Silly Girl

Sorry to all my faithful blog checkers, who come and see that I haven't posted a new picture of any thing interesting for a good while. Clearly we just haven't been up to much of anything. These pictures pretty much sum up our life in the past week or two.

This is Noelle doing her best pose. Since she really doesn't get it when we try to show her how to do a pose or how to flex her muscles. This is the end result. We took the picture for Auntie, who sent her this outfit. She was looking pretty cute with her matching hair bows and such and as we were getting ready to walk out the door to our Wednesday play group, she peed her pants. She still looked cute, just not with those particular green shorts. BTW, potty training is still on and we had a major break through just today.

This is Noelle in her personal art studio, also known as the high chair that we don't use anymore unless we have guests over. Sometimes she draws on paper and sometimes she draws on herself. High five girl! Thank goodness for washable markers. She's especially good at making circles and "snakes." I don't know where the snake thing came from, but everything that is long and skinny is a snake.

This is her "silly face." We have a book that talks about making silly faces and although there are several different faces that the little critter makes, she likes this one the best. I couldn't get her to show her teeth and snap a picture in time to capture it, but it really makes Boo and I laugh a lot. We also laugh at the fact that she has a very pointy tongue. These two pictures also contrast her crazy hair and combed hair.

This is what you get when you try to take passport pictures of a two year old. We planned a trip back in January to go to Mexico in September. In preparation we had to get her a passport. I shouldn't have brushed out her fuzzy hair, it was hard to get it all in on the 2"x2" picture with out making her face too small. Neither of these pics were the winners, considering the second one is a total mug shot. Needless to say, after enough cropping and chopping it all worked out fine and we should be getting her federal ID in two to three weeks. Hooray!

All American

Recently I had a phone conversation with one of my favorite people and the discussion turned to being patriotic and showing American pride through different commercialized products. She mentioned that she feels very "American" when she eats at McDonald's. And that its much like going to Costco or church. When you go there you can find things that make you feel at home or at ease because its pretty much the same no matter where you are in the world. I concur.

What made me laugh about this a little was the fact that as we were watching the Celtics kick the Lakers butts last night, a McDonald's commercial came on and my husband got all sorts of excited that they were returning to their roots and playing the jingle, "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun," or something like that. (Click the link to hear it!) It conjured up a feeling of good times, childhood and being in a familiar place with comfort food. So here's to being American and having your choice of apple or cherry pies, at McDonald's of course.

It's a dog eat dog world... And I'm wearing milkbone underwear! [post by Boo]

This photo is both a symbolic and literal reference to how my summer is going and will likely continue over the next few weeks. But, don't cry for me fellow bloggers just yet...cause I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.
Coming off the heels of a Celtics Championship, I feel like there's a modest pot of gold waiting for me if I press on - milkbone underwear and all!

PS - I have to say that spending all this time at home with my smoking hot wife and princess daughter has really been great. Thanks Rach :)

The Highlight of Our Summers

Since summer has arrived for most of you, (we've been doing summer since March) Much like the rest of you, we're looking forward to upcoming vacations, possible camping trips, and family reunions.
But unlike most of you, we're also gearing up for what seems to be our yearly bar exam. With two states down, Boo has gotten into the study rhythm with his outlines and BarBri books. Oh how we would love to burn that large pile of maroon and gold books, but the resale value is too great. Starting in a couple of weeks, he'll be holed up in a remote location like the library, home office or any other place he can find that doesn't involve potty training and nap times, combing through criminal and constitutional law, estates, and torts. As he gets into his routine, that is when Noelle and I make a mad dash for greener pastures. No, really it will be greener than Arizona. We'll make our yearly pilgrimage to see grandparents and Auntie and all other kinds of family, spending an extended period figuring out what to do with ourselves while they all go on with their day to day lives and work schedules. We'll enjoy Pioneer Day for what its worth and take in some fireworks and seeing friends we might not have crossed paths with otherwise. We look forward to seeing family, but also look forward to being done with the bar, hopefully forever.

Busy

This past week we've been busy. I was "commissioned" to make a quilt for a baby shower that had a deadline. (If I don't have deadlines it doesn't get done until well after the birth usually) The phone call went like this, sort of.

Friend: "We're going to have a shower for her."

