stage at church, and the concrete stairs at a nearby park (jack highly prefers crawling on concrete vs. grass, what a silly boy) but when we stayed with my parents he went bananas for stairs. we spent time evvvvery day going up and down their stairs and now he's a pro. he's also started climbing on other stuff -- i catch him trying to heave himself up onto the ottoman or the couch once in a while. i'm terrified of what's to come.

b. WALKING

which leads us to walking. no, he is not walking on his own yet, thank you for asking. but he loooves to walk, holding on to us with one or both hands. one day last week we went for a "nature walk" (i.e. i let him guide us without a predetermined purpose, rather than letting him "guide" us as i led him to the mailbox or the dumpster. multi tasking at it's finest, people.) and he walked all over, checking out rocks and dirt and trees. it was a blast. tonight we practiced letting him walk unassisted between me and b, and he rocked it, so i'm pretty sure real walking is right around the corner.

[jack with aunt rachie at the family reunion]

[playing with emmy at church in california -- long distance bffs]

c. MAKING FRIENDS

jack is my best friend-making tool. because of him, i have an automatic in with the other moms at church, the library, the park, etc. and i am happy to exploit that.

however, today at church he was a holy terror (ZERO naps today, that's a first) and despite his frequent freak-outs i was able to meet some lovely potential friends -- so hooray for that! (hopefully they don't think i'm a crazy horrible mother after watching me laugh helplessly at his tantrums, because that's really the only reaction i'm capable of.)

(side note: i haven't paid attention in church for one single moment in more than two months and i'm pretty sure it's not getting better for another five. i used to abhor the nursery because i'm a germophobe but seriously -- after days like today -- i say bring on the germs. puke/runny nose/etc has GOT to be better than trying to wrangle a sweaty screaming writhing feral cat parading as my baby for three hours each week.)

d. NOT EATING

he still has a great adventuresome appetite -- he'll try anything i give him, at least for a few bites -- but getting the kid to finish a meal is a major chore. he hasn't gone down in weight percentile but he's not really going up either, so i'm trying to fatten him up. sometimes i resort to letting him watch mickey mouse clubhouse or yo gabba gabba during a meal because i can shovel more food in while he's distracted. it's a work in progress.

e. TALKING

jack has a couple "words" that could kind of count as talking -- boy words like truck and go and bear and wow -- but mostly he communicates through grunts. he makes the funniest excited noises when he sees something he wants, it makes me laugh every time. he has also starting singing, humming little notes while we drive in the car or while he plays with toys. guess he's taking after his daddy. [more proof of this: jack already wears 18 - 24 mo. shoes.]

he'll also wave on demand, and squint his eyes at you if you do it to him. mimicking is my new favorite pasttime; we can go back and forth with various facial expressions for hours.

f. ENTERTAINMENT

jack loves his toys [a wooden train set from ikea and ANY ball or remote are always faves] but the first thing he usually goes for is a book. he loves books. loves pulling them off the shelves, turning their pages, pointing out pictures with me, listening to us read to him, yanking on the pages. there's really no other way i'd have it -- i LOVE books too and i'm happy to see him fascinated by them already. i hope he develops a love for reading and continues that through his whole life.

also, if you hand him a pen, he automatically starts "writing" with it on any surface. this is a big reminder that i need to keep caps on pens at all times. i've also started letting him watch a little TV each day. he grabs a remote and points it at the TV and pushes buttons -- so observant. he loves hearing ANY music and will usually dance to it, so i pick shows with good tunes. or sometimes i pull up 80s music videos and we watch those instead. gotta make sure he knows the classics, am i right?

life with jack is pretty wild these days -- i'm equal parts thrilled + overwhelmed to see his little [oh-so-strong-willed and passionate] personality come through more and more all the time. i love spending my days with that crazy monkey.

back to work + 9/11

2011-08-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

we're home! hooray. i'll be digging out of my inbox for the next 3 weeks if you need me.

in the meantime, check out this PSA produced by one of my clients. i've been working hard for the past six months on spreading awareness about 9/11 in light of next month's 10 year anniversary. did you know september 11 is now designated a national day of service and remembrance? our goal is to get every man, woman and child to do an act of service on 9/11/11 to remember those we lost 10 years ago.

this is a sensitive topic to me, as it is to everyone in the country (read my past thoughts here) and i feel really privileged to be part of such a special campaign.

[warning: i get choked up every time i watch this and i bet you will too.]

the PSA was released last week (during SYTYCD, lol) and will be on TV, radio, billboards and online throughout the coming weeks. you can also read about MyGoodDeed and 911day in the september issues of reader's digest, family circle, real simple, shape, the costco connection, redbook and others.

go to 911day.org to share what YOU will do to remember 9/11 this year.

family reunion

2011-08-14T21:58:00.001-07:00

just got back from a whirlwind family reunion in yellowstone. after coming home from san diego and taking one day to detox, jack and i hopped in my parents' suburban and drove 2,500 miles.

my grandpa [who is now 91 years old] was a ranger in yellowstone for a few summers during the 60s. my dad and his whole family would move up there for three months each year. this year, for our once-per-decade family reunion, everyone coverged in montana to check out grandpa's old digs.

i had never been to yellowstone before and it was seriously gorgeous.

pretty sure poor jack hates his car seat by now. the poor guy was trapped in it practically all week, despite my wholehearted attempts to give him as much play time as possible. he is seriously a champ. jack observed much of yellowstone like this:

here's my dad in front of the tiny cabin they lived in when he was just a little kid:

we all loved wearing matching shirts. obviously.

we had lunch in mammoth hot springs, near grandpa's cabin, and a family of elk came to join us! they were pretty much the only creatures we saw during the whole trip, and i was pretty excited about it. apparently i need to get out of the city a little more.

overall it was really fun [despite some requisite family drama, of course]. we had 60 long lost family members from all over the country, many of whom i hadn't seen since our last payzant family reunion in 2002. the only people we were missing were my brother grant [on a mission in mexico] and b [who couldn't get off work seeing as how he just started his new job a few weeks ago].

the best part was watching all the GREAT grandkids play together. at our last reunion, it was just me and all my cousins/siblings. now, most of us are married with kids and i loved watching the next generation interact with each other.

the little kids loved playing with jack -- even accommodated his need for checking out strangers' belly buttons -- and these little boys followed him around, collecting rocks and pine cones for him to inspect and sharing their frisbees. it was adorable.

what would a good outdoor trip be without some crazy mosquito bites? per my usual circumstance, i wound up with 6 bug bites -- some of which swelled to ridiculous proportions.

i especially loved being with my sister and my parents. sad that seattle is so far away because we won't be seeing any of them again for a while.

jack and i fly home tomorrow after a very long 12 days away. i can't wait to see b and sleep in my own bed -- but it's been a great trip!

blogher11

2011-08-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

just got done with a whirlwind three days in san diego for blogher11. that's a blogging conference i've wanted to attend for years, and this year i finally got to go thanks to a corporate sponsor and a freelancer schedule.

i'm still trying to process my thoughts on the whole thing, but let's just say it was amazing. i was MADE for this conference, both as a blogger [come on, read the stationery place!] and as a communications professional -- it was so refreshing to be around people who "get" my industry. from meeting face to face with friends (whom i'd only known online, beforehand) to networking to reconnecting with old friends to learning more about the social media space to feeling inspired and enriched, i got it all.

it was a bit overwhelming (at 3,000+ attendees, this is by far the biggest blog conference around) but blogher delivered everything i was hoping for and more. like this.

a. me and gretchen rubin [go read her book!!] -- who was super gracious and nice -- in the expo hall

b. rooftop bar at the hotel solamar

c. amazing cake at the hostess with the mostess party

d. giuliana rancic just hanging out, no big deal

and speaking of pseudo celebrities, i walked past this blogger in the hotel lobby and did a major double take. i literally changed direction, ran right up to her and gushed my adoration all over the place like an idiot. she was super nice and even asked for my business card [she said: "oh, cool! i love stationery!" and then i died.] and i said hi to nella and that was it. eep.

