Like Mother, Like Child

I wish I had the picture of me to compare this with, but I'm sure my parents will appreciate this anyway. I'm known for my organization and order. I spent every Christmas growing up unwrapping my gifts from small to big. I would line up things in some sort of order (color, size, etc). There is a picture of me lining up some rocks that were shaped like eggs along the stair when I was a kid. I don't know how old I was but the trait still lives on. Sunday morning, Reed took his cars and lined them up. There was no order to it (yet) but he had to have them lined up in a row. He was going down the line saying something about each one (he was either counting or telling me the colors). Funny how he used the same inflection in his voice as we do when we are counting to him.

Dirt Bikes!

We joined some friends to attend the AMA Supercross races down in Salt Lake this weekend. Fogg's idea was to bring Reed this year, I had my reservations but we brought him anyway. Turns out, he did great! It was a very late night for Reed but he was a trooper and really enjoyed watching the racers. Here is the track. If you can't tell, it's just a bunch of jumps and small bumps. If I rode this course I would not be in great shape at the finish line (that's assuming that I crawled there after crashing off of the first jump). Reed also liked watching the tractors grooming the course a couple of times.


We brought Reed's dirt bike so that he could play with it and see what was really happening. He was driving it all over and pretending to jump it off of things. He got mad when I sat on his "course".


It started to get pretty chilly when the sun went down. I came prepared though, with lots of layers and blankets. Last year it was dumping rain so it was pretty miserable. I can handle cold though! Everyone was bundled up in down jackets and beanies. I brought Reed's snowsuit so he would stay warm. He mostly kept his hat on the whole time. I'm pretty sure he stayed warm enough. Here is the crew.

Reed showing off his dirt bike.

High fives! This is during the very last race - still had a smile on his face at 9:15pm!

The rest of our weekend was filled with house and yard projects. I was able to get our bedroom painted - finally! I did all but one wall and the room in our bathroom with the toilet. Next weekend, I hope to do the second color on the remaining wall in the bedroom and the main part of the bathroom. I'm pretty happy with my color choices so far, hopefully I will still love it when it's all done! Fogg was able to get a little bit of yard work done, moving some sprinklers and getting a list together for other yard projects we need to get going on.

We've got a lot planned for next weekend too - lots of projects! It's supposed to be warm so hopefully we can get some of the items checked off our to do list in the yard.

Cheers~

After Bath Diaper Dance

Reed has created a new dance that we will call the "After Bath Diaper Dance".

Happy Berf-day

My berf-day (as Fogg and I keep calling it - instead of birthday) was a success! Tuesday, my actual birthday, was pretty uneventful. Fortunately, I was able to go skiing for my birthday! We had a work task to shoot video for a ski gear guide. It ended up being a powder day at Snowbird and I really enjoyed making some turns for my 30th. We skied pretty hard (for a pregnant girl anyway) in the morning and I had to take a break at noon for a little lunch and to sit down. The boys were beat after I had finished lunch and I was happy enough to head on home. I got a chance to take a little nap and a shower before I went to pick up Reed. We got to hang out and open a few gifts and cards in the afternoon when Fogg got home. Then a quick dinner and we headed over to Jim and Dianne's house. I made the above cake for the occasion. Obviously to celebrate my birthday but it was also for Dianne's on Thursday, and Fogg's on Saturday. We got to hang out with them for a bit, let Reed run around and have some red velvet. It turned out pretty good, a little dry but I can fix that by baking it less time next time. The frosting was really the best part!

I wanted to include some pictures from the other day as well. Reed LOVES being outside. He will throw a total fit if he wants to go outside and we don't let him (for a variety of reasons, weather, time of day, other activities happening). He will bring us his shoes and say "outside?". We try to let him out as much as possible cause it's good for him. The other evening he was about to have his dinner and wanted to eat outside. He carried his plate out there and set up his own dinner table.




So Saturday was Fogg's birthday and our big birthday outing! He went dirt biking in the morning while I ran a few errands and got us ready for the evening. Dianne came and picked up Reed in the afternoon then we headed down to Salt Lake and checked into the Grand America. Thankfully it didn't storm like the weathermen said it would. It was a little gray but a decent temp. Here is the view from our room at the Grand.

After getting ready we headed over to dinner at Cucina Toscana. It was the most amazing meal as I'd hoped. We had a few great friends join us for the dinner and I really appreciate them for making the effort to join us! Our friends, Dawn and Travis, just had a new baby boy and dressed him up for the occasion.

Travis and Dawn Webb

James and Michelle Scrip

Bree and Chris Duran

My table neighbors, Dawn and Bree

Andrew and Greer

I wish I had taken a picture of all the amazing food but we were all super hungry and it was just too good to stop and take a picture! It was so yummy and everyone seemed to love their dishes. At the end of the meal, they gave each of us hot chocolate which basically tasted like warm liquid chocolate cake, actually it was almost like we were drinking the batter. It was so yummy.

