Snow Day

Tons of fun pictures. Trust me, I DID whittle them down...there were just SO MANY!! So, here's our fun afternoon in the snow, for you all to enjoy or skip right over. :)

Rudy with our snow alligator. Better watch out or he'll "Eat you all up!" (One of Rudy's favorite phrases.)
Rudy and I have a favorite song about a lady who "sailed away on a happy summer day on the back of a crocodile..." So here's a toddler sailing away on a chilly winter day on the back of an alligator...same thing, right?

Those cheeks were just too rosy not to kiss. Rudy seems to think not kissing them would have been fine. :)

Rudy hiding so that I won't 'eat him all up'.

Our rockin' awesome sledding hill I made while Rudy was napping. We used a piece of plastic off of one of Rudy's plethora of toy boxes from Christmas for a sled. It made for a way fun little ride! After almost sliding down head first a couple times, Rudy decided it would be best for him to go down "only on my bum". He went soooo sloooooowly, I was able to take three pictures of him on the same turn. (My camera takes forever to recharge after I shoot a pic.) It was hilarious, because with each little push he gave himself, he'd say in a half convinced voice, "Whee!"

Whee!

Whee!

Here we are, getting ready to go down together on the super sonic plastic.
An action shot. Sorry for the blur-it's hard to hold on to a kiddo and a camera while shooting off the back porch on a thin piece of plastic! Rudy seems to be enjoying himself...mostly. :)

Oops! Those cheeks are getting really rosy-time to go in for some hot chocolate!

"Did you say hot chocolate? What are we waiting for??"

Short Hair = Awesome Morning Surprises

I love waking up to a new 'sculpture' each morning. Here's my favorite so far:

My Russian Men

Jason likes to wear his Russian hats from his mission to work on cold days. His boys get a kick out of it. So does Rudy. :)

Real Food Revolution

Jason and I starting eating healthfully about 2 weeks ago. We just got fed up with feeding ourselves junk all the time. For my part, I actually found a lot of motivation to change in Rufus, our cat. Sounds funny, huh?

I had just taken him to the vet for his well check and vaccines. During our visit, the vet and I chatted about proper feline diet and the type of food and amount I should be feeding Rufus to help him stay the lean, healthy specimen he is. :) Turns out I needed to be feeding him half as much as I had been, so that day, I simply cut his food portions in half. Easy. Done. Rufus is now on the road to a long life of health.

All Rufus's protests got me thinking about why I was willing to make a needed, yet uncomfortable change for my pet's health, but not for myself. Hmm.

I decided that I needed to be as matter of fact about my nutrition as I am about Rufus's. About that time, Jason said he wanted to start eating better foods to lose some weight. So, the next week (I needed some time to pump myself up to it) we started the 8 minutes in the Morning diet by Jorge Cruise with Jason. It's simple, healthful, and only the cost of a book (which we already had from past attempts at weight loss and better nutrition.) The program combines short morning exercises (8 minutes long) with great nutrition. WE LOVE IT! We both feel so much better-not so sluggish and weighed down. We love knowing that we're helping our bodies with the things we eat, instead of hindering them. Hooray for good health! Hooray for real food! Hooray for Rufus! ;)

Christmas Day

I think I liked the Christmas Season better than Christmas day. It was kinda hectic, especially after our big day the day before. All those presents to open, all those toys to find a new place for...sigh. It was nice to visit Jason's parents for a large part of the day and have dinner with most of his side of the family, but next year, I think we'll do what his siblings do, and just come for dinner. A kid needs time with his new toys, I guess, and parents need time to take inventory. Maybe next year we'll figure out how to space out the present opening too...it was kind of an overload experience!

We gave Rudy his Christmas present from us about 3 days early, mostly 'cause he saw me buy it and it would have been kind of pointless to break his heart by making him think that he doesn't get to have it for the sole purpose of seeing his excited face Christmas morning. This ambulance has been hanging out at Savers for about a month. Every time we'd visit (we go about once a week), Rudy would spend the majority of his 'toy time' playing with it. I had been thinking I'd pick it up for Christmas and tried to do it stealthily, but every time I approached it, Rudy would come running over with a "play with me?" invitation.