[i'm a dork.]

and where was jack during all this? my awesome mom came down to sd for the weekend to babysit, so i could soak up all the blogging goodness. they had a blast together and visited me during lunch.

we miss b of course, who couldn't get away seeing as how he barely started his new job. but if we have to be somewhere, california is a great place to be. especially when it's full of bloggers.

a tip on diapering

2011-08-04T11:04:00.001-07:00

soooo here's a good one for ya.

monday night, we put jack to bed wearing just a t shirt and diaper because it was hot and we don't have a/c in seattle since the temperature never gets above 80. we could hear him talking to himself and playing in his crib, but he wasn't crying so we left him there. my rule is, if he's not crying, don't bug him just let him go to sleep when he wants to.

so, left him we did. but the weird thing was, he babbled in there for almost two hours. hmmmm. normally he goes to sleep pretty quick, so that was different. i even went for a run and came back and he was still talking. he sounded so happy and playful in there, though.

woke up the next morning and went in to get him and what did i find? the result of all that happy playtime.

jack had taken off his diaper, pooped in the crib, thrown it overboard onto the carpet and rug. i'm pretty sure he might have eaten some judging by the poop on his face. it was in his hair, on his hands and feet, on his legs and rubbed all over the railings. he slept all night in that stuff!!! i took pictures (for posterity, of course) but you should thank me because i will refrain from sharing them here.

if you know ANYTHING about you me you know that i am completely averse to gross stuff, so this just about sent me over the edge. i freaked. bath and disinfecting for j, bleach-cleaning of his entire crib, oxy cleaning of the carpet, immediate hot laundry for the sheets/bumpers/mattress cover.

not the most fun way to start your day. b, of course, thought it was no big deal. to quote him: "all kids do this kind of stuff." uhhhh...pretty sure that's not true, but if it is we're never having another kid.

anyway. moral of the story: always ALWAYS make your kid wear pants (or shorts, or a buttoned onesie) to bed. you never know what adventure they will discover. and i guess i've officially been inducted into mommyhood. like my own mom said -- after this, cleaning up barf will be a breeze.

one cool hat

2011-07-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

jack hates hats. if i put anything on his head, he yanks it off after five seconds. [this is really sad b/c he looks adorable in hats.] but yesterday b wore a new hat all day [one of his birthday presents...he turned 29 on thursday if you didn't know] and when he took it off in the afternoon, jack was ALL over it. kept trying to put on the hat, wouldn't move till he had it, then took off like a shot crawling around the room when he knew it was on his head.

i mean, seriously? this kid is the cutest.

in other news, jack is taking his 10th flight this week. i need some fresh ideas for in-flight entertainment [kind of dreading it since he's so mobile now] and will be hitting up target's dollar section this week for ammo. travel suggestions are welcome!

<< rewind: see ya, utah

2011-07-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

now that we've been in seattle for officially a month, i figured i better recap some of our last utah days before they're lost to the annals of history.

even though our utah apartment was totally gross, i kind of miss it. jackal hit a lot of milestones in that place, and it was our home for two whole years (minus that random summer internship thing). plus it had swings right outside. we miss you, swings!

and there was a giant field next to the swings. we liked to hang out there on sunny mornings, and seeing these pictures is like a little time warp flashback. jack was happy, i was happy, the grass was gorgeous and green. it was a perfect summer morning.

and we had the BEST neighbors on the planet. leandra and i worked together at american crafts, and she & her little fam moved in right next door while we were in colorado. i looooved having her right next door -- i could run over to tell her whatever popped into my head, jack & sophie could play together to their hearts' content, and we always had buddies for random saturday lunches or swing dates. WE MISS YOU :(

obviously the babies are bff. they really do love each other, you just can't tell.

we got a new couch, finally. it came home to us three days before we packed it up and shipped it to washington. just in time.

this is the living hell we survived in for three days:

then, like i didn't have enough going on, the night before we flew to seattle i spoke at a utah blogging summit. my session was about PR 101 for bloggers...thrilling, i know. [also, most of the tweets about my presentation were about the gold leaf necklace i was wearing, rather than my content, so not sure if that's a win or a lose.] here's me being super serious.

b and jack picked me up from the summit and we spent the night at a hotel in provo since all of our stuff was on a truck somewhere. woke up the next morning, had breakfast [fyi, marriott breakfast buffets are all i craved while i was pregnant, and they are still sooo good], said goodbye to a few final friends, passed our cleaning check with our landlord, picked up some cafe rio and headed for the airport. bye, utah!

21 hours in vegas

2011-07-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

i spent most of yesterday in las vegas for a client photo shoot. when you add in travel time, i was gone for just over 24 hours -- but it was the first 24 hours i've ever been away from the jackal.

in the planning phases, this was fine. it seemed like a perfect set up: my mom has been in town all week to keep me and jack company while b was at a conference, so she knew our schedule and jack had tooootally warmed up to her. plus he could stay in his own home. i'd leave after he went to bed one night and get home after he went to sleep the next night. piece of cake.

until the day of, of course. i started freaking out, imagining all sorts of horrible things that might happen to him or me or all of us while we were apart. but i had a flight to catch and i knew he was in good hands, so i left for the airport. [i was already emo, obviously, and then the night got even worse when i went through security and they made me throw away the jars of washington wildflower honey that i was bringing as gifts -- honey is a liquid?!? -- i would be lying if i said i didn't shed a few hormonal tears right there in the carry-on line. stupid terrorists ruining my life.]

ironically i spent both flights sitting next to tween girls traveling alone for the first time ever. they were cute and we became friends. shared starbursts and pretzels and did sudoku together. practically a slumber party at 10,000 feet.

the shoot went well, all things considered, and before i knew it i was going BACK to the airport. and you know the weird thing? i missed that boy a tonnn every time i thought of him...but for a few minutes throughout the day i almost forgot i was a mama. it's like i time traveled back to my old pre-kid life where i could do whatever i wanted at any time and not be covered in juice or yogurt. pretty fun for just a day.

i was SO excited to come home and see my boy and my mom. jack was happy to see me as usual but didn't act like anything out of the ordinary had happened -- guess that's a testament to my mom's good babysitting skills. then, six hours after i got home, we left for the airport AGAIN but this time to drop off my sidekick-mom who has been here for almost two weeks. between the business trip and a departing mom and a traveling husband and a whiny baby [teething?] ... let's just say i'm self medicating tonight with unlimited rice pudding, yoga and my google reader. what a week!

the birthdays!