I also never got a picture of Fogg and I - ugh! We looked so good and I wish I had that. Oh well. After dinner, we headed back to the Grand and hung out with a few people at the bar. Nana and Papa had Reed overnight and for the most part he did well. He woke up middle of the night a bit confused as to where he was but was alright. They gave him a very nice Easter bucket filled with sand toys, a fishing set, chocolate bunny and some balls. Then they took him to church in the morning. We spent the night at the Grand America. It was mostly a nice place, but Earl sure does like to charge for e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. Fogg was a bit irritated about that and we ended up packing up and meeting Jim and Dianne at church. We picked up Reed there and headed to breakfast at the very reasonably priced Star Cafe. After a nap for Reed and a little yard work for Fogg and I, we went over to Chris and Bree's house for Easter dinner and a little hang out time. Reed enjoyed their little bike and got himself a new hat. This was the best picture I could get of Reed's very cute Easter outfit from Lala, he wasn't really letting me take his picture.
We headed home and let Reed open his baskets from Grandma and Papa Fogg and Lala. He was sugared up and getting a bit crazy with all the new toys.

All in all, it was a great weekend and made me feel loved and happy. Thanks to everyone - especially my husband - for making my birthday unforgettable! Happy Easter everyone!

Musings of a 30 year old

My favorite author is J.D. Robb. She is actually Nora Roberts but instead of writing romance, J.D is a murder mystery/detective writer. All of her books are about the same detective - Eve Dallas - and a frequent line in her books are "Eve mused". Eve seems to "muse" a lot. I like the term so I decided in honor of my 30th birthday tomorrow, I will muse my way through my thoughts.

So yeah, I turn 30 tomorrow. I think it freaks my parents out more than it freaks me out. My 30th birthday means that they have a 30 year old! But to me, it's almost a feeling of "finally". I mean, I'm staring down my 10 year college graduation (not high school). I'm the owner of my second home. I've been married for almost 7 years. I have an almost 2 year old little boy. I have one more kiddo on the way (more on that below). I've worked at my "career" for 5 years at the same company. I'm pretty well established as an adult. I mean, I ought to feel like an adult. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I feel like an adult when I scold my child for being disobedient. I feel like adult when I write a really massive mortgage check. I feel like an adult when I drive my kiddo to daycare. But then I look at some of my mentors, friends and family and think - boy I'm young! I don't know anything! I'm clueless as to lead a productive and fulfilling life. I look at my clothes and think, do I really dress like a 30 year old? Do I look mature? Do I feel mature? Am I spending money like a 30 year old would? Does my house look adult enough?

Sometimes I make really dumb decisions. Sometimes I ask my friends for advice that I feel like I probably ought to be giving rather than receiving. Sometimes I say stupid things. Those are the times that I think, am I really responsible enough to raise two kids? Can I really maintain a good marriage? Can I really have financial responsibilities?

The thing is, I really love my life. I'm not sure I ever thought about where I would be when I turned 30, but I'm thinking this as close to the answer as I could have imagined. I have a wonderful husband who really couldn't be more perfect for me. I have the most adorable little boy in the world. I have money to keep food on the table and fun things for us to do. I have a great house, great job, fantastic friends and family. I live a very charmed life.

There are a few things I wish I would have done and didn't do. They seem inconsequential now. I still have a few things on my bucket list. I have no timeline for those things, I'd just like to do them. But number one on the list is to enjoy my life and blessings that are all around me right now.

No big plans for my actual birthday, we are going to a friends house in the evening and we will be celebrating my birthday, Dianne's (Thursday) and Fogg's (Saturday) with a cake that I made (a friends family red velvet recipe - hope it's good!). The week will probably tick by as it usually does. Saturday, we will drop Reed off at Jim and Dianne's house and head down to Salt Lake to take in some amazing food at Cucina Toscana with a few close friends. Easter Sunday we'll have some Easter basket fun and hopefully enjoy nice weather. Fogg's birthday is Saturday so we'll get to do a joint dinner/party to celebrate his 36th.

Onto that "other" announcement! We are having our second baby! I'm due October 25th, I'm 13 weeks tomorrow. Reed seems excited. When I gave him this shirt he would repeat "big brother" but I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what that means.


We had our first ultrasound at 12 weeks and 1 day. Here is our new little one. The tech got some great pictures of the little rascal. It flopped and flipped the whole time. Reed kept pointing at the screen saying "baby". The doctor said everything is PERFECT!

Hand - can you see all the little bones?

Creepy skull picture

Here is the butt and legs

Apparently it is the size of a peach (why is it always compared to food?). Seems to me to be too skinny to be a peach, but the point is that it is 3 or so inches long (from top of head to butt) and weighs about .8 oz. We aren't going to find out the gender cause it was so fun not finding out with Reed either.

Well, that will be it for my LONG post. I'm sure I'll be back soon with pictures of birthday stuff and Easter pictures from the weekend.

Cheers~

Success

We had a big success in our house this morning! Let me give you some background first. I've been contemplating the potty training issue for Reed for some time. I found a great potty on one of the many websites that I like to watch, for a killer deal. It's the Boon Potty Bench. It's actually pretty neat. I made a big deal to Reed about the potty when I brought it home. I even went and got him a flip book about getting a potty and learning to use it. When I first showed him the potty, I had him sit on it and we read the book. Now, almost every day, he will want to get naked, sit on the potty and read the book. I figured that if one time he actually goes, we'll celebrate it and hopefully set ourselves a trend. This is not a scientific way of potty training, it's my half-baked idea until I figured out how to really do it. So for quite some time now, maybe a month, we've been sitting on the potty, reading the book.