When I tried telling him we had to put it back on the shelf for other kids to play with, Rudy clutched it to his heart and implored, "Take to Rudy's house? Put it in my basket?" So that's what we did. No stealth involved. Lesson for next year- Rudy's old enough now that I can't take him shopping with me when I want to buy a surprise for him.

Anyway, he played with it for about 3 hours a day until Christmas came. It's getting a break now, with his other new stuff taking center stage, but I'm sure he'll come back to it.

My bed head and Rudy's excited face while opening hot wheels from his cousin, Aubrey. He LOVES them, and has played with them every day.
This all the stuff he got from Grandma and Granpa and Oma and Opa. Whew! Rudy's two favorite things were the construction set from Grandma and Grandpa, and the box of multi-colored, mulit-sized marbles from Oma and Opa. He uses them together for hours of construction fun. :)
Rufus's favorite gift. My parents gave us a bunch of great health food stuff in this burlap bag. I turned away from the half emptied bag to show Jason one of the items, and found Rufus had moved in. I had to postpone unwrapping the rest of it until Rufus decided his was done with his "lair". :)

Here's Rudy playing with his marbles and truck.

Christmas Eve Dinner

We had a great time on Christmas Eve at my Grandparent's house with all the extended family PLUS, our good friends Matt, Bonnie, Amy, and Noel. Unfortunately, I promptly lost my camera after this family shot, so I don't have any pictures of the tasty ham dinner, Rudy and Amy playing together, the whole family (24 plus) playing Christmas carols on chimes, my Grandpa reading Luke 2...sigh. Oh well. It was really fun, and after a bit, I kind of enjoyed being able to simply savor the moment instead of seeking good photo opps. :)

Christmas Eve Lunch

All my siblings and their spouses came to my parents house on Christams Eve day to play games and enjoy each other's company. I had no idea we were going to have a special lunch, so imagine my surprise when these babies showed up on the table!

That's Rudy's "Monster Crab" face. The first time I gave him the crab leg to hold, he dropped in shock and horror and told me "Pokies!". That's what we say whenever there's anything sharp around. I hadn't realized how poky those fellows are until Rudy made sure I understood they were not to be messed with. He happily gobbled up the succulent meat from within, however. Thanks, Mutti and Vati, for a fun and delicious memory! :)

We're Public!

So, I just realized it might be helpful for ya'all to know that we decided to go public with our blog. The whole invite thing just got really old. So, now you can follow us and have blogger tell you when I post instead of having to remember to check now and again. Hope that makes life a bit easier for you.

:)

Shake it, Baby, Shake it!

One of my family members is notorious (in the family, at least) for his booty shakin' skills. Listen closely to the video to find out who's teaching my kiddo some moves. :)

Rudy just can't figure out what muscles to use to make his booty shake. Jason has tried to coach him in the past, but it's just beyond our little man so far. Ah well, all in good time, all in good time.

What do you do all day?

Every once in a while, some one asks me the rather awkward question, "So, what do you do all day?" It's hard to describe without sounding a bit deflated. After all, keeping house and tending a child doesn't sound as cool as helping people overcome addictions and rebuild their lives. (My past go to answer for that question.)

But it is cool. And fun, most of the time. Rudy and I have a blast together. We can be silly around each other, trusting that the other will laugh and attempt to out-silly our silliness. Here's a little moment of the fun times that garnish my days.

We danced like mad men whenever a really fun song came up on Pandora.

Who needs TV...

when you've got a basin full of water in front of a picture window on a snowy day?

Ah, the bliss of being small enough to fit in the kitchen sink.

Family Christmas Party

My in-laws throw a great Christmas Party every year for the family. There's great food, tons of excited cousins, a Santa appearance, and a ride through the Thanksgiving Point light display all together on a rented out trolley. Jason got stuck in the middle of a door replacing project that proved to have more twists and turns in it than a M.Night Shyamalan movie. He had to stay home to get our house secured again while Rudy and I went to the party. That was the only downer of the night. At least Jason's absence motivated me to take some pictures!

