Friday, January 1, 2010
Books of 2009
Here are the books I read in 2009. I believe it is 10 less than last year but some were really long and I have a lot less reading time now that I'm chasing around an adventurous little munchkin. If you'd like to read my reviews or learn more about the book find me on goodreads.com. It's totally free and I love it because I can keep track of what I've read. Sometimes books are like movies for me and I'll read them and then forget that I've read them. Just typing that reminds me of when Julie picked Timeline by Crichton for book club and I ordered it and was terribly disappointed to recognize the cover and remember the story once I saw the book. Anyway, goodreads helps keep me organized and the voyeur in me loves seeing what other people find enjoyable reading. As you can see I read a couple more Everest books this year. As long as more Everest books come out I imagine I'll always have one on my list for the year.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Too much to catch up!
So I swore off blogging and reading blogs for the most part after my last entry in October. It just takes too much time out of my day because I'm not good at self discipline when it comes to reading and posting. I've really been trying to live in the moment with Katherine during the day while Carter is at school and aspiring to be a total clean freak and between those 2 things there's little time leftover. I'm usually an all or nothing type or person which means if I'm on facebook it's multiple checks a day or reading blogs it's whoops there goes an hour when I meant to just see what the latest update was. To be honest, it's also really emotional for me. I think I prefer to keep things on the surface for the most part because when I get emotional it's difficult to claw myself out of. Yes I cry at commercials and apparently it's genetic. Carter was hysterical today when watching a kids show a humane society commercial came on with the face of a poor dog and the words "why did they abandon me?" Why in the world is that okay to show during kids' shows?! It's not okay in my book. Carter was hysterical and now I'm stuck doing a pet toy drive eventually and he's donating money from his bank account to the utah county shelter and even after those ideas he's still been in tears off and on today. Back to the point! Sorry, I just got totally off track but that's what was on my mind. So this blog is just a very generic catch up for the people who I don't talk with often or whatever.
Halloween: Carter was an adorable skeleton and Katherine was the cutest bumblebee you've ever seen. Our neighborhood transforms into the Harry Potter Wizarding Community with houses such as Ollivanders Wands, Gringotts Bank, The Daily Prophet, The Apothecary, Platform 9 3/4 etc. My house is Umbridge's Office and I have a ton of fun dressing up as that hated character. It's great fun!
Thanksgiving: We had a positively LOVELY time in California at my childhood home. 24 guests which is probably the largest thanksgiving my small family has ever had. It was joy all around and I got to see my cherished friend Nancy and Carter's cherished friend Kevin. We miss them a lot and I love that we can be together after not seeing each other in over a year and it feels like we were never apart. It was very tough to say goodbye. The boys gave each other a hug and didn't want to let go. It was one of the toughest goodbyes because we all don't see each other enough. Nancy met Katherine for the first time and I was so excited about that! I'm sure it was hard for her to believe all the accounts of mischief I was telling her over the phone until she say Katherine in person. We enjoyed the incredible warm weather and I swear my kids practically spent all day outside as did I! We also checked out the La Brea tarpits which I had been meaning to take Carter to for awhile and he is still talking about them. Too cool! We got to see Steve's new house in Santa Clarita (very nice!) and spent some good quality time with the folks. :-) We came home with the car loaded down with presents and oranges off of one of my dad's citrus trees.
December: Where do I start? This month has been profoundly spiritual and miraculous (I'll expound another time) and I give great thanks to my Father in heaven for the miracles and amazing blessings he has given us. I look at my 2 incredible children and my wonderful husband and I am truly overcome with this sense that I don't deserve to have such amazing people in my life and that I am totally indebted to my Father for giving me such joy and blessings. On a temporal note; I am LOVING that Carter is on Christmas break. I love having him around, I love the funny things he says, I love how great he is to his sister, and I love our talks. He amazes me by his curiosity like giving me definitions of words from a dictionary because he wanted to look them up. The other day the word he looked up was "lame." Matt took him to the park and told him how to snowboard. Carter hopped right on the board and took off! It astounds me that he is good at whatever he tries. I tend to struggle when I'm learning something new and feel like I was very average at everything as a child and now but he seems to excel at whatever he does and that makes me so happy for him. He is a good example to me by his selflessness. He used his classroom store "money" to buy each person in our family a gift and nothing for himself. His patience with the baby is amazing and his love for her is so sweet. She's the first person he wants to hug in the morning and before bed, when he comes home from school, or anything he's wanting to play toys with her or hug her despite her pulling his hair or pushing his face away. Katherine is loving but she likes her personal space. It makes those times when she comes over and leans her head against him or us just more special.
Christmas: We had a nice time Christmas Eve at Matt's childhood home in Park City. His parents gave Carter 2 real aquatic frogs. He named them Joseph and Mary. We are hoping for a long life span given how sensitive Carter can be. In fact, Matt's mom made a joke about Katherine getting possibly getting coal and he went outside without a coat just to get away. He's very protective and everything a sister could ask for in a big brother. Katherine got a bitty baby (hooray) and she's very cute with it. She's also enjoying a little push around princess car. She is a sweet baby and I love that she is strong and determined, smart, and curious. Carter loves the frogs, has already made the cast of a mummy that takes 12 hours to dry and then he wraps and paints it, and loves the pin ball machine ($5 garage sale score!) and the Egyptian playmobil my mom spoiled him with. We had a nice Christmas Day at home, Matt and the kids stayed in the jammies all day and we ate turkey and chilled.