Me: "Oh I should send a gift, but I don't think I have time to make a quilt."

Friend: "I'd commission you to make a dog quilt."

Me: Silence....."I'm not sure I have it in me."

After a few days of thinking about it I called my dear friend back and said I'd do it, but to make it easy on myself, only two dogs. I found it harder to think of what to put in the other squares that I just went the distance instead. It was a ton of work, but one of my favorites now. I sure hope its loved. In the past I've made one for a boy, one gender neutral and finally a dog quilt for a girl. Click here if you're interested in the pattern.

Two of the dogs represent the recipients dogs and a couple look like our family dogs that we've had in the past. (Rest in peace)

Silky backs are my favorite

All of that work wouldn't have been finished if it hadn't been for Grammy's visit, which happened to coincide. She kept Noelle entertained for hours so that I could do what I needed to get finished. While she was here we got to celebrate her birthday with the infamous Lindy's Coconut Cake. Mmmmmm.... As you can see Papa played dress up with Noelle too!

Princess Poser

In the past couple of weeks, Noelle has really gotten into the whole dress up scene. This is easy to do when your mom never dresses you in much more than underwear because you are still learning how to go potty in a toilet. (I hope I make it through this life step) Nevertheless, Cinderella looks just fine with nappy bed head and static cling.

She also has a fondness for her cowgirl boots, which when Boo told her she couldn't go outside with him until she put some shoes on, these where the first thing she grabbed. Since she was looking so stylin' in her muscle T, we asked her to flex for us. The pictures do minor justice, it was pretty funny.

Restaurant Review for the Locals

To all my local friends, this is my fair warning of where not to go to dinner when you've gotten a babysitter and want good food.

A couple weeks ago we decided we'd go out for our anniversary. We'd seen what looked like a promising new establishment just up the road from our house and thought we'd try it out. Its call Lakeside Bar & Grill. (insert all sorts of jeering and booing here.)

It was awful. We called ahead to make sure it was appropriate for families, being that we thought we'd just take Noelle with us. No problem they said.

From the outside it looks like it could potentially be a classy joint. But then you get in past the scantily clad hostess booth to find that its nothing more than a TGIFridays or Chili's, both of which I'd recommend over this place. Once you round the corner to see what it really looks like inside, its a glorified airplane hanger with a bar centrally located, TVs on the walls and a bunch of water skiing and surfing paraphernalia.

The food was probably the biggest let down. We ordered the chips and salsa and if there isn't one thing to start off with to disappoint is a huge portion of chips and the smallest bowl of salsa they could find. Plus the salsa was no more than glorified tomato sauce, even though it looked promising. (Which I don't understand, since there are enough authentic Mexicans in Arizona to make a good batch of salsa - El Sol anyone?) The menu was so disjointed and mishmash that it was hard to tell what they wanted to be - bar food or little Italy? I paid $5 for the equivalent of EasyMac for Noelle. Luckily the service was decent.

When we left we looked at each other and said "We should have gone to Paradise Bakery instead." Not worth it, don't bother.

Not Much Worth Bloggin' About

I don't want to disappoint any of my faithful readers, but my life is living in the slow lane. BORING. It consists of things like Ariel panties for Noelle, quilting my life away and just trying to stay cool. (As in temperature, not my style. That left a the building a while ago.) Here are the top ten things we've done in the past week in no particular order:
1. Have done "potty training" solid - and Noelle pretty much rocks, except for the inherent phobia of public restrooms and pooping.
2. Nacho Extravaganza
3. Date Night to the Mesa Temple - long overdue
4. Finished one quilt and started another and have two on deck.
5. Indiana Jones - (Boo saw this with a friend, gave it a thumbs down. "Rent it.")
6. Swimming and our lame attempt at water basketball
7. Book Club - I actually finished the book - Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
8. Took dinner to a friend and her family
9. Started BofM again and can't really figure out why Nephi doesn't ever just punch his lame brothers in the face for being the biggest complainers. As if any of them like sleeping on the ground. However he is the one writing the record so he can tell the story however he wants. Hopefully I'll get Nephi and his family out of the wilderness this time.
10. Got some water storage containers as part of our attempt to be prepared for "a disaster."

Don't say I didn't warn you.