Seasonal Greetings

Our family Christmas card has always had "Happy Holidays" written on it, instead of "Merry Christmas," because I have a few people I send them to who do not celebrate Christmas.
Then I realized that is like being a BYU fan but not wearing blue in Salt Lake because you might encounter Ute fans.
So THIS is our Christmas postcard this year:
I made it as a collage with Picasa. I really love that software program. And not just because it's free. Though that does increase it's value to me exponentially. Then I uploaded it to vistaprint.com as a postcard and they shipped 100 to me (that's the fewest they'll do in an order). I bought a bunch of 28 cent stamps. So I'm loaded and ready. Now I just need YOUR address! If you think I don't have it - leave it in the comments. I'm enabling comment moderation so I won't publish your address for the world to see. Cuz you never know what kind of creepy weirdo is stalking my blog...

On a similar note, here is the Christmas card for my parents (via 123print.com - much better than vistaprint). This is the problem with people finding out how much discretionary time I have - I get asked to take on projects. Pro bono. I'm embarrassed to admit how many hours I spent trying to gather photos and put this thing together. Just tell me it's great - I can't bear to hear anything else.
Love these people. Miss these people. Christmas will be a bittersweet day without them.

More fun to give

Although this is going to sound a little self-righteous and disgustingly virtuous (I hate public declarations of personal virtue) ... I really do enjoy giving more than receiving. I work really hard to find gifts for people that are personal and perfect for them. And inexpensive. Because that makes ME feel good. And it's all about ME. I wish I could blog about the gifts I'm working on and the ones I've finished... I'm SOOOO excited about some of them! But for obvious reasons, the only one I can safely write about is what we're giving to Brianna. As of a couple days ago I wasn't planning on getting her anything. I think it's a little silly to go all-out buying frivolous gifts for a child who doesn't know Christmas day from Flag Day, and who really enjoys playing with rocks and flushing the toilet over and over. Buuuut... I saw this deal and couldn't pass it up:

Here's the website description: Hooked on Phonics Learn Colors on the Go is perfect for both at home and on the go learning. The set includes a colorful write-on/wipe-off workbook filled with fun brain-building activities and an entertaining DVD with music videos and cartoons to help pre-k children learn about colors and patterns while traveling, or in the home. It reinforces color recognition, pattern recognition, matching and handwriting skills, and will have your pre-k children laughing, dancing, and learning about colors and patterns everywhere they go. The DVD and book will keep kids occupied while traveling and helping to prepare for kindergarten, and to become early readers! Perfect for at-home and on-the-go learning, Hooked on Math® Learn Numbers on the Go! is a colorful write-on/wipe-off book filled with brain-building activities and a fun and entertaining DVD featuring music videos, cartoons, and more. This book will have your child dancing, laughing, and learning about numbers everywhere you go. Reinforces:

Number recognition

Pattern recognition

Matching

Handwriting

Almost everything on the Hooked On Phonics website is 50% off with code HOP50. ANNNDD... free shipping! They usually only do free shipping for orders over $130. A month ago, the grand total for these two items would have been about $23, plus about $7 shipping. My grand total: $5.40! Hope she likes these.

Responses

I was asked a few questions in the comments on my last post. Instead of responding to them on the comment page, I thought I'd make a new post (since I've been running out of blogging inspiration lately).
Q: Have you put up your Christmas clutter yet?
First of all, I love that you called it Christmas clutter. I feel like that's what it is sometimes. I know - I'm so bah-humbug. Not really though - I actually have like 4 boxes full of decorations. The problem is that they're completely inaccessible right now... they're in the hidden crawl space below our home in Provo that we're renting out. I wouldn't feel comfortable asking our renter to take everything out of the under-stairs storage closet so we could lift up the carpet, unlock the wooden door, and hop 6 ft down into the dark, cold storage area. I don't even want our renters to know that area exists. We didn't even know about it til we had been there over a year. Before we left for Vernal, I forgot to get our stuff out of there. We have all kinds of junk down there... I mean, important stuff. Like Brian's ginormous basketball card collection he won't let me sell. Anyway...so yeah, we don't have 98% of our decorations - just a few little things I grabbed at the swap meet a few weeks ago. The picture of Brianna sticking her tongue out (cuz she refused to smile) shows the few doo-dads we have. And we have a wreath on our door. I say that's festive enough.

I took this extra picture of Brian at our door with the wreath and realized I should explain all that stuff in his hands. It's a balloon, sign, card, treats, and gift card for his employee's birthday. As we were going to bed the night before, he's like, "oh - it's Carly's birthday tomorrow. Can you take care of it?" Thanks for all the notice. Hmph. But I actually really like recognizing other's bdays, so it was fun to go get some goods for her. She puts up with Brian's cheesiness and unending extreme enthusiasm very well.

And this picture of her with the wild smile... she's throwing the nativity scene decoration. After I told her to be careful while holding it.
Which brings me to the next topic:
Q: How's that TIMEOUT business going?
So here's the story: several months ago, I decided I needed to start some sort of disciplinary efforts. Most of my friends were into the time-out method. So that's what we did. She deliberately did something wrong/dangerous, so I told her she had to SIT in the corner for 30 seconds. Of course she wouldn't stay there. So I put my hands on her shoulders firmly enough that she couldn't get up. There was much weeping and wailing and gnashing. Definitely unpleasant. Mission accomplished - she learned the consequences of her wrong/dangerous actions. Until she decided to test her limits again (and again and again). Eventually she understood that if she just stayed sitting for the whole 30 seconds, I wouldn't hold her down. She doesn't like restraint, so now she just runs to the corner when I announce TIMEOUT. Sometimes she even counts along with me and smiles. That's annoying. This isn't supposed to be fun. Soooo... obviously I have no idea what I'm doing and I just have to follow my instinct and pray she doesn't turn out to be a self-centered adult with an inherent sense of entitlement. That's one of those things that drives me nuts - people who feel entitled. Like when they get a speeding ticket and blame the "mean cop." Or get furious at long lines. I totally think it stems from a childhood with a poor discipline system where basic virtues weren't taught. Ever seen the movie Seven starring Will Smith? I want my child(ren) to have the character qualities of the blind guy. Because I don't always. And I want better for my kid(s).
Next topic:
Q: Why do you like the Seriously, SO Blessed blog?
Ok, so no one actually said that verbatim... but I feel obligated to defend my adoration of TAMN and her satirical posts highlighting the banes of the Zion society in blogworld. Am I the only one that wants to gag at the "my-life-is-so-fairy-tale-perfect" blogs done by LDS woman portraying their lives as blissfully excellent? But instead of gagging... through this blog, we can just laugh at it! It's not done out of spite - the true author is a 25-yr old married mom in grad school, simply making a spoof. I can't be the only one who laughs and cringes at the same time while reading other's blogs... the public declarations of love for their "best-in-the-world" spouse, the "my baby is rolling over and doing sign language and walking at 2 weeks old!", the obnoxious widgets, the teenybopper music on autoplay, the flagrant misspellings, 500 exclamation points, obsession with posh winter boots...
It's also a self-help tool for myself... I see my sins more clearly. Like taking myself too seriously. Or like when she did a spoof on women who whine and cry about their "infertility problem"... because they had to "try" for a whole 2 months. Or how brides wearing flipflops and sparkles think they're uber-unique/creative/original. And all forms of shallowness and materialism and superficiality.

I love how she reminds me that we don't have to pretend we have perfect children and are madly in love every second of every day and are size 2 and maintain immaculate homes with trendy hand-made decor.
With all that said... I admit I may have a kooky sense of humor. The kind that likes Simpsons and Seinfeld. I blame it on my siblings. Brian doesn't like or "get" the SSB blog either. Then again... he's a Zionite.

I had a friend call and ask if I was ok.
Because I haven't blogged in nearly a week.
I'm that bad, huh?
Well - yes, my friend(s) - if anyone else was concerned as well - I just haven't had anything noteworthy occur this week. I try not to blog about the mundane. Though everyone's definition of mundane varies.
I guess I could take more pictures of Brianna sitting on the potty. We've been doing that a lot. She's only diapered now while sleeping or while out on an excursion that doesn't offer easy restroom access. We've only had a couple accidents this week - both when she was mad at me for putting her in timeout.
Speaking of timeout...I could take pictures of her doing that too. She goes at least once a day to the corner for 30 seconds. Usually for belligerent mess-making.
I could take more pictures of us reading books together. We do that a lot too. Though I'm worried she's borderline A.D.D. because she often has a 5 second limit per page. Or less. Someone please tell me this is normal.
I could take pictures of Brianna pushing her away Daddy and screaming, "NO! Go 'way! Mommy give!" at him. Suddenly he's not her favorite anymore {understatement}. I wish she realized how hard he works for us. It's been 11-12 hr days at the office, often minus lunchbreak. I hope this is just a phase. I'd honestly be happier if she preferred HIM and pushed ME away!
We've been pretty indoor-confined this week. Single-digit temps and no snow to play in are really not conducive to outdoor fun.
We cook. We clean. We laundry. We Lego. We gym. We shop. We bathe. We repeat.
OH, and we Bambi. Every day. She's obsessed with watching Bambi. Bolding and italicizing the word obsessed isn't emphasizing it enough. We both have the entire 96 minute 1940 film memorized word for word - including the horribly cheesy 40's-choir songs. She insists on sitting on my lap the whole time. So I've kept the laptop close. I read the SeriouslySoBlessed blog religiously. A recent post mocked people taking pictures of themselves holding cupcakes with their feet turned inward. That made me laugh. Almost as much as the post making fun of women calling themselves single-moms because their husbands work/school long hours. I talk to my sisters everyday and they tell me what being a single mom is really all about. I also use my Bambi/internet time to work on Christmas gifts. I'm doing everything online this year - minus a few yardsale finds (how whitetrashy is it that I love yardsales?). Lots of photo-gifts. FYI - vistaprint.com is horrible. Artscow.com has the best prices. Shutterfly and Snapfish are pretty much the same. Walmart Photo is lesser quality. Photoworks is not user friendly. There're facts according to Chelsea.


See? Told ya I had nothing noteworthy to blog about. I'll work on it.

New Brianna videos

Last night Brianna suddenly decided to stop being camera-shy and actually do a little performing. She's been doing most of these "tricks" for months, but just not for the camera. I uploaded several videos to youtube. In case for some crazy reason you're NOT subscribed to our "channel" (what's wrong with you?!) here are links to the 60-second-or-less clips and a little description of what you're in for:

Brianna attempts to sing I Am a Child of God, but gets distracted after the first few lines. She CAN sing the whole song, but decided to pause to remind me to remind her, "keep going, Brianna." :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRZtFlRM65M

Brianna's religious education:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDXmvcr9o7E

I was running out of ideas, and Brianna kept asking me to "make mohr Branna oovie" so this one was just me thinking of random things to ask her to do. She does a few animal sounds, sings the first part of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (she CAN sing the whole thing, but often gets distracted - like here, where she pauses to say CHEESE), she blows a kiss, counts to ten, says I DID IT... all while reading her favorite book - "Daddy and Brianna" (it's a photobook I made with just pictures of Brian and Brianna together): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZw1TlQ1qpk

Her favorite game is to put her blanket over her head, so her dad and I start asking, "where's Brianna? I can't find her annnyyyywhere....where's BRIANNA?!" She laughs and pops her head out. This time she decided not to laugh...she's mad at me for putting a turtleneck shirt on her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu3vgs8Q9oQ

You might think I'm a mean/bad mom after watching this, cuz I laugh when Brianna slips and falls down. It was just funny because you can hear her muttering, "careful Brianna, careful Brianna, careful..." then BOOM. She stopped trying to surf on pans on the tile floor after that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqY-VvEdj2Y

Finally! She said the entire alphabet for the camera. I used to sing it to her over and over while we walked to and from the Rec Center everyday in Vernal. I have no explanation for the "NO DADDY!" yelling at the end. She gets mad at her parents randomly and irrationally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOtiQOZdzKU

The best part of the photoshoot...

The Brianna-only pictures were my favorite. She tends to be much more photogenic than her parents. Though of course she was never smiling WHILE we were holding her... only when she was put in an interesting place, like a backhoe.
Or while in the car as we were leaving:

Or when she spotted a dog passing by
Or when the photographer had the brilliant idea of giving her a leaf to play with:

But most of the time she just ran away from us.