2011-07-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

our joint birthday this year was FANTASTIC! much better than last year, seeing as how i wasn't in labor this time around.

birthday twins!

we woke up early, opened presents, ate chocolate chip scones [what i was SUPPOSED to eat for birthday breakfast last year] and got ready for the day.

our day involved plenty of balloons and streamers, naturally.

then i headed out to seattle to take a cooking class at diane's market kitchen. this place was fantastic! i had read nothing but raving reviews online, and i turned out to be the only student that day -- so i basically got a private cooking lesson.

the kitchen is in a cute little alley just a block from the pier -- an intimate setting and to-die-for kitchen. diane is a fantastic teacher -- she's a regular at pike place, so she knows a TON about all the shops, seasonal foods, local farms, etc. -- and i'm already planning my next class. we went over soups & salads and i loved every second.

my mom was watching jack, and encouraged me to stay out as long as i wanted. so i stopped by bellevue square, my closest mall, to get my new watch sized -- and ended up shopping for a few hours. i had forgotten how GLORIOUS shopping by myself can be; it was blissful.

then it was home to prepare dinner -- our friends the gunters [in town for an internship] came over for dinner and the monumental cupcake eating. obviously, it was a success.

this is probably one of my favorite pictures ever of jackal. it was a fabulous day all around, made even better by the fact that i now share the day with my little sidekick. hooray for double birthdays!

touring seattle

2011-07-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

we've been busyyyy around here! let's start at the beginning.

hello seattle!

the week before b started work, we bought a city pass [this thing is genius, it gives you discount admission to all the touristy stuff] and spent a few days downtown.

we went to the experience music project:

verdict: the boys liked the guitar sculpture, i liked the nirvana and jimi hendrix exhibits. how awesome is a museum dedicated to rock & roll?! answer: very awesome.

we went to the space needle:

verdict: we like tall landmarks [see also: empire state building, eiffel tower, etc etc] and this one delivered. it was windy at the top and seemed easy to throw stuff off the ledge. don't feel like i need to do it again, especially after learning about this secret from not martha.

we took a harbor cruise:

verdict: jack thought it was sooo cool to look over the side of the boat. for 20 minutes, anyway, and then he was over it. we learned about seattle's history, skyline and trivia facts while sailing through the sound on a gorgeous day -- it was totally worth it. loved it.

we went to ye olde curiosity shoppe:

verdict: this place was BANANAS. it's just a little shop on the pier, full of the most random crap you've ever seen -- real mummies, shrunken heads, bones, mermaids. we ran through it on our way home to get our cars from the transport service, but i wish i had more time to check it out.

we also spent our days hanging by the pool, unpacking, meeting up with friends passing through town, trying a few new restaurants and going to target daily. so basically, the usual. my mom came into town and then b started work on july 11!

moving pains

2011-07-17T20:42:00.001-07:00

this photo was an outtake from our visit to the butterfly garden at the pacific science center last week, and i had to laugh when i saw it. this pretty much depicts the current status around here -- jack's over it and i'm constantly on the verge of feeling totally awkward. we're the two people in the back of the room, trying hard to blend in and pretend we're not feeling completely out of place.

things are fine, don't get me wrong. b LOVES his new job [hooray!], seattle is gorgeous, my mom is here and we've had a blast exploring the area. but moving is just tough.

i feel like i'm continually making small talk, pulling at threads to try to find a connection with someone -- anyone -- so i can feel like i have a tie to another person here. this inevitably leads to some slightly uncomfortable situations with the less-chatty types. [insert awkward silence here..."so...it rains a lot in seattle...?"]

maybe i should hand out a business card stating how many facebook friends i have and how many blog comments i get, so these new peeps know i'm not just some fully inept weirdo who can't carry on a conversation. sorry lady, you're the 12th person i've met today, you're not getting my A-game chit chat here.

i've now been to church 3x, an mba alumni dinner 1x, dinner with utah friends 2x -- but i still don't feel totally solid. i miss the comfort of our utah neighborhood, and my people.

not only that, i'm finally learning my way around town [thank the heavens above for the person who created GPS and then the other person who decided to put it on my phone], but it's still weird to get used to a completely new place. i have to figure everything out from scratch -- where my nearest mall/target/movie theater/church/etc. is, where the best place to park is, what's the fastest way to get there during rush hour.

we've moved a lot in our married life -- from LA to pasadena, pasadena to provo, provo to denver to provo, now provo to seattle -- so i also start comparing each new city to the old ones and wishing i could go back to one or the other. but then i realize, i've never actually hated any of the places we've lived -- in fact, i end up totally loving each one. i know i just need to give it time and settle in.

i learned a long time ago that you can't truly judge a new job, relationship, city, or apartment until you've been in it for six months -- so i guess we have five months to go before i have realistic results. so until then, i guess i better sharpen up my small talk skills. wish me luck.

jack's 1st

2011-07-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

tuesday was our double birthday! jackal is now ONE YEAR OLD and we can barely believe it.

obviously i'm a little behind on blogging, so i'll be back with a big birthday recap [and other stuff] soon. but in the meantime...b made this totally awesome video about jack's first year of life. (you can see the video of his first six months here.)

the whole thing is amazing, but i especially like from 4:24ish to the end. enjoy!

back to work

2011-07-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

today is b's first day of work! hooray.

my mom is here visiting, and i'm glad because i think i'd be crazy lonely if i didn't have her to hang out with. it has been SO fun having b around 24/7 the past three months and i really miss him already.

last week we did a bunch of touristy things and tried to squeeze the most out of b's last week of freedom, before he's chained to a desk for the rest of his life. [post on additional seattle adventures to come.] here's b and jack checking out the seagulls on the pier -- i love my boys:

grad school gave us the perfect little departure from regular life -- i loved his flexible school-year schedule and being able to meet him for lunch, having him come home in the middle of the afternoon, etc.

plus, the whole late-job-offer thing gave us three months of complete freedom after graduation. i wasn't too sure about this set-up at the beginning but it turned out to be perfect. our little family of 3 was together all the time and i loved it. we ran errands together [lucky for me, my husband loves target], watched parks & rec reruns in the middle of the day, went to the pool, etc. -- not to mention i got extra time to do things while j was awake because i had a built in babysitter :) jack has been so lucky to have his daddy here to play with him nonstop while he's at such a fun age. none of our other kids are going to be able to say that.

it's weird to have him gone, also, because the last time b worked full time -- i worked full time too. and we worked in the SAME place. we left at the same time every morning and rode the train into the city together. now, he leaves and i stay home. odd.

we miss you, b! have fun at work!

