Le Little Dude

Blogging's on the list!

But for now... guess who's snoozing in our spare room?



We have had quite the day! The three tiny humans came to see me at work today where they got to meet the big guy Santa. After work, I picked Andrew up at Grandma's house. We had noodles for dinner, took the slow tour through Christmas street, and rounded off the evening with some "How to Train Your Dragon." Our special 6-year old sleepover is going over quite well (we decided to have him over for a special night since we'll miss Christmas and his birthday while in Santa Barbara). We sure love having this guy around! Maybe his mom will let us kidnap him more often...

Take a second look at that picture. I think his mom will DEFINITELY let us kidnap him more often.

Tomorrow, I have a feeling we will have a loud, wonderful, dragon-filled morning.

Aren't nephews (and nieces) the best? Well... this one can speak French! Doesn't get much cooler than that!

Downloading.

What if I could plug my brain into the computer, hook it up through a USB, open the right application... and walah! Downloaded.

Things on my mind/future posts to spur:

I LOVE our Christmasy home and decor. I LOVE our apartment. It's so cozy and festive. I should take pictures before the season is over.

I can't believe I got through last week. It was a busy one! But this week is not-so-bad and ends in Christmas in California.

We're loving the gym passes. I've hit some Zumba, Scott's hit the pool, and we both love Yoga and the machines. Scott was in charge of getting my stuff together last Tuesday since he got off work before I did. He did a great job and was super thoughtful... except I ended up doing Zumba barefoot! I think it's just more of a work-out.

I'm so grateful for the Pre-Christmas Sunday dinner Sue and Thayer hosted this weekend. That tradition (being the only one I get to keep this year) meant the world to me. My favorite part is when we light our candles and express our gratitude and well-wishing.

I about leaped through the ceiling when Espen surprised me at work last Friday! Talk about making my day! It made me realize how much I miss my family when they are away from me. I'm bummed I won't see Doug this Christmas (we barely miss him with our travel dates), and I'm DYING to get Johnny back. I hope I can conference in on the family call on Christmas.

I enjoyed my opportunity to play my violin on Christmas Sunday. I'm thinking of trying out for the Orchestra at Temple Square. It would be a lot of work to prepare... but I miss playing and performing way too much.

I also taught in Relief Society for the first time in our new ward. I think it was a great way for me to get to know some people and for them to get to know me. The Sacrament... what a perfect topic for this time of year. I'm so glad I had the words of my buddy Lowell Bennion to make it all hum together.

Scott is still working unbelievable hours... but without school, he still feels like he is on Christmas vacation. Our real vacation awaits... but it's been SO GREAT to hang together in the evenings. I love my husband.

Everyone I know is having babies. Are you?

Scott and I had a wonderful Christmas together this last Saturday. It was cozy and loving, and exactly what Christmas should be... just a few days early!

He hit a home-run by slyly and pretty miraculously getting me a copy of this. How did I get so lucky??

Scott is helping Andrew move. We're grateful to have good friends, and I'm grateful to know that Scott is also a good friend back. Andrew's back in the avenues. It'll be fun to have him more close-by again.

We got to sit in the gorgeous Conference Center as David Archuleta sang his heart out. I loved it. (Having never watched American Idol, I didn't know what to expect. I was impressed).

I've had many occasions to be creative lately and work with my hand. Nothing feels better than that.

I am someone who just HAS to eat breakfast. Last week I didn't and it just doesn't work for me.

Scott and I got to SKI on Saturday! Oh my gosh! What a gorgeous powder day! My teeth froze because I skied with a full smile from open till close. I am having a hard time believing that I agreed to leave Utah for Sunny California smack dab in the middle of ski season with snow storms galore. But I guess surf is to Scott and ski is to Lindsey. Compromises. Compromises. Compromises...

All jokes aside, I am excited to head to the west (the west-er). I look forward to time with family and good friends (I'm so excited to see Rob and Kelley!), for a lovely break, good beach runs, a happy husband, mastering surfing (do I say this every year?), and my new neoprene booties to keep my feet toasty and warm in the ocean.

Quick Word.

6am has turned into my blogging time.

Here's the quick word:

Today Scott got me out of bed quicker than ever when he told me Utah has been "Flocked!" He was making fun of me the other day because I learned a new word each day at work last week. Flocked was the word for Tuesday.

I can't wait to ski this weekend!!!!! It's the busiest week I've had in a while, but ski we shall!

Books, she thought, grew of themselves.