The view from my run

Last Friday Brian spent his "day off" at his office helping "run the show."
I'm not bitter, I promise - I'm used to it. Like when he called yesterday at 5:24pm to let me know he wouldn't make it home for lunch. You'd think it'd be like, "duh - judging from how late it it, I kinda figured that." But not really - sometimes he does actually take a lunch break at 4 or 5pm. Amazing how he can go 9 hours without eating and still be a car rental superstar.
Anyways...so since Friday was supposed to be his day off, I convinced him that he could keep Brianna at the office so I could go on a run (the gym was closed, and I had slept in).
I dropped her off, knowing she'd spend most of her time "rearranging" the shelfs of tourism pamphlets, and headed out to a nearby golf course. I had never been there before, because I'm usually in too much of a hurry to get my run completed and can't take the time to drive or bike to a more interesting place. Back in the pre-Brianna days, I would bike up to 10 miles away to find a better trail to run {sigh}. Not complaining, just reminiscing.
The golf course was nice - perfect turf, felt great to my knees and feet - but there were too many golfers out. So I headed up to the hills above it. And got lost. Very lost. I ended up backing myself into a corner, of sorts. I couldn't go back the way I came - it would take another 30 minutes. I couldn't go back a little and find a new trail, because to get back to the ERAC office I'd have to cross several fence lines with cattle inside. So my only option was to climb UP the big mountain I backed myself into. I don't know if can call my scampering up "running" - it was just a fast hike. While I should have felt a little apprehensive and remorseful (I told Brian I'd be back in 40 minutes - turned out to be a lot more) I secretly got a little masochistic kick out of it. Here's a very inadequate picture of one scene from the top:

I'm glad I was paranoid enough to bring my phone with me while running. A few years ago I made fun of people who did that.
I guess it's hard to explain why I think this experience is noteworthy. Blogworthy. It was just one of those moments where I felt... alive. Like I wasn't just a mom spending hours singing potty-related songs with my toddler and cleaning up spilled cereal and pushing a stroller and lamenting my 8 surplus pounds and feeding my hardworking husband and dusting blinds... like how I felt in Hawaii when I would spend hours running through guava tree-covered mountains and long empty beaches and ungroomed river trails... like a strong, free woman. Perhaps only a druggie could understand how the dopamine and serotonin hit could feel so awesome. It lasted me through the weekend. I need another hit soon.

Thankful for Zion and free food

We spent Thanksgiving afternoon hiking in Zion National Park. I can't believe we live so close to such an amazing place. There were many other hikers there today from all over the world - lots of Asians, Europeans... this is a big trip for them, and it's right in our backyard. Add that to the list of things I probably take for granted...
Brianna enjoyed most of the adventure. She wanted to be OUT of her toddler pack more than we could allow her (for time's sake - the sun goes down too early, so we were rushing, and she only goes fast when SHE feels like it). She did a lot of song-singing, and got upset if we didn't join her. She wanted to count everything, and furiously tried to wiggle out at each waterfall or stream, saying "Ah wanna tuhz (touch) eht!".
Our camera hates me (or maybe it's the SD card - I'm getting a new one at a BF sale tomorrow) so these are some cell pics:

Oh deer. Brian took a picture on his phone of me taking a picture on my phone. I told Brianna the mule deer was Bambi. She totally believed me. Sucker.

Sorry - just turn your head to the right.

The extra 30 pounds on my back all afternoon felt really great. Really.

Our favorite part was the Emerald Pools, so I'm stealing some photos of it from the www:As society dictates on this day of shameless gluttony, we also ate a lot. It's an interesting story... we had planned to just find somewhere near the park to get something. But on my bike ride in the morning I saw a Shakespearean-themed place called Bard's with a THANKSGIVING sign on it. So we called, and it sounded like they were doing a traditional holiday feast at a reasonable price. We showed up hungry at 11am and spotted an elderly man from our ward going in at the same time by himself. We invited Brother Massey to our table and spent the meal enjoying his company and his funny stories about his 11 yr old twin daughters from his ex-wife (Brother Massey is at least 70 yrs old...yeah, with biological 6th grade daughters... you do the math). We had only met him twice before - once at church, and once when he broke his foot a couple months ago and we brought dinner to him. I'm never met a more gracious person - you'd think I had saved his house from burning down or something like that. He seemed to really enjoy being with Brianna - he kept commenting on what a good eater she is (until she noticed the pie and started yelling for it - before that it had been, "mooh bocki (broccoli) peez! Mooh cahatz (carrots)!") At the end, I whispered to Brian that we should take care of his tab too, but before he could tell the waitress, she brought the whole bill to Brother Massey - he had already asked her for it! He wouldn't take no for an answer. Such a generous man - it wasn't a cheap tab! I later asked Brian what his favorite part of the meal was - expecting him to say the potatoes - and his answer was, "the fact that it was free!"
So overall, it was a wonderful holiday-day for us. The only thing that would've made it better is being a part of the noisy fun going on in the background at my parent's house in WA when I called today {sigh}. But we're headed there for a little trip in January (thankyou cheap airfare!)

An attempt at family photos

My goal was to at least get ONE good one of all three of us that I can use as a Christmas card.
Apparently Brianna didn't understand that goal. She's never SMILING at the camera when we are, and vice versa.
I guess I'll just have to make a collage and crop a decent shot of each of us into a family photo.


I should've worn DARK jeans like Brian did.


I also wanted to get at least one good one of all of us to use as an 8x10 gift for my mom. I know - way too ambitious.

"Brianna, please smile at the freakin' camera!"
This is how Brianna felt by the end:

From the mouth of my babe, part 2

-Today I came into the kitchen to find Brianna with oatmeal all over herself. She looked at me with a serious face and said, "IZ OATMEAL TIME!"

-I've been trying to teach her the difference between boys and girls. She's doing pretty well - it's fun to hear her say, "Nonny GIRL. Papa BOY. Daddy BOY. Mommy GIRL. Brianna GIRL." Occasionally she'll put the words IS A in between, when I remind her.

-One of the attendants at the Child Care at Gold's told me that Brianna sat at the table coloring and singing the Sunbeam song over and over.

-At the store today, she was sitting in her basket and we passed a little boy with his mom. They were walking the opposite direction of us and she yelled at him, "C'MEER BOY! C'MEEEEERRR! BOY!"

-She had an accident today and didn't quite make it to the potty. I didn't scold her, but I talked to her about what she did wrong and how we're going to do it differently next time. She got mad at me and yelled, "PUT DIAPER BACK ON!"

-While we were out doing errands, she called two different men DADDY. That's always awkward.

Purse Snatcher

The marriage to which I aspire

Our ward started the Marriage & Family Sunday School class, so I'm attending it while Brian teaches the 13 yr olds. We were talking about the qualities of a good marriage. One elderly man was called on, as he and his sweet wife were about to celebrate their 63rd anniversary. They're such a cute couple - always holding hands or touching in some way. He was asked what their secret is. He smiled and said, "Well, we never ever argue. We disagree on some things, but we never - - oh wait, there's one thing we argue about. Taking out the trash!" We all laughed, but he shook his head and went on, "Because I have a bad heart, and she has a bad back. She always tries to take the garbage out before I do, so I don't strain my heart, and I always try to take it out before she does, so she won't hurt her back."

She shoots... she scores!

As if she's attention-starved...

Brianna doesn't like to be left out of my activities. She wants to help me do everything.
I draw the line at bathroom activities and computer activities.
She's accepted the first, but the latter is a battle sometimes.

You probably can't tell what this picture is... Brianna is hiding under her blanket, crawling between myself and the laptop. I can imagine what was going through her head...something like, "hmmm, maybe if I put this blanket over my body, mommy won't see me and I can play with the computer too." Genius.

baaaaah

A few weeks ago we heard rumors about a "sheep parade" down Main Street. One thousand ewe would be marching down the closed-off most prominent road in our big-little city. Though I typically just furrow my eyebrows and shake my head at such odd, redneck entertainment... we happened to already be in the area that morning. And I was mildly curious about Brianna's reaction to such a sight.
Her reaction? "Loss-a doggies mommy! Loss-a doggies!"
Oh, and there were at least a couple dozen different tractors preceding the sheep in the parade. I didn't get it. Brianna felt the need to go out and investigate:

At the (very crowded) park Brianna started yelling, "Mommy tooted! Mommy tooted!" I have no idea why.

Brianna came up to me holding 5 shoes and said, "put shooz on mommy, go park!" I must've been slow in getting ready because she stood by the door saying "cmon, cmon!" Halfway there she realized she forgot her blanket and yelled "GO BACK!"

Brian just told me that this morning Brianna grabbed his hand and said, "daddy take me fridge"and walked him toward the kitchen.

Brianna

In case you've forgotten what she looks like.... since all I blog about is myself....She had something in her mouth during this picture. I can't remember what. I probably don't want to remember what.

Ok, fine - here are the details.

I really don't even wanna blog about the triathlon - still upset over lost pictures. And not just lost pictures of the tri - pictures of Brianna doing cute stuff afterwards at the park, and pictures of the tri-ward swap meet event. My camera (or the SD card?) has done this before. It asks me to "scan and repair" the card when I insert it to the laptop. If I let it "scan" - it's like letting Brianna into the pantry. Random destruction and consumption. {sigh}
But since I've been asked about it a few times... here's some proof I actually did it:
The tshirt (dri-fit quality style - I hate these types of shirts cuz they fit me oddly), the helmet I won (SOOOOO happy - my former helmet is at least a decade old and breakable with my bare hands), and the plaque (which I think is so pointless - what do I do with it? It's going in a box with the others. That sounds so arrogant, I know... but I don't know how to say it without sounding snooty... I wish race directors would just give me the money they spend on trophies/ribbons/plaques instead. Even if it's just 5 bucks.)
Ok, so - race details. We swam 400 yds (16 lengths or 8 laps), biked 10 miles, and ran a 5K. My final time was 1:07:01. I wish I had known to run 2 seconds faster so I could just say 1:06. But then I just would've wished I had gone 59 seconds faster so I could say 1:05. Never satisfied. That's an issue with me. My swim was slow - 7:53. In the SUU pool two days before I timed myself closer to 7 minutes flat. Twice. But I was sharing a lane with a really big guy, so each time I passed him it messed me up, and I lost track of my lap count so I was freaking out about that. And I kept getting too close to the wall on my flip turns. Lots of excuses. I'm a whiner. After that I rushed out and threw on my bike shoes. Well, Lindy's bike shoes. I borrowed the bike, shoes, and outfit from my friend/neighbor/VT Lindy. She's awesome. She actually does open-water full-distance triathlons. I want to be her when I grow up. The outfit was great - specialty tri-shorts and top, so I never had to change clothes! I swam, biked, and ran in the same (very comfortable) attire. I thought I would feel horribly self-conscious in such a revealing outfit, but when I got there I realized I was dressed quite modestly compared to everyone else. So back to the bike.... I thought this would be the WORST part of the event. I had only tried Lindy's bike once. I'm used to my little commuter-hybrid bike. But I just flew in it. Road bikes are amazing. I'd never really used one before this. They felt so dangerous and out of control... tiny tires, horizontal body position.... so awkward and unsafe. But once I clipped my shoes in (took me a full 30-40 seconds - I'm very bad at it) I took off and went as hard as I could. It was tough because I didn't know my standing in the race. Since the swim began by waiting in line for the pool for 40 minutes (not joking), I had no idea if the girl up ahead was actually ahead of me, or had started the swim 10 minutes before me and I was passing her. We had chip timers on our left ankles. Another awkward part - I don't like those. The biking was difficult when we had to make turns - I get really paranoid about slipping and biffing it bad. So I ride the brakes the whole time. There was a guy I was biking along side of who would pass me on each uphill, then I would pass him as we leveled out or went downhill. At the last downhill I yelled to him, "no more uphills for you!" My version of trash-talking. After the bike I raced in and threw on my racing shoes. And socks. I debated for a ridiculously long time about socks, and asked several seasoned triathletes. Jury was out. So I opted for socks, and probably should've done without. That would've given me my two seconds I wanted. Of course, as I started to run, my legs felt like bricks. I couldn't catch my stride for a long time. My goal was to let no one pass me. And to catch every single person I could see. The course was ridiculous - a 1.55 mile loop we had to do twice. But they had to have it that way because the beginner triathlon course was half the sprint distance. My run was 23:16 - I'm embarrassed to write that, especially considering how hard I tried. I really thought I'd run my usually 20-minutish 5K. I didn't think the swim & bike would affect my legs so much. I learned a lot from this race. Oh, and the bike was 34:31. The first transition took 45 seconds and the second 34 seconds. That could really use some improvement. There were nine men ahead of me - one being my friend from Orem, Devin Moody. It was fun to see one familiar face. There were great snacks afterwards, and MASSAGES. mmmhmmm. Brian was such a champ - taking great care of Brianna, keeping her from jumping in the pool, helping her steal snacks from the refreshment table, and teaching her to say, "go fastu mommy!" each time they saw me.
And the BEST part of the race.... my new tatoo!
(it's hard to take a picture of your own arm - here's another attempt:)

I'm never washing it off.