4th

2011-07-05T23:12:00.001-07:00

pretty much every blog i've looked at over the past 24 hours has included an overload of jubilant, patriotic, red white & blue sun-soaked photos of all the amazing fun they had on the 4th of july. this is not one of those posts.

the 4th of july is my most favorite day of the year. i LOVE the fireworks, the bbq's, the celebration of america, the corny neighborhood parades. i love it. but this year...was a little off.

j woke up at 5:45 a.m. to squeeze an extra two hours out of the holiday [not really, it's because he's been staying up too late lately, i know this because dr. weissbluth is my sleep training guru] so i was already wiped. i also had a slight homesick hangover coming off the weekend...then spent a good five hours of the 4th of july trying to organize THIS:

... and i knew i was in for a rough day. then our festive 4th plans fell through and, not knowing anyone [or any good places to go] in town, we had no back-up. i was on the verge of tears, thinking this was the worst 4th of july ever, when all of the sudden everything perked up.

our 4th was rescued with by good friends [in town for an internship], a block party bbq, patriotic-sprinkled ice cream sandwiches, mini fireworks in the street and a baby double-fisting his first taste of watermelon. isn't that what the 4th is all about?

we went home while the sun was still shining so jackal could hit the sack. b and i turned on a movie [independence day of course] and i fell asleep at 930 p.m. without one real firework spied. what a night.

i might be a little depressed that my first 4th as a mom was just that: more mom-like than i prefer. but really, it wasn't so bad. i was with my family, i'm in a beautiful new city, i still got a home-grilled burger for dinner and i still love america. plus, we've already cemented plans to spend NEXT 4th of july in my very favorite independence day location [lake powell], so at least i have that to look forward to. hooray for the red white & blue!

hellooo seattle

2011-06-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

we made it! hooray. after a crazy couple of moving days, we said goodbye to our friends, took one last swing on the playground, grabbed one last cafe rio salad and were on our way to the airport.

the new company [heretofore referred to on this blog as "msft" so as not to get me in trouble w/ the hubs and/or random google searches] generously flew us out in first class, which was cool since i've never flown first class before. but actually it turned out to be more like a cruel joke, because wow. you think it's bad flying on an airplane with a baby? try flying on an airplane with a baby when you're also sitting in the super-quiet VIP section with a bunch of stuffy, rich men who won't even smile at your adorable baby who is grinning right at them. yeah. i was pretty tense. also there were no warm towels so the wedding singer got my hopes up for nothing.

anyway, we're here. and the sun was shining when we landed! yay, thanks for the great welcome, seattle. i think you and i are going to do just fine together.

we're staying in temporary housing until our stuff gets here, hopefully this weekend. the apartment is a lot like the one we stayed in last summer. plus there's a jack-height window which the kid looooves. the first thing he does when he wakes up every morning is reach for the front door and grunt -- i swear, he'd be outside all day every day if he could. so it's nice for him to have his own little window to peek out of and think he's playing outside.

on today's agenda: pick up our new keys, go to the post office, make a home-cooked meal for dinner and possibly go to trader joe's. oh, and try to find my way around town without solely relying on my verizon navigator. new lives are hard to get used to.

out with the old, in with the new

2011-06-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

everything is off the walls, we've got boxes lining our living room and my suitcase is packed. the movers come tomorrow and we fly out on wednesday! next chapter, here i come.

we've been busy cleaning out and organizing and it is really fun. i love feeling like i'm getting rid of clutter. HOWEVER this inevitably leads to me getting nostalgic and mopey when i have to throw things out. i get very attached to things, apparently. clothes that i've had since college, the couch we bought together when we were engaged, the desk b got when he moved to san francisco, etc. etc. -- even though i never wear the clothes anymore, the couch was falling apart, and i hated that desk.

b told me this commercial was meant for me. i shared it on facebook too, but it's hilarious:

speaking of getting rid of things, i don't think i ever blogged about b's car accident. a few months ago he was coming home from the gym and hit a car who turned right in front of him [pretty much an exact replica of the accident from last year]. he was completely fine, no airbags even, but turns out the car was totaled. MY car, the one we bought three weeks after we got married, the one i zipped all around southern california in. boo. b effectively destroyed both our california-license-plated cars in the two years we were in utah. all that remained from the corrolla were hubcaps:

today, we picked up a new car. thanks to a sweet insurance payment we didn't even have to pay out of pocket. [actually, b bought it a few weeks ago, but had to wait on various paperwork to go through. nothing like the last minute!] we're now the proud owners of two honda accords.

it's bittersweet, feeling like this part of life is coming to a close. it seems like just yesterday we were moving in and b was starting school. geez. time goes too quick.

next blog post coming at you from seattle!

friends + the last week

2011-06-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

we've been squeezing every last second out of the past few days, trying to enjoy utah all we can before we move. [three days left! ack.] here's a little of what we've been up to...

we lived in pasadena before we moved to orem, and we had an a-maz-ing group of friends whom i loved and was very sad to leave. fast forward>> two years and there are now EIGHT pasadena families living along the wasatch front...it's like a mass migration. we all got together on monday for a potluck/going away party and i was so happy to see my friends!! [we missed you jen!] [and no, i'm not holding jack, he was in bed by the time we took this...that's allison's baby dean who is younger and bigger than j. big boy!]

and speaking of friends, i met up with my ex-roommates christine & lacy this week for brunch. we met in the dorms, lived together in apartments for 2+ years and have been bff ever since -- and then, we all had cute little boys within a year of each other. we were quite a site, managing sippy cups, binkies, grabby little hands and squealing babies over conversation & french toast. worth it!

every night when i go running, i look up at the mountains and try to burn their image into my brain. it is so pretty here. i'm going to miss these mountains:

little jackal has been a champ lately, even though our apartment is currently a giant maze of boxes and we're constantly dragging him around town to run errands. in the meantime he's been trying some fun new foods, including snow cones [thanks leandra for the tip on the snow shack]:

and pickles -- he reeked like relish all the way home. please note the seeds covering his shirt.

one very hot day, we went up to byu to finish up some business. it was so fun to show my boy around our alma mater and tell him this is where HE will go to college one day too [though i'm sure he'll still cheer for utah football if b has anything to do with it]:

we saw an exhibit in the lee library that had jack's name written all over it -- literally! [wah wah.]

jack also met a lizard. grossssss. [my cousin's kids have one.] we washed his hands 0.3 seconds after this picture was taken.

and, my favorite sister came to see us last weekend -- for one last utah hurrah, and to help me with a little pre-birthday bask for mr. jack [more on that later]. i looooved having her here. come to seattle rachie!! we miss you already.

and that's a wrap! at least, for this post -- as soon as the next three days are over, then UTAH is a wrap. sad.

busy busy

2011-06-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

one week till the move! crazy stuff. don't even worry that our joint to-do list currently takes up five pages in three different notebooks [see above]. oy.

this week is a liiiittle busy. between prepping to take a week off work, not to mention shutting down our utah life and shipping all our possessions to a new state, we've got a lot going on. plus moving is always a great excuse to squeeze in last-minute lunch dates and visits with friends. so, in the words of tim gunn, i'm making it work.

a day at the zoo

2011-06-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

we're crossing off the utah bucket list, right and left -- last week: taking jack on his very first trip to the zoo!

we went to salt lake city's hogle zoo; i'd never been before, but b has gone ever since he was a kid. grandma & grandpa wells accompanied us and we had a great time.

except...it was hot. i really like to plan ahead on things so i get annoyed if i don't anticipate something -- this heat was unexpected and i didn't like it. no water, no baby hat, wrong shoes, no shorts, wrong stroller...ugh. guess i'm ready for the seattle perma-cool. but anyway. we persevered and all was well.

jack loved the elephants and got mad when he couldn't touch them. he also cried when we had to leave the camel exhibit.

i wore a leopard-print shirt that day, which i just realized as i was uploading photos. it was not intentional. but just so you know, we didn't see any navy-and-purple leopards at the zoo.