A couple nights ago I had a dream about "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." I think it was inspired by our trip to Smiths a day or two before when we walked down the DVD aisle and saw titles we haven't previously seen. I saw a DVD of Beverly Cleary's "Ramona and Beezus" on the shelf. I used to LOVE the Ramona books (although mine didn't have such a fancy, colorful, cover). These DVD's got me thinking about all the books I used to love as a kid. I have always been a reader. When my siblings and I were little, my parents had a pretty genius system. They would send us to bed early, and we were welcome to stay up for an hour if we wanted, as long as we were in our beds reading. So we spent pretty much every night reading to ourselves or each other for an hour or so. I used to love "The Littles," the "Mirette on the High Wire," a little chapter book about a troll that lived in a little girl's closet, "The Little Prince," Strega Nona's Magic Lessons," "All Tutu's Should be Pink," "The Trouble with Trolls," "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble," "Harold and the Purple Crayon," "Amelia Bedelia," the "Junie B. Jones" series, "Miss Piggle Wiggle," and "Seven Blind Mice."

I had Miss A. for second grade. She was everyone's favorite teacher. She would have been mine but she thought I was adopted for the first four months of school (Doug may or may not have convinced her of that fact when he had her two years earlier). I remember second grade as the year I really got into writing. Everything was about writing. I used to draw pictures of myself as an author. I'd write reports about being a writer. I kept a notebook where I'd write songs, stories, and poem (I still have it!!!), and I'd illustrate my notebook with stickers and things that I found wherever. My first story ever was "The Mouse in the Music Room" about a mouse that snuck into the music room and hid in a tuba. I would derive a moral for my stories and state it at the end of the story. Miss A would let me read my stuff out loud during reading time. One day I wrote a poem called, "The Queen Lives Next Door." It was all about the chores the Queen would make me do for her. I remember one line was, "The Queen lives next door, she even makes me clean her floors!" A girl in my class named Angela Mckenzie came to class the next day and asked Miss A. if she could read her new poem out loud to the class: "The Princess lives down the street." Recalling this memory, I'm realizing that there's no way I can name a child Angela... or McKenzie.

I'm rambling (as I am wont to do at 6:00am). It feels good to ramble. This post is about reading, not writing. We used to have Read-A-Thons in Miss A.'s class. I LOVED this concept. (I even hosted the occasional Read-A-Thon in college to bring back this genius concept. As a babysitter, the Read-A-Thon was one of my favorite activities.) We would come to school wearing pajamas, curl up in a quilt, and read the book or books of our choosing. I remember one time in 2nd grade I came to our Read-A-Thon with a stack a foot high of books to read. I zoomed through those books. I was really into "Nancy Drew" (my mom's old hardback version), "Sara Plain and Tall," the "Pee Wee Scouts" (they all have these new fancy covers!), "The Saddle Club," the "Giver," anything by Madeline L'Engle (especially "A Wrinkle in Time" and "Troubling a Star"), "The Witches," "Boy," "Happy Little Family," and so many others.

I remember in 4th grade I had a teacher named Mrs. Larsen. We had the same birthday, and she was my favorite teacher in elementary school. She wouldn't just give me an A. She would give me an A+++++++++++ Maybe she was giving me a false sense of security and confidence as a ten year old, but she also motivated me that no matter how many pluses I had after my A, I could always get more!

Anyway, my favorite time was reading time. On my report card home, I would have all kinds of positive feedback with one "complaint." That complaint: that I laugh during reading time. We'd get together for reading time, and I would just bust out in laughter every other paragraph. She would like of laugh through her teeth as she'd try to scold me for disrupting everybody's reading experience. I know that she mostly thought it was funny that I just couldn't control my giggles (ever since I was a kid I've been a good giggler). My big obsession of this time in my life: "Wayside School is Falling Down" and "Sideways Stories from Wayside School." I thought it was hilarious. I found this book at my mom's house the other day, brought it home, and read a chapter to Scott for fun. We read the chapter about Sammy, the new kid who came to school wearing a hundred smelly overcoats. The teacher made him take off each coat after coat after coat but each coat smelled worse than the first. By the end of the coat-strip, there was nothing left of Sammy but a dead rat. "Dead rats were always trying to sneak into Miss Jewel's classroom." That was the 3rd one they caught that week, or something. I loved silly, unreasonable books. I loved the Lemony Snicket series. I thought it was so clever (I kind of wish I came up with it). "He was so tired, he found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over." Totally threw me for a loop.