Oh, and afterward as we were wandering around killing time until the award ceremony (which I usually don't stay for - I hate how long it takes. But I didn't know if I had won or not) I got sucked in to signing up for Winder Farms home delivery. The saleslady was good. She passed out samples of their organic, hormone free chocolate milk. It was kindof to-die-for. We got to take home this big cooler free and FULL of their fresh for signing up! And we got $15 of free credit and a bunch of coupons. And a few loaves of their bread - one of which (the 10 grain) is seriously THE best bread I've ever had, aside from that one in the DR I posted about, but this one's actually healthy. Anyways, so we have to have their truck come to our house once a week for the next 24 weeks, and have to order at least $8 worth. They have a $2.99 delivery fee. So I don't think it's a big money-saver. Maybe it will be an even wash by the time we cancel.

That's all. Time to get back to Brianna-focused-blogging.

Reverence

Picture this:
We're sitting on the front row at church. It's Sacrament time. It's relatively quiet. The bread is blessed and a Deacon starts to walk towards us with the tray. Brianna sees the young man approaching. She drops her toy, turns towards him, and boldly holds her hand out in front of herself in a "stop" position. She LOUDLY commands: "GO BACK!"

Fun in-store

I hate my camera. Or maybe I hate the SD card. It somehow randomly chooses pictures to eat. It ate my triathlon pictures. And the pictures from the swap meet I helped organize at church today (both events went really well). I'll be mourning the loss of those photos for awhile. New camera on my Christmas list.
Moving on...

We were at a store and Brianna found all these Christmas toys that play music when you press a button. So she went down the isle, pressing every. single. button. There were over twenty singing toys going off at the same time. The employees looked like they really enjoyed it...since they had probably never heard those songs before... =)

distractions

I'm rillyrillyrilly nervous about my triathlon tomorrow. It's only a sprint distance, but it might as well be an Ironman for how anxious I am. Triathlons are so much more complicated than road races... so much more gear, so many more possibilities for something to go wrong... I think I'd almost rather run a marathon tomorrow. I wouldn't have to worry about trying to fit my bike in the car. Brian just left to go to his office and see if a bigger vehicle has returned so we can rent it tomorrow. I should probably go to sleep. But what better way to calm my nerves than blogging?Here's Brianna just waking up from a nap. Check out those rosy cheeks - love 'em. People have commented on them many times in the past. She gets it from her dad. When she's old enough to get embarrassed, she'll probably go BRIGHT red just like him too! Notice the rocking chair - I love it. My aunt Phylis gave it to me a couple years ago. She said she used it for her kids, so it's at least 35 years old - and not a scratch on it! Brianna's so funny when she wakes up - in the mornings, she starts shouting DADDEEEEE, DADDEEEEE (cuz I'm usually out the door running before she's up)... and after her mid-day nap, she calls for me (since Brian is at work). She doesn't cry or get upset - she just sits and calls our names overandoverandover til we rescue her. Okay - maybe it's only funny to me.
Cedar City is known for the Shakespearean Festival, and so I thought it would be pretty lame if we didn't go to at least one show while living here. Tickets are kinda pricey, even with our Iron County resident discount. I knew my friend Heather lets her kids stay up really late, so I asked if Brianna could come to their home and play while Brian and I date-nighted. I took Brianna on a long stroller ride in the late afternoon so she'd fall asleep for a second nap and be okay to party late with her friends (Shaylee and Parker - she adores them). Brian and I REALLY enjoyed "Tuesdays With Morrie." Yeah, I know it's not Shakespeare - that's why I liked it. Call me uncultured, but I'm not much of a Shakespeare fan. The play was great - I read the book several years ago, so I had forgotten much of the plot. I kept hoping my memory was wrong and Morrie wouldn't die. I cried. (sorry to be a spoiler). The best part was being out with Brian by ourselves! It felt like pre-baby life again. Here's my little helper. She saw me cleaning and wanted to join in. Notice she's still in her jammies. If she had her way, she'd stay in them forever. I have to bribe her with outings to get her to change.

Ok.... nothing else to post about. Well, there is... there ALWAYS is... but I'm going to go to bed and try and dream of smooth transitions. I wonder if I should wear socks...

She's not even two yet

Brianna showed a different side of herself today.... I've never seen her behave so poorly.
We hungout at her friend Emily's house today while her mom went to a doc appointment. Emily is about 6 months older than Brianna. My little {a-hem} angel spent most of the two hours yelling MINE! MINE! as she grabbed Emily's toys and books and snacks. Emily was no pushover - she defended her turf and shouted MINE! back. But more politely than Brianna, and not half as belligerent. And when I played with Emily or picked her up, Brianna would start crying out, "MY MOMMY! NO!" Fortunately Emily has lots of toys, so I could distract Brianna with something other than what Emily was playing with. And there were a few moments of congeniality - like when Emily was helping Brianna learn her letters. And when they took turns kissing Emily's dolls. I've seen Brianna have little conniptions before - but never this long & loud. I swear I heard MINE no less than 872 times.
AND THEN... to add to the fun .... we stopped at Albertsons on the way home (partly because Brianna was yelling "GO SHOPPING PEEZ!") and she showed me that her behavior at Emily's had actually been pretty mild. Wiggling her way out of those cart-seats (the seatbelts are worthless) and "re-organizing" the store. As we walked by the bakery she started an endless squealing of COOKIESPEEZCOOKIESPEEZCOOKIESPEEZ. If she had just asked once nicely I might have let her. But I didn't want to reward the show she put on. So we hurried to the back for their chicken sale (notice how grocery stores put all the staples on opposite sides of the store? Evil) and she managed to get out of her seat. I gave in and let her walk next to me. I had my eyes off her for a few moments and turned around to find her in the candy bins. Literally - IN the bins - both hands, and her head. I felt like mom-of-the-year right then. You can only imagine the tantrum she threw as I grabbed her out of the bins and put her IN the cart - not the child seat area. Her entire body went stiff and heavy as she arched her back and let out the most fake cry I've ever heard her produce. Ever. Honestly - she's usually pretty good at the store. Her nap must have been too short today. Or she's possessed.
So I rushed to the checkout - avoiding the stares of the other shoppers (not even sympathetic ones - totally judgmental - like why can't you control your child). I got Brianna out of the cart - still crying out her demands - so I could pay. She wriggled out of my arms and I had to let her go so I could open my purse. She took the two second opportunity to grab at a pack of mentos mints and chomp into the package. Like an alligator - straight through, getting at least two of them (with the wrapper fragments) into her mouth. I had two thoughts - crap, now I have to buy that and well at least that will keep her quiet for another 45 seconds so I can get out of here.
A kind employee handed Brianna a decorated mini-pumpkin as we left. She immediately started furiously ripping the fuzzy hair off of it.

Someone's going to bed early tonight.

ME.

COLORS

Finally.... she GOT it!

We've been working with Brianna on identifying colors for months now. Actually, probably a whole year. She's been calling everything RED when asked what color it is. A week ago she started saying everything was YELLOW. I didn't know if that was progress or not.

But TODAY....

We were in a parking lot, and she started correctly naming the colors of the cars I pointed to! She told me one car was yellow, another green, a red one, and then pointed up at the sky and said, "BOO sky!" I was so surprised - she's never done this! It's like something finally clicked - I felt like I could see a new-found understanding in her face as she answered my questions.
We spent much of the day working on other colors - she improperly identified many (called white yellow, black blue, brown red, etc) but I think it's better than everything being RED.

I taught swimming lessons for 9 years and my favorite part was when a child finally "GOT it" - when that light-bulb clicked on and they mastered a skill they had been struggling with. I loved the feeling of sharing that excitement with them.

Experiencing that same feeling as a mom is a bazillion times better.

The Blanket

I think I've mentioned Brianna's attachment to her blanket before... but here is the official post.

She's obsessed.

It must be with her at all times and in all places - unless she's doing something fun enough to make her forget about it.
I've tried to designate it as a bedtime-only companion, but that results in a tantrum. Or worse - she wanders around the house searching, calling out, "BANKET, WEH AWE YOU? WEH AWE YOU BANKET?" over and over, on the verge of tears. It's heartbreaking. And not worth the battle. So I let her have it. I manage to steal it away to be washed a couple times a week - just washed, not dried. Before the washing cycle ends she's usually already discovered the absence and begun her desperate search-and-rescue mission.
I've read that it's healthy for children to have a "security object" - aka Transitional object. It provides them with "sensory satisfaction" (as most children chose an object that is silky or soft - Brianna's blanket is both). It's called a transitional object because toddlers are making the transition from complete dependence to independence. They don't need their mothers to constantly hold and soothe them - it can be done solo... with the help of a blanket/teddy/dolly/binky/thumbsuck. It represents a tangible, 24/7 accessible version of mommy's love. Attachment to a security object is usually the first indication that a child understands symbols, an important milestone in emotional development.
Thank you, parenting.com

So here is Brianna earlier this afternoon (via blurry cell pic), enjoying two of her very favorite activities: swinging at the park, and holding her blanket:

From the mouth of my babe....

We brought Brianna to Stake Conference last weekend (the adult session Saturday night... apparently we didn't get the no kids memo) and the speaker was talking about faith. He was telling about his conversion to the church, and how his family had disowned him when he joined (his Christian family - very Christlike of them, right?). The ward was now his family, he said. I admire people like him so much. I heard many stories like his at BYU-Hawaii with some of the Asian students. So we were trying to keep Brianna quiet and occupied with her books, as she was literally the ONLY toddler there, so all her chattering would have stood out in the reverent congregation. The speaker was getting emotional, as were many listening to him. He made a statement that featured the phrase "... in the name of Jesus Christ..." and Brianna suddenly pokes her head up and loudly yells out: "AMEN!"

I tried not to laugh as we took her out to the foyer.

From Nonny's camera

When I was at my parent's home a couple months ago I uploaded all of the pics from my mom's camera onto my laptop in case I needed them for my family calendar Christmas gifts that I do every year. Was that a run-on sentence? Anyway - here are a few favorites I want to post (or re-post, possibly - I can't remember).

Neighborly, part 2

I've posted about our neighbors a few times before.... they're awesome. Tom and Debra are from Burmingham and have a home next to us as their "western retreat." They refer to themselves as Brianna's surrogate grandparents. Sadly, they went back to Alabama for the winter.... dang snowbirds. When I found out they were leaving in just a few days, I blurted out, "well then you two have to come over tomorrow night for dessert and games!" I must have forgot that I'm not good at making desserts. At least I didn't say DINNER.... then I'd really be in trouble. So I did what I always do when I need kitchen help - called mom. She walked me through a fabulous recipe for "apple pie in a bag." It was awesome - so easy and yummi. Brianna helped me slice all the apples in my cuisinart (love that machine):
Our neighbors were quite impressed when I pulled the big brown grocery bag out of the oven and cut it open to reveal our pie:It was a tad overdone - as you can see - a little too brown on top. But that made the homemade PEAR icecream melt quite nicely over it. I made that little treat in my Vitamix.

We also invited the neighbors next to the Browns - Doug and Dorothy. They are a really sweet couple, both working still, and have reputation for the nicest yard in the neighborhood. Doug helps me with our sprinklers, since I am likely to kill off our entire landscape if left to manage it solo. After dessert we played "Chat Pack" - a question game my mom gave us. It's one of those un-game type activities... no scoring or rules... just random, interesting questions. With the right company, it creates some hilarious conversations.

I hope there is at least one other mom in the world going to bed tonight thinking: did I get ANYTHING done today?....

Brianna and I were gutting pumpkins this morning to roast the seeds. She looked at the orange goopy mess and said, "ehts punkin poop!"

Family motto

I've been struggling with this lately:

p.s. - ten points if you can figure out which one of these characters drawn by my talented Grandmother is ME. Bonus points if you can name ALL of these stick figures.

Love Him

Last night I was wavering back and forth about my decision to do the Snow Canyon Half Marathon this weekend. Not because I haven't trained well enough for it (I haven't - but that wasn't the main issue), but because the registration fee is pretty expensive. Plus the cost of driving there. I was deliberating with Brian about it and he firmly said, "Chel - I do NOT work my butt off everyday so you can miss doing things you love to do just because of the cost."
It sounded like something my Dad would say to my Mom. I fell a little bit more in love with Brian McKell after that.