This morning, we did the same, except he didn't really want to sit on the potty, he just wanted to run around naked (something he's been wanting to do for a few days now). I let him stay in the bathroom while I went and got his clothes ready for the day. I went back into the bathroom to get him and noticed he had pee'd in the potty! He also had an armful of toilet paper that he wanted to flush down the toilet. I'm glad that the door to the toilet was closed otherwise, I think we would have had an issue! Anyway, I kept telling him how proud I am of him and he is asking me to open the door so he can flush the toilet paper. I was so proud of that little guy! There is a little "boy flap" in the front of the potty and I know he actually sat down to pee because there was some on the boy flap. I dumped it in the toilet and let him flush, cause really, that's the best part!

He was getting proud of himself the more I kept praising him and we called daddy to tell him. He was excited about that too. I told him he was a big boy and then we got him dressed. He told me "big boy, pants on". That meant he wanted to put his pants on, cause that's what big boy's do. I hope this means we are on a path to potty training!

So I was going through my camera the other day and realized that I had a few pictures on there from like a month ago! I guess I haven't taken many pictures lately. Our adoptive grandparents (Reed's third set) - the Branch's - had their son, daughter-in-law and grandson in town mid-February. They invited us up to spend some time and let Travis and Reed play together. Their grand-niece was also there, Savannah Mae. Here is Angela (Travis's mom) overseeing kid dinner time:

I'm not sure what kind of faces Reed and Savannah are making but it's funny cause it seems to be the same face!

And here is Jason (Jim and Dianne's son, Travis's dad) showing Reed and Travis movies on his Ipad. They were watching some Cars clips.

Cheers for now. We've got lots of stuff coming up soon so I'm sure the blog will get busy in the next month or so!

How do you begin...

As you know (unless you live under a rock), Japan suffered a crazy big earthquake and crazier tsunami on Friday. After looking at pictures, one ends up putting themselves in question as to how these people move on. I can't help but wonder how I would physically and emotionally navigate the wreckage of what used to be my life. These people didn't have time to pick up family heirlooms or pictures. They didn't have time to pack an few days worth of clothes, food and water. And when they returned, it must have been hard to determine exactly where your house would have possibly stood. Streets were covered with cars, houses, and what would have seemed like an endless amount of debris and trash. I watched one video where a box truck was floating down the road and the back door opened. Boxes of what looked like mail or a delivery of some sort just spilled out. This would have happened all over the stricken areas. The amount of fear felt by these people would be hard to measure and understand. And now they have the task of not only cleaning it up, but also dealing with the growing nuclear problem that has resulted.

And as my title says - how do you begin? How do you begin to understand the complete destruction? How do you begin to sort through your new life? How do you begin to clean this up? Rebuild? When I look at pictures, I think, is there a body somewhere in this frame that someone must find? How long will it be? Will there be a health issue associated with how long it will take to find everyone? When I look at pictures, I think, how do you go about cleaning this type of thing up? Do you sort good material from bad material and try to rebuild using the good? Where do you put contaminated material on such a small island? How do you even get machinery through these areas when there is no distinction between a road and where a house used to be? How do you come up with the resources to rebuild such a large area? When I look at pictures, I think, how are those people coping with such a huge event? How do they stand not knowing where a family member is for days? As you can see, I have many questions.

I watched a program today. It was very informative and interesting. It was the 20/20 aired on Friday afternoon, mere hours after the disaster struck. There are some captivating images and video. It is worth a watch or listen - you can find it here.

I also have been struck by many images over the past few days. I have copied them and included them below. I believe that the saying "a picture is worth 1000 words" is very true after viewing these. These are the images that spurn my questions above. They are heartbreaking, sad, overwhelming, and some are even full of hope. These are all from msnbc.msn.com. I cannot verify the chronological order here, they were just crazy images.

The tsunami, a mere 30 minutes after the earthquake

Here is some of the aftermath:

This is a before and after shot of the same area.

I thought it interesting how it cracked along the road lines.

That boat doesn't seem to belong there.

A completely intact house floating in the ocean.

How do you move that?

This man was floating on his roof and was rescued 10 miles out to sea days after the tsunami hit.

Oh my.

This was the most amazing image to me. That boat is much larger than that building and it somehow got perched on top of it. It is balanced perfectly as to not tip one way or another. It's like that wave was playing a game with humans. What do you do about this?

I have one more thing to share. My good friend Maggie's brother has his family in Japan. Luckily, they were safe and her brother is on his way to get them and bring them back to the US. The family is looking for donations to help them with travel expenses and helping his wife and children get clothes and other basic supplies. If you are interested in donating, let me know and I'll get your their contact info. Maggie's brother had to go about 24 hours without hearing from them.

Keep this country in your prayers, they need it right now!