The Swinfords

Since I'm horrible at blogging...

2012-02-12T23:56:00.000-08:00

I'll do it in snippets. I'm going to start (rather late, of course, but aren't I always?) doing the photo a day thing that Shannon and Adrien are doing.

Here's the dealio:
Anyway, I actually took a picture inside my closet for another blog I have. Molto coincidente! To catch up, I'll supplement with back-tracking photos in order of prompt, but not necessarily taken on the day expected. I didn't always use my camera on those days, so there you go.

Therefore, I give you, without further ado, the inside of my closet:
This is basically all I've worn the last couple of weeks, not including a pair of jeans that are in the laundry basket right now. I'm trying to do that experiment where you track what you've actually used in your closet in a very visual way (my method is using this lower, removable bar that I got at Walmart to hang what I've worn recently). I don't know how well this is going to work at this point in my life, what with my fluctuating weight and everything, but it's interesting. Or boring. Take your pick.

And this is a picture for number one, my view today. This is not today. This is the day when we went to my grandparents to visit and get our taxes done.

Mongolia

2012-01-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

This is not about the kids. You'll soon see why I don't do this kind of post very often. It's just a conversation between Jared and me. I tend to talk like a child because I'm not good at speaking, sorry about that in advance.

Me: I read that Mongolians are generally viewed as a happy people, even though they were taken over by the USSR and China (I was just talking about in recent years, not over the eons). Russians usually seem more negative and cynical after having been through the communist years and being killed by people like Stalin. But lots of Mongolians were killed in those years and yet they seem to be laughing all the time.
Jared: Oh.

Sometime later, maybe an hour later...

Me: Did you know that Mongolians can't touch each other's feet? If they touch feet then they have to shake hands.
Jared: (laughs) What is all this about Mongolia??
Me: I was reading about it.
Jared: Of course you were.

Conclusion: I'm kind of like a kid, often spouting random facts that probably have no application in any part of my life. Jared finds this amusing. Or else he finds it amusing that I do research on random things. I don't know, I forgot to ask.

In celebration of Mongolia, my research topic of the day sometime last week, I give you this video about a boy racing on Naadam, an annual event where Mongolians get together and race horses and do other manly stuff like wrestling. The jockeys are all very young.

Mongolian Racer from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

It's cold.

2011-12-13T10:38:00.001-08:00

So put on a jacket.

help?

2011-12-12T12:50:00.001-08:00

I need the advices.

I'm trying to finish at least *one* project in the next week, and I was thinking possibly it might be putting together the group of frames and whathaveyou on Maya's wall. I was thinking something similar to this configuration:But I forgot a shallow shadowbox so I added it to this diagram that I made. It's easy to rearrange the shapes but I think I need another perspective on it cause I can't think of another way to arrange the frames in a pleasing, balanced way. So, help?One more thing - I'm open to adding a few more things: a couple frames, something small propped up on something else... Here are some examples I'm looking at:
first
second
third

p.s. if you're asking, yes, I'm going to paint the frames.

I is clogged.

2011-12-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

After I finished putting Maya to bed (and she's up again crying already... *sigh*) I closed the door and something caught my eye on the bathroom door.
On one hand, I'm a little peeved because I've lost track of how many times my son has clogged toilets in our house. On the other hand, I'm cracking up because my son has taken the time to write a note to warn everyone.

Breakfast times

2011-11-13T16:08:00.000-08:00

Scenes from our mornings. I mean the parts where no one's whining or yelling that someone's going to be late if they don't hurry up and get dressed.

Listen my children and you will hear...

2011-11-09T22:40:00.000-08:00

This is mostly for Kelly, so if you've already seen this on Facebook, just move along!

Since I'm working/procrastinating on a bunch of other posts...

2011-10-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

I won something cool and mysterious from my cousin. You can also partake in the chain-letterish glory, if you so choose.

Here are the tagging instructions: The first 3 people to respond (more details at bottom) to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. But I'm fragile, so let's keep the hate to a minimum, mmkay?

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It'll probably take a while because: a. I'm lazy; b. I have offspring; and c. I'm neurotic and full of crippling self-doubt.

4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a short story, possibly with crappy illustrations. It may be poetry (you better hope it's not poetry). I may draw or paint or sew something or just glue two pieces of cardboard together. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Except probably not.

5. I reserve the right to do something unusual. Which is not at all unusual.

The catch is that you must re-post this on your blog (if you have one) and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. Or if you win and don't have a blog, just make something for three random people (but then you have to tell me about it and take pictures for evidence).

So! The first 3 people to leave a comment telling me their childhood fears (in the spirit of Halloween, obvs.) (or just something funny if you were a fearless wunderkind) will win something mildly interesting or entertaining made by me. Go forth and comment.

Bad, bad, Nathan Brown.

2011-10-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

Nathan, I'm sorry I'm often forgetful and haven't blogged about your birthday yet. So here we go!The only thing we did to celebrate Nathan's birthday on his birthday was play miniature golf (by we I mean Jared, Nathan and Rylie, because I had to go back home and get some stuff we forgot and then I fed Maya in the car when we got back) because my cousin got married that day. It was a beautiful day and we were very happy to be able to see Devon and Abby get married and celebrate with them.The next day was Sunday so we had family and a couple of our friends over for dinner, cake and presents.And then later in the week Nathan got a separate friend party! We kinda spoil him I guess... We just borrowed a little splash pool from a friend, had a bunch of his friends (and their sisters so Rylie could play with them - although she ended up being pretty antisocial that day. Bummer. Oh well, like mother, like daughter, I guess.) over and we had ice cream and popsicles. We're lucky that the kids' birthdays are in the summer. It makes parties so simple but still fun.Here are a few anecdotes about Nathan:
When Nathan reads the scriptures he manages a word like "iniquities" just fine but stumbles over words like "law" or "same". It's kinda funny.
-
The other day he told me he needed something (I couldn't hear this word he was using) to look at spiders to see if they were poisonous. He repeated it a few times and I finally heard what he was saying: Maingla flass. "Oooohhh, magnifying glass?", I ask. "Yeah!"
-
A couple of months ago Nathan told me he wished he was a baby so he wouldn't get in trouble. I tried to explain to him that babies don't get in trouble because they can't do anything fun. It was small consolation for some reason.
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Nathan loves school and is doing really well so far. He likes riding the bus to and from school. He reads at a pretty high level. He's still working on his handwriting, but has made a lot of improvement since the beginning of the year! His teacher is great. =)
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He's pretty obsessed with super heroes and transformers right now. Sometimes I can't wait for this phase to be over so that not *everything* has to do with those things, but on the other hand, he probably won't have this kind of enthusiasm forever, and that's pretty neat to see.

Nathan we love you very much and we're so glad you came into our lives. You had a special beginning and every day has been an adventure since then! At least we're never bored! ;)

excusez-moi

2011-09-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Listen to this song, if you've got a moment. I don't know what she's saying 97% of the time, but I think her voice is kinda awesome.

Cupid he rules us all

2011-08-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

I seriously want to learn to play this song. (Sorry I can't embed the video)

But I have something else that takes priority on the "creative to-do list". Also I just don't have time right now! So somebody else should learn to play it... Mom?

Beds are for the birds

2011-08-10T03:30:00.000-07:00

I put Maya to bed... (fyi I do actually wrap her up to put her to sleep, I just took the picture after she was screaming and I unwrapped to hold her)and then...So I hold her.
That's just where she wants to be.p.s. I put her to bed at 10 pm and it is now after 4:30 and there has been nary a peep. I'm fully aware that I have completely wasted an awesome opportunity. I'm trying not to think about it too much.

Buongiorno principessa

2011-08-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

This was Rylie's birthday:This was the day before Rylie's birthday:She's 3 now. I can't believe it.
Some Rylie highlights:-She dotes on her baby sister
-She's in a kind of frenzied girliness stage. Fairies and mermaids and princesses, oh my!
-She pretends to read
-She tells great stories
-She sings a lot
-She loves knock-knock jokes (so does Nathan) but she doesn't tell them right. Here are examples:
Rylie: Knock knock!
Me (or Jared): Who's there?
Rylie: An elephant... with chunks. (giggles)
or...
Rylie: Knock knock!
Me: Who's there?
Rylie: Boo hoo! You don't have to cry, it's only me!
Me: ...Ok!This girl has grown up so quickly. Not that she's grown up. No rush here.