since it was hot we spent a lot of time in the indoor exhibits to cool off. [check out jack's pink cheeks.] also lots of the outside animals hated the heat too and hid in the shade so we couldn't see them. lame. inside animals were happy to play. here's our little fam:

jack & grandma:

j with grandma & grandpa. LOOK at the sky + green hills! oh utah, you are really pretty sometimes. i'm going to miss these mountains.

my favorite were the giraffes. you can get up high on platforms, right next to their heads, and watch them eat. there were also animatronic dinosaurs scattered throughout the park which we loooved. we being me and b and our jurassic park obsession...jack heard one growl from the t-rex and burst into tears/shaking. poor kiddo.

then we hit up ruth's diner for dinner -- a perfectly quaint comfort-food hideaway up in emigration canyon. it was so picturesque and pretty, and i finally stopped sweating out on the back patio. all in all, a great day.

consumption

2011-06-13T19:45:00.001-07:00

this is what my nails look like right now. i had been dying to try the new sally hansen nail strips and then got a coupon + a target sale + 5% discount with my target debit card so i was ALL over it. these are supposed to be the lace ones but i sort of just feel like i painted my nails black and then got paint smeared all over them. ha. i hate when you get really excited to buy something and then it's not quite as awesome as anticipated.

and while we're talking about buying things, is it weird that we were in seattle for four days last week and yet we still went to trader joe's four times? no? okay, good. because for a minute i sounded like a totally obsessed freak. which...maybe...never mind.

also, in preparation for the move, we're selling like half our crap. can't wait to clean out, pack up, transport and upgrade. this includes our couch, desk, a giant box of fabric scraps, a lamp...i can send you our KSL listings or give you details on our upcoming yard sale if you're interested. wink.

first trip to seattle

2011-06-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

this week we flew to seattle to look at apartments...and to introduce me to our new home. i've always been intrigued by seattle and i was quite looking forward to checking it out.

direct flight from slc > seattle (score! also featuring direct flights to LAX and ontario for $99/one way, in case you're wondering) and jack was a champ. we landed and it was a beautiful sunny day. headed right up to downtown to eat clam chowder on the pier and visit the world-famous pikes place market [another to-do from sleepless in seattle]. we sampled the most delicious fruit of my life and watched guys throw fish and climbed up 500 stairs.

we look like we could be seattle locals already, right?

we headed over to a gorgeous little park to watch the boats and people and dogs, and so jackal could crawl around a little bit. i spent basically the whole trip trying to figure out my bearings and understand where we were on the map, so it was fun to sit and look out at the islands across the water and see all the trees, houses, skyscrapers etc and try to absorb the fact that this is my new home.

we spent the next few days touring a billion apartments [okay, more like 7] and trying to figure out where we wanted to live. it rained pretty much nonstop for two days and i was starting to reconsider our move -- well, not really, but i WAS wondering if the sun would ever come out again and also pondering the going rate for a good pair of galoshes because i've always wanted them but could never rationalize the purchase until now.

apparently, this is what seattle looks like most of the time:

i call this "gloomy" and b calls it "rainy." he says i should focus on the positive aspects of rain. this is difficult for me after growing up in a place where it rained maybe 2 hours a month.

however, even i cannot argue that all the rain makes for some GORGEOUS scenery. the dirt is spongy, the trees are green, and there are lakes around every corner.

one of the weirdest things for me to get used to were all the TREES! you literally cannot see more than a few feet off the road because there are thick forests of trees everywhere. until now, the only places i'd ever been where there were that many trees were on the east coast and up in the mountains. so this incorrectly led me to believe we were in very rural areas -- but we were NOT. right on the other side of the trees were shopping malls, target, houses, etc. very tricky.

we ended up finding a great apartment in issaquah -- it's just south of lake sammamish, up on cougar mountain. i didn't take any pictures this time around but i will definitely introduce you properly once we move in. i'm pretty proud of myself for making such a big decision in just a few days [in all fairness, we DID go up there three days in a row to scope it out, so i guess i didn't make it THAT quickly] and i'm excited to move in.

the apartment is up on a hill, but only 1.7 miles from target and 4 miles from trader joe's. [OH how excited i am to be living in trader joe's country again!!] it's also less than 20 minutes from brandon's new job -- which is in the exact SAME building as our new paper source, be still my heart! i told him we'll be visiting often -- so it's a great location all around.

i think jack likes seattle too. he's particularly intrigued by all the nature, as evidenced by an outstretched arm and a highly excited "buh! buh!" every time we saw a bird or tree. the poor kiddo did great on the trip, especially considering he had basically zero planned naptimes and spent most of his time in the car seat. he'd conk out on any car ride longer than five minutes.

this trip definitely helped me wrap my head around the move a little better; until now, it sort of felt like we were staying in utah forever and that a potential move was still far away. but now i'm ready. i keep thinking about all the pretty trees and how green everything is and i can't wait to go back. the movers come in just a few weeks and then we're out of here!

awkward.

2011-06-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

ugh. i've just been nailing it right and left lately in the embarrassment category. this is most likely a result of karma, because the other day b and i were discussing most embarrassing moments and the best one i could think of was when i got hit in the stomach with a soccer ball and passed out in the middle of the field at 6th grade recess. (true story.) apparently i needed more humiliation in my life.

but anyway. yesterday i had a big meeting for work and i left it feeling pretty happy, but as the day went on i realized i should have been a LOT more aggressive in laying out our goals and in directing the conversation. ugh. sucks!

b took a negotiations class in his MBA program and he is constantly going on and on about finagling with people and how to get the best deal and how you never want to "leave money on the table." [his new skills are coming in handy these days as we are currently in the market for a new car, a new couch and a new apartment. oh, and he just got himself a job, so i guess it helped then too.] i've never been good at this stuff. i don't negotiate well, i'm not a sales-y type person, i don't like feeling like i'm forcing someone to do something...i just take what's offered to me and i go with it. which is silly, because how are you ever going to get what you want unless you ask for it? (this is also why b and i started our careers at the same time and for the 3 years we lived in LA, he made a looot more money than me. because he asks for it. me, on the other hand..."you want to give me a job?! okay!" bah.)

moving on. when i was leaving said meeting [at this amazing amazing store that i never even knew existed -- i'm serious, go there if you're planning ANY type of party] someone in the parking lot said "lyndsey?" i turned around and it was my best friend from elementary school -- who i haven't seen or talked to in over 10 years. not to mention the last place we'd hung out was more than 800+ miles away. [AND she's not mormon, which is weird. you usually run into every mormon you've ever met in the state of utah, but rarely do i see other people here.] short, random, awkward conversation ensued...but i'm really glad she said hi. what a small world.

and finally. today jack and i were at the fabric store and a woman moved her cart out of my way so we could get by. as i walked past, i heard her whisper to her friend "...so embarrassing!" hmm. not something you usually want to hear. so i looked down and of course her words were directed at me -- having a bigtime wardrobe malfunction that i didn't even know about. super awesome. not to mention the fact that these days i'm pretty much perpetually covered in unidentifiable blobs of baby food.

i should probably just hide in my apartment from now on and stop interacting with people. my awkwardness knows no bounds.

grant is 1

2011-06-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

jack is almost 11 months old, which means his 1st birthday is right around the corner. his bff, grant (my friend aimee's baby) just turned one last week! hooray. i have LOVED living close to aimee the past two years. we've been together through it all: pregnancy complaints, labor comparisons, weekly play dates, swim lessons, marathon training...i love my aimee!