These last few months have been a bit of a growth opportunity for me as I struggle to understand what she needs and how I can improve as her mother. She amazes me with her strong emotions and I finally feel like I understand her and can empathize with her frustrations when she so desperately wants something and can't communicate it or doesn't understand why she can't have it. The phone has been our biggest power struggle. I am not kidding when I say I opened the front door to greet a utah county sheriff who said they'd received an abandoned 911 call from my location. I looked at Katherine in shock. 15 months old and already calling the sheriff. I love the differences between my childrens' personalities. It's incredible to see the variation, the nature vs. nurture in real life instead of text book, and while I go to bed absolutely exhausted every night I am happy and grateful to be given these opportunities. When I taught special education I used to tell exasperated home room teachers that there is a key to figuring out each child. Each key is different, finding the perfect balance, the right combination, that perfect key to unlocking that child was/is my goal and I love that Katherine and I are learning about each other and establishing a relationship that will last forever and I'm excited as each month brings new milestones reached and new experiences for us all. Sorry about the length of this post, there was too much to catch up on. If you made it this far give yourself a pat on the back. :-)
Friday, October 16, 2009
Something Scary At Barnyard Boo
Yesterday was just gorgeous wasn't it? It was sunny and pretty warm and so of course I couldn't stay indoors. I took the kids up to visit my mother in law in Park City and really enjoyed driving through Parley's in the gorgeous weather. Carter asked me some questions about music and I loved being able to go through the themed channels to give him examples of the music we were talking about. It was a fun ride and a good talk so I was secretly glad that the dvd player had broken and he had forgotten a book. It's not that we don't often talk in the car but it's usually not for 1 hour and 10 minutes straight. On the way home I decided to stop by Barnyard Boo. I didn't know that there was still a cost for members so that was a bummer. I sadly parted with my 6 bucks and got my 2 punch passes. The storyteller was really good but the pony rides would have happened regardless of the Boo theme and the other activities were school carnival-esque right along with the not enough people to run all the stations so some were closed. The kids had fun though and interestingly to report Katherine had her first public temper tantrum. She went on a pony ride and absolutely loved it. She wanted to go again but she didn't want to wait in line. I let her toddle around on the grass following closely behind her of course but eventually it was time to get back to the line where Carter was patiently waiting. She flailed, screamed, arched her back, kicked, hit, pushed my face, and there are probably antics I am forgetting. Pretty much the entire farm full of people turned to watch the show. I've never been in that situation before since Carter has been a mellow, happy go lucky, super adaptable child since he was 6 months old. Before that he had colic but that's another story. Anyway, it was like slow motion and the world seemed to shrink and stop all at the same time. I actually had the thought "well here I am, what do I do." I calmly told her that we needed to wait for our turn and that I knew it was hard to wait when you want something. I walked her up to the rail so she could see the ponies and repeated "Katherine pony" and she mostly calmed down. I made eye contact with the person closest to me who was staring and said it was amazing to have a 13 month old acting like a 2 year old. I think with all her hair people might think that she's older than she really is or maybe they are in just as much awe as I am that something so little can have so much emotion. We were very close to the front at that point so thankfully our turn came quickly and she clapped and squealed as got her second pony ride. I am thankful for the fun day, the gorgeous weather, and the fact that I somehow weathered that first public storm. I'm sure it won't be the last but in a weird way I'm glad to have the first one over with. And actually I'm not as mortified as I thought I'd be.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Blog and Disneyland Getaway Sweepstakes
This looks like a pretty neat website. I saw that my friend Colleen posted about it on facebook and we all know what a Disney freak I am so I had to enter. Feel free to check it out. It looks like something I'll actually visit fairly often since I'm always looking for new places to check out.
