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.

I Heart Google Reader

Its a festivus miracle! My blog stalking was just taken to a new level. I no longer have to sift through all my links to see what people are doing. Google is going to do that for me. I love, love, love it. I've been sitting here wondering what I'm going to to do with all this free time that I now have? But don't worry for those who like to read from some of my links, I'll leave those there for you. I think I'll go file my heels and deep condition my hair.

Time Keeps Slipping into the Future

Holy cow does time fly by and the next thing you know you've been married for NINE years. Happy Anniversary to us! Here are some favorite pictures from days gone by.

1999

Our engagement picture that went in with our wedding invitation

2003

Our Christmas card picture

2005

Hanging out at a favorite Maine lighthouse

2007

A picture without a child, rare by this time in our life.

2008

Corral Pink San Dunes - Kanab, UT

Like Father Like Daughter

Scary, very scary!

Reprieve from the Heat

It seems as though there comes a time in a girls life when she just needs to get some sort of break from the Arizona heat. Yes, today was record breaking heat for Arizona. My mother-in-law who has lived in Arizona before called me in a panic and explained that it doesn't usually get this hot, this fast. But it just our luck, because when I moved to Boston and started commuting downtown for work it was the beginning of February and it was record breaking lows.

Thank goodness for pools. Noelle has become overly brave with her water wings and really liked wearing the goggles.

She also didn't mind eating wheat thins from a bag full of pool water. I guess that's the problem when you're one portion hobo and the other feral?

(video to come after I do some editing!)

Noelle Singing Twinkle-Twinkle

We love her singing voice. Its so sweet to listen to, even when she's supposed to be sleeping. Also you can see the amount of concentration by looking at her furrowed brows.

Traveln' Down That Road and Back Again

Well what's better to do when you have some spare time on your hands than make a last minute decision to go on a small road trip?We couldn't think of anything either so we stuck with the first idea. During our irregular family night of going to the library we decided that we'd go visit our moms for Mother's Day. This was not enticing to Boo as he was not looking forward to the eleven hour drive north. So to break it up a little we decided we'd stop around the half way mark and spend the night in Hurricane, UT. But before we got that far we decided we'd visit a few northern Arizona sites along the way.

Our first stop was at Sunset Crater National Monument. We walked through some of the lava flows and got a great view of the crater from the bottom. Given that we weren't prepared for the cooler temps and windy weather, we opted for the short hike. Noelle thought it was more fun to push the stroller than to ride in it.

Our next stop wasn't far from the first, at Wupatki National Monument, which was a collection of pueblos that we could walk around and see how people lived nearly 800 years ago.

We continued our drive, which took us through Zions National Park at night so there wasn't much to see, and then we arrived at our destination, the Travelodge of Hurricane (total dump, but a fine place to sleep.) Noelle fell asleep in the car with her blanket over her head.

During our time in Utah we met our newest cousin, Jacob, who was born just in time for us to visit. We played with cousins, got our first taste at Guitar Hero, checked out the beautiful flowers at Temple Square and spent time with all of our moms.

Noelle even had her first sleepover at her Auntie's house and participated in the Race for the Cure.

For our trip home we stopped in Kanab, UT.

While we were there we visited the Corral Pink Sand Dunes.

Boo dreaded the mess that would soon engulf our car, not to mention our clothes and all surfaces of our bodies.

It seemed like nothing but juniper trees in orange sand as we were driving and then we rounded a corner to find rolling hills of sand. Noelle and I thought it was great.

Staying in a hotel room with a toddler is another story however. We have to turn off all the lights and tv to make her think that we are all going to bed with her. Being the naive parents that we are, we thought it would only take a few minutes and she'd be out. Not the case at all.

Noelle sang in her loudest voice all the songs she's been learning lately. At one point Boo and I were laughing pretty hard and as quiet as possible from our different beds, as not to let her know we were still awake. At one point she tricked me with a few moments of silence and then jumped right back into her singing. Then finally a couple last songs and she was gone-zo. It was forty minutes of singing.

On our way out of Kanab we saw a funny site. Something that looked like a cop waiting to catch unsuspecting speedsters. Look closely.... even creeps me out a little bit.

We sure had a good time during our visit, but I'm also glad to be home in my own bed and to have Noelle in her own bed. Now its back to reality.

Random Clips of Noelle

This video is just a bunch of random clips that I put together from the last week or so. She says some funny stuff, but the best is of her with her ice cream and purse. (Notice she's missing the bottom of her cone)

Interpretation: Noelle tells me she's eating cupcakes for breakfast, then says pancakes and that she's going to have a big bite.

Albertsen Family Tradition Revived

On Friday night we took a drive down to Mesa to visit my cousin Michael and his family. It just so happened that his mother (Aunt Yo) was in town as was my mom, Gramma Nay. One big love fest. Noelle and cousin Mike were instant buds and she was even so sad when she couldn't ride in their car to dinner, fearing he was going to leave her with us.

We got a private piano concert from Jacob, a tour of their house, and took a dip in their new pool, and then decided we'd all go out for dinner. They casually suggested Organ Stop Pizza. Say what? My eyes nearly popped out of my head with excitement. I think I even shook Boo so that he would understand what they said.

For as long as I've known the Albertsen's I've heard about Organ Stop Pizza. It was a tradition of theirs during their days living in Tempe to go at Christmas time after seeing the Christmas display at the Mesa Temple.

They've described it as this organ that rises out of the floor and some guy plays songs that most people would recognize. Holy cow they weren't lying. One of the largest Wurlitzer organs in the world. The musicians need engineering degrees just to operate that bad boy.

This is Chuck-E-Cheese for geriatrics, but kids like it too. The whole display was pretty spectacular for a pizza joint. Noelle was equally amazed. Notice we parked her right where she could see. We can't wait for Grammy & Papa Albertsen to come visit so we can go back.

Happy Birthday Ben & Jerry

Since I've been delinquent in posting the fun things we've been up to, I'll just add a smattering all at once.

Last week I got an email from my mom which I was convinced was just another one of those "forwards" that she tends to send around. It said that I could go and celebrate Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream's birthday and by doing so would be rewarded with a free ice cream cone. I like to check these things out before showing up to make a fool of myself asking for free ice cream, and sure enough my local B&J's was hosting a party. So thanks B&J's for having a birthday and letting us party with you. Thanks mom for sending me a good "forward."

Noelle was overly possessive of her ice cream. When we'd try to help her she'd hold on so tight that she eventually smashed the bottom half of the cone which mad for tricky holding.

Later that day we got to spend some time with Papa Albertsen, who was in Arizona for business. He took us to dinner, where Boo got the brontosaurus rib feast. (at least that was what it looked like when they brought it out.)

We also got the biggest piece of cake I've ever seen. There was an entire giant cake in a refrigerated case and we pointed it out to Noelle who exclaimed, "Oh my gosh!"