Just keep swimming

2011-07-22T23:35:00.000-07:00

We've gone swimming a few times so far this summer (I say we, but I mean they...) and twice it's been at a partially indoor pool. I don't know if that sounds pathetic to you, but I think I prefer it. I don't have to worry as much about Rylie burning or about either one of my children getting skin cancer. Also, I just don't like the bright sun. It's annoying. Am I buzzkill? I guess... but I really think it just means I need to visit England more.

Rylie's obsessed with the baby swings in the toddler play area.Maya's obsessed with sleeping.Jared went down the slide once, he's not obsessed or anything.Nathan just loves the lazy river feature, and here's a Where's Waldo type picture of the three of them enjoying it.And the best picture I could get of the three of them...
And some pictures of Maya preparing for the 2012 Olympics... She really wants me to go back to England for some reason. As long as she can come, of course. Hence the olympics.No wait this is the best picture I could get of the three of them.

Babes in the sun

2011-06-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

Maya, like my older two children were as newborns, is mildly jaundiced. I've been taking her out in the sun for a little bit in the late afternoon or early evening because I want her to get some sun, but I'm worried about sunburn.I love her facial expression here:I'm so glad Jared works on our yard and makes it look nice... I love being out there and the kids love playing outside.Look at Nathan's face in the background... I think it's kinda funny:Rylie loves her pink dress. If it's hanging in the closet, odds are she'll wear it.And one more that makes me laugh - she's trying to latch onto my arm:

Father's Day

2011-06-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

Just some pictures from that day in black and white, cause I'm artsy... Hope the last one isn't too naked for you. I think it's pretty though, and it's kind of a preview of a bunch of pictures Shannon took when she visited us in the hospital.

Father's Day was today... Pardon me while I wax emotional. I felt like it was this awful Father's Day because I didn't do anything and Jared made all this wonderful food (waffles with his special homemade strawberry topping, then pot roast and rolls for dinner) and still had to do so much for all of us because I'm still pretty incapacitated since I had a baby lo these 5 days ago. So then this evening after Nathan and Rylie were put to bed, I'm sitting there trying not to freak out Maya with my weird reactions to various kinds of pain while I feed her and Jared offers me a massage for when she's finished. Yeah. I just started bawling like... well... like a recently pregnant woman. So then he's all concerned and completely nonplussed. When I finally get ahold of myself and explain why I'm acting so bizarrely he just laughs and says sweet things about how Maya is a wonderful Father's Day present and how the kids are all so sweet when they're not being devilish and how he doesn't do that much, really, nothing like giving birth to three children and that he really liked my card this morning. Then he gave me that massage.

Yeah. I married that guy. The kind of guy who would sleep on this awful thing for two nights just so I don't have to be alone with a newborn in the hospital:

I love you Jared. Happy Father's Day.

dar a luz

2011-06-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

Well, after my last post, I feel like I need to yell out a big, fat, "Just kidding!" because I really was in labor, after all.

I realized I might actually be in labor at about 7ish in the morning when I went back to bed and started reading to try and get sleepy. I started having contractions every 10, then 8 minutes. After a little over an hour the kids got up (they had slept in, yay!) and I decided I'd better kill two birds with one stone. That sounds creepy since I had two kids... but I just mean that I needed to get up and move to see if the contractions slowed down and I also needed to make the kids breakfast. So I did so, and the contractions got closer together, although slightly less painful when I was standing. I texted Jared to tell him about it and that I was going to call the doctor. I called, but the office wasn't open and there was another number to call. So I called that one, and they acted all weird about me calling when I should just go to the hospital to be evaulated. (Just doing what my doctor asked me to do, mmkay?) So while the kids ate their breakfast, I got ready to go and called my friend Kristin to ask her to watch the kids that day. Jared got home then, helped the kids get ready to go, and took them over. When he got back we left for the hospital.

During the drive, I just hoped that they wouldn't send me back home. With Nathan and Rylie, labor had been relatively cut and dry, and rather short. This time around, I'd had a few days of false or prelabor and plenty of painful contractions with no result, so I had no idea what to expect now. Jared had gone to the temple early that morning and told me he had thought, "It's a good thing I came, because I might not be able to go again for a while."

When we arrived, memories of coming to visit Nathan in the hospital flooded back to me. I didn't feel sad or a sense of foreboding, though. Even though I was in pain, I felt pretty positive and upbeat about everything. Jared came in after parking the car before I could even make it to the elevator, so we went up together. I was admitted and the woman at the desk asked if I'd preregistered. I had planned on doing that this week, but it was too late now! We walked back to a labor room and I only had to stop and stand still for a contraction once. The room was large and had a great view, which was nice. There was also a jetted tub that looked enticing, but I didn't end up using it.

So then a nurse checked my progress and said I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced and that we were definitely having a baby that day. Yay! She then told me that since I hadn't been tested for Group B Strep yet that they were going to have to treat me for it as if I had it. I was supposed to have the test that day at my appointment, actually. So they gave me penicillin for that. I didn't get the epidural right away since I was worried it would slow things down too much but they said with how progressed I was already that it would be fine. However, the epidural did end up slowing me down a little. It ended up being a good thing, though, since the penicillin needed about 4 hours to get into my system. Eventually they gave me a tiny bit of pitocin to get things going more, and soon after that Maya was born. But before that (or shortly after?), the epidural started wearing off in my core. My legs were pretty numb but everything above was starting to get full feeling back. I'm a wuss, so I was not a fan. Also, I'm noisy. I felt kinda bad that people were trying to talk to each other about important medical stuff and they could barely hear each other. I wasn't screaming or anything, just moaning loudly, I think. Anyway, they gave me extra and I soon felt a lot better. My legs completely lost all feeling, though, which was super weird. They just kind of flopped around and I couldn't move them on my own at all. I still had a little bit of feeling in my core, but no pain. So that part was perfect for me. I could still feel some pressure and I could tell when Maya came out just from feeling it.

When I was getting ready to push apparently Maya was already crowning but I didn't realize it. The doctor and the nurse were talking about how she had all this dark hair and for a minute I thought they were talking about me! I just thought it was kind of awkward but shrugged it off. I told Jared about it later and he laughed at me. It does seem like a typical thing for me to misunderstand! Anyway, it was time to push so I pushed once and her head came out, then pushed again and she came out the rest of the way. It was such a relief to feel her come out! I could finally take a deep breath again! She started crying right away so I knew she was breathing. There was a knot in her umbilical cord, too. Jared didn't cut her cord because he was filming her birth at this point. The nurses dried Maya off and took her vitals and measurements while I delivered the placenta. She weighed 7 pounds and 8 ounces, and was 19 inches long. At one minute old her Apgar score was an 8 and a little later it was a 9. I think her head was 35 cm. Anyway then they put that goopy stuff on her eyes and wrapped her up and let me hold her. It felt like I'd been waiting forever! It was so nice to finally have her in my arms. She wasn't happy for a while though unless I was bouncing her. I think it was just the sharper noises and bright lights and cold, but I don't know. After a while she calmed down more and I tried nursing her. It didn't come as easily as it had with Rylie (which was so easy right at first it was practically a miracle) but as of now she's gotten the hang of it and I'm remembering things again.

After she'd tried nursing a little while the nurse took her and Jared down to the Mother/Baby floor to get her more cleaned up and everything. Jared stayed with Maya in the nursery for that and then my nurse came back to help me get down to that floor as well. My legs were still so incredibly numb she and someone else had to roll me into a gurney and then later into my bed on the Mother/Baby floor. Awkward. I had chills at this point so they brought me heated blankets a couple of times. Dinner came not long after and it was warm although I didn't really get to eat it when it was super warm for various reasons. Of course by the time I did eat it, however, everything in my body was fluctuating and I'd started sweating. Oh the craziness.

