Disney!

We brought Lottie to Disneyland this week. On Friday, the day before we left to drive down here, we decided to leave Kelsey with the Aunts for the week. She will spend the weekends with Stephanie and the week with Aunt Colleen & Aunt Della.

We have one more day here before moving on down to San Diego. Here are a few pictures... I promised to show Aunt Stephanie how much fun we're having. I will post more later.

They have it all decked out for Halloween. Lots of pumpkins.


Lottie got cozy on Pluto's bed at Mickey's house.


She was a little scared of getting too close to Mickey. She shook his hand and was excited to see him, just didn't want to hug him.

She did better when we saw him out in costume today. She actually hugged him and kissed his nose.


Mama Bo (that's what Lottie has started calling my mom) wasn't afraid to give him a hug and smooch though!


Lottie did run right up to Princess Tiana. We had to hold her back to wait her turn.

We are having a great time, in spite of the fact that Mama Bo passed out while waiting for the fairies. Way too long standing in one place in the hot sun. She's just fine though. At least it got us special seating when we went to see World of Color. See... there's a bright spot in everything!

Feel so Trendy

Do you ever come across something you love, and then wish you didn't because it's just so trendy? I didn't even know how trendy until after I was in love though.

I have been listening to my Glee Cast Radio on Pandora (I know... more and more trend) and heard this song "New Soul." I really dig it.

So at my girl's night last week I asked my friends if they had heard it. Kristyn had bought the whole album on iTunes already. Kalee had to listen, but then said "Oh, I know this song... from the commercial!"

Right there, I thought, dang! Sometimes I just don't like to jump on bandwagons. Kristyn said the rest of the album wasn't as good, and I shouldn't waste my time. I had to check it out for myself, just to be sure. I listened to previews, and hurried over to buy the whole album myself. Sorry Kristyn, I love the whole thing.

"Paris" intrigues me. In fact, since I bought it yesterday, I've listened to that more than "New Soul." Yael Nain (the singer, and the album title) sings several songs in Hebrew (her native tongue) and they are haunting and beautiful - even though I have no idea what they're about.

Anyway, I highly recommend this album if you're into this kind of thing. The musical style kind of reminds me of Poe's "Haunted," which I also love.

One of those days

Do you ever have one of those days? You know, the ones where you are at work, doing your job as a technical writer, and you suddenly realize that Microsoft Word is not spell checking your documents?

And with the error you just found (Waranty? How is Waranty an acceptable word?) in the title of your document, you know that it hasn't been working for over a month at the very least? And you know how you have written and updated hundreds of documents during that time?

Here's to the three hours I spent fixing that one mistake... in the dozens of pdf bundles that form is included in. And here's to many more opening all of the documents I've created lately (once IT actually gets the problem fixed) and checking them.

An Open Note...

to Shopowners Everywhere,

Please do not display merchandise for sale in your bathrooms. Because... Ew.

The End.

Sincerely,
Grossed-out Fabric Shopper
(who did not purchase, and now will not purchase from your store.)

Not to complain...

But I'm going to complain. I don't like to vent and be all negative on the blog, but today I have to.
This Saturday is June 12th. Many of the 3 or so people who read this blog remember that I am running a half marathon on Saturday.

Excuse me, was running a half marathon on Saturday.

That's right. I have allergies, asthma and OCD - which means I can't run on Saturday. Okay, maybe the OCD has nothing to do with my running, but that diagnosis came this week too. Here's the story:

I've been having asthma attacks much more frequently the past couple of weeks. I know it is because of the cottonwood trees that are shedding their little cotton balls all over the place around here. So, it's been really hard for me running.

I've been working for five months now, building up the endurance I need to run 13.1 miles. Three weeks ago I ran 8 miles and thought I was in great shape. Two weeks ago I was supposed to run 10. I hit about 3 miles, had an asthma attack and ended up walking 1.5 miles home. Last Saturday I was supposed to run 8-10 miles. I did 6 and thought I was going to die.

This leads me to Monday. I was sitting and sewing, and I had an asthma attack. That's right, no activity at all and I couldn't breathe. So, I went to the doctor. He suggested (told me) that I shouldn't try to do the run on Saturday because it was likely I would push myself through an asthma attack and end up in the hospital. But he didn't absolutely forbid my running.

I debated long and hard. I talked to Brad, I asked sister, and I talked to Kimberly at work (who has been a big support in my running - she's doing the full marathon on Saturday hoping to qualify for Boston). After that and a lot of soul searching, I decided finally that it wasn't worth the risk, and I haven't really wasted the last five months, because as soon as I get my asthma under control I can keep training to run a half marathon (maybe Vegas in December?) in a much faster time. I can set a new goal for myself, instead of just finishing, to finish in under two hours.

