Friday, August 31, 2007

The Family Birthdays


Wow it must be the week of birthdays! I must say this is a big week for our family, Kristy turned 22 yesterday and my dad hits the big 46 today.

I know I'm not alone in this thought, but I just really love my family. It is so so great to get to the point in your life where you family members are just your favorite people in the world. I can't think of any of my friends I would rather talk to than my mom. And I seriously miss Kristy. I'm not sure I've ever met another person like Kristy. She is this crazy/perfect combination of sweet innocence, self-confidence, and humor. I miss her calling me from BYU to tell me about all the boys who were crazy about her and the boys she was crazy about. I remember she sent me a text message one day that said, 'are we related to ALL the Leavitts?' Because unfortunately, she had just found out her really cute TA had that last name. I told her even if he wasn't a very close cousin, she would probably get a lot of crap for dating a Leavitt :)

My dad, as has been discussed on previous blogs, is always the character. And though he may rub a few people the wrong way occassionally, I'm not sure there's a person out there with a bigger heart. Even growing up with him, it has taken me years to realize how generous he really is. I have never met anyone who truly loves to share as much as my dad. Whether he's handing out bites to whatever treat he walked in the door with or lending the boat or his car to someone for a fun outing. He just loves to give.

And Kylie, here is my shout-out to you. (She criticized my blog recently saying there was not enough Kylie in there, she claims it's what my audience is truly asking for) Kylie is the prettiest girl who doesn't know it yet out there. That girl has always been trapped in a body too young for her mind since she was 3 going on 16. Of course my favorite Kylie story of all time was a trip to the Aquatic center back in the day after it first opened. Kylie had gotten into a habit of leaving my mom's side to go report herself missing because she liked to hear her name over the loudspeaker. I remember I was on top of the big blue slides when I hear, "there is a little girl who has lost her family here. She is blonde and wearing a swimsuit with pink floaties and she says her name is Ky-ee." I could see my mom's eyes rolling from across the park.


Yeah, I think I just might have the greatest family in the world.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Life without internet sucks...



So I shouldn't complain too loudly since, well, I don't actually pay for internet service. Which is a sweet deal I know. Somebody in our apartment complex has an open wireless connection. The problem is, when it goes down, I have absolutely no one to complain to! Without internet I'm basically helpless. I can't pay our bills, I have no idea how much money we have in the bank, my church calling responsibilities are impossible to complete, and I have one less way to waste time!
But anyway, it's back up and life is just a little happier.

Jon is out of town most of this month in Colorado finishing up some projects which means long nights by myself... blah. I have the hardest time getting anything productive done when he is gone during the week. I can't help but think, 'yeah I could finish cleaning this right now, but who would notice?'

Scarlet is doing well, getting over her first cold. I am so sick of fighting her down to use to boogie nose sucker thing. They're basically pointless. By the time I get it all sucked out, she is crying so hard that her nose has filled itself with snot again. I've started giving her baths with the baby vapor soap and I let Jon be in charge of bath time the other night and these are the pictures I found on the camera the next day...




I'm gonna backtrack a bit because I missed one of my big events of the summer cause I didn't have the pictures on my computer yet. Jon's family had their first reunion this summer. Jon is the 4th of 5 kids and there are now 6 grandkids. We went to Shelter Cove, CA which is near Eugene. It's a beach town... but it's more of a Washington beach town. Not a Newport beach town. And honestly, at times it was downright frightening. We found out after we got there that 5... count em 5... adults had drowned in the ocean the week before we arrived. We were on constant lookout for sneaker waves, rip tides, oh yes and bears. Quite the relaxing vacation spot for 6 kids under the age of 8.


Overdramatics aside, we had a great time. Here are some my favorite pictures of the occassion.

Some of my adorable nieces and nephew



The whole family pic...



And if you haven't seen it in person, Scarlet's most daring trick. I love the first one... the second scared the bee-geeses out of me so I set down the camera and yelled at Jon.
Aah! My internet keeps cutting out. I'm gonna post this before I lose it.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Makes life a little happier...

I was wandering through my kitchen this evening trying to find something to eat. As I went through my usual options, I was reminded about my favorite grocery store items that have just made my life fabulous and I thought I would share them.

1 - English Toasting Bread from Wal-Mart. It's in the bakery section of Wal-Mart near the rolls and cakes and stuff. It's sooo good. It tastes just like english muffins only in toast form. Throw some butter and homemade jam on that and you've got heaven in toast form.

2 - Uncooked Tortillas from Costco. Now I didn't really discover these, I heard about them from Sam Miller but they are delicious. Take less than a minute to cook and all tortilla-involved dishes taste ten times better.

3 - Dreyers French Silk Ice Cream - It's one of the 1/2 fat ones but I think it is really good. Great chocolate flavor with a little bit of mocha taste for those who are coffee flavor fans.

I thought of some other ones earlier and my mind is just blanking...

Darn, was gonna attach a cute pic but it won't load. Will later

Monday, August 20, 2007

Let me get my good face on...