So I wasn't going to have Maya room in with me at night unless she needed to eat but she's ended up staying both nights anyway. She's been a really good sleeper for the most part. This afternoon and tonight, though, she's been more fussy so I asked for a pacifier. She doesn't keep it in very long but it's better than nothing. I find myself a little more paranoid this time around (more paranoid? um. yes.) and at first it was kinda freaking me out just to go to the bathroom when Jared was asleep or out of the room. Also, even though they tell you to only allow the RN's with pink badges to take the baby in and out of the room, how hard would it be for someone to just snatch her and run, right in front of my face? I'm not exactly in any condition to sprint after someone. I did think about it, though. I'm sure I could make it for a little while, and maybe others would help if they saw what was going on... See? I told you I was paranoid. Not that any of you who know me well need reminding.

Anyway, I think Maya is so cute and she reminds me of an ewok for some reason. Jared occasionally calls her Maya bear, which seems fitting. She is so soft all over and it's partly because she's still got a little fuzz, kind of like Nathan had when he was born. He was waay more hairy, though. And it's still early and hard to tell, but she seems to be really similar in coloring to Nathan, too. I also kind of think she has Swinford eyes and she seems to have the same nose as Nathan and Rylie (and me). I say it's the Prince nose but I don't know where it came from before that. The kids seem to love her and always want to hold her (although they get bored after about 5 seconds most of the time). Nathan and Rylie loved visiting us in the hospital but I think part of the attraction were things like the buttons on my bed and the tv and things like that.

Aubrie is watching the kids for us now. Thank you again, Aubrie! You are awesome!

Shannon came this evening to take pictures of Maya and some of us with Maya. We'll try to get the film onto a CD soon and hopefully they turned out well so I can share some with you guys. It was pretty shadowy so we'll see.

I'm not sure I'm going to get much sleep tonight (or any night any time soon) but I'm happy Maya is here and healthy and soo happy I'm not pregnant anymore. That was not a fun pregnancy.

So anyway, if you want to see some of the pictures we have so far, you can look at the album I made on facebook here.

Killing time...

2011-06-14T05:24:00.000-07:00

This is me at almost 37 weeks (a few days ago). Pretty big, eh?So I've had false labor off and on since Saturday. It's super neat and makes me feel all special inside. It's a pretty morning outside, though.
Aaaanyway. So to distract myself I've been doing all sorts of preparing and cleaning. I mean, scrubbing my shower with bleach at 2 in the morning? So not me. But apparently, right now it is.
I've had the hospital bag packed for over a month, but a couple nights ago I also packed a diaper bag (although no actual diapers in it yet) and a tub of stuff to keep by the side of my bed so I won't have to get up when I need stuff for the baby in the early morning hours or what-have-you. Also pictured is the bassinet, piles and piles of clothes, blankets, waterproof pads, burp cloths, etc. AND the nifty changing pad tray I asked Jared to make. It's going on top of a dresser in a few months when the baby moves to her room (or possibly sooner, depending on how noisy of a sleeper she is). I want to stain or paint it first, though. Not pictured is the ziploc bag for bathtime, with a couple towels, washcloths, soap and lotion stuff and extra clothes in it. I should be an honorary boy scout or something.
Here's a close-up of the supplies tub, since I know you were dying of curiosity. It's got newborn diapers (unopened package, in case she comes out huge and we have to exchange them for bigger diapers), one or two extras (of things like pj's, hats, socks, blankets, waterproof pads and burp cloths), wipes, nursing pads, changing pad, water bottle, chapstick and hand sanitizer. I'm planning on adding my lansinoh, hand lotion and a granola bar or two later. The kind of granola bar that doesn't crumble into a baby's face, cause I'm aware that that could happen.
Also you get to see my wonky faux boppy and the cover I made for it a few days ago or so. In the upper left corner is a rip that I need to repair. (Sorry blogger keeps turning the picture clockwise for some reason)

These contractions are making me say intelligent things like, "ow, ow, holy ow." I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon but I have a feeling he's going to say something like, "hang in there!" instead of, "oh my, this baby's about to pop out! hurry to the hospital!" which makes me sad. Somebody should get me a chocolate soda to comfort me.

oh p.s., I never posted a picture of the (almost) finished curtain I put in Nathan's and Rylie's room. Nathan took a picture of it from the bottom bunk so you can kinda see it.

According to Rylie...

2011-06-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

This is Brian Moses.

(source)

playing in the backyard

2011-06-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Finally! It's finally warm enough these days for the kids to play outside! Granted, it did get kinda cold and rainy for a little while today, but it was pretty brief.
These pictures are from last week, but it still shows them enjoying the backyard.I can't wait till the vegetables start growing... I'm especially excited for the tomatoes and zucchini. And hopefully we'll get at least one decent pumpkin for carving at Halloween...

p.s. I added more pictures that the kids took to their album.

p.s.s. I wrote this post a few days ago but blogger was being dumb and wouldn't load my pictures. Now, it's working. Halle-freakin-lujah. Seriously, I think I'm almost done with blogger.

Family picture

2011-05-18T23:19:00.001-07:00

We haven't taken a family picture in forever (and we've never had a professional portrait taken... hmm...) but we did on mother's day weekend. Here's the evidence.

p.s. I made a new facebook album of a bunch of pictures from the kids' perspective, since they steal my camera so much. This is why I love digital cameras...

Sometimes

2011-05-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I can feel the baby poking out her little fists or feet or her bum and I just want to crack up. There's a baby in my stomach!

Babies

2011-05-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

So I've been thinking about what this next baby will be like. I can't imagine having another kid with a completely different personality than Nathan's or Rylie's... We felt like that with each kid, though. Also, their personalities change a LOT over time, or at least they go through phases and they're still young enough that you're not sure which one is the real personality. Or maybe I just feel that way about Nathan. He was so sweet for such a long time, and he still is, but he also has extended periods where he's kind of a beast and he seems to feel that he is at the center of a world that is out to get him. Ho hum. I hope it's a phase, but I do many adults like that so I just don't know what to think. Not that I'm always a peach, either... and I worry that he's exactly like me and that I don't know how to help him learn to be more self-reliant and optimistic. I know I can be difficult to live with, for sure. I don't think of myself as a pessimist, though. Just a realist. And I try to have a sense of humor about my negativity. I don't know. I'm rambling.

Anyway. I've also thought about what she will look like. I wonder if she'll have blue-gray eyes like Rylie, or brown eyes like Nathan. I feel only about 67.38% positive she'll have brown eyes because Jared and I are both carriers of the blue eye gene. I used to think all our kids would have brown eyes and then along came Rylie. And both kids have different features from Jared and me (or through our parents and ancestors, really). Like their lips, for example. It appears Nathan has lips like Jared's and Rylie seems to have ones like mine. I'm curious to see what this third child will look like.

Since my card reader is lost and I can't give you any new pictures, here are a few pictures of the kids when they were around 9 or 10 months old. They are so goofy and cute. Still are, actually. So first is Nathan:

And then Rylie:
Anywho. I am very tired of being pregnant. Sound the gong. I am TIRED of being pregnant. I have symptoms up the wazoo. When is the last time I threw up, you ask? (If you didn't ask, too bad) Last week. Also, there are tons of things I want to get done but I'm not only tired, I'm trying to take it really, really easy so I don't end up doing the whole premature labor thing again and spend extra money to go to the hospital and get drugged up so I don't pop out a baby too soon. You know, it could be worse. But I like to complain sometimes. Okay, I'm done complaining for now.

I find I have nothing else to say. Ha!

p.s. Again, if the spacing is wonky, it's not for my lack of trying to make it normal. Blogger just hates me or something.

Stuff I worked on this weekend...

2011-04-17T14:23:00.001-07:00

I made some stuff this weekend and I wanted to show you...

First I finally fixed the sleeve placement on this shirt. It's still kinda low but not enough that I want to rip out the (double) seams and do it again. It'll do. It's just supposed to be a light, airy top that Rylie can wear when it gets hot.