It's hard. I still really want to run this week, and part of me still thinks that I've wasted a lot of time for nothing. After all, I was hoping this would help me get healthy and lose weight. I haven't lost a pound (and no, my jeans are not fitting any looser either) and I get winded just walking up the stairs. But then again, I get winded just walking up the stairs and so I know I can't run 13.1 miles this weekend. I just have to realize that I'm at least a little healthier, because five months ago there is no way on earth I could have run eight miles at once and been okay afterward.

And now here's the funny part. I have been teased a lot about some of my quirks. Yes, I call them quirks. Some call them freakish behaviors. It has always been a kind of joke that I'm "a little OCD." Well, a few weeks ago I came up the stairs at my house, and was so bothered that I had to go down and do it again. Turns out, it was just because I started on the wrong foot. That got me thinking really hard, noticing more of my "quirks."

I have a system when I get in the car. If I don't do things in the right order, I have flashes of horrible accidents while I'm driving. Not so much if I start off right.

I can't start cooking a meal when things in my utensil turn-about on the counter are in the wrong place. Like, if Brad has put the dishes away (which he does a lot. I have a good husband.) and he just sticks things in there wherever they fit, I have to stop and sort it out right before I start cooking. Even if I'm not using anything in there. I think about burning food and catching the house on fire if I don't fix those things.

Well guess what... that means I have OCD. There's a distinction between quirky behavior and liking things in order and OCD. A tell-tale sign of OCD is associating horrible events with certain quirky behaviors.

I'm not at the "What About Bob" stage... and I will probably never be. I'm not even at the needing medication or a therapist stage. I am supposed to talk about my behaviors and thoughts. If I feel like it's taking control of my life, that's when I would start seeing a behavioral therapist. For now, all of you, my good friends and family, get to be my therapists.

And yes, you can tell me I'm crazy. Because let's be honest here. I am a little bit crazy. (The first time I said that, it was to Brad. And I'm lame enough to have finished it up with "and you're a little bit rock & roll.") And really, as I heard once... "I don't have OCD. I have CDO, because I believe everything should be in alphabetical order."

Don't Read This!!!

If you didn't watch the series finale of Lost yet, don't read this. Wait until you've watched it, then come back.


First off, Boone is hot. Just had to get that out of the way. I was glad to see him for just a few minutes at least.

But where was Michael? And the annoying kid? Walter! How come they didn't get to come meet up with everyone in heaven? (Not that I minded too much - I didn't really like them.) Basically, if you weren't a couple, you didn't get to heaven. Except Boone, probably because he's hot.

And how unsatisfying that they call it a resolution, when all it was is everyone meeting up in the afterlife, since they're all dead. I mean, sure, they held true to the "dead is dead" philosophy, but seriously? That is not closure.

I was with it right up to the point when Jack started talking to his father. At that point, it became just another Dallas moment - where an entire season was a dream just so they could get Patrick Duffy back, or Newhart... "Honey, you won't believe the dream I just had." Lame.

As Brad said, "I just wasted 120 hours of my life."

Okay, maybe not all wasted, I just feel cheated. There were no answers here, just another intense, very good episode. Only this time instead of leaving us hanging and wanting more, they wrapped up with five minutes of crap.

I'd go so far as to say I think even Seinfeld ended better. Leaving the main characters in jail is better than saying "Hey, we're not going to tell you what really happened to any of them. We're not going to explain anything about the island, just introduce you to a new shiny place there. We'll just let you know they all got to the afterlife. Because they all died at some point. Just like everyone else."

I am done now.

Tracking

Once upon a time, my sister went on a trip. Far away. Like, halfway around the world.

I was jealous. I still am. Mostly. She's had some flight issues. She didn't get to Barcelona until a day after she was scheduled, since her flight out of Salt Lake was delayed by snow and she missed the connection in Atlanta.

She should have been home yesterday, but her flight out of Barcelona was canceled due to the no-fly zone in Portugal because of the ash cloud from the Iceland volcano. She was re-routed through Paris and was supposed to be home about 30 minutes from now. So I thought I would get online and just check to see if she really would be.

Looks like her flight was delayed a few hours and she'll now be home in 2 1/2 hours. But at least it's in the air and back over North America. Know how I know?

How cool is that? Not only does it give you the expected time of arrival, but you can actually see the progress of the flight! Ah, web stalking. What did we ever do without it?

P.S. Notice how they couldn't fly through Portugal, but they can fly directly over the volcano producing the ash? Mother Nature is one freaky lady!