As I prepared for my mission, packing up my old bedroom, one of the most emotional experiences was packing my old books into boxes. They're still there... in boxes... along with thirty-something journals filled with all the thoughts and experiences that I'd probably be embarrassed to remember! Part of the fun in starting a family will be sharing these books with my kids. I was at my mom's house a few nights ago, looking through her collection of beautiful old books. I loved seeing the old books. There's nothing quite like old books. I have a few from my Grandma Pete and my Grandma Joan: "Little Women," "Jo's Boys," "Silas Marner," "Tom Sawyer."

There are a few books I read in elementary school that have scarred me along the way, and there are a few books that didn't exactly make my favorites list. But I love books. And I'm so glad I had a dream about "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." I used to read that every year at Christmas time. I love to think back to the books I used to love. I can't wait to open that box of books someday. It'll be like a time capsule of all the best memories.

The One Downside.

The one downside (why did I need to retype "downside" eight times?) to a Utah winter is the nasty smog. It's starting to clear up a bit... but when the valley air is this gross, we should all get work off and head for the hills. Fresh air awaits us!

Today We Opened 10!!

So far our advent calendar has brought us...

1. "21 Day's Closer to Christ" Book (we have read and discussed a chapter each night)
2. A Christmas Rubber Ducky
3. Chocolate Truffles
4. Santa Magnet
5. A Snowman Smore's Kit
6. Chocolate Snowmen
7. (I can't remember)
8. Dove Chocolates
9.James Taylor Christmas CD
10. A BEAUTIFUL Scarf

I love my parents! They are so sweet to do this advent calendar for us. The scarf I opened this morning is GORGEOUS! It is green with red flowers on it. I love it! I'm wearing it right now... at 6:00am... in my apartment...

By the way, Scott is taking one of his finals tonight! Send him a text and wish him luck!

Complete with Orphans and Fortune Tellers!!

The sights and sounds of 19th Century London come alive at the Dickens' Christmas Festival. This Festival is not just another craft show, but a unique and unusual entertainment and shopping experience. Olde English shops, hundreds of period costumes, fortune tellers, orphans, royalty, and the "real" Father Christmas all combine to offer our guests a Christmas experience like no other!

Today I was able to put some of my charming little English phrases to good use. All strung in a row, they didn't make much sense, but it sure got me in the mood for the Charles Dickens Festival at the SLC fairgrounds today. I was so so so excited to hear that Salt Lake was hosting the festival this year, and it was fun to get together with Kirsten, Mom, and these two little goobers (the third goober was at kindergarten). I miss hanging with Andrew now that he's becoming such a big and busy boy, but it was so much fun to hang with the little two and spend some time where Ben was the one who got a little more attention than the rest.

Ben is a crack up! While Kirsten was driving them down from Farmington, she told Ben that they were going to go to the festival with Grandma Teri and Aunt Lindsey. Ben said, "Lindsey and Scott? Lindsey is my best friend!" That about made my day. I didn't even need the singing orphans to come. I love that Ben always asks about Scott. I am not just Lindsey, I am "Lindsey: from Lindsey and Scott." I loved the day with Ben, though. He had me laughing all day. Especially while eating lunch when he was asking me to tickle him and then stop, and then tickle him some more. What a funny little dude.

I forgot to rotate the picture, but this is just to remember the day Ben got his first bow and arrow since I'm sure this is going to be a monumental day in his life. Ben is so expressive. He makes the greatest faces. When Kirsten handed him his new bow and arrow, his smile was wide and he just giggled. He ran around the festival "hunting Lamanites" (thank you little BOM stories). He also loved the slippery floor inside the Oliver Twist room, and spent the entire time pretending like he was ice skating on it. He is the most pleasant and adventurous kid. Scott and I have both said we'd have kids right now if we could guarantee we'd get one just like Ben.
Sarajane is little doll, and this post is not all about Ben! Sarajane is such a pleasant little gal. Kirsten, Mom and I are really loving having a little girl to spoil. We had way too much fun trying beanies on her round little head, getting her a magic wand, getting her a polka-dot purse, getting her some cute snow boots for next year. We are way too excited about having a girl in the family. I mean, look at all the pink on that girl! We love her so much, and we can't wait for Uncle Johnny to come home, meet her, and see how much these little people have changed! Ben wasn't even talking when Johnny left for his mission. Now he doesn't ever stop talking! And he's just so cool! Andrew is in kindergarten! He is so artistic and creative! He is also so smart! He's learning French at school, and he's a self-taught expert on science and dinosaurs. Sarajane is so smiley. There's nothing worse than trying to get a baby to smile who just won't do it. Sarajane has always got a smile in her, busting out.