anyway, to celebrate granty's birthday, we partied it up last week. on his actual bday, we went to thanksgiving point to see the farm animals! both boys [and moms] loved it.

the babies even got to pet a goat!

then, on saturday, we went to grant's party. aimee did a ridiculously amazing job planning the cutest hungry caterpillar party on the planet [which i am fully qualified to say, since this is one of my clients]. i mean seriously. look at these photos.

she made little caterpillar headbands for the kiddos. jack yanked his off in five seconds but not before we got a pic!

plus, our OTHER bff, erica, came to the party also. [she has an under-1 baby too, tenley, and plays with us frequently as well...but she lives allll the way in slc so it's not as often as i'd like.] the three of us met in the dorms in college and have been friends ever since. i love seeing these girls and i love that our babies are all just a few months apart.

yay for friends! and yay for jack's birthday coming up. although upon arriving at grant's party, b looked at me and said, "wow. hope you're going to step it up for jack's party." lol. uh...no promises.

healthy diet

2011-05-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

ohh we've been having too much fun around here lately. seeing as how i'm self-employed and my husband is currently pre-employed, we are both home together all day every day basically treating each day like a saturday and going on all sorts of fun adventures. like seeing pirates of the caribbean 4 on a random thursday afternoon, just because we can! i love being free. thursday dates and working in your pj's is so SO much better than working 9-5 for the man, and you can quote me on that.

plus, it's a three-day weekend, so...party time! apparently we've partied too hard, though, because i've been completely exhausted by 8 p.m. the past two nights. i missed my sunday nap today and was so worn out that i fell asleep on the couch at 630 right after i put jack to bed early. [sundays are hard on all of us.] probably not the best choice seeing as how it's now 10 p.m. and i'm wide awake, but WOW did that nap feel amazing. also b went to bed at 8 p.m. so you know there's something weird going on around here.

anyway, our new computer won't upload my newest photos, so in the meantime you get a little glimpse at jack's healthy diet. i mentioned on facebook that the kiddo has gone on a baby food fast [which is fine, except i get nervous that he's not getting all the nutrients etc he needs if he's just eating random table food, though i try really hard to give him a balanced diet], so in the meantime we just feed him whipped cream out of the can. kidding, kidding. he eats other healthy things like cheese, yogurt, chocolate chip waffles, etc. ;) but he REALLY likes whipped cream. leave it to dad to teach him this one.

oh, and don't mind all the crap in the background of these photos. we outgrew our apartment like the day we got back from colorado and have been stuffing it to the brim ever since. i cannot WAIT to move and re-organize my life because sometimes it's just not fun to keep your personal belongings lined up along the walls in every room when there's nowhere else to keep them. ikea organizing section, i'm coming your way.

"it rains nine months of the year in seattle."

2011-05-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

this is what i know about seattle:

- my dad likes to threaten me that the city will erupt in volcano apocalypse any day now

- the movies "sleepless in seattle" and "10 things i hate about you" were filmed there

- nordstrom & starbucks were founded there

- it rains a lot

- half my college roommates & a lot of good friends grew up there

obviously, i have a lot to learn seeing as how i have never previously set foot in the state of washington. but let's be real, people -- i've been prepping for this move my entire life by watching "sleepless in seattle" 100+ times. [subject line quote is from that movie.]

since b started MBA school, i've been making a little list in my head about the qualities i would like the city we eventually settled in to have. here is how seattle stacks up:

MANDATORY:

- not in the midwest: check

- listed in the top 20 largest markets in the US: check

- LDS temple nearby: check

- trader joe's availability: check and check!!!

PREFERRED BUT NOT REQUIRED:

- h&m: check

- paper source: check

- ikea: check

- near family: no :(

sooo obviously my shopping habits are excited for the move. and hopefully we'll make some new friends quickly because we won't have ANY family and only very few friends in the whole state of washington when we move. plus jack's first birthday is coming up and it's just so sad that we'll be celebrating his first cupcake with, like, no one. i'll just walk around trader joe's looking for kind-faced strangers and invite them over. "hey! want to pretend to know my little boy and eat cupcakes?" a silly thing to be concerned about, i know, but you only get one FIRST first birthday, am i right?

also, i'm a little sad to not be going back to california. a tiny part of me really did hang on to the hope that we'd be back -- after all, i grew up believing southern california was the end all and be all for best places to live in the country. but thanks to some big epiphanies over the past two years, i've realized i can be happy in other places [and that cali isn't actually that great] -- and i can't wait to make seattle my home. plus flights from seattle to LAX are only $99 one way :)

seattle, here we come!

2011-05-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

the short version: we're moving to seattle! b accepted an awesome job at microsoft and we move at the end of june.

***

the long version: here's a little story about faith.

in spring 2009, when b was accepted to BYU's MBA program, he was assigned an alumni mentor. b's mentor happened to be german [b lived in germany for 2 years], had family in our ward in pasadena, and worked at microsoft in seattle -- he & b hit it off right away. b was fascinated by the microsoft culture and asked the mentor lots of questions about the company. we thought, what a cool job.

throughout the MBA program, b and i knew we ultimately wanted to stay in the west; we listed LA, san francisco, portland, seattle and denver as cities we'd keep our eye on for job opportunities. during his first year, b helped plan a student trip to seattle. he toured microsoft and thought it was a great company to work for; he came home and applied for internships and jobs there but never heard anything back. then he was offered an internship in denver and we left for the summer and loved it -- or rather, loved denver, but not so much the job.

that company didn't hire b on for post-MBA work [which happens in approx half of the MBA internships] so it was back to the drawing board for second year. b is amazing at networking and researching, and found tons of job opportunities. he went to career fairs, applied for jobs, enlisted me in researching and applying, did informational interviews, phone interviews, fly backs, first rounds, second rounds...and nothing. no job offers for b. but he didn't LOVE any of the companies, either, so we just kept looking.

meanwhile, most of his classmates had nailed down jobs and everyone kept asking b "got a job yet? got a job yet?" this has got to be one of the most annoying questions on the planet, comparable only to asking a woman who is trying to have a baby "are you pregnant yet?" it's not like we weren't trying!

b stayed pretty optimistic throughout this whole process, but once in a while he'd get down on himself and wonder what was going on -- why he didn't get offers when it seemed like everyone else did. it was my job to be his perpetual cheerleader, reminding him that he IS awesome and capable and that the right job WOULD come along. we prayed and prayed that we would be led to a job that was right for b and right for our family. i honestly believed that the right job was out there for him; it was just a matter of finding it. b is a major planner and i think if he HAD gotten a mediocre job offer back in september, he would have taken it just because he worried nothing else would come along -- and it could have been a bad fit. we needed to find the right job.

spring came, graduation came and went. nothing quite as nerve-wracking as finishing school and having no idea what is next. we gave ourselves till the end of july [when our apartment contract expired] to figure something out, and decided not to stress till then. i felt really calm about the whole thing, knowing it would all work out. b was actually in good company; even now, there are a handful of b's classmates -- also very qualified, competent people -- who still don't have jobs. i really think it's just a weird year for the hiring pool.

