If you're going to Jan Francisco's...

...you will have so much fun!

Thanks Franciscos, we miss you already.

Garth, Barack and Jay

When I heard that President Obama was going to be on Jay Leno, I was immediately impressed. While some may think that it is unsuitable for the President to appear on popular television, I think that is the medium that will get him access to the American people. That is one of the missing links between the number of votes on American Idol and votes on election night. And, he had to get access to the people to explain what is going on, and what he can do for them.
Whether or not you agree with his politics, you have to agree that this was a brilliant political move, for 2 reasons.
a) approval ratings - If we can relate to our elected officials like we do our movie and television stars, we are going to like them, if he can be as smooth and entertaining on a talk show, we will feel more comfortable with him doing his day job.
b) As I mentioned before, it is the best way to reach out to the public that they are comfortable with. I admit that I haven't watched the presidential speeches, even when they are on 8 different channels, but I did go on Hulu to find this interview, because I wanted to hear him at my level. And press conferences may be happening almost daily, but as far as I know, there isn't a Hulu channel for those, and I don't think they would tell me what I, as a middle American, want to know.

Thus we see, I thought it was a brilliant move for the President to go on The Tonight Show to explain what is going on, and to show us that he is still quite similar to the man that sat in that chair just a few months ago during his campaign.

another Dead Bird

That makes 4.

Remember that time?

Remember that time when I lived in Salt Lake and our singles ward decided to have a dinner date?
They had us all fill out a questionnaire and the bishopric was going to go through and fix us up with whoever they thought would be an appropriate date. "One date for an Eternal Mate" they said.
We had no idea who our date was until we showed up, then, like some kind of cattle show, we all stood in the gym while they called out names. I was nervous but felt bad for the people who's "dates" hadn't come, or were late. Luckily that didn't happen to me. My date was a young buck with dark hair and a black leather jacket. I don't remember his name. So we found our seats, I don't think I knew anyone at my table. My one real friend in the ward was sitting at the table in front of us and she was paired with Leather Jacket's friend.
They made us take pictures, like at a formal, but the props were a veil and a black tophat.

The program was a dating game, or maybe it was like the newlywed game - those participating might have actually been dating and were the obvious choices for playing. One of them looked just like Dr. Cox.
In the end, Leather Jacket spent the evening throwing the little chalky hearts at his friend on the other table.
Ah, memories...

Dress up

Anna has been a little under the weather, so we stayed in yesterday and played a little dress-up

This is Babushka Sveeter-Glossi

Gardens and Wagons

Yesterday was awesome, there is nothing better than doing a little yard work on a Saturday in Spring. And we did a lot of yard work. The boys came down from Logan (Bret, Thad, Harrison) so we hung out for a while then I guilted them into helping me. Bret did more work than I could have done in 2 weeks by myself. He raked out a big flower bed, pruned ALL the vines on the fence (both sides) and cleaned them up. Thad and Harrison helped cut down more of the peach tree, we didn’t get it out because we lacked a hatchet, which apparently will solve all problems. It was great to have so much willing help, they were also more than willing to watch the baby while I pitched in to get stuff done. So anyway, I feel like we are definitely on the right track with the yard and will be able to get it all ready in time.
Thad also got out the little red wagon that was left behind and gave Anna some rides, she loved it, and we went on another one today.

Picture Essay

Don't touch the candle while we sing to you.

Commence snarfing.

Touch Down!

I can't believe I ate part of the whole thing!

I'm gonna blow!!!

Happy Birthday Anna-Bear.

Thanks to everyone for their phone messages, gifts and well wishes - Best Birthday Ever.

One minute - One Year

I didn't mean to mislead you with the previous post, Anna's birthday is actually today. We just did her birthday shopping last week because we had money and time.

So here is her tribute -One Minute Old


One Year Old



Tongue.

Confessions of a mini-shopaholic

We took Anna to a few stores to pick out her birthday presents. Once we got the boring stuff (books and toys) she insisted on some new sleepers and onesies, so we went to the store. Instead of us picking out clothes that we think are cute, but that we know she will hate, we just gave her some money and let her pick them out herself.

She was amenable to this arrangement.She meticulously inspected and appraised racks and racks of clothes looking for the right thing
eventually she came out with some sleepers, onesies and a ducky outfit, and called it a day.

Follow up

ok, here's the problem. Neither Thad nor Bryce have children. Also they are saying exactly what Ben would say. dumb boys, never even been to Relief Society.

I took Anna to Enrichment last night, a meeting with all women, it consisted of a few speakers, lots of audience participation, and a cute little toddler who kept walking laps around the room. That baby was resistant to being picked up, held or restrained in any way. She screamed like a Banshee on several occasions. Despite the fact that I - i mean her mother - had brought toys and treats and books, that toddling fool just wanted to go and go and go. Nothing could stop her. Everyone was nice about it, they all pointed out that they had kids too - however none of them had brought them to the meeting...

So anyway, here's the plan. Start small, like getting Anna to sit still while she gets dressed and gets her diaper changed. Then maybe sitting still while reading books. Then sitting on my lap and playing with toys. It's all about attention span.

and if that doesn't work, i just won't leave the house ever again.

and if anyone has any helpful advice, please share

Survey

Is it *Really* ok to let my toddler walk around in Sunday School and Relief Society? Everyone says, "Oh she's fine" and she mostly stays quiet while she roams, definitely quieter than she would be if I had to confine her to my lap or next to me, but she can be distracting even still. Even worse is when she finds the other babies that have toys to steal, she is the most mobile baby of all the little babies and she can get into more mischief and cause more injuries and tears to the other babies than they can to her (she's a bully).