Altogether, we had a great time. There's no better way to spend the afternoon than with the family, especially when the family consists of such awesome little people. I love my mom and my sister. I am lucky to have them as my best friends. We always have such a great time doing the dorkiest little things. I love the spirit of Christmas, and I love Charles Dickens. This is my favorite time of the year to re-read Hard Times. Thank you Mom and Kirsten for the fun afternoon! It's been such a fun time of the year. Work has been a blast. Scott and I are doing better than ever. Every second we're together has me laughing. We've been busy, but loving the holiday season. If I can keep my house clean for two days together, maybe I'll take some pictures of our wonderful Christmasy decor!

Itching.

Scott and I are using our insurance reimbursement this year for gym memberships at 24-Hour fitness. We've decided that the two-year anniversary is the gym membership anniversary. What's different about us though, is that we've joined the gym to gain weight instead of lose it. In the stress of life, we've lost all that muscle we had when we got married. Remember how we started dating on a river?

We went on Saturday and again last night. It's a lot of fun. I went to my first Zumba class and had a blast dancing for an hour to the familiar soothing sounds of Tunak Tunak Tun. I'm extremely uncoordinated, it seems, because I was about a half-step behind everybody else the entire time and for crying out loud, how does one shimmy??? I have never figured that one out. I doubt I ever will. I end up doing some jagged-bony-shoulder-swivel. I'll definitely go back though. It really was fun, and I'm glad we can stay active through the winter... especially with the nasty SL inversion. I liked it... but as I sat on the stationary bike last night, I couldn't help but think about how much I have been lately lacking in my experience with the outdoors.

Outside: The world existing beyond where one is physically confined or obliged to be (Oxford English Dictionary).

As we looked at the gym from the top level, all the people on the treadmills looked like little ants, all moving and moving and moving... but not getting anywhere! While knowing I was about to join them, it made me think for a minute about how grateful I am to have grown up in Utah. I infinitely prefer rowing a boat on the great Colorado to the stationary rowing weight-machine at 24-Hour (except I am loving the chance to simulate the experience). I am so grateful to have been able to be raised on a mountain. Exercise isn't quite the same without breeze and oxygen. What is beautiful about nature is the culmination of everything that centers me. I love being in nature and helping my mind come back to me as my body feels refreshed and my heart knows the true meaning and details of my existence.

The thoughts of the earth are my thoughts.
The voice of the earth is my voice.
All that belongs to the earth belongs to me.
All that surrounds the earth surrounds me.
It is lovely indeed, it is lovely indeed.

Navajo Song

It is fun to go to the gym, especially with Scott. We're going to have a great time together. But I still can't get that itch out of my system... I need to head to the hills! Which would you choose? Climb the same three steps on a stair-climber over and over again, or rise to the top of a mountain?

We've got some ski passes practically jumping out of the drawer wanting us to use them! Scott has finals this week and next. We'll seize every second of this much-needed break.

The Poet and the Murderer

"For most of his life Lombardo had felt like an outsider. As a young man he used to say to his friends that all he really wanted to do was have time to read and hike. He wasn't completely serious. There were plenty of other things he liked doing, but there was some truth in his claim. Books were his passports to the world, a place where his imagination could roam free. Hiking was his way of staying connected to the earth. Walking along a back-country path, surrounded by trees, and water, and light, and animals, he felt both humbled and enlarged. Humbled, because in comparison with the vastness of the universe he felt like the tiniest atom. Enlarged, because he knew he was part of the great continuum of life" (Simon Worrall).

Good Morning Thursday. Good Morning December 2nd! Good Morning a day off from work (sort of)! Good Morning Weekend (you're so close I can almost feel the sleep deprivation dissolving).

December 1st.

Did you know that today is December 1st? That means a lot of things for us here at the Hannay home.

1. We get to start our countdown!!! My mom and dad are so great. I love that we'll never have to grow up because they always make the holidays just as fun for us as they were when we were children. My mom and dad bought my sister, brothers, and I the most gorgeous wooden advent calendars. Each day corresponds to a lovely gift that my mom has carefully prepared and wrapped. I can't wait for Scott to get home so we can open our first advent gift! I love December! I love it!

2. The end of No Shave November. Scott is pretty scruffy these days. The funny thing is that I don't even notice anymore. I'm so used to seeing him with scruff that a beard doesn't even seem that foreign or strange. But... it is the end of November; thus, he has the freedom to shave should he choose. I don't know if he should choose. I kind of wonder if he should try out some of these new beard-do's. What do you think? I think it's pretty unfair that men never get to accessorize. They basically wear the same thing every day. And they basically have the same hair style every single day. I say, "Have fun with your beard, Men." Eh. Scotty will probably shave tomorrow.