I also made this skirt for Rylie. It was my first time trying a French seam and I think it turned out pretty well! But, since it's me, that means there are a couple things that bug me about it. Like I wish I'd made the pattern match up at the seam on the side, and I really wish I had paid better attention to length when I was hemming it, because when I put it all together it was slightly uneven. (sigh)

I also started this shell garland that I'm going to hang in our bedroom. There were a bunch of shells with natural holes in them (some of them I had to widen, though) so there aren't nearly as many I'm going to have to try and drill after all. Wish me luck... I'd hate for every single one to shatter when I try to drill little holes in them...Anyway, I worked on some other stuff too, but I haven't finished yet. I'll show you those later.

Storytelling in 30 Photos

2011-04-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

This one is going to be kinda long, sorry. But will you forgive me since I don't post that often? I saw this done here, so I thought I'd do my version. I can see my mom or some of my other relatives doing a hilarious version of this, but if any of you want to do this, I'd love to see any version!

1. Someone I spend a lot of time with... (two people, really)

2. A picture of myself... (from last September... clearly I don't look like that right now!)

3. Someone in my family... (my grandparents on my dad's side)4. Something that makes me happy...5. An old picture of myself... (that's one sweet farmer's tan - check it!)6. A sibling... (my brother Ian, who's on a mission in Boston right now)7. A class photo... (this was during my over-plucked stage)8. A random photo of my significant other and me...9. A picture I've never posted before... (see why? you can kinda see my lazy eye. however, you can see my incredible, hand-crafted, favorite dinosaur shirt as well.)10. A relative of mine... (dad)11. A person I can tell everything...12. A picture from everyday life...13. A picture from a place I love... (the meadow garden at Anne Hathaway's cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon)14. A picture that reminds me of old times...15. A great night...16. An unusual picture... (yes, that is a Barbie car on the back of a semi...)17. A picture of my spare time... (um hi, I'm looking at nekkid pregnant bellies)18. People who are closest to me... (besides Jared)19. A person who is always there... (and helps me remember I'm not the only psycho one)20. A time in life I miss... (when we were newlyweds and could take spontaneous roadtrips)21. Last summer...22. A picture that makes me sad... (it's sad because it's not true)23. A picture I will always laugh at... (it's hard to decide which is funnier to me: my sisters and me being bizarre as usual, or the fact that Ian doesn't seem to have a clue what's going on!)24. A crazy picture... (if you can't tell, this is Jared... before I met him)25. Latest picture of myself... (This is the most recent picture of myself that no one's seen)26. My parents at my age... (I'm not sure exactly how old my parents are in these pictures, but I'm guessing they're in their 20s. Sorry I don't have better ones - I only have a couple from that time on my computer! In the one with my dad, he's with my 3 aunts on the Wood side and my grandma Wood. My mom is sitting on the steps of St. Paul's cathedral in London.)27. From the best days of my life... (pretty much any vacation... ha. This is from when we went to Myrtle Beach back in 2008)28. Favorite vacation... (our honeymoon to Hawaii)29. An accomplishment... (I guess there are actually 2 in this picture)30. A picture I'm satisfied with...

Holy cats that took a long time.

p.s. If the formatting is stupid, blame blogger. I did try to fix it, but it just doesn't want to stay fixed. Whatev.

The past couple days' pictures

2011-04-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry I don't have many of Nathan... I really want to get more of him reading, though, since he's started learning how! I do have a picture of Nathan right after he finished registering for kindergarten but it's on my phone and I haven't figured out how to email it to myself yet. =P

Anyway, here are a couple of Rylie playing while Nathan was at preschool on Tuesday.

And a couple from when Rylie was in my room (she took some pictures herself).

And some pictures from our family dinner right before my parents left for California. My sisters and Rylie (and my mom, for a while) were having lots of fun with the play-dough!

This is the Little Mermaid ensemble. Clockwise from the top left: Prince Eric's dog (can't remember his name), Prince Eric (who can't believe what he's seeing, apparently), Ariel, Sebastian, Ursula (missing her more human traits... very telling), and Flounder. And in the middle you can see some lovely waves.

Nathan reading to Grandma Prince.

We had yummy food (including a new-to-me lemon pasta recipe I'd never tried before) for dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

p.s. If you want to see my California trip album, click here.

mixed up

2011-03-08T00:11:00.000-08:00

I hate posting pictures on blogger... did I tell you that already? I think I did. Maybe it's just my computer, but it's incredibly difficult to position the pictures in order when you load more than one. You have to do it backwards, first of all. Or actually, I have to do it backwards. It can't possibly be this difficult for everyone. If it was, why would so many people use blogger?

Anyway. Moving on. I'm going to put up a few pictures from last month when the kids painted. We're going to cut silhouettes of animals out of the colored paper. Actually, we started, I just never finished because of my awful tendency to jump from project to project before completing the first one. I'm sure by now my kids have no faith in me... Also, my kids are kinda crazy, but Nathan looks pretty normal here.

Also I wanted to make a list of the names our kids have suggested for the baby girl due in July...

Nathan's: Gusto, (He's suggested at least two others. I'll update this when I find the notes I wrote on the grocery list... which hopefully didn't get thrown away)

Rylie's: Buzz, Alice Wonderland

Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

As retold by...

2011-02-07T09:54:00.001-08:00

This is the story of how Nephi went back to Jerusalem and got the brass plates, as retold by Rylie, then Nathan. I did try and correct any mistakes they made along the way so they wouldn't dwindle in unbelief, but I thought their versions were pretty funny. Anything not in parentheses is a direct quote or directly paraphrased.

Rylie:

(holding up picture of angry mob): We're going to kill you!

Not long after, Zoram came.

(Then she holds Laban up to the city of Jerusalem): Hello? Is anybody in there?

Not long after, Nephi said to the Angel: (indecipherable murmuring)

(End scene, because Rylie ran off.)

Nathan:

Well, everybody was going to kill Lehi. So they went to the wilderness. Then, Laman took his nephews, Lame-uel (his exact pronunciation) and Nephi back to Jerusalem to get the plates. Laman went to see Laban.

(Laman:) "Can we please have the plates?"

(Laban:) "Guards!! Guards!!"

(Laman:) "Ahhhh!"

Then, Laban liked alcohol, and he was drunk. I don't know why he liked alcohol, but because he got drunk, he died. Nephi took his clothes.

(Nephi:) "Zoram, can I have the plates?"

Zoram went with Nephi.

(Zoram:) "Ahhhh!"

Then Zoram went with them and they took the plates back to the wilderness.

(Sariah:) "Yaaaaay!"

Help...

2011-02-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

I need some advice from my family and anyone else who happens to read this and wants to chime in...

I like to decorate my home when I can afford to do what I like. The thing is, not only do I have budgetary constraints like so many, I also have destructive children. Billions of people have kids, so I know I can't be the only one with kids who like to break stuff, but are the ones who decorate their homes the only ones with children who behave properly? Is there anyone out there who has somehow found the secret to making their home look nice while somehow keeping their darling offspring from ripping things off the walls or breaking them into tiny pieces?

My mom had cool things on the wall and kept curtains or blinds in the windows and I don't recall tearing them down or ever doing something like cutting up my dad's furry llama wall hanging with scissors. (Oh dear... I had a sudden thrill of dread for our trip to California in March... Guys, I swear I'll watch them like hawks for 24 hours every day!) So either my siblings and I were just that well-behaved or I was just too young to retain any memories of ripping curtains and their rails out of the windows.

Anyway, here are some pictures of Nathan and Rylie's bedroom. I really want to fix up the kids' room. Part of me (the delusional part?) feels that if I make it look nicer, maybe the kids will finally take some pride in their belongings and the belongings of others and have some respect for property. That even if they don't actually learn to take care of their things yet, that perhaps they might at least learn to leave them alone...

Below you can see there is nothing on the walls or the window. Rylie and Nathan both did their share of pulling on the window shade I made a while ago, but a few nights ago a couple tugs from Rylie were the straw that broke the camel's back.