Mom made a Santa's List of Good Boys and Girls book that she has the parents add to each year. She has us put down some of the highlights of the child's behavior or accomplishments this year, and then one thing that the child could work on in the up coming year. It's a great tool for the parents-the kids age 3 to 6 really take Santa seriously after they see how well he knows them. When he asks them to work harder on not throwing fits or keeping their rooms clean, they solemnly agree to do so. This year the Santa they hired was really great cause he sympathized with the kids and confessed that sometimes even Santa forgets to make his bed, or whatever. So now they're working on their weak spots right along with Santa Claus.

We don't make a big deal about Santa in our house (and Rudy's barely two) so he didn't really care much about him. He was more interested in the rubber spider one of his cousins had found for him. I don't think he even accknowledged that Santa was talking to him. Oh well, it was still fun to watch, and maybe next year he'll actually interact with him.

Santa's chat with Rudy

Santa giving Rudy his gift after their chat.

The Trolley was great, 'cause Rudy's really into the Mister Rogers trolley (and all things on wheels for that matter). He spent most of the time sitting next to his favorite cousin, Berkley. I think he likes her the best because she's the oldest of the girls who like to fuss over him, so she does the best knowing when to back off and give him some air. :)

Rudy and Berkley being all grown up.

Picture with the trolley after the ride

After the trolley, we saw real reindeer in a tiny little kennel right by the trolley. Rudy loved them, and spent quite some time in the frosty evening checking them out and tossing bits of straw to them. I felt bad for those poor animals, though, stuck in a 10 by 10 cage, surrounded by oggling people, with nothing by a baleful of straw on concrete for bedding. Boring! Stressful! Uncomfortable! I wish they would at least keep them pastured and let us go to them if we want to see some real reindeer. Sigh. Christmas comes with both great acts of kindness and love, and atrocious acts of commercialism and insensitivity.

Snow Shoe!

I went snow shoeing for the first time with Mutti up in Midway on Wednesday.

I loved it! Just like hiking, only colder...and whiter. :)

We had plenty of fresh snow to blaze trails on. It was a blast, and so beautiful! After about a half hour of making our own trails, we were glad to get back to the road and have some packed down snow to walk on again. Whew! Snow shoeing in fresh snow is hard work, especially when it's as heavy and full of water as the last snow was!

New Hair

So, I've always wanted to dye my hair. Not blond or any other 'natural' color. Pink, or orange, or purple or something. I've wanted to do it since I was like twelve or something. But I couldn't, because that's just not what a stake president's daughter does. Or what a faithful young woman does, or a BYU student, or a new professional, or a Young Women's President. There was always a reason why I couldn't do it, so I just forbid myself to think of it. Most of the time that worked, but every once in a while, the feeling would pop up again, and I would struggle to stuff it back in the 'forbidden desires' box.

This time, I decided to entertain the idea. Yes, I'm back in the Young Women's program, but I'm not the president, at least. I'm just the camp director. So I began seriously considering having very bright hair. I thought about which color, what pattern, and what cut I'd like to go with it. And I thought about all the reasons why I want colored hair, and all the reason's why I shouldn't want colored hair. I wondered how I could call myself faithful if I knowingly went against a prophet's counsel to be moderate in our appearance. (Fire orange with blue tips is anything but moderate!)

I realized that my desire for colored hair had more to do with trying to push people's stereotypes or expectations off of me. I want to do things because I feel they're important, not because other people think I should.

That's about when I had a mini identity crisis, trying to figure out if I am who I am because I want to be, or because other people say I ought to be. After much wrestling around within myself, I realized I really want to be who I am. And I really want to follow my prophet's counsel. And I really don't want fire orange hair with blue tips (even if I do love orange and blue together). :)

I've discovered a new passion to be who I am. To check with myself about whether I'm doing something to be true to myself and the values I hold dear, or to please someone else. It's liberating, exciting, and a bit stressful.

To celebrate my new found identity, I decided to get a new hair style, if not a new hair color. Something fresh, something different from what I'd ever done with my hair before. So I did. And I like it.