Trip to Spokane

Brianna and I journeyed to the motherland last month while Brian was in St. Louis for a training. We meant to stay 4 days, but as usual - mom talked me into a few more. I love Southwest Airlines - they always let me extend my trip for free. I just have to think of a good story, without stretching the truth tooooo much.
I didn't take as many pictures as I should've... I didn't even get the best part - Mom, Mere and I doing ZUMBA class. It was hilarious - I invaded their personal space as often as possible. But I did get a few pictures of Brianna: Top left - Brianna with Lily. Top right - Brianna taking advantage of Lily's absence from the baby seat and reverting to infantile behavior. Bottom left and mid-right: Brianna refusing to talk to her Daddy on the phone when he called everyday. She would only smile and listen to him. Not nice. Especially since he put up with us leaving him alone in Cedar for 3 extra days.
Here are a few random shots:
Mere doing Robyn's hair, Dad having breakfast (we're CEREAL people), and the bottom three are from the afternoon our friend Jen Madsen and her kids spent at our home having green drinks.
The evening I arrived also happened to be the night of her "One Woman Show." It was an informal in-home concert. She sang and played the piano (because she "don't need no pianist!") It was beautiful and moving, especially considering her circumstances. I feel ok stating this on my blog, because she's so public about it - her husband cheated on her after 30+ years of marriage. Everyone was shocked - he was the last person I would've ever thought would do that. When I was about 15 he gave all the youth in our ward tshirts that said "Cool 2 B Good." Perhaps he forgot how cool it is to be good. So obviously, Jen has been and is going through a lot. She says she spends her evenings singing and playing - her "therapy." I think that's awesome - a lot less expensive and probably more effective than the professional kind! We accidentally arrived an hour early, so we got to tour her gorgeous home and spend lots of time chatting with long-time friends that showed up.
And THIS is what happens when you dare Meredith to stick her head under the water container: My friend April came over one evening for dinner and board games ("Last Word" - love that game). As you can see, my camera hates me. I don't know why it does this sometimes. It also randomly deletes pictures. And in the right-side pic, my evil camera made me look bloated/pregnant. It couldn't have possibly been the fact that my mother makes amazing meals and I have little self-control. Apes and myself:She's the best Nonny ever. Brianna loves reading with her - way more than with me! Nonny sent us home with the books Brianna seemed to enjoy the most. She rocks. Notice her sweatpants - I saw them and said, "hey mom, that's weird - I don't recall you running track for Mt. Spokane High School. And I have been missing MY Mt. Spokane Track sweatpants for several years now." She replied, "hmm, that is odd..."
Brianna and I went with Mom and Mere to our friend Melody's Relief Society's Super Saturday event. It was one of the best I've ever been to. We made hair bows and "I Spy" bean bag activity toys. I love these types of activities because I can do cute projects for material-cost only, and I get to honestly claim I made them myself. Brianna entertained herself by climbing on the collapsed tables and dancing for everyone:
That's all the photos I have. I'll have to go back and take more. Like tomorrow.
Actually, after this flight I received a letter in the mail from Southwest Airlines that I had finally earned a FREE flight from their Rapid Rewards program. So Brianna and I AND Brian will head there in January for one last mini-vacation before Brianna turns two and becomes an expensive traveler. I can't wait to sled down their driveway.

"MESSSS outside"

That's what Brianna said when she looked out the window last Thursday morning. It had snowed all night. Before it melted away, we had some fun in the backyard:

ERAC Halloween

Brianna and I visited Brian at his office to see their Halloween get-up and show off Brianna's. She gets SO excited when I tell her we're going to visit Daddy at work. I love how she says "Daddy werk vizit!" We don't go visit him very often because it's kindof pointless - he's always SO busy. I have to remind myself of the fact that he's been running around like crazy for 10+ hours when he gets home and doesn't wanna do anything but relax :) Here he is with two of his employees:Sarah and Carly are cowgirls and Brian is an oilfield worker. He loved his costume. I didn't really understand what was so exciting about it. And obviously, the camera didn't love the glare off the reflective strips. Carly and Sarah are really nice and great at car rental. It's just annoying that Brian works with two really pretty girls. It motivates me to try and look good when he gets home. Silly, I know.
Overall, Brian's business is going really well here in Cedar. We're SO lucky we got out of Vernal when we did - a lot of people have moved out and companies have shut down. Brian left there with like 65 vehicles in his fleet (he had started with 10 sixteen months before, when we arrived) and now I think the office has less than 40. His office here in Cedar has around 70. This is important because he makes commission off his fleet. So more cars = more travel funds. Or food on the table, whichever. At the temple on Saturday Brian was asked by a worker what he majored in at SUU. Broadcasting, he told them. He was then asked if he was planning to eventually get back into it. Nope, Brian said, "I'll rent cars til I die."

Pre-Hallow activities

She insisted that we "bing wahder bo'll" in her Toto basket. I don't know why the original Dorothy never thought of that.
Brianna got to dress up at Gold's for the childcare today. My Pump Class had an 80's dress-up theme. Since I was born halfway through the 80's, I don't really remember much. So I went as a-mom-in-a-hurry.

We're trying...

But it's really hard! At home we're fine - she sits on the potty and does her thing - IF I keep her bare-bottomed. If she's wearing a diaper, she won't hold it. But I can't just stay home all day - so when we go out, she's diapered, and almost always uses that opportunity to relieve herself. I'm too chicken to put her in underwear yet... maybe that's our next step. These pics are from our first attempt last month. I wanted her to just use the regular toilet, for obvious reasons, but we had to stay right by her and she can't get up there by herself. So we switched to the smaller toddler potty - she can do it solo, and isn't as nervous. Plus, for certain bodily functions, a child needs to be able to have their feet on the ground for support. Or so I've read.

ps - can't believe I'm writing about this, and it just seems so matter-of-fact. I remember years ago hearing other people speak so bluntly about their children's toilet-training development and thinking - ew. Real classy. Now Brian and I regularly sing "the potty song" with Brianna. I'll give you the first line: "byebye peepee, byebye poop. I've got a brand new poooottttyyy, and I'm gonna try it too."

Belated shout-out to Fall

I think there's a rule somewhere that everyone has to blog about how much they love this season.
I have neglected to do that yet. But our mini snow storm today reminded me that it's almost winter, so I better show a little love to my favorite time of year.
Check out this plant in our front yard - my photography "skills" can't really do it justice. In fact, some parts are blurry because I think there were smudges on the lens. But you get the idea - bright red plant. Very neat. Yay Fall.
And yes - she's dragging around that blanket everywhere. I try to limit it's use to indoors only, but she's sneaky. It gets bleached often.
If you look at the center picture, she's got a "WHOA" expression on her face. She saw a "big bug!" and couldn't take her eyes off it. I think I heard "big bug mommy!" enough times to make me ready for winter, when they all disappear.

Fully dressed

I've recently been accused of not dressing my daughter cute, or not dressing her at all (I love how blunt my family is - really, not sarcastic about that). I admit, my blog posts frequently feature partial toddler nudity. And, truthbetold... I'm not the type to spend a lot of time and money on frivolousness. I'm practical - I care that she's comfortable. I dress her for the weather, because we're outside a lot. If I happen to pull out pants and a sweater that match - well, then sign us up for the next online baby photo contest! ha. Ironically, she has more clothes than any child I've met. Seriously - it's ridiculous. I had to buy 2 of those 100 packs of toddler hangers - because both her dressers were too full. I just counted her shorts that I put away for the winter - 42. I have 3 moving boxes full of 18 mo clothes that will probably go to Meredith - most are in great condition, because Brianna didn't get around to wearing them. I've said this before - I didn't buy any of them. Maybe like 3 items in her life. All have been gifts and hand-me-downs. I just happen to have friends with children a bit older than Brianna who are quite generous. And apparently good at keeping clothes stain-free (what's the secret?!? I have battled and lost with so many shirts). Please interpret none of this as bragging - I'm simply defending myself, because I don't like being wrongfully accused (who does?). As evidence I'm not lazy/trashy here she is, fully clothed:Notice the hair tie even matches. Take that, Meredoo!

Visiting Gpa McKell

A trip "up north" (as my in-laws say) always includes a visit with Grandpa McKell. He's 91 years old and still kickin'! My favorite thing about going to his home is how sincerely happy he is to have us over. It's fun to visit someone when you know they really WANT you there. I wish we lived closer so we could go over more often (it's a solid 3 hour drive from Cedar - with the cruise set on 80).He played his organ for us (B offered interpretive dance), gave high-5's to Brianna, watched part of some foosball game with B while Brianna and I played with his collection of "great-grandkid toys," and sent us home with a bag full of meat. I've never had to purchase beef in my life (I didn't eat it much before I married Brian, and since then - our freezer has been overflowing with steaks!) We brought Grandpa a treat from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - their "monster" $5 rice crispy treat. He said that would be his dinner for the night. I don't think he was kidding. I had won the Rocky Mountain gift certificate earlier that day at a 5K. I actually did 2 of them that morning - which sounds a little crazy - but it's just like doing a 10K with a little break halfway through. And the best part was hearing Brianna's little cheers. B tried to have her say "run faster mommy!" but she only spoke it quietly, like he was doing to her. So I only heard her yelling "go Chelsea!" copying him. Am I the only one who finds something a little troubling with their child using their first name? Anyways... this post is supposed to be about Grandpa McKell.... yeah, love that guy. Pretty sure he'll make it too 100. I'm looking forward to that party.

She still asks for Dean

I forgot to post these pictures earlier - but Brianna obviously hasn't forgotten how much fun she had with her cousin Dean last month! She asks for him several times a week. When I say he's not here she asks, "Dean-a-verk?" (wondering if Dean's at work, like her daddy is. She assumes everyone who isn't with her is at work). Here are a few pictures my brother Brian (or maybe Becky?) took:

note: these photos were all taken in Arizona, where partial-to-complete nudity is acceptable during the summer heat.

Because it's not all about me...

I have to remind myself sometimes that the purpose of this whole blogging-routine (addiction?) is to immortalize Brianna's childhood. Or rather - to record her adventures and development in a way that she might actually be interested in reading someday. She probably won't care to read about my annoyance over too many sweets being brought over to our home by friendly neighbors. She'll probably want to read about what she was like. I recently asked my own mother what I was like at this age (20.5 months). She says I was just a perfect, happy little toddler. Obviously she is having memory problems. She also claims to not remember all my misbehaving during the tween years. She does remember me emptying the pots & pans drawer, sitting in it, then putting all the kitchenware back in. While Brianna hasn't chosen that particular quirk, she has several others. Today I decided to take note of the interesting (in my subjective opinion, of course) behaviors she exhibited:

-First thing in the morning, she informed me: "ah poopy mommy." She wasn't - she just wanted her diaper off so she could roam free. Very tricky.
-She refused to be clothed until I told her we were going to park and she had to have clothes on for that. Then she immediately ran to her closet and picked up the nearest clothing item and started shoving her head into it.
-She asks for oatmeal every morning - "ooomea peeez!" I asked her if she wanted fruit in it. She nodded her head up and down very solemnly. I opened the fridge to show her the options. She selected a kiwi. I tried to convince her that a peach would work better. Just guess if I won.
-At the park, she played on the actual equipment for all of eight minutes. Then she gradually made further and further ventures, until we were just wandering around the neighborhood - her exploring, me pushing the empty stroller and perusing Prevention magazine.
-While passing the homes (in the Sunset subdivision near us - where we probably should have bought our home instead) she began taking notice of all the pumpkins. She pointed at one front porch and said, "one...two...PUNKINS!" I was impressed, because we've been working on learning the meaning of numbers, not just reciting them.
-I didn't even know she knew the Sunbeam song. She must have learned it at Nursery. Just today I heard her singing to herself several times, "a suuunbean, a suuunbean, deezuhs ahnts meh foh ah suuunbean." We called Nonny for that one.
-We also called Nonny to show her Brianna's imitation of a hyena (hah hahaaa), an owl (WHOOWHOO), a ghost (BOO), and a puppy (tongue out, panting).
- I was holding Brianna and she suddenly started making fake crying noises for a couple seconds. Then she said, "I kying mommy. I kying." Again, we called Nonny. It's a good thing Nonny and I have unlimited cell phone minutes.
- This one was actually yesterday - but I was so proud of Brianna, I have to make note - she found my phone and held it up to me, saying "Papa! Papa!" That meant she wanted me to call my dad. Usually she only asks me to call Nonny or Daddy or "Mehdef." So we called Papa, and I told Brianna to sing Papa a song. She did the whole alphabet! She's been stubborn about doing it on command lately, or gets distracted half way through.
- Brianna begged for "mahkahs, paypah" (markers and paper). I gave in and let her. I prefer she plays with crayons, for obvious reasons, but I gave in. Then I made the mistake of turning my head for a few minutes. I later discovered her with blue marker all over her clothing and body.
- Brianna dumped my water bottle all over the carpet. She knows she's not supposed to do that. So I sent her to a timeout in her timeout corner by the front door. She sprinted to the corner saying "yaaaayyyy!" And sat smiling, counting with me, for the entire thirty seconds. I struggled to keep a straight face. We obviously need to re-think our discipline tactics.