http://www.sweetlifeinthevalley.com/2007/09/disneyland-giveaway-sweet-life-in.html
http://www.sweetlifeinthevalley.com/2007/09/disneyland-giveaway-sweet-life-in.html
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
the joys and oys of social networking
This morning, the boy who as a kindergartner caught me in the playground equipment room and tried to kiss me, added me as a friend on facebook. I got the request and burst out laughing. Facebook never ceases to amaze me. I mean, honesty you want to add me as your friend because you had a thing for me in kindergarten? We did attend all of elementary school together but we weren't like good buddies or anything. We'd occasionally run into each other out on the town as high school kids and I'll always remember how he looked so confused when he ran into me at a local hang out our senior year and got to experience the temper of my ex-boyfriend. He had slammed the door of my car so hard that it had created a big dent. Oh the drama! It's good to catch up but I often wonder if people enter your life for a reason and leave it for a reason then should we really seek each other out again? Don't get me wrong I've loved seeing how long lost friends' lives have turned out. Maybe that's the voyeur in me. I look at the pictures of people I knew long ago and love seeing how life has weaved so many variables into the lives of people who grew up in similar lifestyles and the same schools. Life goes in many different directions. I love seeing the parts of the world my friends are in or have been in. I look forward to my friend Ruthy's uploads of all the kitty chan (Hello Kitty) stuff she sees in Japan, my friend Sonal's wedding in India, and my friend Christine's photos from South Africa and all the other neat things I get to see pictures of places that I wouldn't normally be able to see. It's been weird to see pictures of the kids of the missionary who came back for me when I was in the single's branch but I had already moved here to marry Matt. I've felt relief, indignation, happiness, sadness, empathy, hope, giddiness, and more emotions just from what I've found or what has found me on facebook. Don't get me started about the old married friend whose instant messaging was getting downright uncomfortable to the point that I had to click on offline status permanently. Oh and I have to mention it's been shocking to see how a few guy friends who I thought were interested in girls have pictures posted of themselves with their boyfriends. In fact, one of the guys I even went out on a date with. Does that mean I made him gay? Just kidding. So if you are up for it share your funniest or most remarkable thing that has happened to you because of facebook. If you don't have an account yet, well, just think for awhile about whether or not you really want one.
Friday, September 18, 2009
What I Love
This weather is so wonderful and I'm just wishing I could be outside all day every day. Katherine and I go out to the backyard and I push her in her swing, check out the garden, and just breathe. Being out there is so relaxing. Without planning it this way we ended up buying a house that is just up the street from an elementary school and under a flight path. Both things just like my childhood home. When I'm out there with Katherine she laughs as I push her and gets this look on her face like she's really concentrating when she hears the excited voices of the school kids playing on the playground. We hear their happy voices, the sound of the school bell, the sounds of the airplanes, and I just get this relaxed, comfortable feeling like I've been hear for ages. It makes me think about when Carter was a baby and he'd point up to the airplanes and say "Hi Jay Jay!" He too, would get all excited when he heard the school kids on the playground (this was at my parents house since we spent Carter's first 4 years there). I love that despite the different setting, Carter and Katherine will have that similar experience. I love that without planning it I've created as close to home as I can get. Today the sky is so brilliant blue, the clouds are perfectly puffy, and the air even feels clean. I was looking at Katherine's view when she is in her swing and had to take a picture. Gorgeous mountains and beautiful sky. Our garden did okay this year. Not the best but not the worst. I love eating a warm tomato off the vine, a crisp apple from the tree, ruffled lettuce out of the garden. You can tell from the picture that the romaine is kaput. I understand why we are all supposed to have a garden. My soul just loves it. I love that I can step outside and feel weight off of my shoulders as I just take time out to enjoy the beauty of the creation. I think that is why I love going to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens so much. It's hard for me to understand why people suffer so, why there is so much pain in the world, and then I go to the gardens and feel that despite all of that, our God is a truly loving God.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Yet Another Advice Seeking Post
Yes I could go to babycenter or parents websites to find info but I'd rather have it from the moms around me who have dealt with the same issues. My adorable, spunky, full of life, sweet faced baby will not stop being really loud at church. A lot of the time her sounds are from happiness, sometimes they are out of anger or frustration, and sometimes they are out of excitement. Such was the case at church today when a family in our ward performed a lovely medley. I could tell she was listening by how she watched them but she also wanted to participate and no bottle, toy, book, or otherwise could prevent her. I took her out of the chapel several times in the first 20 minutes and then I decided to call it quits. I tried hushing her, redirecting her, engaging in silly hand rhymes, but no matter. The adorable child just wants to talk....loudly. I tried all those things hoping to keep her in because she is going to have to learn to just do it but after several looks and taking her out and bringing her back several times I got the car keys, took her out, and drove home. She's sitting reading books (quietly of course now that there isn't an audience) while I sit here typing this post to ask my friends what they do. SO what do you do? I have no previous experience to fall back on because a) Carter wasn't loud and b) we sat in a pew with my parents when Carter was this age so there were 4 adults to one child meaning that if he did get upset about something there was always one of us who could redirect him. It doesn't help that we get to church right as it is starting and therefore are stuck in the metal chairs. Katherine thinks the sound they make when she hits them is beautiful music. We've tried getting there early but she's usually napping until right before we leave or there's some other reason why we can't seem to get there early enough for a pew. I've noticed that she is little quieter when we are in one I guess because she has more room to cruise and no chairs to hit since the pews are covered in fabric. Today Matt had 2 appointments before church and the baby woke up right when he got home so I quickly dressed her, got some juice for her, and off we went. Consequently, we got the metal chairs which tells you why I ended up taking her out a bunch of times and while I'm sitting here on the computer now. So my friends...what is the solution? I know I can't keep coming home because then she'll never learn. I know I can't just sit there while she's talking so loudly because I can't bear the turning heads, I don't want to keep taking her out because it's exhausting since then I end up trying to keep her away from the glass doors because she loves to hit them for the glorious boom sound the make. I totally feel stuck so I'd love some great ideas.
Disclaimer: Yes I know this post makes her sound like a handful but she really is a darling. She's just very busy.
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