Next, you can see where the bookcase used to be. Both the kids kept taking the shelves off, stuffing toys into the back and leaning on the back so it would pull the nails out, then in a fit of rage one day, Nathan somehow managed to pull the bookcase out from the wall, when it had been secured at the top. True, it hadn't been secured to a stud. Otherwise I'd seriously look into getting him a cape or something. Anyway, now it's in the loft, propped up against the spare bed. (Oh, and the scribbles on the wall, but that's run-of-the-mill kid's stuff, right?)

This next pictures shows where the last pictures on the wall that Nathan had left alone for so long used to be. They were the baseball ones Jared drew in high school (I can't find a picture of them, but I think most of you know what they look like), were taken off the wall and used as slides (there was no glass in the frames, just plastic, the kids are okay). The frames are shattered, but fortunately the drawings are still intact. We took out Nathan's dresser since they had climbed on it to get the pictures and also because I was getting a little frustrated with Rylie taking all his clothes out (funny story, one day she decided she was sick of diapers so she put a bunch of his underwear on...).

So, an empty room, with no light cover so we can easily unscrew the lightbulbs at night (they rattle around in their room for over an hour on an average night anyway, but if we let them turn on the lights, it's a lot longer).

I'm also worried about when the baby comes, because then their toys will probably have to go back in their room and I can't see them ever going to sleep in that situation. What is now their playroom is going to be the baby's room in several months (oh yeah, I haven't announced it on the blog because everyone who reads it probably knows, but I'm pregnant). Unless I move all the bookcases from the loft back to Jared's and my bedroom, in which case the loft could be a play area. While that would somehow make our big bedroom pretty crowded, it is a tempting thought.

So... decorating their room (nothing fancy, it is their room, after all, just a curtain for the window and maybe a few cheap, smaller Ikea frames for the kids' artwork, something to cover their lightbulbs a little bit but still make it easy to unscrew the bulbs)... you know, the ones with plastic, not glass, of course!): worth the effort? A waste of time and money? What do you think?

It runs in the family

2011-01-30T22:05:00.000-08:00

Jared and his mom have a lot of weird and funny banter when they play Aggravation. So when they started ad-libbing lyrics to the song "Do You Hear What I Hear", I had to write it down for posterity.

Jared and Barb, singing together: Do you see what I see? (What I see?)

Jared: Little tiny men in the air... can you hear them screaming? (Them screaming?)

Barb: A song, a song, way up in the sky, let us bring them pudding and pie...

Singing together, (retardando): Let us bring - them - pudding - and - piiiiiiiie!!!

play-doh

2011-01-08T11:09:00.000-08:00

The kids got play-doh for Christmas and they love playing with it, of course. My mom played with them one day and she enjoyed making freaky looking faces and trying to scare the kids with it.

Later, after my mom had returned to California, Rylie tried to copy my mom.

And here's a snowman Nathan made.

when he grows up

2011-01-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

On the way to my grandparents' house on New Year's Day, Nathan spent the entire car ride talking about what he wanted when he grew up. There's a lot of information and I can't remember all the exact things he said so I'll just put everything into lists.

Cars:

-a red crazy car with crazy things sticking out of it (no more details were given)

-a white whistle car for going to work

-a big black car because he will have two kids

At this point I asked him who he'd be married to and he said Rylie. I tried to explain a little bit why that could not be but he sort of lost interest and moved on to features his house would have.

House:

-stairs

-rooms

-beds (if it's a brown one he will like it, if it's black he won't)

-a crazy room with a crazy bunkbed (what makes it crazy? a bunch of sticks sticking out of it that you can climb up but they don't really stick out, for some reason)

-a regular (non-crazy) room for Rylie so she won't get scared

-the food he will have: cocoa petals (pebbles), fruit loops and apple jacks

-lots of windows with snowflakes on them

-doorknobs

-doors

-an angel on the roof

Garden:

-grass on top of the dirt, but some dirt left open so he can have flowers

-flowers he will eat (he said these flowers have flavors and you can eat them):

-strawberries

-grapes

-corn

-apples

-cucumbers

-raspberries

-tomatoes

-etc.

-flowers that you don't eat, in blue, pink and red

-Lots of trees

-signs: red for stop, green for go, yellow for slowing down, white for turning in circles and blue for turning corners

-a mailbox with his mail in it that no one can read

-at Christmas there will be big lights (not the tiny ones we have now), lots of snow and he will build snowmen.

I remember the sound

2010-12-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

Just Rylie sitting on my bed doing two of her favorite things: not wearing clothes and getting into my stuff.

Christmas time

2010-12-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

Growing up, this video was on the same VHS tape as all our Christmas movies and cartoons, so when I watch it it makes me think of Christmas. Anyway, it's kind of a classic in our family and I'm going to show it to my children so we can continue the tradition (not necessarily the watching-it-at-Christmas-tradition, just the watching-it-tradition). :)

Without number

2010-12-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

Nathan said he had so many friends, I asked exactly how many. He said:

"There are so many that they go past the numbers and go into the ABC's."

p.s. The picture is a self-portrait of Nathan.

Rylie's lunch

2010-12-10T12:12:00.001-08:00

When Rylie has a sandwich, she likes to either separate the components or tear it up and play with the pieces. Then the pieces play together, drink milk from her cup or even have conversations like, "Where's my head?" to which the reply might be, "I ate it all."

At least she eats (most of) her sandwiches, gradual as the process may be. Nathan causes me some anguish when he says he'd rather starve (dramatic much?) than eat a sandwich. He always wants something freshly cooked and that is not something I am always willing or able to provide.

The future

2010-12-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a conversation I had with Nathan this morning after I explained why the neighborhood kids shrieked every time they thought their bus was coming to pick them up for school. I also told him where the elementary school was and that we'd go visit it next summer before he started kindergarten so that he'd be familiar with it and know where to go and everything when the time came (hopefully).

Nathan: What will I do when I'm 6?

Me: You'll go to first grade.

N: 7?

Me: Second grade.

N: 8?

Me: Third grade.

(I won't sport with your intelligence by typing out the rest of the ages and grades, but that's what we did)

N: 18?

Me: When you're 18 you'll hopefully go to college.

N: What's college?

Me: It's still school, but there are colleges and universities all over the country and all over the world. That's what Adrien and Shannon are doing right now. They go to school in Provo.

N: Oh. And then what number comes next?

Me: 19.

N: Okay, what happens when you're 19?

Me: Well I hope you'll go on a mission like Ian. That's what Ian did, he went to college for a year and now he's on a mission.

N: (excited laughing) Oh!

(we went on to talk about the following ages and that he'd possibly finish college at age 24 if he only did 4 years, then I told him the year after that was 25 and that's how old I was and he laughed like he didn't believe me.)

N: I think I want to go to a cheese college.

Me: What??

N: They make cheese there.

Me: I see.

N: Like... macaroni and cheese. (dissolves into laughter)

Dobby is a free elf

2010-12-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

Adrien, Shannon, some of their friends and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at midnight when it first came out. I took a few pictures, especially since we dressed up. Can you tell what we were? We were trying to look like witches (and a wizard) who didn't know how to dress like muggles. You know, like in the books. Not all fashion-magazine-editorial-y like in the movies.

Ian was there... sort of. =)

A few of us after the movie. It was awesome. I saw it again later with Jared.

Random things

2010-12-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

It's been forever, again. I have no excuse you haven't heard before. Anyway, the theme of today's post is that my kids are weird. They amuse me.

Rylie today:

(singing): "It's a secret, I'm a secret, there's a secret..."

and a conversation:

(scene: Our bedroom. Jared sits in the rocking chair. Nathan thrashes around on our bed. I'm sitting at the computer and Rylie walks up to Jared.)

Rylie: No! It's my rocking chair!

Me: (I never play along, I'm the boring parent) We bought that chair before Nathan was born and you think you can just come along and say it's yours? (Obviously everyone ignores me)

Jared: It's not yours.