3. I can't wait for more December storms. We've had some gorgeous ones the past few weeks. There's nothing better than snow so powdery that you can't even build a snowman. I barely broke a sweat while digging my car out on Monday. Having parked on a curb/in a ditch, the snow was halfway up the driver's door. But the snow was so perfect, it just blew right off. I love love love the snow. Bring on December! Bring on the snow!

Well this was an informative and productive post, eh? I have much more to say sometime.

To Lindsey

I love you wife!!

Love,

Scott

While Scotty's Snoozing

Last night I smiled as the weatherman told me to expect cold, windy snow storms for the next few days.

As I drove to work today, I saw a ton of people out in their yards raking leaves and mowing the lawn. It made me so happy to think, "They're all preparing their yards to be covered in snow!"

It's been stormy all day. I'm tempted to throw my nephews out the window and see how far they could fly in the wind. We're babysitting tonight. For being outnumbered, I think we did pretty well tonight. There's nothing cooler than nephews... except maybe nieces... or maybe it's a tie.

Characters Daily

"People have always seemed funny and strange to me, and touching in unexpected ways. I can't shake off a sort of mist of irony that hangs over whatever I see. Probably that's what I'm trying to put across when I write; I may believe that I'm the one person who holds this view of things. And I'm always hurt when a reader says that I choose only bizarre or eccentric people to write about. It's not a matter of choice; it just seems to me that even the most ordinary person, in real life, will turn out to have something unusual at his center. I like to think that I might meet up with one of my past characters at the very next street corner."

-Anne Tyler

The Balloon lady in Vancouver. The French woman who comes daily into the store. The man from Laos with homemade bike by the library. My brother Doug. I love encountering people every day who are the characters of my stories.

Dear My Immediate World:

I'm writing in my journal again.

Sincerely,
Lindsey

November 18th is a day I've always remembered as one that draws attention to itself. Not only is it Mickey Mouse's birthday, having made his debut in "Steamboat Willie" at the Colony Theatre in New York City on November 18, 1928 (I don't know how I know this), but it is also (ironically) the day that I got my braces off...

...the first time.

Consciousness: knowing what you are thinking.

"Life will always give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness" (Unknown).

The further and further we endure, the more self-awareness we find and carry with us. When we come home to ourselves, we see where we literally were yesterday, and we try to explain to ourselves how we got where we are today. We may have walked circles so long that we're walking on the stubs of our ankles, but we evolve through our awareness, stop walking circles, and we find new paths to take with infinitely grander views.

Karin Paul told me when I was 13 that "life will never be more complicated than the moment you're living it."

Continuities

Thank you, Whitman, for the inspiring Monday thoughts...

Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost,
No birth, identity, form—no object of the world.
Nor life, nor force, nor any visible thing;
Appearance must not foil, nor shifted sphere confuse thy brain.
Ample are time and space—ample the fields of Nature.
The body, sluggish, aged, cold—the embers left from earlier fires,
The light in the eye grown dim, shall duly flame again;
The sun now low in the west rises for mornings and for noons continual;
To frozen clods ever the spring's invisible law returns,
With grass and flowers and summer fruits and corn.

(And thank you to my boss, who sent me home today so I wouldn't have 20 hours of overtime this week... only 12)

Miles and Bella

Moving on through October...

For Halloween this year, we were so happy that our friends joined us for a Murder Mystery dinner! Since Annie and John left town, we were lucky that Loral's sister Rachel and Manti were able to round out the group!

I had to work until right about the time the party started, so I set everything up before work and was surprised to come home and see the costume Scott put together for himself. I loved his paper mustache!


Behold the braces! This was my second day with braces! What was I thinking getting them the day before Halloween?! I couldn't even eat any of the dinner I made! (Loral... when you guys are all situated, can I get some of your pictures of the food?)


Scott is so great letting me get braces... and he's only called me braceface a handful of times. I may look fifteen again, but he's not telling me that! Here we are, Miles and Bella. Miles: a famous 20's racecar driver. Bella: a rising opera star. Little did we know... our characters were secretly twins!


My mom and dad were so great and let us throw the party at their house. The Murder Mystery took place on a figurative yacht, so being at my parent's house instead of our tiny apartment felt like we were on a luxurious yacht! We even got trick-or-treaters! Thanks so much for coming friends!!!!!

The Many Faces and Shades of Fall (now that I'm listening to Christmas music)

Oh the catch up that will come this evening. In the meantime, I wanted to record these pictures before giving my mom back her hard drive in about ten minutes. I took all these pictures at the cabin the weekend of conference!