a few weeks before graduation, b was randomly contacted by a microsoft recruiter who had seen his resume after he'd applied for those previous jobs. she had a position in mind for him and wanted to fly him out to interview. sure, why not. b had already flown to new jersey and california for jobs that month, so what was one more? he got in touch with microsoft's travel department to book his interview -- and then got a call that the job he was interviewing for had been terminated and they were reworking that whole division. there was one other position in a different area, so maybe he'd like to try for that one? oh wait -- that other position already got filled. another dead end.

then the recruiter called back. she had a different position, this time in a different department, that seemed right up b's alley. he booked his flights and went out there the week after graduation. his interview lasted 7 hours (!) and when he called me at the end, he sounded SO happy. i've never heard him that excited about an interview -- even after the 20+ interviews he's done this year. he loved the people he had met, loved seattle, loved the position. his role would be in marketing, but involved a lot of PR stuff which matched his background perfectly. it's like this job was made for him.

our second day in san diego, microsoft called b and told him he got the job! they made us an amazing offer. we were 90% sure we were going to take it, but that same week he got TWO more offers from companies in california and we had to think about all this. after months and months of waiting and getting nothing, all of the sudden everyone wanted b!

obviously, we've decided to go with microsoft. a few years ago, i might have been a little nervous about making such a big change [i've never even been to washington] but now, i feel so good about this decision. everything just fell into place and seems so meant to be -- how can i doubt that it's right for us? i feel like this job was an answer to all the prayers we've said over the past nine months -- what an amazing thing, to get such a clear answer of where exactly we're supposed to go and know that God wants us to go there...or He wouldn't have set it up so perfectly that i don't even have room to second guess it. answers to prayers always come....sometimes you just have to wait a little longer to get it.

i can't wait to see what seattle has in store for us!

first haircut

2011-05-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

on saturday, we took jack out for his first haircut. i love (LOVE!) that he has so much hair, but honestly, it was getting out of control. it fell down whenever i tried to spike it, and would get in his eyes. when i swooped it to the side [another little one-eyed wonder], b told me he looked like a hitler baby. so, a trim was in order.

we just took him to great clips here in orem and parked it for a random beauty school graduate. probably should have gone a little more momentous for the first haircut, but i'm not about to pay $20 for some certificate.

the before -- blissfully unaware of the pending hack job to his baby mullet:

at first he thought it was okay.

then he got nervous.

then he got pissed.

but it wasn't anything a binkie couldn't fix.

now he looks like a champ and the hair spikes much better. hooray!

also, tonight b informed me that our blog has gotten "boring" and is "only about our kid" [which i would kindly beg to differ...i still blog about non-baby subjects like weather and random thoughts as much as i ever did pre-kid].

so, if you agree with him, i apologize. but it's not like my puff the magic dragon-listening cat lady neighbor posts or trader joes obsessions were ever that much more exciting. at least with jack you get cute photos.

san diahgo

2011-05-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

we made a quick family getaway to gorgeous san diego last week! it was fantastic. we claimed the purpose of the trip as "celebrating b's graduation" but really, we just wanted a little family vacation (our first with jackal) and it totally delivered. [new year's resolution #4: mission complete.]

we stayed on coronado island, in a beautiful boutique hotel called the glorietta bay inn. it was built in 1906, historic and quaint -- it was perfect for us. our suite even had a backyard patio that we utilized daily. [PLUS free breakfast, free wi fi and free cookies...i was sold.] we ate breakfast on the hotel terrace overlooking the harbor each morning and slept like rocks in our comfy king size bed every night. highly recommend the gbi.

even better, it was right across the street from the hotel del coronado. that place is beautiful! [so beautiful they modeled one of the disney world resorts after it, a fun fact i learned in 7th grade.] feels very titanic-era inside.

we spent our days going for walks, shopping on coronado's little main street, going to the pool & beach, reading books and just enjoying some good ol' family time. jack was NOT a fan of the sand.

a little nervous around the waves too, but he got used to it. [check out the two bottom teeth!]

on tuesday, b had to drive up to LA for an interview [not planned ahead of time] so we made a trip out of it. of course that means we had to stop for a little of THIS action:

jack's first trip to tito's! which, obviously, he was thrilled about...until b gave him his first taste of salsa. not a happy monkey after that.

while b interviewed, my bff jolee met up with me & jack at starbucks and we had a little reunion/introduction. she hadn't met jack before this but they hit it off -- good news since SHE will become a mama herself in only 6 short months! hooray!

my parents came down to see us on wednesday. AND, my friend roxanne came over [phil's bbq in hand] for dinner with us on thursday. sadly, no pics of that. is it a blessing or a curse to vacation in a place where family/friends are easily accessible & readily visit-able? i would argue: blessing.

during nap times, b and i hung out together and solo. i preferred to spend my alone time HERE, lounging by the pool:

but i always loved getting back to my boys. five days at the shore was just what the doctor ordered for this little fam.

"ah, san diego. drink it in, always goes down smooth." - anchorman

2011-05-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

having a hard time focusing on work today so here's jack's latest trick.

one...

two...

three...

four! standing up like a champ.

the sun is out and b is coming home today and vacation is right around the corner. hooray!

pj day

2011-04-29T21:09:00.001-07:00

today jack and i only left the house twice: once to go to swim lessons and once to get the mail. i didn't intend to be a recluse, but after swimming we were both cold (the pool was freezing AND it's like 40 degrees outside, of course -- thanks crazy bipolar utah spring!) so we put on our sweats and just never changed out of them.

so what did we do? just hung out, and it was glorious. jack's favorite activities these days include exploring my food storage closet, swinging doors open and shut over and over and over, trying to suck on the most disgusting objects in our home [shoes, mop, toilet brush, etc.], pulling himself up on the ottoman / couch / tv stand / dryer, and going through his toy basket one item at a time.

we shared apples and cheese, crawled around the house, read books, and talked to grammie on the phone. we watched regis and kelly, and folded laundry. he sucked on my nose a few times and has started saying "yeah!" when i ask him a question.

then i gave him a bath and put him to bed, and had a blissful solo dinner (+ dessert) while cleaning out my google reader. now i'm catching up on work and all my other random to dos and it's a great friday night.

definitely not the most exciting day of my life, but probably one of the most idyllic. i'm so lucky to have such a great little sidekick.

graduation!!!