And now she's in bed, re-energizing.

More :/

Obviously, our neighbors don't read my blog, otherwise they wouldn't have came to our door with more treats tonight.
If it's this bad already, I can't imagine what Christmas will be like!

Treat tricks

We got BOO'd a few days ago. There was a knock at the door around 9pm, and we found this guy at the front porch. I'll confess what a germaphobe I am: there is no way I'm eating anonymous homemade goods. But I didn't wanna ruin the fun... (you're supposed to BOO doorbell-ditch someone else with a similar treat and note) so I just took this same BOO straight over to another neighbor! I'm ridiculous, I know.

Our friends, the Gardners, came over last night and brought these. They had kind intentions, of course, but they were not aware of how much I detest spiders. Even edible ones. We had a lovely visit with them, though! Brianna likes their 3-yr-old Tyrus. She was asking for him as she was going to bed. That troubled me.

This is how we blog

In Utah, but not OF Utah

I got in contact with a friend I haven't heard from since highschool (over 7 years ago - seems like so long!) We were chatting on Facebook (I have a love/hate relationship with that dang site) and she asked, "so - are you still Mormon? Is that why you moved to Utah?"


Yeah. I just couldn't stand all the unrighteousness out in the mission field.

Brian and I drove home separately in matching Ram trucks for ERAC tonight. I was quite alarmed to see him get pulled over. Turns out someone had called and reported he was driving a little recklessly. B's response to the cop: "maybe they meant to report my wife- she's just up ahead in the same type of vehicle."

told ya so

Brianna was sitting on the counter next to me while I was preparing dinner (Asian lettuce wraps - PF Chang imitation attempt). I pulled out the purple onions to chop and Brianna started begging: "APPUL! APPUL! Peeez! Ahnt some! Cut eht! APPUL mommy! Peeeez!" In between each plea I tried to explain that this was NOT an apple it was an ONION, and would taste yucky. But Brianna couldn't be swayed. I prefer not to call her a stubborn child - she's steadfast and determined. Finally I figured there was no other way to teach her; I cut a slice of onion and gave it to her. She bit right into it. Two seconds later she was howling and spitting it out.

Wedding announcement

Not a sibling, not a cousin.... Brian's GRANDPA is engaged!

At 86 years old, he has proposed to an 80-something yr old widow named Carol. He met her like 50 years ago when they lived at Wymount. They're getting married (for time only, and with prenups) soon. I'm really happy for him - he's still in good health, and I don't blame him for not wanting to be lonely.
These were the only pictures I could find of him - obviously, they're about a year old.

















I've always liked Grandpa Berrett. He's quite a character. He definitely goes outside the box with some of his ideas - which is good. Staying inside boxes can be stifling. He's a very active, health-conscious man who keeps a gorgeous yard and garden. He plays the piano and organ very well, attends the temple frequently, and is often very thoughtful and generous. Grandma Berrett passed away a couple years ago. Brian's middle name is Berrett.
I asked Brian what we should get him for a wedding gift. Go here for his idea.

A story so sweet and precious, you might gag:

Yesterday afternoon Brian came home for lunch. I left on a quick run. When I returned, Brian headed out the door to go back to work. Brianna, looking concerned, says "Daddy! Work?" I confirmed that her dad was leaving again to go back to work. She looked at us and said, "arms." I didn't know what she meant. She said it again. Then she folded her arms. I still didn't know what she was trying to communicate. I asked her what she wanted. She said, "prear." With her arms folded, I finally understood what she meant - she wanted us to fold our arms and have prayer before Brian left, like we do in the mornings!
On the count of three, everyone: Awwwwww.......

a new Smith

Brianna's 15th cousin (on the Smith side) was born today!

Big congrats to Brady and Jocelyn.

arachniphobia

Brianna and I took the St. George shuttle from the Vegas airport tonight. It's a great deal - $20 for the 2+ hour ride. Brian picked us up after a meeting that evening - conveniently also in St. George (and sadly - the annual United Way meeting. I really wanted to go to that, for obvious reasons). We let Brianna run around the parking lot for a little bit (poor kid had been stuck in an airplane or carseat for the past 5 hours). Suddenly Brian yells, "Chel - get your camera - it's a tarantula!"

Yep, just wandering around the parking lot... a giant tarantula...all hairy and evil-looking, ready to eat my daughter who kept getting closer and saying "BIG BUG!" I didn't have my camera, sadly, but I did have rocks. I used them. Tarantulas can run away pretty fast.

Lily update

Isn't she getting cute? (the baby - not me). Lilia Elaine is 10 weeks old now. I've been "helping" with her (Meredith calls it helping - I call it PLAYING) a lot for the past 5 days I've been here in Spokane. It's making me remember what it was like to have an infant! The frequent, unpredictable napping, irregular eating patterns, complete dependence, inability to communicate.... but also the total sweetness, the darling cooing, the absence of tantrums and broken household items... it makes me WANT and NOT want another baby at the same time! Lily is a precious, beautiful baby and Meredith is doing a great job as a single parent. She's an extremely fortunate single parent - having my parents around to help - but I admire her for not taking advantage of that. They only watch the baby while Meredith goes to work once a week and Institute class once a week. Mom also volunteers to take Lily to "Baby Spa" nearly every night, where Lily is pampered. Brianna and Lily are just 18 months apart, like Meredith and I are. It is a huge difference right now, obviously, but in a few years they will hopefully be best cousin-friends. The picture above is Lily and I at Shawnee (Singles) Ward today. It was kinda awkward for me to be back there again - I am SO grateful to be happily married and out of the single's scene! I reallyreally wish we lived closer to Mere and Lily. I'll be sad to leave tomorrow - but I'm honestly SO excited to get back to Brian. After a couple days apart, I need my B. And Brianna is tired of hearing, "Daddy's at work." Bye bye Lilybug!

I tend to be a bad winner AND a bad loser

I'm in Washington hanging out with my parents and Meredith (and Lily) while Brian's in St. Louis for a training. One of my favorite things (among many) about being here is that my family likes to play GAMES! It seems like over the years of visits the favorite games phase in and out. This trip's favorites have been:

Trip to Puerto Rico and The Dominican Republic

I’ll start by answering the most FAQ: WHY did we choose to go to the Dominican Republic? Here’s our logic: Brian had vacation days that were about to expire-->if we’re going to vacation, it has to be near the ocean-->I enjoy leaving the country--> I prefer not to travel somewhere I’ve already been--> we like inexpensive locations--> we don’t like sitting in a plane for more than 8 hours-->nothing fit the criteria as well as the DR! And the Puerto Rico part just happened because cheaptickets.com gave us the option of a one-day layover there. Brian and Becky’s inspired offer to care for Brianna sealed the deal. So we spent a couple months looking forward to this! And now I present, in 7,000 words: OUR VACATION (I dare you to read it all): We arrived in Puerto Rico on Tuesday evening. I walked out of the airport and got hit with the humidity wall. Hard. It was worse than Hawaii. So thick and sweltering… I’d like to say we got used to it by the end, but I think I spent 80% of the time there in a state of sweatiness. A few facts: Puerto Rico is 110 mi long and 35 mi wide. Pop 4 million. The first gov was Juan Ponce de Leon in 1508 (I did a report about him in Junior High). The US won the island in the Spanish-American war in 1917, and it became a commonwealth in 1952. Which explains why most every major US fast food and retail chain is present there. Back to our arrival: the Enterprise shuttle took us to our car. It was driven by a nice guy named Sisco. Brian asked him if he knew his friend Neil Hafer. Sisco just stared at Brian for a minute before saying anything (Neil spent the last few years opening up Puerto Rico for Enterprise, but is now the General Manager of the UT/ID area – it would be like a visitor coming to Utah and asking a resident, “so, do you know my friend Jon Huntsman?”) They laughed about it. Sisco ended up spending a lot of time with us giving us the low-down on where to go and where not to go. This was especially helpful for us, since I neglected to do any itinerary planning before heading out. Seriously – we just showed up and figured things out as we went. That probably sounds both adventurous and stupid. It was a little of both. But the first item on our agenda didn’t need much discussion: find the beach. And we did. Gorgeous ones. Right out of postcards and movies. White sand, clear water, shells… well, the resort beach fronts anyway. We learned to head towards those and avoid the public beaches. It was tricky sneaking onto the resort beaches, but being white and wearing nice clothes helped a lot. We went to Café Puerto Rico and tried some local-sounding dishes. They were plantain-based, I think. Late Tuesday night we headed to Old San Juan. My friend Maria recommended it. I’m glad she did – the 16th/17th century forts were incredible. They’ve done am amazing job preserving them. I felt like I was in a scene from a Knight’s Tale or The Man in the Iron Mask. One of those types of movies. Brian and I climbed all over the walls and towers til past midnight (I carried a weapon mom, don’t worry – a heavy, blindingly bright flashlight). We thought about getting a hotel, but couldn’t justify spending $80 for 5 hours of sleep. We only had 19 hours to explore the island. So we drove up to the National Forest – El Yunque. We hiked around a little, but there was no moon so it was pretty dark. So we slept in the car til dawn. It was too humid to be comfortable at all, but listening to the rain forest noises was awesome – like one of those relaxation CDs people buy. The morning hikes were great – we saw birds, lizards, waterfalls, leaves bigger than my body, a breadfruit tree (I lived off those in Hawaii), gorgeous flowers, some rivers, and a 200 yr old lookout tower. And best of all – no other people! It was too early. Which meant the tower was closed, sadly. And it was very un-climb-able. We found that to be a frustration throughout our trip – we couldn’t do or buy or see things we wanted sometimes because they were closed. It seemed like no one was available early in the morning, late at night, or during the afternoon nap time. And when we did go places, I often felt like we were either ignored (racist style) or jumped on like were made out of $$$$. Anyways, so after our forest adventures. We went to the pier. We heard there were ferries to a nearby island for just $2. There were… but it wouldn’t get us back in time for our flight to the Dominican Republic. So we just walked along the pier. I bought bananas from a lady on a corner stand. They were really good. So I went back and bought more. This is another recurrent theme throughout our trip – frequenting the fruit stands. Brian was very tolerant of me, which I appreciated. Especially when I made our car smell like papayas (which I think was great, but he said it smelled like caca). We kept walking along the coast and eventually saw a wrecked ship! It looked like the one from Priest Lake – maybe 40 or 50 years old. I wanted to go swim to it but Brian wouldn’t let me. There were some shady looking locals watching us and semi-following us (this occurred frequently as well) so we were nervous to leave our belongings on the beach. But we were able to swim in another beach down the road that was really nice. There were waves at this beach, the only beach on our whole trip where we could do body surfing. Brian hit Subway on our way to the airport (after standing in line for a little while at a local place but getting grossed out at unidentifiable meat pieces getting taste-tested by flies). I asked him to get all the veggies to the side and save them for me (Brian’s not much of a vegetable eater – he describes himself as a meatatarian), but when we met back up (I had gone in search of a panderia I thought I saw) he had no sides for me because he said the employees didn’t understand English. Another trip theme: I had to stay with Brian all the time to do our translating. Now you may be saying “Chelsea, I didn’t know you speak Spanish?!” Well I didn’t know either! Those high school and college classes kicked in well enough for us to get around ok. I’m sure I sounded muy tonto – especially when, during the short flight to the DR, I asked for jugo de anaranjado (instead of naranja – the correct word for the FRUIT orange, not the color). But oh well. I figure it’s like foreign people that come to the US – I’d rather hear them speak crappy English than just use their own language and never TRY. So I was able to get directions when we needed it and buy what we wanted. We thought Puerto Rico was pretty foreign and dissimilar to the U.S…. until we got to the DR. It made Puerto Rico look like Southern California. A few facts: The Domincan Republic covers the eastern 2/3 of the island of Hispanola. Haiti covers the other third, and we would’ve been idiots to try and go there. Suicidal idiots, probably. The DR is the second largest Caribbean country (only Cuba is larger). Pop 8.8 mil. Columbus found it when he was boating around in 1492. There are about 1000 miles of pearl-white beaches. I never met a single Dominican who could speak English fluently. The employee at National Rent-A-Car was probably the best, and I still had to use some Spanish vocab to have a conversation. We ended up waiting at the airport in La Romano about 40 minutes for him. We finally called (using the phone at Hertz – slightly awkward) and the National guy picked us up, saying he never got a reservation for us. We showed him the printout with the conf number. He said, “oye.” So we got a free upgrade. To a Chevy Aveo. Brian was thrilled (heavy sarcasm - he is not a fan of the eco-ride). But it turned out to be a decent car – it was small enough to get through tight areas (like trying to exit the supermercado – it was ridiculously – every car fighting and butting through to get out) but it was big enough that we could live in it during the daytime, in between our random hotels we found. And it survived the potholes. I think there were more potholes than solid road. On the “secondary roads” anyway. The main roads were better, but required passing through multiple toll booths and paying about five bucks at each. We did not enjoy those toll booths. Back to Wednesday – we left National (it was off-site, at Casa de Campo – the Taj Mahal of all-inclusive resorts. The opulence of it all made me gag). Again, we quickly found our way to the beach. Way better than PR. The water was clearer, the sand more clay-like and less rocky, and more palm trees. At most beaches, anyway. “Our” beachfront in Juan Dolio was great. We really got lucky with the place we found – Plaza Real. It was only $44 a night and totally beautiful and spacious. We had a mini kitchen and a TV (so we could catch up on our Spanish soap operas) and a pool with a waterfall. We stayed there two nights because we liked it so much. It had a restaurant attached, but they were kinda rude. So we went to a little Tiki Hut and became regulars. For those 2 days, anyways. And mostly because they had a laptop with internet access available. We needed it to get directions and phone numbers and figure out where to go. And send emails letting people know we were still alive. So far. I felt like that status could’ve changed at any moment, with the way people drive there. And my paranoid fears of all the staring eyes. At the Tiki Hut (called Marienda’s Café – though it was owned and operated by a sweet Italian man who spoke neither English nor Spanish very well. Odd huh) they made the third best bread I had on the whole trip. That’s a big compliment – I’m a self proclaimed bread connoisseur. I tasted every kind I saw. The very best was a thick, round, flat, cinnamony bread being sold right out of the fire-pit oven in the mountains of Samana by a large elderly lady. Amazingly yummy. Brian and I were awestruck. We bought several, though I’m pretty sure she was charging us a “white person” tax. That happened often, and was annoying. A guy tried to charge me 150 pesos for a papaya. That’s almost five bucks. Ridiculous. Anyways – Thursday morning we slept in til 7:30 (yes – that’s sleeping in for us). It felt awesome. But we really in a bit of a hurry to get going – we had no idea how crazy the drive to Santo Domingo would be, and the last morning temple session was at 10:30. There were a few in the evening, but that would cause us to have to drive home in the dark. That would be borderline suicidal. So after a morning run on the beach and a short swim, we headed out. Oh, and we collected some pretty shells to smuggle home. I don’t know if that’s illegal or not. It was in the Philippines. But I didn’t see signs. While I was running some construction workers building a new resort were yelling “hola nina!” Odd that they would mistake me for their friend Nina. We also tried calling the temple from our hotel’s “centro de llamada.” We tried calling six times. No answer. Just a recording that sent us in circles. I expected this kind of thing from the country in general, but I thought the temple would at least be a little better. We ended up getting a $7 bill for those little phone calls – even though there were no signs posted! I complained, but they wouldn’t budge. Stuff like that bugs me. Our drive to the capital was death-defying. I’m only slightly exaggerating. I can’t count the number of near-misses. We had to dodge dogs, goats, pedestrians, motorbikes, wrong-way cars coming straight at us… we actually only saw one accident – someone’s cooler had come out of the back of their car and smashed the windshield of the car in back of them. We got a little lost in Santo because there are so many weird one-way streets. We knew where we needed to go, but couldn’t find a road to get there. I was getting really sad because it was getting closer to 10:30, and I soon knew we wouldn’t make it on time. But I asked Brian to go there anyway, so we could at least see it and walk around. When we showed up, we were so lucky – another session was being held at 11:30, because that day happened to be a national holiday! “Our Lady of Mercedes,” or something like that. That explained the increased traffic. The session was in Spanish, of course, so they gave us headphones. None of the temple workers spoke English very well, but one of the counselors to the President was a nice guy from Oregon on a mission there. He helped us get clothing rental. He asked the million-dollar question (that we hear too often): “so, why are you two here?” Apparently some people don’t realize that the DR isn’t just a sweltering hot pit of poverty…it’s a Caribbean island with gorgeous beaches and cheap mangoes! After our temple session we came outside to see a couple dozen missionaries outside cleaning the grounds. Must have been a service project. They were all Caucasian, so it looked like an EFY event. We went to the Distribution Center and forgot that we in were in a place where sizes might run small… very small. One word: spandex. After that we toured the capitol by foot. It ended up being a good 2 hour walk. We went by the University, some military training center of some sort, lots of interesting statues, impromptu street bands and dancing, little neighborhoods, a hot dog stand that Brian said tasted gross, and an icecream stand that did NOT taste gross. Maybe it was just because of the heat, but I think their icecream is better than ours. We went to the oceanfront, but in Santo Domingo there’s no sandy beaches – it’s all cliffs and rocks. But still stunning and scenic. If you ignore the trash. We got back in the (sauna) car and headed to Boca Chica. There was a huge party on the beach because of the holiday. I don’t even think anyone celebrated the religious significance of “Our Lady of Merecedes Day” – it was just an excuse to play. Seriously, these people can dance. They do a lot of meringue, I think it’s called. Wherever you could hear music, you could see people dancing. That was true of our entire experience there. Even in Jumbo, a mall, the check-out boys busted out dancing as soon as music came on. I think the world would be a better place if everyone did that. We learned that for these people, it’s not a question of WHETHER to go dancing at night, but simply just WHERE. We went to another city – San Pedro de Macoris. This town was different – very rough. I think I witnessed several drug exchanges. Later in the trip we met a guy from New York who owned a jewelry factory in San Pedro. He employed 600 workers, and 20 security guards to stop them from stealing stuff. He said he had had employees try to smuggle jewelry out by swallowing it. He had to x-ray those who didn’t pass the metal detectors. We got lost in the town, and I was too scared to approach anyone on the street to ask directions. We found a McDonalds, and Brian told me to go in there because the employees would probably speak better English. That’s how it was in the Philippines. Ha. It turned into another awkward Spanish-speaking experience for me. But by this time I was starting to get a little better at it. Though it was always so weird for me to be looking at another person – another human being just like me – and not be able to fully communicate. I say things that make perfect sense in my little brain, and get a blank stare from them. And vice versa. I think the whole world needs to convert to one language. Preferably English, of course, but I’m willing to switch for the greater good. That dang Tower of Babel incident messed everything up. So we finally made it back to Juan Dolio, and I didn’t want anything more than to just throw myself in the water. We had done a lot of walking in the oppressive heat. So after dinner we spent a lot of time swimming – well past dark. I loved just floating on my back, closing my eyes, and drifting around. There were parties and dancing on the beach until about 9pm. Brian and I stayed til around 11. These people were gross – so many just left their trash on the beach. Fortunately, the resorts pay people to clean it up. Some beaches don’t have anyone to clean them, so they got nasty. We went back to our room and totally crashed. I was so exhausted I could barely shower. I never did get all the sand off. Oh – dinner was at La Meson, a Spaniard-run outdoor restaurant. It was definitely my favorite dining experience of the trip, because the waiter was SO nice, and a guitarist serenaded us almost the whole time! There were only 2 other couples there. I got the gazpacho soup, which wasn’t even very good at all. But I ate it so they wouldn’t feel bad, since they were kindof hovering over us. Brian ordered some chicken dish and said it was the best chicken of his life. It was so inexpensive – like $5 for each of us. The government tacks on a whooping 16% tax, and all eating establishments add a mandatory 10% gratuity. We only gave an additional tip at places that were really good. This was one of them. We tipped big – and I am notorious for not being a big tipper. Friday morning I got to REALLY sleep in – it was 9am before I actually left the bed. Brian got up earlier because he claims he is physically unable to sleep past 7:30. I had half-woken several times, and felt like I should get up to go do something… but then I thought – like what? Hurry and get to the beach? Hurry and go buy mangoes? Those things will be there allll day. No rush. I remember looking in the mirror that morning and being a little shocked – my skin looked great! Very unusual for me – I don’t have great skin. But all that humidity was definitely helping me out, I guess. Or maybe the salt water. Or maybe the complete lack of stress. I went outside and found the same cat that had been following us the night before. Sheesh… you give an animal a snack once, and they never leave you alone. It wasn’t even a good one – just the croutons from my salad. It actually was a decent looking cat – not all beaten up and emaciated like some others we’d seen. I remembered that our New Yorker friend (Frank, although we called him Barry cuz he kept talking about how much he loves Obama) told us that the people there EAT cats. I’m not sure if that’s worse than the dog-eating that occurred in the Philippines. Gross. En espanol: sicknasty. Oh – so our friend Barry/Frank was kindof from New York – but he was German, though born in Holland, spoke 5 languages, and lived in the DR as a landlord for apartment units. Obviously quite well-off. He hung out at Marienda’s Café all the time. Though arrogant and annoying, he was actually quite helpful in answering our questions about various aspects of the DR. He found out we were from Utah and said “you conservatives are all messed up. Capitalism will never work because of GREED. You must be Mormon, right?” (we responded in the affirmative, of course, but I can’t help but think how annoying it must be for non-LDS Utahns to be frequently assumed to be conservative Mormons). BarryFrank went on: “So you must believe in Jesus. Well, Jesus was the ultimate Socialist. He taught about equality for everyone!” Just then, one of Frank’s friends walks in the hut – a sloppy, balding, 50-ish obese man, totally plastered. He looks at us and says, “ha ha – Americans! Your government pays for me!” Then he sat down at the bar, asked in broken Spanish for the waitress to sit on his lap, then he ordered a drink and spilled it all over himself. I told BarryFrank that people like that guy are the reason I am a conservative. I shared with him my favorite bumper sticker: “Don’t spread my wealth – spread my WORK ethic.” Anyways… back to Friday morning. We went to the hut and Brian ordered a croissant con jamon. He said it wasn’t that good. I used their internet to try to find a place for us to stay in Samana. I wasn’t having any luck. The internet was slow, the power would go off an on randomly (apparently this occurs on the island everywhere – electricity is an issue) the computer was set on Italian, the websites were in Spanish, and I had learned by this point not to trust online information about the DR to be current or accurate. And I was agonizing over the thought of all the beach time I was missing by sitting there on the computer. So after reading an email from Bro. Brian informing me that Brianna was now calling Becky “mama,” I left for the water, knowing I was totally replaceable in my daughter’s mind. We snorkeled (actually, I just brought goggles for us – we didn’t wanna have to pay for rentals – which we never even saw available), then swam in the resort’s pool (absolutely gorgeous and so refreshingly cold). We packed up and headed out for a 169 kilometer drive across the island. It took about 3 hours. Normally I hate long car drives – not strongly dislike – HATE. But this was about the most entertaining ride I could imagine. Gorgeous green scenery, small farms and towns, lots of fun radio station music, and emaciated cows and sheep. We joked that this island must be the headquarters for the Skinny Cow brand. We passed a mango truck – only 20 pesos each for huge juicy fruits from heaven. Almost as good as I remember my Hawaiian mangos tasting. Brian yelled out the window, “Chel, get directions!” (he made me do this everyday). I yelled back, “Recordad, esposo, no hablo espanol. Asi no puedo preguntar. Lo siento!” The mango boys looked at me kinda weird. We stayed on the “nice” roads, which meant we had to go through all the tooth booths. It got expensive. On the way back to La Romana from Samana, we used the “secondary roads” to avoid all the taxes, but ended up getting a flat tire because of the disgusting amount and size of potholes. More on that later. So we finally made it to the Samana Peninsula, but accidently took the wrong way and went to the North side of it to a town called Las Terrenas. We had been driving for SO long, and I was so antsy to get out…plus a little nervous that we were totally lost and would never find a place to stay…I told Brian to just stop at the first resort we saw and we’d stay there, no matter the cost. Apparently I lied. We found Bahina Principe, took a tour, and found out it was about $195 per night. I gagged. I could buy like 600 mangoes for that price. And honestly… places that ritzy and posh just make me nauseous. Staying in one relatively small area, paying exorbitant prices to be pampered and TOLD how to have fun…just not my style. So we left and continued on through Las Terranas. I’m glad we went there – it was a fun beach town. We parked the car and started playing Mary-and-Joseph, but sadly there were no rooms at the Inns. Both the high-end 4 star places were full, and the dinky surfer digs. I was a little nervous. Finally we found one called Las Palmeras that had one open room – and bonus – only 800 pesos (by this time, I had started thinking in pesos instead of pulled out my phone calculator to convert prices to dollars)! It was a really cute place too – lots of tropical greenery, flowers, and everything looked clean. While we got ready to go out for the night I turned on the TV and watched a Nat Geo special on sharks attacks. Not a smart thing to do right before going in the ocean. Every other station was in Spanish, except for Larry King. Even Simpsons was in Spanish (and still totally hilarious, even though I understood very little of what they were saying). Around 10pm we came back from swimming and walking the town to discover why it was so inexpensive… it was right next to a discotec. A crazy loud dance club. The music BLARED until probably 2 or 3am. Brian is amazing – he totally fell asleep. I, on the other hand, laid in bed listening to the most annoying techno Spanish you can imagine. I also felt extremely itchy and couldn’t figure out why – then I started thinking that perhaps there were bed bugs. I was so disgusted and freaked out and paranoid that I don’t think I actually feel asleep until 4 or 5. Brian woke up around 7, totally rested, but I was a mess. Then he noticed my back – I was covered in mosquito bites! It must have happened while we were at the beach or walking around town. He said I had at least a dozen big ones. So of course I start thinking I have malaria or west nile… and started imagining myself in a Dominican hospital… then DYING and having my body shipped back to the US…. I had to stop being paranoid because I was ruining Brian’s vacation. So we enjoyed the morning and went snorkeling (goggle-ing, I guess – which I think is just as fun) and saw some colorful fish and coral. As I was swimming over the coral a wave pounded me and my thigh got scraped against the coral. Not a super bad puncture, but a little blood…which made me think about the sharks again… so we didn’t swim too much longer. We wanted to go find breakfast anyway. Brian found a place he insisted on eating at, even though I objected because the owner didn’t speak English or Spanish very well. He was either French or Italian, I couldn’t tell. I could tell that he was RU-U-U-DE. Which leads me to believe he was French (though I hate following stereotypes for entire countries…I’ve only met a couple Frenchies in my life…but they have all been quite ill-mannered by our standards). The guy even messed up our order. He brought us side salads with thick heavy dressing to go with [bland] omelets. And took 30 minutes to do it. I left Brian with my omelet and went to go find breakfast more my style…a bakery. I found a lovely French patisserie! So obviously – a lot of European influence on the island. Several people assumed Brian and I were Europeans – one kid starting asking us for money in broken French (Brian speaks a tinytiny bit from his high school classes he took). I learned that the island – particularly the Sosua area – used to be like one big red-light district. European men would travel to the DR specifically for cheap prostitutes. The country has cracked down on it big time – I only saw a few girls at night that might have been out selling themselves (yep, being judgmental here, sorry). They were wearing the clear high-heels, which in Honolulu meant only one thing (Melissa – I think you were the one who first told me that). The resorts do not allow any single Dominican male or females to enter unless they have employee IDs. No hotel is allowed to let a foreigner and a Dominican into the same room, unless they have a marriage license. Crazy huh. Any… speaking of immorality… several time throughout the trip I caught girls totally checking Brian out. I think I even saw some men doing it too. We held hands a lot. Which reminds me – I wanted to mention how sweet B was on the trip – he totally opened every door for me, pulled chairs out, carried all our stuff, held my hand all the time… it was like we were on another honeymoon, I loved it! Although he did make me do all our interactions with locals – buying things, getting directions, etc. I think he knows about as much Spanish as I do, considering how similar Tagalog and espanol are, but he said I was better at communicating with people probably just so he didn’t have to do it. I got better at it though – I think if I lived in a Spanish-speaking country and really tried hard, I could get it down in a few months. Or years. Anyways… so we headed out from Las Terranas to stay the next night in La Romana. I scared B a little when I yelled at him to stop suddenly. I saw a roadside stand with the amazing flatbread. I bought two, thought tempted to buy ten. We wanted to go to Punta Cana – well known for great beaches – but our flat tire incident took up too much time. That’s what we get for taking the secondary roads instead of paying the tolls on the nice roads. Although we did get to meet some nice people, and I found a guava tree and orange tree while Brian was putting the spare on. About 6 Dominican guys stopped to help. I don’t know if they were genuinely altruistic or just wanted money, but they were really nice, and sweated bullets helping Brian jack the car up to get the flat tire off, so I did hand them a stack of pesos saying, “para decir gracias por tu ayuda.” The spare took us all the way to La Romana (a city of nearly 2 million people – that’s a lot, considering the whole island has 8 million people). We found a tire place (“gomas” – I was learning new vocab all the time) and the owner spoke a little English. He had been a taxi driver in NYC for 9 years. It was interesting to be meeting one of those stereotypical foreign taxi drivers on the other side – back in THEIR country. He said he left because the New Yorkers were rude! But he is coming from a country where people tend to be really friendly. Though the petty crimes like theft are a huge problem. Someone told me though that it’s not as big of a deal to them as it is to us. We think of someone taking our stuff without permission as STEALING – and a huge crime (not to mention a cardinal sin). But there, it’s not as big of a deal. Doesn’t make sense to me, but whatever. We got lucky – nothing stolen on our trip. I was extremely wary of that – I might have offended people that walked by me because I would clutch my purse closer to my body. Anyways, so we had to buy a new tire because the flat one wasn’t just flat – it had become detached from the middle part. Brian says he thinks they could’ve fixed it instead of making us buy a new one, but they said no when I tried to explain what we wanted. We didn’t want National to know about the damaged tire – Brian said it’s important to bring the car back in perfect condition, since “they have our credit card info and charge the heck out of it – trust me, I know – I do it all the time.” They replaced our tire pretty quickly while we stood in the sweltering heat. Then I found out they didn’t take credit cards, and we didn’t have enough cash. So the owner/taxi guy rode with us to an ATM. We ended up having a really interesting conversation. He has 4 children from different wives. He said, “no mas mujeres para mi!” He tried to help me find a place to buy a new SD card for my camera, since mine wasn’t working. Half the pics got deleted and then the camera said the card was dysfunctional. Maybe it was the camera malfunctioning, I don’t know. So I don’t all the pictures we took there – so sad. But the after fasting and praying it started working again (by fasting – I mean a long car ride with no snacks). After the car ordeal we navigated through some crazy parade (something to do with “Christo VIENE!”) towards a nearby town, Bayahibe. It had incredible beaches. But we couldn’t find an affordable hotel – it was all pricey resorts. We toured another one – the opulence of it all was disgusting. So we went back to La Romana and stayed at a place called Riverview. We could see the river from it. Crazy huh. We walked around town a little more – stopping by another Bon location for a smoothie (they had some WEIRD topping options – like bread chunks, beans, plantains…) We walked near the river and around town where there were some interesting sculptures. Though I can’t imagine how the city leaders can justify paying for those expensive looking structures when people in their town are starving. Maybe not starving, actually…I keep comparing this place to the Phils… but they should’ve at least spent the money on city sanitation. We found an internet place and tried to go to lds.org and find out the time and location for church. No luck – it only gave us geographical coordinates. So we just showed up at a stake center we saw earlier that day. It was the only LDS building we had seen the entire trip. Brian was a little worried about that (he’s a Utah boy – accustomed to church buildings at least every 3 blocks). We came at 9 on Sunday morning (after being awoken at 6am by some guy knocking on our door to see if there were people in the room – that’s exactly what he said, anyways). Church was interesting. It began close to on time, which I was a little surprised about. I expected some combination of Mormon Standard Time, and stereotypical Caribbean Standard Time. I thought I was wrong, then I discovered that they have RS/Priesthood meeting first, Sunday School second, and Sacrament meeting last, because more than half of the congregation shows up at least an hour late. There were about 20 people on time, and 70-80 at the end. All Dominican or Haitian. The Haitians are a lot darker than the Dominicans, for the most part. The only white person was one missionary, and he came to sit behind us. We ended up talking to him during the whole first meeting (which I realized at the end must have been really annoying and distracting to people around us). He was from St. George! Elder Gardner had been out for 15 months. It was so easy to see how much he was loving his mission. Even though he had been really sick, he sweated constantly, and had their car and bike taken away from them. He was really fun to talk to. I asked him lots of questions about the church there. He said he ALWAYS gets in doors when they tract – it’s a cultural thing there to always allow visitors in. And they are usually polite, but rarely sincerely interested. He used to get fed quite often, but he said in the last year the economy crunch hasn’t been just a US thing – it’s in the DR too – and people are less generous. He told us we were lucky to have found that building – it’s the only LDS church building there with AC! Whew. But even though it was the nicest building, it still had no running water of any kind. Yeah – no toilets, no sinks… we saw some dead cockroaches and there were flies and mosquitoes attacking me during sacrament. And the sacrament bread was in tiny crumbs. But I hate sounding whiney – I’m not. I loved it. The people sang so beautifully and the kids were so adorable (even when they followed us outside asking for pesos). Totally felt the spirit there. The Sunday School teacher was awesome – so energetic and getting everyone into the lesson. They had us introduce ourselves… veryvery awkward since no one spoke English well… I just said “me llamo Chelsea, soy de Utah. Visitamos solomente hoy.” I think some thought we were visitors from Salt Lake – like church headquarters. Ha. We left right after sacrament to get to Casa de Campo to return our car in time for the flight. We had a few extra minutes, so we walked around the beach. I got really sad about leaving. It was such a gorgeous place – I knew I’d miss it. Even right now, nothing sounds better than throwing on my swimsuit and jumping in that water. But I absolutely couldn’t wait to get back to Brianna. I wanted to hold her more than anything. And I wanted a real shower – bad. My hair smelled like sand and sweat, no matter how many showers I took. Our flight took us to Miami, then to Dallas. We stayed a night at the Sleep Inn and in the morning returned to Phoenix. When we got to Brian’s house, Brianna was asleep. I let Brian be the one to go wake her up. She was so cuddly! She mostly just hugged Brian and stared at me. She said, “hi mommy.” Kinda flat – like not sure what to do or think of my sudden reappearance. I showered her in hugs and kisses and we took her outside for a swim. We presented the Smith’s with their thank-you present – some guava paste candies and a brown male/female maraca set. They were so happy they nearly cried. Then Brianna was generous enough to take all 6 of us out to Jason’s Deli. Love that place.
Final thoughts:
I’m so grateful that: I brought my HSM3 hand sanitizer. 3 of them. We rented a car instead of trying to use public transportation. I took those extra Spanish classes in high school and college. We packed light – only carryons, no checked bags. We didn’t get sick! Nothing was stolen or broken. We found practical, economical, cute souvenirs for our friends and fam. Brianna was well cared for – maybe even better than at home! Brian and I got serious Q.T. – felt like newlyweds.
Things we would do differently if we went again (which we won’t – I have too many more countries to check off my list): Fly into Punta Cana instead of La Romana, practiced conversational Spanish at beforehand, spent less time trying to see everything and more time just laying on the beach, brought toilet paper with us (no public restroom had it), researched the island more and printed maps from googleearth, been more daring with trying street food, immediately put my wipers on when someone tried to wash our windshield for money, and brought something to give away to the friends we made.
Is anyone still reading this? Wondering where the PICTURES are? Stop whining. I have more than you could ever care to look at. I present to you (in random order)… our vacation:

El TemploWe really enjoyed our session. It was all in Spanish so Brian wore headphones. I took mine off to pretend I'm more bilingual than I really am. We were so lucky to get to go - this day happened to be a holiday, so the temple was open longer.

Injuries

Top photo: the evil spikey plant that leaped out at my leg and drew blood. Middle: my back, post-mosquito attack. Bottom: the Nat Geo special on sharks that I watched in our hotel room, planting irrational paranoid thoughts in my mind, preventing me from doing anything crazy in the water that may lead to further injuries. I also got a coral scrape on my thigh, but that was a yucky pic.

Santo Domingo

The capitol of the Dominican Republic was a fascinating city. There were no sandy beaches, but the rocky coastline was beautiful. Parks and natural bridges and cliffs were fun to explore. The top right pic is a close-up of the ground - I'm not sure if it was hardened lava, old coral, or just rocks. The bottom left photo is the University and the city behind it. The middle photo is The Obelisco del Malecón - originally erected by the dictator Trujillo to honor himself. It's been repainted by Elsa Núñez to honor the Dominican Woman, including (detailed photo on it's left) the three Mirabal sisters who were assasinated by Trujillo in 1960. The bottom right photo is a sign on a traffic light: "Energy donated by TRICOM". At other less fortunate intersections, traffic lights go out when the electricity goes.We also had to worry about putting things in a fridge, but the electricty might go out often enough for the food to go bad. I also hated my few attempts to use computers because I had to re-boot every time the electricity went out. The U.S. is said to be a highly individualistic country - but maybe reliable electrical power in the U.S. contributes to my illusion of being an individual, in control of my own fate?