Rylie: It's mine! Get out.

Jared: No. I'll get you.

Rylie: Nooooooo (runs off, then returns 30 seconds later with her tin of barrettes) Here. (pause) Those my swords.

Jared: Swords? These aren't swords.

Rylie: My swords! Have them.

Jared: These are barrettes. (Then he takes them away so she can't scatter them everywhere, she protests and then forgets about the whole thing less than 10 seconds later).

And this is something Nathan did the other day:

Give me something fun to do - like a life of loving you

2010-11-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

So maybe you guys have already heard of her, but I just barely heard Brooke Fraser's single "Something in the Water" and it's so cute and catchy I wanted to share.

Anyway. I don't get her hair, unless it's what's in the water... har har. Seriously, I love her voice though. Check out her other music, too! She's actually mostly a Christian artist. If you want to read about her, you can check her wiki article here.

a visit with Santa

2010-11-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

Just a few minutes ago I heard some loud rustling on the stairs. It was Nathan's tunnel that goes with a tent he recieved as a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Swinford. Then I heard the voices...

Nathan: No, no, no! Go through the hole and tell me what you want. (pause) Because I'm Santa.

(more rustling noises)

Nathan: What do you want?

Rylie: Ummm... that one.

Nathan: I don't have that one. You can have a whale, a shark, a dragon...

Rylie: Ummm... that one.

Nathan: No. Would you like a pirate? A whale? A painting on the wall?

(silence)

Nathan: Okay. Now go back through the tunnel.

p.s. I still think he's handsome even with food all over his face (as well as in his ear, apparently). I'm such a mom.

p.s.s. I'm aware that Nathan can be very bossy. Rylie bosses him, too, though. We've tried explaining that there are only two parents in this household, but they don't always remember.

one more...

2010-10-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

I also made a skirt for Rylie last night. I kind of wish I'd made it slightly more a-line and gathered at the waist, but it's my first skirt, all right? Live and learn. I actually have enough of the same material to do it over again, but I haven't decided if it's worth it yet.

Here's Nathan, doing his favorite thing.

Finally!!! (kind of)

2010-10-16T17:13:00.000-07:00

I started making a shirt for Rylie several months ago (probably in the early spring) and finally finished it today! I took pictures of the cutting and piecing process but they're on our computer that's being fixed. The finished shirt is more interesting anyway, since Rylie is in it. I'm kinda annoyed with it, not just the amateurish sewing, but also the fact that the neckline is so low!! I should go back and fix it, if I can stand doing that part over again. Also, I can't get Rylie to stop saying "cheese", and this is what her face looks like when she says it.

So I guess the moral of the story is that I'm not done, and that my relief will be short-lived. Hopefully it won't take me too long to fix the sleeves so that they're closer together and the bodice is higher.
I kind of hate sewing. I like the idea process, but the actual work is so time-consuming and frustrating. Near the end when I was growling at my sewing machine for losing the thread again, Nathan said, "If your sewing machine is killing you, maybe you should stop using your sewing machine!"p.s. Ok I feel like I need to explain this picture of Nathan. He wasn't upset or anything, he just thinks he's hilarious. I'll admit it - he is.

Authors

2010-09-29T22:07:00.001-07:00

The house was finally quiet. The kids were in their beds. Then I heard this as I passed their door.

Nathan: (repeating some question over and over but I couldn't tell what he was saying at first)
Rylie: Poe?
Nathan: Yes. Edgar Allen Poe. Do you have any Poe?
Rylie: No.
Nathan: You're supposed to say "go fish".
Rylie: Go fish.
Nathan: Okay. Now it's your turn.

I really wish I would have stayed longer to hear more... but I also really needed to get to where I was going. By the time I returned that way, I couldn't hear anything coming from their room.

the play room and Nathan's skills

2010-09-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

So since I last mentioned it, I've organized the playroom. I took these pictures when it wasn't perfectly clean and when the sun was setting, but I think it gets the point across. Oh and you can kinda see the swords Jared made for the kids on the bookcase!Also, Nathan is getting better at writing and drawing! Haha I'm so proud. So is he. The first picture is the first time he's written his whole first name by himself. I still had to tell him a couple of times which letter came next, though. Actually that's something we're working on... he doesn't realize that the letters still have to go in a certain order. Or that words are generally supposed to be stay on one line. I don't think it's dyslexia, though.

p.s. the last picture is a family portrait. clockwise from the top: Rylie, me, Nathan and Jared.

Rare

2010-09-06T18:38:00.001-07:00

Saturday in the house

2010-08-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

We stayed at home today and got a lot done around the house. Jared fixed our screens and replaced the missing one (yay! no more battles with freaky hornets!) and worked in the garden a little and I cleaned and rearranged our bedroom. Most of the house is pretty clean now. I've found places for most of the furniture I inherited from Grandma Wood and the house is looking so much better now that we have some furniture that isn't particle board. ;) The only things I can't stand to look at right now are the play room (what used to be Rylie's room) and Jared's and my closet. Both are too chaotic. But I've noticed I only have chaos when I don't know where to put things, and the toys in Rylie's old room have no place but the floor. And our closet... well that's different bag of chips. Maybe if I ever find a good system I'll show it off again. I love being organized - it just doesn't happen often.

Anyway. This morning Jared bought a circular saw to cut the screen frames down to size and when he took it out of the box Rylie said, "Oh wow! Gorgeous!"I don't have a picture of the master bedroom but it's really not picture-worthy yet anyway. I have a picture of the kids in their bunk beds, though. They really love them, but it makes it kind of impossible to have 'quiet time' in the afternoon so I've just taken to sticking Rylie back in her old room for naps in the afternoon (we haven't packed away the crib but the side is taken off).I wish I could remember something cute to say about Nathan... he's still cute, I promise. Here are a couple pictures of him to prove it.

not so typical Thursday...

2010-08-26T19:35:00.001-07:00

I feel like I'm always telling people about how the kids are always destroying things and creating mayhem, but today... not so bad.

The kids just played on the bed for a while this morning......I put a rock in our house.After dinner we put up our bird house and the kids picked flowers for their hair.They're not really staying in bed now, but it's been a relatively easy-going day and I even had a chance to clean the kitchen. Hallelujah.

Different things in July

2010-08-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm super behind. Surprised?

Last month we ate outside.Last month was also Rylie's second birthday, so that was fun. She had raspberry-topped chocolate cupcakes and tons of gifts.A couple of her gifts I actually made. I made her a tutu and a nightgown I (haphazardly) refashioned out of a Sally t-shirt (which I think got forever ago from Kelly, but I can't be sure). Here she is wearing both of them at the same time:
My mom came out for Rylie's birthday and was able to stay till Nathan's birthday, too! It was really nice having her here and being able to hang out with her a lot.Kelly also had her baby shower in July.And I took pictures from my window sills last month too.Good story, huh?

p.s. I just realized that in 3 of the 4 pictures of Rylie she's stuffing something in her face.

damage control

2010-07-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

The last several days my kids have been on another destructive kick. I think it's the stir-craziness... it's too hot to go outside for most of the day. Fortunately we have big plans tomorrow (and by big plans I mean visiting the playground in the mall).

And fortunately I have this guy...
(that farmer's tan cracks up my inner 12 year old girl)
...and he left all this in the fridge!Beth, you'd better hurry or they'll be all gone! Haha JK I think somebody might kill me if I ate them all.

best ever

2010-07-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

Jared and I made hot fudge coconut shakes today... They were the best I'd ever tasted!

We used chocolate ice cream, milk, hot fudge, coconut flakes and a few drops of coconut extract. I would love to try a plain coconut shake sometime because the coconut extract worked so well.

Jared is making cheesecake because Beth is coming out this week... I should probably just give up.

p.s. I posted an album on facebook with pictures from this summer, including camping at the reunion and more pictures from Independence Day. I'll continue to add to it throughout the rest of the summer.