I think my secret obsession with dying my hair is finally laid to rest, never again to rise. I finally looked it right in the eyes and looked myself right in the soul and realized I just want liberation from stereotypes and boxy expectations. And that's something no hair color could ever give me. Whew. Glad I figured that out before, and not after I 'took the plunge'.

FIVE YEARS!

Jason and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary this week. It was on the 18th, but we did all our celebrating on the 17th, since that was when my mother in law was available to watch Rudy ALL DAY LONG.

We love Rudy, we really do, but let me tell you, it was fun to be a 'single' couple again. We just did whatever we felt like doing, whenever we felt like doing it. Regardless of toddler tolerance levels or nap time schedules. It was lovely.

We started the day off by spending over 2 hours scouring the American Fork DI. We both had a great time being able to spend so much time pouring over every thing, and we found TONS of great stuff.

My favorite find: an old school red and white Puma shoulder bag to replace my old diaper bag. I finally feel like I'm making a statement about myself with my diaper bag, other than "I'm a Mom" (As if the child on my hip wasn't a dead give away already) :)

Jason's favorite find: an old, beautiful silver pitcher, complete with tarnish. We've been looking for something cool to put our cooking utensils in, and this is PERFECT.

Anyway, we saw a movie (The Blind Side-awesome, by the way), ate out for lunch and dinner, and just enjoyed spending time with each other.

We ate at Panda Express for dinner, and our shared fortune (which we had agreed to end with "in marriage") read:

" YOU WILL MAKE MANY CHANGES BEFORE HAPPILY SETTLING (IN MARRIAGE)."

We both laughed out loud at the truth of that fortune. Marriage is all about making many changes. Tweaking things here and there, giving... receiving...loving...learning. The best part of it all is, the more you change, the more you learn, the truly happier you are. I'm a very different person than I was 5 years ago. More confident, less bossy, more understanding... I have mostly Jason to thank for it. He has stood by me at times when maybe I wasn't so fun to be around, and he's been brave enough to lovingly suggest areas of improvement for me. Jason has also been humble enough to work on my suggestions for him. It's been a great (and adventurous) five years. I only hope that every 5 years of marriage will bring as much growth, love, learning, and maturing as this round did!

Beep and Bop

This post is for Thomas and Keala, but you can keep reading if you're not them too. :)

Happy Anniversary guys! I hope it's been a great year, and that each following year of marriage will be better and better. It always is, if you work at it. :) You really didn't owe Rudy a present this year just 'cause you 'robbed' him of his birthday last year. He didn't even know or care about such things back then. :) That said, he (and Jason and I) LOVE Beep and Bop. We practically had to take turns playing with them. I took a video of Rudy's thank you to you. Gmail won't let me sent it to you, so I'm posting it here instead. I really hope Rudy stays this infatuated with Beep and Bop for a long time. I always love it when he likes toys I think are cool. Then I don't have to oblige his request to play with him- I can actually enjoy it! I'll post a few pictures too. Beep and Bop joined Rudy for his whole bedtime routine and they are now slumbering in his arms.

We love you guys!

That's Bop's horn in Rudy's mouth. :)

Happy Birthday Rudy!

Our family has a tradition that on peoples' birthdays, we share something we love about them. I've been thinking about what I wanted to share with you all day. I don't know really how to tell you in words that you'll understand how huge you are in my life, so I mostly just gave you tons of hugs and tickles and kisses and smiles. I told you what a cool kid you are, and how happy we are you came to us.

Rudy, I love the pureness of your soul. I love how much you care about other people. I love how hard you try to be nice and to understand the world around you. You make me a better person, just by being you. Just by letting me into your heart. Thanks for that. Thanks for trusting me so completely. Thanks for loving me so completely. I love you!

love,

Mommy

Rudy's First Real Birthday Party

Hooray! Rudy's old enough to appreciate a birthday party this year! I decided to throw him a real 'friends' party. The toughest part of the whole thing was choosing the guest list. If we'd invited everyone I know Rudy and I both love to be around, we'd have had 10 or 12 guests, plus parents. That wouldn't have been fun, considering the age of the children we're talking about, so I forced myself to really narrow down the list to only 3 friends and their parents.