2011-04-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

it's official -- b is an MBA graduate. hooray!

feels like just yesterday we were packing up our LA life and heading for provo, and here we are -- one baby, two cars, one half marathon, one internship, two christmases and one graduate degree later. i'm SO proud of b and all the hard work he has put in.

graduation started at 8 a.m. -- we had to be there by 7 a.m. -- and this is how jack felt about that.

he actually did great during the 2+ hour ceremony, in which they read the names of all 1,100 business department grads. for some brilliant reason they like to include the 700 undergrad business kids with the masters students and that is just WAY too many.

b called me from his seat on the floor to tell me where he was sitting. he couldn't understand why i couldn't see him when THIS was what i was looking at:

finally it was over and we met our graduate outside! jack was utterly fascinated by b's tassel and wouldn't look at the camera for a million binkies:

my parents, b's parents & brother & grandma, and of course jack & i were all there to celebrate with him.

group shot w/ some of b's bffs from the program (thanks gretchen ;) :

here's b in front of the tanner building, where he's spent most of his waking hours over the past two years. (and, incidentally, home of the now-defunct marketplace cafe where i worked to put myself through college.)

a graduate, a Y, a baby:

we followed up the ceremony with a delish lunch at la jolla groves. my family is STILL raving about how much they loved this place. if you want to impress your parents, take them to la jolla groves.

what's next for my MBA? that's a great question. we've got some pretty exciting things in the works and hopefully i'll have a concrete answer for you in the next few weeks.

in the meantime, i'm going to quite enjoy having b around all the time as we enjoy this beautiful utah spring/summer. in college, i always bolted home to california as soon as winter finals were over, but spending spring in utah is something that always appealed to me. so we'll be hiking and taking walks and playing outside and crossing restaurants off our bucket list all spring long.

and now i'm going to bed because seriously? it's 1130 p.m.!!! one more for good measure: !. i never ever stay up this late while b is home but when he's traveling i get all sucked into working etc and stay up waaaay too late. i'm delirious. so goodbye.

bedtime workout

2011-04-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

moms, i need your help!

jack has always been pretty good about falling asleep on his own. i plop him in his crib when he starts looking sleepy, give him a kiss and walk out the door...usually he crawls around a little bit, and within 10 minutes he's asleep. (key word: usually.)

since he discovered his newfound acrobatic skills in pulling himself up onto things, though, life has changed. unless he's comPLETEly exhausted, i now plop him in the crib and he spends the next 20+ minutes doing this:

it's totally cute and i'm glad he's improving his little skills (except when he slips and faceplants and screams, and then we have to come get him & calm him down & do the whole process over again), but this is definitely impacting bedtime. typically i just leave him in there to play around, and after 20 minutes he realizes he's tired and just stand at the corner of his bed crying. i go in, lay him back down because apparently he forgot how, he screams for 30 seconds, and then he's out like a light.

i'm guessing this is just a phase, like every other funny little thing that happens to babies, but do you have any tips for shortening his playtime and/or helping him go to sleep quicker? [obviously i can't strap him to the bed to discourage climbing, though that would definitely simplify things.] or do i just wait it out?

easter sunday

2011-04-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

jack's first easter was a rousing success. the easter bunny visited, bringing a basket full of treats that mom will help him eat -- though i'll admit, after today's candy binge i'm feeling a little OD'ed on sugar and that hardly ever happens. so maybe we'll hold off on the chocolate bunnies for a few days.

as expected, jack's favorite part of the basket were the eggs because they make noise when you shake them. also the fake grass is fun.

after church, we had a yummy brunch with brandon's parents and then came home for naps. tonight, we joined all my cousins and grandparents and my mom & dad for a big easter dinner. i really love huge family gatherings and will miss them once we move.

here's jack with baby chloe, the cousin closest in age to him born just six weeks ago. obviously he found her fascinating:

he also met his cousin presley, from brandon's side, this morning at my in-laws. jack loves the ladies...or he's freaked by them. either way, it's funny:

pop pop, me & jackal. can i just take a moment to point out my HORRENDOUS post-partum second-bangs growing in?? ugh. no lie, i have two layers of bangs and one of them is exactly one inch long.

dinner was delish. but the highlight of the night came when, right in the middle of a delicious bite of funeral potatoes, i saw a falcon slam right into the window of the clubhouse where we were eating. it made an incredibly loud banging noise and scared us to death. the poor birdie broke it's neck and died right on the doorstep. [no photos, sadly, but my 5-year-old cousin took a fantastic documentary-style video of it and i'm sure you can ask him for footage.]

kind of a bummer intermission to our meal, but we tried to come up with a connection between christ's resurrection and the bird's untimely death and easter....yeah, didn't really work out.

[also, randomly, my friend paige's bird also died today -- sorry again, paige -- but does anyone else ever suspect a major natural disaster is on its way when animals start acting weird and committing suicide and stuff? no? just me? okay, time to lay off the disaster flicks i guess.]

anyway, after the bird incident, we launched into the annual easter egg hunt. my cousin kaylene and i were in charge this year and we filled some pretty kick-a eggs. hiding spots ranged from easy (right in the middle of the grass) to difficult (on top of walls, far beyond a four-year-old's line of vision) to SUPER difficult (when i tried to stick one in a bush but it fell through the branches and landed waaaay back in the back of the planter. yeah, no one's finding that one. enjoy the jelly bellies, squirrels!).

jack pretty much loved just sitting in the grass, throwing his egg from hand to hand. the very picture of easter bliss:

and that is what we call a successful easter sunday. hope yours was fun as well!

easter weekend

2011-04-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

whew! what a week. b graduated from MBA school (!), my parents are in town, i'm finally reading bossypants, jack can climb on chairs, and we've been partying it up all weekend. i'll catch up with photos and details next week, but for now i wanted to share a great easter video produced by my church.

just a nice little reminder of what easter is all about...and how much we have to be grateful for.

see you next week!

soooo big

2011-04-18T19:11:00.001-07:00

jack turned nine months old last week and apparently he thinks that means he's a grown up. he's had quite the weekend of milestones around here and i better document them before he's walking and getting a mortgage and stuff.

exhibit a: TEETH! here i was, thinking he'd be toothless forever [he IS nine months after all, with absolutely no sign of teeth], and on friday i noticed two sharp little bumps on his bottom gum. hooray! he hasn't been particularly cranky so i guess he's handling it okay. exciting that they're finally growing in, but i am going to miss that gummy smile.

exhibit b: tummy up. he's been army crawling like a champ for over a month, but just last week he got up on his hands and knees and made a few steps forward. slithering along the floor is still his preferred method of travel, but i get so excited when he does the real crawl. he can also push himself to kneeling from being on his tummy. which leads to...

exhibit c: STANDING. what the...? yesterday, i went into his room to get him after his nap and found him like this:

i gasped so loud, b thought jack had fallen out of his crib. not expecting this one! guess we need to lower the mattress again.

exhibit d: grown up food. jack is starting to hate baby food [well, not fruit...still loves the fruit. but pretty much hates veggies & meat -- and who can blame him, the meat smells like cat food]. i usually feed him during our meal times when he's in his high chair at the table, and he gets SO mad when he sees us eating our food and he has to have baby food. we'd been giving him the easy finger foods (cheerios, tiny pieces of bread or fruit, etc.) but lately i've been branching out. i gave him some pizza on saturday and he went ca-razy, even carried the crust around with him for 10 minutes like it was his best friend. tonight we had a pasta thing and he ate everything we gave him -- noodles, red peppers, carrots, eggplant. am i allowed to just start giving him whatever i eat? dr appt next week and i intend to ask that very question.

exhibit e: swimming! today was our first mommy-and-me swim class and it couldn't have been cuter. he looked adorable in his swim trunks and rash guard, and even though he was unsure of the pool at first, he was splashing and happy by the end.

exhibit f: the cutest. his eyes are still super blue [the first thing every person comments on any time they see him] and his hair is thicker than ever. i have to spike it everyday or it gets in his eyes. he babbles all the time as long as i keep that binky out of his mouth. and he hates getting his diaper or clothes changed; we have to keep a full arsenal of distracting toys, songs and funny faces at the ready or he yells the whole time. silly monkey.

we love mr. jackal and can't wait for him to keep getting bigger.