Neat stuff

Top left: our hotel in Dallis on the way home (we have an 8 hr overnight layover and B was totally against just sleeping in the airport) we stayed at the Sleep Inn, where their continental breakfast has Texas-shaped waffles. I just thought that was funny cuz Texas is known for being obsessed with itself. Top middle: our hotel in Las Terrenas we scored for $23. It had gorgeous landscaping. I just wish it came with ear plugs since there's a dance club next door. Those people never.stop.dancing. Top right: women and men carrying baskets of goods to sell on top of their heads. Amazing balance. Next: B looking at postcards. We thought our camera wasn't working, so we bought a lot of postcards to have pics to remember the places we went. Now I don't know what to do with all of them. Next: B and I on the airplane home (thus why I look like I desperately need a good shower). We're holding our little souvenirs we purchased in the airport to use up the rest of our pesos: a cow pencil (to remember the nasty skinny cows everywhere) and Sparkies candy (which oddly seems to be the EXACT same as Skittles). Next: the scene out our front car window. This picture doesn't do it just unless you look close - it's miles and miles of palm tree farms. I think they export them. Anyone wanna buy a palm tree? Next on left: this book was our Caribbean bible. We were SOSOSOooo lucky to find it at the library in Gilbert for sale for $1! It's 2006, but the info was still so helpful. The maps and tips and numbers and guides... I could just kiss that book. Loved it. Next: I'm pointing at a YELLOW SUBMARINE! Bottom left: I'm next to orange trees! We were trying to find our way to the Limon Casadia (waterfall) and I found oranges. Bottom middle: in the Dallas airport, they have phones that call local places for you! I have been to a lot of airports, but I've never seen these. It has a touchscreen where you just select which retail location you want (like Enterprise) pick up the phone, and you're connected! Loved it. Bottom right: gorgeous flowers/leaves. If I was the photographer-type, I would've hung around that plant all day.

"Hey, that's kinda...odd..."Not surprisingly, we found a lot of things to be very different than the US. Top left: nearly every non-toll road had signs saying it was under construction. It become a joke. Next: we bought an expensive map, thinking it would be accurate. Ha. Top right: a cemetary in the DR - all above-ground cement caskets. Next: a construction worker, totally barefoot, using a machete to cut bamboo for a roof. Next two pics: the only "mall" we found. It was outdoors, and only open 10am-5pm, with an afternoon closing for naptime. Next on the left - me in a golf cart. Why is that in the "odd" category? Cuz you wouldn't think we'd be able to sneak on to a private golf course and use their golf carts. Next: me, being really cool, showing off Meredith's souvenir gift (she really likes necklaces). The shower on the right had a window next to the shower head that faced right at the neighbor's bathroom window. So we can all just watch each other shower. Bottom left: our RiverView hotel in La Romana, guaranteed to have a view of the river, did NOT. Last two pics: in the middle of the island there are miles and miles and miles of palm trees - half alive, half dead.

Because I'm a dork...

Again - props to B for being so tolerant of me.

VistaFrom the highest point on the Samana Peninsula. Pictures can't do it justice.

Plaza Real in Juan DolioI loved, loved, loved this hotel. The grounds were gorgeous and the pool seemed to call our names. It was especially refreshing after swimming in the ocean, since the water was cooler (and the ocean water was a little too warm in the afternoons!) We always had it to ourselves; I never saw another guest in it. In fact, I rarely saw another guest - period. It's their "temporada baha" in the Caribbean - the slow season. That's why this place was only $44/night! Our room had a full kitchen and living room area and cable TV (50 channels of American shows - all with voice-over Spanish. Simpsons was still funny en espanol).

Art

I was amazed at all the "art galleries" we saw. The top 2 and bottom right are pictures I took of some paintings I liked. All of the pieces are originals - none are reproduced in mass for cheap sale. If it wasn't for their bulkiness and our need to travel light, I totally would've purchased at least one. I'd love to decorate our home in original Dominican art work. The middle pic is the view from our hotel balcony in Las Terranas, and the bottom left is Brian in an outdoor gallery across the street.

La Meson

This restaurant deserved it's own collage because it was our one "fine dining" experience (and look how well we dressed for it). We had just come in from a beach walk and were looking for a snack to grab, as usual. We didn't do the whole restaurant-thing very much - I strongly dislike restaurants. Sitting and waiting forEVer, paying people to wait on me... I'd rather grab something and go. But when we passed by this place and saw the few guests being serenaded... we joined in. It was actually a little awkward having these two guys singing "La Bamba" right by my face. Then some cheesy love song (I recognized the words, "mi amor, te amo, te quiro). But we took a video - it's on youtube. Along with a few others from this trip. Just do a search for chelseamckell's videos. Explanation on the little shot glasses Brian is sniffing: the waiter brought them to us at the end, saying it was a specialty, and on the house. Brian's comment: "that's weird to put water in those little glasses - we already have a bottle." I love Brian. So obviously, we didn't drink it, and I think the waiter was a little offended/confused. Last photo: the cat begging by our feet the whole time. I gave her my croutons.

Transportation

Tiny planes, tiny rental car. The DR has THE most insane drivers on the planet. They make Utah drivers look like Driver's Ed Valedictorians. No one enforced speed limits. We went 120 all the time (kilometers per hr, of course). Right side: did you know that you can get great parking spots by pretending to be pregnant? It wasn't too hard to push my belly out (esp after all those bananas I gorged on). Left side: one of the ridiculously expensive toll booths we had to pass through. In the rain - which was fortunately just a brief shower, and one of only 2 we experienced. Next photo: B at the airport in La Romana - all the checking in was done outdoors - like every other business. I loved that - we spent more time outdoors that week than I probably spend in a month. Or several months. Next: B getting lost. Well, both of us. We spent a lot of time just wandering. Center bottom: I saw this sign and I suddenly got so homesick for my baby! I missed Brianna. Last: taking the Enterprise shuttle in Puerto Rico. A nice driver named Sisco became our friend.

Critters

Lizards everywhere! And turtles, and crazy insects, and nasty emaciated dogs, and healthy-looking cats (who later become dinner to the locals).

Posterboards

Just couldn't help ourselves.

View from airplane window

Cool, huh.

Fort in San Juan

So, obviously, I stole the bottom pictures. The reason is clear from the few pics of our own - I'm a horrible photographer. I couldn't figure out how to get our little camera to take decent pictures at night. Brian's not even looking at the camera anymore because he was getting annoyed with my repeated attempts at capturing this awesome place. To protect the transportation of gold, silver and jewels, on its route from America to Spain, the Spaniards built a series of forts in the Caribbean. The beautiful city of San Juan was founded in 1521. A massive wall and forts were built around the city to protect it from the enemy. The city was used as a stopover for ships that came from Spain and a stronghold to prevent the enemy from taking control of the island and making Puerto Rico an enemy base. We went to El Morro - a six level castle 140 ft above the sea, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and San Juan Bay, and San Cristobal Fort. It was completed in 1771 and designed as a castle to protect the city from land invasions.

Flat tire

This little adventure stole about half our day, between the roadside repair and the repair shop ordeal. Our front left tire blew after hitting 43,782 huge potholes. That's what we get for trying to avoid the toll booths. Brian could've done the change himself (he does it at work several times a week - it's amazing how quick he is) but these guys (and quite a few others) stopped to help. The background picture is a guava tree that I found on the side of the road while these guys worked. I think the $65 flat tire was worth it, just so I could have my guava time. It brought a wave of nostalgia for the Hawaii days.

Beach in Puerto Rico

Loved it - no one else was there! Locals passing by looked at us like we were nuts. Apparently they don't realize they're living in the freakin' Caribbean and the beach was meant for playing.

Fruity

Brian was very tolerant of my obsession with the tropical fruit. I ate a ridiculous number of bananas and mangoes. I wanted more papaya, but Brian said it smelled like throwup. I know a lot of people who hate on papayas. What's up with that?! The center picture is me at a fruit stand, surrounded by Dominicans kindof gawking at the crazy white girl. They're probably laughing as I'm getting price gauged. The first photo is a guava opened. Next is a banana truck. Top right is Brian and I toasting to our bananas (which did taste different than the ones from the store - worse, according to Brian, but BETTER according to me). The opened fruit on the center right is an orange - like a Hawaiian orange, with a hard shell and more tart fruit.

La Comida

Brian was more into the non-fruit cuisine. He's a bread-and-meat type of guy. Top left is THE BEST BREAD IN THE WORLD. Next is Subway in Puerto - I was too paranoid to try much "streetfood." Except the bakeries, like the top right pic - that flan was to die for. Next - Brian and I sharing a Bon mint icecream on the beachfront. Then me buying the best italian bread ever from the cafe/tiki hut run by the Italian man who couldn't speak English nor Spanish. Next on the right side was Brian's favorite meal during the trip, and the best chicken he said he's ever had. Left side - Brian peering warily into some hot dishes at a bistro type place. We saw lots of odd animal parts and root vegetables. Next in the middle is the cute Dominican kid that sold us the aforementioned bestbreadintheworld. I'm still kicking myself for not buying way more and smuggling it home. Next pic - my least favorite meal - Gazpacho soup. It wasn't good at all. But the waiters were SO nice, I felt obligated to be polite and finish it. I'd totally go back to that place simply because the service was so awesome - proof that, in the service industry, customer care is more important than the actual product. I believe that and would love someone to debate with on it. Bottom left pic: a french bakery (patisserie?) in Samana. The only other white people were French or Italian in that area. Center bottom pic is Brian holding the largest loaf of bread I've ever seen in my life. Bottom right: us at the Italian guy's cafe with a margarita pizza we ordered. We brought our leftovers back and put them in the fridge. The next morning Brian tried cold pizza for the first time in his life. Is that weird to anyone else but me? I thought everyone liked cold pizza...

El Yunque Rain Forest

We camped out in the United State's only rain forest, then got up with the sun at 6am to hike it. Loved all the noises from the froggies (coqui) all night.

Beach in the DR

Drool-worthy.
Brian thought this sign was hilarious. A "poopy" bar and eatery. So mature, I know.
A river that would've been really pretty... without all the trash

Example of how direct translation doesn't always work well.

Reuniting with Brianna

We missed her SO much - definitely more than she missed us! When we came in, we went straight to her room. She was about done napping, so Brian got to get her out of her bed. She was shy and a little confused at first, I think. She wanted her blanket. She looked at me and said, "hi mommy." Kinda flat like that. But she warmed up pretty quick... then spent the next week a little clingy.
And that's all! Believe it or not, I actually left out several details. Like what color socks I was wearing. Yeah, I know this was a little (lot) over-the-top. But at least I can't be accused of another mundane post. If you read the whole thing - ten points! If you didn't read a word and just scanned through the pictures - I don't blame ya!

still procrastinating

Well, not really. The trip re-cap is almost ready. I just promised a friend I'd put these pics up so she could send potential basket-buyers here. Cedar City is now the newest participant in the Bountiful Baskets co-op program. It's huge in AZ - there are about 50 pick-up sites. Utah has 20. There is one location in ID and one in WA. I have no idea how the program started or who's in charge... only that I pay $15 for about $50 worth of produce twice a month! My friend Ashley is in charge of the program here in Cedar. She (and everyone else involved with the co-op) is a volunteer. So BIG THANKS Ash! She's spent a lot of time getting this going - including an orientation meeting in Salt Lake, I think. The baskets we purchase vary each week. I won't know exactly what will be in each box. The option of buying an Asian produce basket, different breads, and bulk quantities of single items (like this week I could've purchased 40lbs of pears for $12) is available. Everything is local and fresh and sometimes organic. My box weighed about 45lbs. The more people that sign up, the more we get in our boxes! The only inconvenience is that participants have to pick up their produce right at 7am on Saturday mornings. But if I'm not available, I can have a friend pick mine up for me. Oh, and there's a $1.50 handling fee (to cover the cost of the truck ). I'm really excited about this program and I think it will get really popular as word spreads.

procrastinating

It's taking a ridiculously long time to go through our PR-DR pics and write about everything (yeah, it's going to be a freakishly long post). So I've decided the best way to get it done is to stop working on it and blog about other stuff.
Today I got this little package in the mail from my mom. She's one of those people that frequently does extremely thoughtful and generous things for others - often being cute and creative in the process. Read the note (click on it to enlarge if you need to). Those who are aware of recent events will understand all the puns.
While I was reading this and going through other mail early this morning, Brianna ran off. She must have found her way into my bathroom and climbed on the toilet to access items in the cabinet.
This is exactly what I found her doing (excuse the tomato-sauce face - she likes raviolis for breakfast):

Just landed in Miami! Had an amazing trip. Only took a few dozen pics but look forward to a full write-up with crazy stories. It was all we wanted and more. Staying in Dallas tonight and driving from Phoenix home to Cedar tomorrow. I hope Brianna's not mad at us for being gone so long. Reallyreally missed her, but this adventure was worth it!