Polaroid Sunday

2010-07-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

Our afternoon in pictures... There was napping, eating, twirling, fort-building and a whole lot of mischief.Oh Shannon. Classic.

holiday

2010-07-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Our Independence Day weekend was pretty awesome. We're very blessed. I'd promise to write more about it later, but I kinda hate that I rarely follow through so I'm just going to forgo saying that this time around.

Remember Poladroid? Instant nostalgia.

Let's call the whole thing off

2010-06-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

I finished watching this movie today. (FYI it's super quiet so you may have to turn your speakers up a lot. Oh and you have to click on the sifter to play the video.)

I think they're so charming and funny together. Just look at Fred Astaire's face when Ginger Rogers says 'oysters'!

Why does it take me 3 or 4 days to watch a movie?Oh yeah.

Father's Day

2010-06-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty decent Father's Day, I think. Jared bought himself a leaf blower a week or two ago for his present, but the kids and I ended up getting him an apron, stockpot and some candy as well. He took a nap and I made some Parmesan Portobello Farfalle for dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert. This is him totally faking being asleep, by the way...
Nathan gave Jared a card he'd made in primary (this was about the third time he received it - Nathan kept taking it back).After dinner Jared decided it was high time the kids had crowns so he made them a couple and then we had a coronation ceremony. So cute and bizarre and I seriously love my family. They make me laugh.After the kids were in bed I let Jared win at Aggravation a couple times. It was Father's Day, after all. :)

new clothes!

2010-06-18T11:56:00.001-07:00

Um yeah so this post is definitely a tangent but I'm always a little excited when I buy stuff on sale. I just got these shirts for Rylie for next summer. Yay for sales! Yay for sisters who let you borrow their discount credit cards!

These just came in the mail today...
Rylie was pleased.

another Sunday afternoon

2010-06-18T11:37:00.001-07:00

outside

2010-06-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

Seems the days we go outside are rarer than I thought they'd be this time of year. It's making us appreciate those days a lot more, though, I think.

music

2010-06-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

So I was practicing the piano today and Nathan walks in and says, "Is that Mozart?"

Um, yes, yes it is.

image

Not ten minutes later, Rylie walks up to my guitar stand and starts singing into it like it's a microphone.I can't believe these are my kids. How did I get so lucky?

I type that and then realize the kids are throwing Jared's softballs around my room. Excellent.

sick

2010-06-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

The kids were sick yesterday. I think the worst is over now.

mini golf

2010-06-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

I've got some catching up to do! I don't have time right now, though, so I'll leave you with a few pictures from when we went miniature golfing last Saturday. It was the kids' first time!

good to be home

2010-05-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful for my family.

fail

2010-05-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

Shannon and I tried to drive out to northern California for our Grandma Wood's memorial service this weekend. We ended up having car trouble so we had to get towed back to Sandy where Jared picked us up, so that didn't happen. We were pretty bummed. We made it as far as the Bonneville Salt Flats, though, so we took a few pictures.

London: Day Three (May 1st)

2010-05-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

I'm super behind... how very normal of me. Here's a picture of mom in our flat:So on last Saturday we went to the British Museum (which was really cool)and St. Paul's Cathedral (which was also really cool, and so were the views from the top!),but most of my pictures from that day got deleted somehow. Probably for the best... I'm pretty sure my sisters and my mom took tons of pictures of mostly the same things. So kinda sad = shorter post.

London: Day Two (tons of pictures!)

2010-05-01T00:24:00.000-07:00

Okay. Day Two. Firstly, here's where we're staying. We're the windows on the right but the building has like 4 to 6 flats in it, I think.Yesterday was long and we're still not over the soreness yet. It always gets worse but then it gets better, right? Right??
First we went out to Portobello Market in Notting Hill. It was really cool, minus one guy who we have now sort of nicknamed, "the height of rudeness" because that's sort of his catch phrase. You know, like with Pokemon how Pikachu always says, "pikachu". Anyway he went on and on and on about how Adrien shouldn't have been taking pictures of his books (which were lovely, btw, but sort of seemed less lovely after he went off on her) and fortunately she elected not to stay for part of it. Then I just decided to ask him how much the book I was holding was (a pretty nice looking edition of 2 of my favorite plays by Shakespeare from around 1870) even though I knew I couldn't possibly afford it but I was just trying to change the subject. He then said it was 50 pounds and showed me the date as the reason why and went on to inform me there were cheaper books. Yes, yes there are. So yeah, other than that I liked Portobello Road. One of the pictures below is All Saints, a clothing store (I gather) that was lined with hundreds if not thousands of old sewing machines. I thought it looked pretty cool.After that we went to St. Martin-in-the-Fields and ate lunch in their crypt cafe. It was pretty good. Sort of odd to be eating where people were buried, but the architecture was great.Then we walked over to Trafalgar Square which is right in front of the church. The lions are bigger than they look.Oh also we finally saw the Big Ben clock tower for the first time from the square!So then we walked down the street to the Houses of Parliament and checked out Westminster Bridge. We even saw the window where Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes jumped out and dived into the Thames.
Then we had to get hot chocolate because it was cold.After that we took the tube over to Covent Garden and walked around there for a while. We also saw where Jane Austen stayed for a short period with her brother.When we finished there, we went all the way up to Camden Town and walked around there.Very fun. =) We got crepes from this guy:Mom and I walked around Camden Lock a little bit after Shannon and Adrien went home early (they were really tired).We didn't get to go to the gig we'd bought tickets for, unfortunately, because Melic wasn't performing till a quarter to ten and we told Adrien and Shannon we'd be home by 11:30. Mom and I went to the National Gallery till it closed at 9, though, and I got a pretty cool picture to end the day.

London: Day One

2010-04-29T22:46:00.000-07:00

The view coming in!I actually almost lost my camera the morning we arrived (29th), but fortunately the people at the airport found it. I was really thankful but I think the girl who had to go retrieve it was glad to see me go. Or maybe she didn't care. =) I don't know. So, because of the lost camera and a couple wrong trains (at one point I realized we were on the wrong train right as it reached it's next stop so I just said "get off, get off, get off! in an urgent manner and unfortunately we were too fast for our mom so she had to go to the next station and come back =P), we didn't get to our rented flat (which is about a 15 minute walk from the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge)until a little after noon. We took a nap then, and it was great! As we were leaving we met our neighbor and he was nice.
Then we went to Hampstead and visited Keat's House and walked around a charming neighborhood or two.We ate dinner there.And yummy bread.We also visited the Heath, which was beautiful, and just explored a little bit before going back. Before heading home we got some groceries at Waitrose. After that we were pretty exhausted. Now it's about 7 in the morning and we've got a long day ahead of us, so hopefully I'll be able to blog again tomorrow morning, we'll see!

more playing in the backyard

2010-04-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Rylie really wanted to take a picture, so with a little help, she took this one:

more outfits

2010-04-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

Just a couple more outfits that Barb sent for Easter:

a cold day in April

2010-04-13T20:32:00.001-07:00

Bothered

2010-04-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

A couple of photos, taken by Nathan...I'm actually a little disturbed by this one:
We had fun in the backyard the other day... care to take a look?

2010-04-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

Nathan took several pictures of Rylie today. Here are a couple.

raincarl?

2010-04-06T16:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was playing with Nathan and he was cooking with Rylie's food and dishes (those toys are both of theirs, really). I've noticed he imitates cooking shows by sometimes preparing the dessert first and then putting it in the fridge in Rylie's kitchen before moving on to a side dish and main course. It's pretty funny. Anyway, a couple times he's used words I'm not familiar with, and we had this conversation:

Nathan: Okay, eat this. This is beans and rice.
Me: I thought we already had beans and rice! (we had "eaten" some a few moments before)
Nathan (laughs): Oh, this isn't beans and rice. This is raincarl with apples.
Me: Raincarl? What's raincarl?
Nathan: It's really good with apples and it makes your body smooth. Lots of people eat it with apples.
Me: But what is it?
Nathan: It's really good for you and makes your body old. (we've been discussing how good food can help you grow big and strong but also that everyone grows old)
Me: Oh I see. I still don't know what it is.
Nathan: It's raincarl!
Me: Are there other kinds of raincarl?
Nathan: Yeah (he picks up a jar full of alphabet puzzle pieces), these are green. This is how you make it. You put it in with olive oil and tomatoes and cubes. And you mix it up with strawberries. And then it's good.
Me: I see. (I don't) Thank you. You're a very good cook.
Nathan: I know.
Me: You're supposed to say thank you.
Nathan (laughs): Oh, thank you.
Me: You're welcome.