Lottie's Nemo Party

Lottie turns two this week. It's crazy that she is that old... sometimes she seems much older!

We had her birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house on Saturday. We're still at the stage where we really just have family at the party, but I think next year she'll get a party with her little friends - since they'll probably be old enough to understand and maybe care by then ; )

Warning... picture overload coming up.

I barely finished her birthday outfit, since my sewing machine jammed up while I was halfway through quilting her new quilt. Good thing she's not old enough to realize she didn't get it on her birthday! I borrowed my mom's machine and finished the pants late Friday night. Which means I didn't get to try them on her, and they are too long. But that's okay, she's still cute.

She liked twirling her shirt. And she even left the flower in her hair for the whole party. Hanging out with Ainsleigh is really turning her into a princess.

Daddy helped her open her presents. She was really spoiled by everyone. Grandma and Grandpa Molen made her a picture book with all of her Aunts and Uncles and cousins on the Molen side of the family. That will make it much easier to teach her who her family is that she doesn't get to see all the time.

Aunt Stephanie couldn't be at the party even though it was at her house, something about being on a Mediterranean cruise or something, but she made sure that Lottie had a new bike to match Ainsleigh's so they can ride around together.

And Liam's just so upset that he doesn't have a big kid bike to ride.

Or maybe he's upset because his pants kept falling down so we put him in suspenders to match Grandpa.


Then we had the pinata. One of my neighbors made this for the party. Since Lottie is our little Cinco de Mayo baby, we've had a pinata for her birthday party. I think that will last as long as she likes it... not sure how we'll work it in when she wants a princess party though.


And don't let their innocent faces fool you. They may look sweet, but they had great fun yelling "Hit Nemo!" and "I hit Nemo's face!"

Come to think of it, maybe pinatas don't teach the best lessons... Then we moved on to the cake. My Neighbor (notice the capitalization of Neighbor, that is not a typo - we don't actually live by each other any more, but she'll always be Neighbor to me - and she's awesome) made this amazing Nemo cake. And she always says she's not domestic.

Lottie sort of blew out the candles. Mommy had to help.

I made Nemo and bubble cookies to go with the cake and ice cream. I mean, really, what's a kid's birthday party without loading them up on sugar and sending them home with their parents?

I just miscalculated the "sending them home with their parents" part since all the kids were hanging out for the rest of the day at my parent's house. Oops. Well, at least they sat with their balloons watching a movie for a little while.

It was a great birthday party.

A Few Things About Lottie

She is just beautiful. Really, everywhere we go people comment on how beautiful she is. She's got that perfect hair that is naturally highlighted, changing from red to blond depending on how the light hits it. Vivid blue eyes. And a smile that can light up a room.


She likes cheese. Every time we open the fridge, she runs over and asks for a cheese. It's adorable.


And she loves {Vegas}. Not the city so much as the bear. I'd say 90% of the time you see her, it is like this, Vegas hanging from her hand, or tucked under an arm. When she's cuddling Vegas and you give her kisses, you have to give Vegas kisses too. In fact, he's been kissed and cuddled so much that he no longer has a nose or mouth, the threads broke from so much love.

Aunt Stephanie brought him back from a trip she took to Las Vegas, and he's been Lottie's favorite ever since she could pick a favorite. She has others she likes - {Tiger} that Uncle Lane gave her, and {Princess} from Aunt Dayna - but nobody can replace Vegas.

This is an unfortunate fact, as Vegas is missing at the moment. Yup... we had him last night, but nobody's seen him at all today. He magically disappeared between bedtime last night and this morning. We have searched our house, Grandma's searching hers (in the morning), and the van has been thoroughly searched as well. I have no idea where he could have gone. Let's just say that I hope we can find him soon. It's more than an hour past bedtime, but she's still not asleep, missing her Vegas. {And let's be honest here... I kind of miss him too... she doesn't cuddle anyone quite as adorably as she cuddles him.}


A few notes:

1. Kate took these awesome pictures while we were doing Kelsey's six month photo shoot. Doesn't she take great pics?

2. Lottie has a nice leather chair that is all her own. My furniture is stained microfiber... how is it that kids have nicer stuff than their parents?

3. We just found out tonight that the bear Aunt Dayna gave her is named Princess. He usually sits on the shelf above her play kitchen, but when we tried to pacify her with him, she did at least hug him and call him Princess. So maybe I should stop referring to Princess as "him" since this bear is obviously a girl.

4. Recently, I've been using brackets {inappropriately}. I just think they're cute. And I'm a firm believer that you can't break the rules until you know how to follow them. And since I know how to follow the grammar rules, I feel I can break them if I want to. (Just don't let it get out with the people I work with... they'd lose all respect for me.)