I followed the age of the child plus one 'rule' so many people suggested to me. It was tough to do, but after the party, I'm a believer. It was the perfect size-any more would have been the no-fun kind of chaos instead of the gaggle of two or almost two year olds fun kind of chaos. To any of you who didn't get to come-we still totally LOVE you and hope you'll come play soon!

Once the agony of making the guest list was over, the rest was totally fun! I loved dreaming up ideas for Rudy's cake, his decorations, the things we'd do to make it an event instead of just another playgroup. Rudy and I worked together to prep most of the party supplies, and I think it really stoked him up for the party. I kept the cake secret, though, 'cause we'd have just had a tantrum on our hands if we tried to tell Rudy something yummy that finished baking was not yet ready to be eaten. (Most of the time, it takes all Rudy's emotional reserves just to wait for the thing to bake-he really loves baked goods of any sort.)

Jason and I decided to go with a train theme because that's what he's been really into for the last few weeks especially(although he's always loved playing with the train set at the toy store we visit periodically). That said, I'll move on to the pictures!

I turned our playroom into a rail road track. Nothing too extravagant-just a whole lotta duct tape and a few sheets of Rudy's finger painting paper to make some signs out of. We made box cars for each of the kids to pull around, and engine costumes for them to transform into trains with. The engine costumes were greeted with all levels of interest, from total rejection to wearing the thing till it fell off. I expected as much. I just drew some engines on paper grocery sacks, so it was no big deal. The box cars were lost to the kids as soon as we brought out the balloons. Again, no prob-I was excited to see all the kiddos having fun. :) This shot was taken last night, when the play room was still a safe spot for a cat. Rufus has been hiding since our first guest arrived... it's now 2 hours after the party ended. Yeah, he's still getting used to the whole multiple children thing. :)

Rudy helped us decorate the kitchen this morning with streamers and balloons. By the time 9:30am rolled around, he needed some quiet time. (The party started at 10) He and Jason watched a few videos of Mister Rodgers on PBS.com. Nothing like Mister Rodgers to calm an over stimulated child, I'd say.

"Sunshine" (one of Rudy's friend's internet code name) was the first to arrive. He and she happily stuck stickers on their box cars to decorate them. By the time the other two arrived, though, the four kids decided chasing each other up and down the hallway was a better way to spend their time. Here's the parents, left with the stickers and box cars. :)

I wrangled everyone back into the playroom by pulling out the engine costumes.

Sorry for the flash in this picture. I had to post it anyway, just to record Rudy's enamored look at Amy. It's like he's thinking, "Boy, I knew she was cute before, but that engine suit really makes her shine!"

Little O, going full steam ahead down the tracks.

Next came the balloons. By now, things were pretty cozy in that playroom. It was a blast watching the kids work with the punch balloons, and just being silly in general.

I think all us adults had a pretty fun time, too. :)

Little O loved his train suit. Even when it ripped almost in half, he wanted to keep wearing it.

Sunshine doing double duty with a confetti balloon and a punch balloon.

Rudy and Jason having a moment together with the confetti balloons.

When Rudy's popped and he wanted to eat the skittles out of it, we shifted the whole party upstairs to have some cake.

Ta Da! My labor of love. It took about 2 hours to turn 3 mini loafs and a couple cup cakes into a little train. Besides the sugar buzz I had after snitching a little frosting here, a skittle there (0k, maybe lots of skittles everywhere) it was really fun and entirely painless. :) (especially since Jason helped me clean the kitchen afterwards)

The Happy Birthday Song and blowing out the candles!

All the kiddos gathered around the "Uncle Jake" table. I LOVE having a kid size table-thanks, Jake for making this for Rudy last year.

The party only lasted about an hour and a half, but Rudy was totally tuckered out and ready for some quiet time and a nap by then. We all had a great time celebrating our little man's 2nd birthday! Thanks to all who came!