Anyway. I told Jared about it and he thought it was really funny and bizarre. But today Nathan was mispronouncing a few words (I won't repeat them unless you're really curious, it had to do with body parts and the digestive system...) and I think a little light bulb went on over my head. So when Jared came downstairs after work, we all had this conversation (actually, Rylie didn't, but she was listening, presumably):

Jared: Nathan, what's raincarl?
Nathan: It's raincarl, with apples and green beans.
Jared and I stare at one another with confusion and amusement. I quickly tell him about Nathan's earlier mispronunciations.
Me: Is it caramel?
Nathan: Yeah, it tastes like popcorn.
Me: But caramel isn't good with green beans.
Nathan: It's in my egg (an Easter egg) and it tastes like popcorn.
Jared: You don't have anything in your egg that tastes like popcorn.
Me: So is raincarl caramel?
Nathan: Yes. And it tastes like popcorn.

Well, there you have it. I don't think we're any closer to figuring out what raincarl is, actually.

a package

2010-04-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks again, Grandma Spees! Again, sorry the video has no sound. Just imagine the bunny singing with gusto and Rylie screaming in delight.

just a bite!

2010-03-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Since there aren't any blurry pictures of the kids in the last two posts, here are a couple from when we had lunch with my family at the Cougar Eat last week:

all the world's a stage

2010-03-29T22:47:00.001-07:00

But not everyone's a great player. We had fun, though. =D

road trip

2010-03-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

Jared and I were able to get away from the kids for almost 2 days. Kinda sounds like we were trying to escape. Thanks again, mom and dad!

an artist

2010-03-20T00:05:00.000-07:00

Nathan has taken lots of pictures lately. Sometimes I let him... sometimes it's when I'm definitely not there.

kids like cookies

2010-03-19T23:59:00.001-07:00

in the back yard again!

2010-03-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

Tuesday it was a little warmer (in the 40s) so the kids played outside before it started raining. Nathan and Austin sticking leaves in the fence/etc. was supposed to be them "making pizza", then they told me they were just feeding the dog next door.Then Nathan and Austin got in trouble for playing with the sprinkler heads so we all went inside.This is a picture of Rylie kind of singing:

random pictures from today

2010-03-03T20:03:00.000-08:00

Mostly of Rylie for some reason... Sorry the video doesn't have sound.

the dragons are dead

2010-03-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

The post title is what Nathan tried to confirm with me a couple of times before we arrived at the dinosaur museum. Rylie had another view on the matter. She just growled.

The Re-Arranger

2010-02-27T15:09:00.000-08:00

I like to re-arrange the furniture on occasion. Nathan must have noticed, because he did this (the toys are in their usual state of disarray... that's not much different):

Here is the before. The red table was in the the left-most corner.

insert clever title here

2010-02-21T11:44:00.000-08:00

Jared's dad and step-mom came out to visit last week and it was great. Thanks for staying with us and taking us out guys! And though I was embarrassed, I'm seriously so glad you cleaned my microwave for me, Beth. Haha! It was a lovely surprise.

Here are some pictures from when we went out to Tucano's.p.s. Also, thank you for the kids' surprise presents!! They love them!

cloudy with a chance of peas

2010-02-14T23:04:00.000-08:00

On the way home from church this morning, Nathan and I were observing the clouds, so I thought I'd ask him if he knew what they were made of. He said, "light."Precious.

But then when I explained that they were made of water droplets, he tried to convince me they were actually made of peas. He went on to explain that the juice from the peas would drip down. Green rain. Of course.At his age, I guess everything is a game. One of his favorite things to do is call me Nathan - he is Rylie, Rylie is Daddy, and Daddy is Mommy. He always wants to turn everything silly. I kind of love that about him.Picture sources: clouds, peas, rain

Romeo and Juliet

2010-01-28T20:39:00.000-08:00

Which do you like better? I can't decide... the cover's pretty similar, but there are enough differences between Mark Knopfler's and Brandon Flowers's voices that I like both songs as separate things.

It looks like Lisa Mitchell did a cover as well. I kind of love that this one is just her sitting on a couch in her pajamas (?) and she has a scrunchy on her arm, but if you just watch, you can see she gets into the music, with all her shifting and how her toes keep moving. =)

Jared's birthday

2010-01-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

We went out for lunch and had cake for dinner. Actually, the kids had veggies and fruit, then cake. Jared and I just had cake.

if you would indulge me for a moment...

2010-01-16T17:16:00.000-08:00

Um yeah so I'm planning out how we're going to do our 'library' thing. This is mostly for my sisters and my mom's input, but if anyone else reads this and has any advice or opinions, feel free to share!

We have 3 bookcases so far. There's a chance we could have 4, depending on how things get rearranged. I wish I could get more, but as usual, we don't have a ton of money. We do, however, have money for paint (Hallelujah.) So here's my original plan. I didn't feel like making all the angles of the room, but this is the basic idea.
So what do you think? Could I do better? I don't even own a writing desk, btw, but I'm hoping one of those sort of awesome oak, leather-topped $15 ones will come through DI again one of these days... I'm also considering painting the walls a pale, warm gray and maybe making the wall with the map and two bookcases some sort of a blue color like this:or this:Or should I make all three walls that blue color but let it end where the wall corners are? Do you think a different color would be better? I do want a color...

And (I'm dreaming here, I just know it) if anyone has time or the desire to do so, here's a blank room picture if you have other ideas:

sat in your lap

2010-01-14T10:51:00.000-08:00

Just some pictures from today. Nathan is wearing his wizard's hat from preschool... it's not anything else. Except sometimes it's a megaphone. Rylie is holding her pink cat. She's really into cats lately. And kind of dogs, too, I'm guessing, since she growled and barked at our neighbor's dog for about five minutes straight when we went over there. Of course when I put her on the floor, she screamed bloody murder. But I guess a pug looks pretty big and scary to a 1 1/2 year old.

sunset

2010-01-12T11:42:00.001-08:00

Rylie squeals

2010-01-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

If you want to see more videos, including ones of us playing Cursed on New Year's Eve, go here. A Rockstar Pirate sounds much cooler than it actually is.

What you do

2010-01-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

This is what you do when it's freezing outside.

I'm gonna give you Christmas tree.

2010-01-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas was excellent. Thanks to all the grandparents who shower our kids with presents! Here's a couple of pictures of the kids' initial reactions to the loot, and the li nk to the rest of the pictures from the day.

early present and our Sunday night (long picture post)

2009-12-22T10:48:00.001-08:00

Grandma and Grandpa Swinford sent the kids an early present... thanks, guys!!We did our usual eating junk food and playing games thing and goofing off on Sunday night. And clearly we were just as excited by the new toys as the kids were.

Temple Square picture post

2009-12-22T10:43:00.000-08:00

Just watch this.

2009-12-18T12:40:00.001-08:00

the lights

2009-12-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

We went out driving to see Christmas light displays and drank hot chocolate. Fun times. And yes, that's chocolate all over Rylie's face.

grilling in the snow

2009-12-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

Jared grilled some chicken so we could have chicken quesadillas with our beans and rice and pink salad (odd combo, yes... but tasty!). Nathan liked playing in the snow for a few minutes. We had a good dinner and enjoyed just hanging out as a family with Adrien, Shannon and Ian. Eric had a cold. We hope he feels better soon!

I seriously need to get the video of Rylie walking on here. I'll try to figure it out this week.

a victory

2009-12-12T22:08:00.001-08:00

No crying when we went to see Santa this year. That was a first. =)

same story, different people

2009-12-09T02:58:00.000-08:00

It feels new.