Easter

We had a great Easter with our girls. It was so much fun to decorate eggs with Lottie. She put the eggs on the spoon for me to dip into the dye, and was so patient as she waited for them to come out colored.

I'm waiting for pics of that from my sister Kate, but I do have a few others that Kate took that day to share here. We had a fun little photo shoot with Lottie, Kelsey, Ainsleigh and Liam.



We also did a photo shoot for Kelsey's six month pictures. I will post those as soon as I have them.

I love a sense of humor

Why can't everyone have as good a sense of humor as Google? Really, if one of the top companies out there can play a good April Fool's Day joke, I should work harder to get in on the action.

{Brad, consider this your fair warning!}

Dear US Census Bureau,

I understand your desire to have every person in the country counted. I understand the reasoning behind this desire. I even understand the lame radio commercials I've been hearing to inform people the census is happening, and to make sure we are aware our form coming in the mail is legit. I fully intend to fill my census form out completely and return it to you.

I do not understand the need to mail a letter to me telling me you will be mailing my census form to me. Really? It says to watch for my form in the mail. Do you think that letter is going to reach people who aren't checking their mail? Really!?!

Is there any purpose in this letter other than wasting money? Maybe your purpose is wasting time. Or killing trees. So, I guess maybe there is more purpose than just wasting money. I take it all back US Census Bureau. Maybe you know what you're doing.

Then again, I know some of your employees... so maybe you don't.

Sincerely,
A Resident of Eagle Mountain
( I just thought I should tell you where I live, because my letter came addressed to the resident at my street address, my zip code, city of Lehi. I don't live in Lehi.)

Trucks

Kelsey is having a rough time right now. RSV with ear infections in both ears makes for an unhappy baby. She has been getting a lot of my attention right now. Sewing is getting no attention. Lottie is still getting some, but not as much as she should be.

Instead, I'm sorry to say, I've resorted to the electronic babysitter all too frequently this week.

Her new favorite - even more requested than Yo Gabba Gabba - is Trucks.

Or, as everyone else knows it:



She especially loves Mater. And I'll admit - he's kind of my favorite too.

Favorite Place

Lottie has a new favorite place to be. Often, if we cannot hear her, we go into her room and find her here:

Although, she usually looks up and laughs. But the other day, she didn't feel well, so she curled up and went to sleep under Kelsey's crib.

Kelsey's favorite place to be is anywhere someone is paying attention to her:


We see the smile on her face a lot more now that we have her reflux under control and have switched her to lactose-free soy formula. More expensive, but I'd say that smile is well worth it.

I Lost

And losing was never so much fun!

We had a great Valentine's Day around here. We've sort of got an arrangement: Brad plans our Valentine's activity, I plan our anniversary. I've got a lot to live up to in June.

This is what I got Brad:
Yup. Some movies (let's face it, I don't even know if he wanted them... but I did, and I knew he would enjoy them) and fabric. You read right - fabric. He needs new pajama pants, and I thought it would be more thoughtful if I made them, but I didn't even get around to getting them done before the big day.

This is what he got me:

He dropped me off Saturday afternoon at a Day Spa for a pedicure, manicure, one-hour massage and makeup treatment.

While I was relaxing at the spa, he relaxed with these:

(Lottie takes after Grandma Molen... she loves to play the piano!)

He picked me up from the spa and we went here for dinner.


During dinner he let it slip that he had only thought of the spa the day before. I knew that he hadn't forgotten to get me a present because he had been planning this for so long, so I had a sudden "a-ha" moment when I realized that the spa hadn't been my only present! Sure enough he pulls this out of his coat.

(except of course, my charms say "L" & "K")

I have been seriously wanting some of Lisa Leonard's jewelry for a while now. She has some awesome stuff. I follow her blog and feel like I know her amazing little family. I don't know how Brad knew the perfect gift to get me! (Unless, of course, it was the e-mail I sent him one night as we were both sitting next to each other surfing the web on our iPhones.)

We followed it up with a movie. It was a real date night out - which we don't have very often. Not often enough.

So that night, Stephanie said to me, "You totally lose. Look what he got you, and you got him that?" So yes, I lose. But in losing, I totally won.

June 12th

One might ask: Why is this day important?

I will tell you. On June 12, 2010, I will be doing this:



Okay, technically I will only be doing half of that. But they didn't have a cute logo I could put up that said half. So - keep bugging me and ask if I'm keeping up with my training schedule. I might get to the point I need pushing!

Okay, I fully plan to write about Christmas (we had a wonderful time), but this is just a quick post to point you towards my other site where I'm in need of help and offering free things for it!

Click here to check it out: