She's Obsessed with Boy's Undies.

This is my darling little niece.

She's obsessed with boy's undies. We don't know why. She'll rummage through the laundry for multiple pairs, and then she'll guard them with a death grip if you try to take them away. One night I just let her fall asleep with the undies, and then I stole them away a half hour later.

What a weirdo!

I love the little weirdo!

Bennion

Learn to like what doesn't cost much. Learn to like reading, conversation, music. Learn to like plain food, plain service, plain cooking. Learn to like fields, trees, brooks, hiking, rowing, climbing hills. Learn to like people, even though some of them may be different... Different from you. Learn to like to work and enjoy the satisfaction of doing your job as well as it can be done. Learn to like the songs of birds, the companionship of dogs. Learn to like gardening, puttering around the house, and fixing things. Learn to like the sunrise and sunset, the beating of rain on the roof and windows, and the gentle fall of snow on a winter day. Learn to keep your wants simple and refuse to be controlled by the likes and dislikes of others.

Uncovering the MS DOS

Today I spent the afternoon helping my mom clean out my old bedroom so they can remodel it this week. It was so fun to go through some old things. I have a lot more work to do, but I came across a treasure!

My dad had this super old lap top that Kirsten, Doug, and I used at different times when we wanted to do homework in our bedroom or when the main computer was being used. It is old... as in it only takes floppy discs! It had Kirsten's bio vocab dated 1999, Doug's English Papers dated 2000, and my stories from middle school!

I found at least nine stories that I forgot I ever wrote! I remember writing them now, but I thought they were lost or hidden somewhere! I found letters belonging to the long lost London Game, and I thought long and hard about compiling those letters to tell an intricate story. I could write a book! I really could... it's practically done! I was so excited to revisit these stories, to become reacquainted with all my wonderful characters, to be smack dab in the middle of the conflicts and twists that I wrote. It was one of the most joyful journeys I could take! I can't wait to go through some of the boxes and see what more I find!

It was funny as I read these things I thought, have a lost that ability? Have I lost that mindset where anything is possible? Have I become too much of my own critic to really let loose with pen as I used to? Have I matured too much to accept that things in my imaginary world could actually translate to the one I'm in now? I remember when I used to be those characters... literally. Kids would write notes to each other in middle school, and my friends and I were writing to each others' alter-ego: characters in my London Game.

What if I wrote more? I wonder what's coming out these days.

Chug chug chugging along...

I remember when I used to blog! It went something like this...

I never got around to taking pictures of our Christmasy home. But you know... I've got years of Christmasy homes to come... so I'm sure I'll get a chance at some point in my lifetime. This Christmas season, thinking of it now, was a bit of a blur. It came and went a lot quicker than I remember in past years. But it was such a great one. We got to celebrate in snow and sun! We spent Christmas this year in Santa Barbara. We had to get on the road earlier than planned because the freeways were closing early, so we had to scramble to get out the door... meaning that we forgot a lot of things (number 1 being the camera!) We got a few shots on Scott's cell phone, so I'll need him to help me download those when we have some downtime. Santa Barbara was a blast. We saw movies, spent time with friends and family, walked on the beach, napped on the beach, surfed, hiked, went to some of our favorite restaurants, beaded, and stocked up on Trader Joe's goods that are already almost devoured! We had a great time staying with the Hannays, and they were so generous the whole time we were there.

Here's a couple shots from our hike in the Tangerine Falls arena (I say "arena" because we didn't make it to the actual falls...)




We drove home from Santa Barbara on Dec. 31st, stopped for a quick dinner in St. George, and found ourselves celebrating 2011 at a gas station just outside Provo. We could see fireworks out the back window, we blasted "New Year's Day" by U2, and tried to do our own countdown, that ended up going something like this, "25...24...23...22...uh....1! Wahoo!" We talked about our goals and resolutions the whole way up, and we have started the month of January on an up that's staying up!

We got home in time to see Doug for a day and take a ski day at Snowbird. We skied on New Year's Day, which was amazingly not-crowded and just perfect! Apparently they were black-out days for our passes but when we found that out when we got there, we just had to buy day passes. There was no way we'd turn around and drive home. It was a perfect day with some fantastic snow.

The next day I went up to Kaysville to be a mommy for a week. It was so great to hang with my three favorite tiny people. My mom and I had another one of those great bonding experiences that we end up laughing about later. We have a lot of respect for Kirsten's day to day life... little kids have busy schedules! We had a blast with the kids, and I love them so much. But it was nice to return to home and work at the end of the week. I was excited to have life back to normal.

You know you're in luck when you miss your job when you're gone. I was so happy to be back! I love my job! It was great to see my friends and get right back into the swing of things... staying late and going early. Scott and I hit the gym three times our first week back. I'm loving Zumba and we're both loving Yoga. If our daughters want to be dancers, though, they're going to have to depend on their dad for some genes cause I don't have 'em!

We're back to the routine and loving it! We went up to Kirsten and Nick's cabin on Saturday and spent the day in the snow building snowmen and sledding down this narrow shoot. It was nice and relaxing, and fun to be with family (We hadn't seen Kirsten and Nick in weeks... since before Christmas). We had a nice and relaxing Sunday together, and then went up to Alta on Monday. It was so fun to see Scott on skis! He's a natural. I wish I could go back and forth between the two like he can!

Oh... guess who got a massage today! I went to redeem my Christmas present this morning, and I loved it! Scott may be in trouble... I may be hooked!

Congrats to Andy and Jen! We're so excited for the tiny person joining their ranks in July! We're so excited to be spending time together in Cabo before all the grown-up lives are being lived!

Boy Wisdom

Scott and I took a vacation! And I can't wait to tell you all about it.

But right now I'm still on a (sort of) vacation... up in Kaysville to watch the three sobrinos while Kirsten and Nick take a much needed vacation.

Some things that I'm learning about boys:

Anytime of the day is the perfect time for a battle. Especially 7am. Sometimes we like dragons, and sometimes we fight them. The preference changes by the minute.

Boys of ANY AGE can find hair ANYWHERE. The pool... the shower.... the tub. Each time I give Ben a bath, he manages to find the one single hair floating along at the surface. He's supremely grossed by the hair and squeals until I remove it.

"No, I'm NOT called sweetie! I'm a boy named Ben!"

Little sisters are not exempt from being attacked by the bad guys. Even if they are only 1-year old.

Well there's some wisdom for a Tuesday morning.
I'm off to gain more.