So what do I do? Continue to let her have her way around the classroom?
Confine her until she has to be taken out? Thus leaving me with no religious education on Sunday?
Continue to spend time in nursery where they know us even though the sight of babies causes wigglies?

Decisions, Decisions

I have boiled down many of the major and many, many minor decisions in my life and come to the irrefutable conclusion that I am a horrible decision maker. I never really realized before what an important skill this is, there is probably a chapter somewhere in a Covey book about the value of good decision making. I have not read that chapter.
This is especially especially true in high stress (or even mild stress) or hurried situations. I find myself totally unable to process the information, to assess the positives or negatives in any kind of coherent manner and almost always end up with "What Could It Hurt?" which is inevitably the wrong decision. (Salesmen are trained to make every sale seem high pressure, to trick people like me into betting the farm)
I have wasted probably in the thousands of dollars on these decisions (they are always expensive) and not only my own time, but others as well.

I recently read an article about a guy who resolved to stop making his own decisions. He would, from then on ask total strangers what he should do with his life. From ordering coffee to buying clothes, he even went to an airport and asked bored businessmen to look over his finances and health care options to decide for him (they were, oddly, very willing to do this). I should do this. But then I think, I would have to decide who and when to ask advice from, which I will inevitably botch.

Even in writing this post I thought, maybe this wouldn't be a good idea to post it for fear of ridicule, - but What Could It Hurt?

Will you make all my decisions for me?

Walk Tall

We posted that last video on Friday night, and I took this one on Monday morning. She is now the walkingest thing you ever did see. Seriously she just walks and walks, it's liberating for us both, a new step towards independence

Guess who...

...can WALK!



if you guessed Anna, then you are correct, if you guessed Ben, you are also correct, but you shouldn't get any satisfaction out of it.

ummmm, what?

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=358&sid=5459925

Spy Tricks

How is it that in spy/action movies, whenever the hero needs to scrounge up some borrowed clothes to keep in disguise/replace their ruined clothes, they always seem to fit perfectly?

i.e. in The Saint, Val Kilmer falls in the river, gets hypothermia, gets new clothes from the hooker, and somehow they fit perfectly?!

my life doesn't work that way, does anyone else?

Flushing Out Some Good Pictures

I just moved the pictures to my computer for the first time since...November?
it's possible. brace yourself, there's a good story at the end.

These are not in chronological order, and you may have to provide your own captions.

eating blueberries

In her cute new Christmas dress from Nana Gaines

almost walking on her own...

Ok, so here's the story. This is Anna playing with a new "toy" I found some old fabric scraps and I figured they were an easy way for Anna to make a big, impermanent mess, so I gathered them up and put them in a very cute hatbox. She's really good at taking things out (magazines from the cupboard, laundry from the basket, garbage from the can, books from the bookshelf) so she makes a mess, I clean it up etc... She has also recently discovered the joy of splashing in the toilet. We try to keep the doors closed but, there are no guarantees in life.

Tonight we were downstairs watching TV, Anna got bored of making a mess and went exploring. I found her several minutes later, standing next to the toilet with a perfectly innocent angel expression and a yellow fabric swatch on her head.

I just about died laughing.

Anna's Video Diary II

The thrill of those pants is too overwhelming each time I check my blog, so here is a new video. I was trying to get Anna dictating to a hanger, but as soon as I opened the video program on the computer, she came running (crawling).
So here she is trying to type her thoughts about Obama and being a 'Generation O' girl.

hot pants!

Anna and I spent the day at my parents getting it prepped for painting.
After Anna stepped in a bucket full of...... water, we had to quickly shed a sock and her pants.
Luckily we found a replacement sock in the diaper bag - where baby socks go to die - but when it came time to go out, she was still pants free.

In a fit of genius, my mom decided we could just craft her some makeshift pants while they were in the wash.

They are beautiful.
Skin tight pink gingham with bright yellow, blue and red stripes down the legs.
They are definitely hip huggers as they don't have a waistband. Actually, they don't even make it over the diaper. That was mostly my fault because I convinced mom to freestyle it without a pattern, she said I was brave, mostly it's just laziness.
So, mom says she's taking orders, this will be the new style for young (under 1) ladies this generation.

proud to be a model of such ingenuity

Another Recipe that Doesn't Work

This one is great. Keep in mind, it was still edible when all was said and done.

* = inner dialogue

*Anna is pretty sick of eating bananas in the morning, I should make them into little muffins, she might eat them then.

Find mother's banana bread recipe and muffin tin.
Explain to husben my genius idea - he suggests making it a little healthier

*no problem! I can substitute apple sauce for the oil!

The recipe doesn't call for oil, but a half cup of butter/margarine

*margarine is oil based!

mix 1 c sugar with 1/2 cup applesauce

instruct husband on the rest of the ingredients while I give baby a bottle.

*hmmm, it's really runny and looks nothing like banana bread batter. Add more flour!

fill each muffin and bake at some degrees fahrenheit for 30 minutes.

Remove and try not to alarm husben when they look like this...
Feed to baby for a week

Resolute

While I hesitate to make New Year's resolutions for myself, I am more than willing to make some for Anna. I mean, to share with you the resolutions that Anna has made for the year...for herself

1. Start Sleeping through the night, even just a few times a week
2. Learn how to walk
3. Sprout upwards of ten teeth
4. Learn some new words
5. Gain some weight
6. Learn basic shapes and colors
7. Get taller
8. Grow enough hair for a ponytail (or at least a fountain of hair)
9. Laugh every day
10. Make lots of messes

Hopefully by the end of this year we will have some results to post.