Hopefully those of you who are stay at home moms can agree with me. Babies do the cutest, most amazing things when you are the only one around... nobody there to capture the moment on camera or video cause if you move, whatever precious thing he/she is doing is over. At least that is the case with me. And, over the months my baby has developed what I call her "camera face". It doesn't matter if we have her in giggling fits or screaming her lungs out, once the camera comes out... she makes this face...






Of course, being her mother I think all her faces are beyond adorable... I'd just like to catch more than this one on film at some point...

As with all in attendance who have updated their blog, I had a fabulous time at our family reunion this past weekend. One of those things that will be in the memory books for a long time. I can't wait to see all the pictures. And, I am wearing my new favorite 'cherry creek rules' t-shirt as I type. I loved seeing everyone who came... I missed everyone who didn't make it.

As Myca said, it was also fun to see my husband get to know everyone a little better. He had a blast. And he was more than flattered when I told him how my cousin Britney asked me in kind words how I was ever able to land such a great guy. Slutty clothes is the answer. Just kidding mom. (She won't think that's funny)

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Jobs I've had: Janitor at Dr. Daves (Myca and I got fired after a few months. Not enough time spent scrubbing puke, too much time cruising down the halls in the wheelchair.), Dance teacher, Editor of Tumbleweed Times (Big Bend's newspaper), T.V. Guide magazine editor for the BYU Channels (mostly involved writing show descriptions for old Parry Mason and I Love Lucy episodes), Producer for NewsNet at Noon at BYU, Producer for Channel 8 News in Las Vegas, Substitute Teacher, and High School P.E. dance teacher (I wish I could have taken dance for P.E. in high school) oh and Mom


Places for a weekend getaway: The beach. Jon would go every weekend if he could get away with it. I love it. I lay in the sand and take a little beach nap while Jon goes and body surfs. I don't think anything makes him happier (besides me of course :)


Movies I can watch over and over again: When you live without TV, watching movies over and over is all you got. Though my biggest guilty pleasure watch is Princess Diaries... 1 & 2. And any movie with an ending dance scene... Center Stage, Sister Act 2... love em.


Guilty pleasures: TV Shows on DVD I rent from the library (totally into ER right now, the first few season's were so awesome!), Chocolate in any form, sleeping in


Places I've lived: Provo, California, Moses Lake, Ghana, New York City, Las Vegas


What I first thought when I saw Jon Wayne: What kind of guy goes by a cowboy name?! I thought he was a little too outspoken and too short for me. One of my friends was interested so I didn't give him a second thought that first meeting.


Places I've been on vacation: All over the U.S., Paris, Mexico, Canada (I miss Big White), Caribbean, Japan, Hawaii,


Favorite foods: Cereal, Chocolate, All forms of candy (except black licorice...eew) if there was a sugar diet I would be set for life.


If I'm in a jam with Jon, tactics I use to get out of the doghouse: I've been in trouble once in the 2 years we've been married. Don't get me wrong, he gets me mad all the time. A really good homemade meal when he gets home usually gets him in a good mood.


Websites I visit daily:blogs, hotmail, cnn.com


First kiss location: Jon - back of his truck at a drive-in movie. First first kiss - Orlando, Florida


Places I'd rather be right now: A beach, any warm sandy beach... but I want Jon there too.


People I tag: Read this and haven't already filled one out? I tag you.


And here's a random picture of Kendall. I just thought she looked so cute I couldn't resist

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Babysitting Nightmare

So, here's a story for the first time mom freak-out books. I got a babysitter Wednesday afternoon because I had to get a filling at the dentist. How sucky is it to finally get a day out of the house on your own baby-free, while paying a babysitter, and have to spend it strapped to a chair with a giant hook in your mouth and numb lips?

Not only that but I have a new dentist and he pulled out this big black hook think that was seriously called like that "cavitron 2000" or something crazy like that. It was the most painful thing anyone has ever put in my mouth! I'm not sure I'm up on all this new dental technology... the little hand scraper wasn't nearly as bad as this monstrocity.

So anyway, I am literally in the middle of having my tooth filled, you know mouth full of gear, gauze and totally numb, when my phone rings. I didn't think much of it but right when it stopped it rang again and I knew it had to be my babysitter. So I make enough hand signals for them to realize I need to get it and it takes them forever to pull all of the crap out of my mouth so I can talk. So I call home, and rylie (one of my mia maids) tells me that while Scarlet was sucking on a bottle, her mouth started bleeding!

Ok, I can handle throwup, excessive poo, and even a little fever without too much mother panic, but blood?! Yeah, not great for me. But she told me it had stopped, baby seemed happy, and she had no idea where it came from. So they strapped me back down, finished as quickly as they could, and I jetted home.

After a thorough inspection, I think she tore the little piece of skin under her tongue. She has ankyloglossia (scary sounding huh?) which means the skin under her tongue is connected all the way to the tip of her tongue... but suddenly it isn't anymore. My poor babysitter. Anyway, baby is fine, my teeth are cavity free, and life goes on. Here's a picture of me the morning I went into labor. Jon decided to take some pregnancy pictures that morning, and he got a few in between contractions before we headed off to the hospital.