surreal

today at target i had been waiting in line for a couple of minutes when a woman with a few items in her cart wheeled in front of me, looked at me and said "excuse me," and proceeded to place her items on the conveyor belt. she didn't look back at me after that, the checker carried on as if it was the most normal thing in the world, and i was caught so off guard that i stood there dumbfounded trying to make sense of what just happened. it was like i was the only person living in a first world country who thought this was strange. i keep replaying it in my mind...and the only thing i can come up with is that there must have been a dateline camera hidden somewhere and they're trying to incite christmas shoppers to go ballistic. or i stole her parking space. or bought the last remaining pair of size 2 nick & nora christmas pajamas and she wanted them. or she was royalty.

i'm at a loss. can anyone explain a plausible scenario here?

deck the halls

at christmas i actually try. when it comes to easter, halloween, fourth of july, thanksgiving, or any other holiday that begs for some kind of recognition in the form of decoration or multiple events, i usually demur. i might get there eventually, but for now i reserve my efforts for december. here's my wrap up of our december activities thus far (all taken with an iphone camera being the ubermom that i am):

went to see santa at the homestead's breakfast with santa event. it wasn't at all crowded, the food was good, it was relatively cheap, and the santa was awesome (he spent as much time with your children as you wanted, telling them stories about elves and reindeer, and he even remembered all of their names and reiterated what they wanted on our way out the door). anna wouldn't sit on his lap, but was happy to sit by him and chat and ask for a sleeping bag and dolly.


with my mom at breakfast with santa


putting the angel on the tree. for some reason we do this before the decorations. totally backwards, i know.


marissa came to utah for my birthday and we really didn't do anything that day except go to dinner with parents who took leave from the mtc, which was totally fun. we did manage to take anna to afternoon tea at the grand america before taking marissa back to the airport the next day and we made a fantastic memory. she was dressed up and excited about going to the "castle."


anna marissa and marissa...on our way out the door there was one uneaten dessert still left on the dessert tray. anna snatched it up, looked at marissa and goes, "do they have boxes here?" we wrapped it in a napkin and she polished it off before we reached the airport.


we are a kiss on the lips kind of family. always have been, always will be.


i got to partake in a family tradition that has escaped me for 10+ years - gingerbread house making. diana "lovey" west used to run the show for my family's festivities each year and the tradition continues although everyone is spread out. we made ours at my sister bridget's and for a first-timer i feel like i did a pretty good job. as my mom says, it's not that i'm not crafty, it's just that i don't try.

elder and sister garnica

my mom and ruben entered the mtc (missionary training center) yesterday to begin their mission for our church. they are headed to south carolina, where they aren't sure what they'll actually be doing but we're excited for them anyway. they will be there for 12 months but missions for "senior" couples are not nearly as strict, which means we can talk to them and even go see them if we want.

the biggest/weirdest thing about the whole mission is not that they are actually on one (although for those of you who have known our papa for the 20+ years he's been in our lives, you probably didn't bank on them serving a mission someday), but that he had to shave his beard to go. he went from looking like this...

to this...

a beardless papa has not sat well with any of us. mostly we can't wait for them to be done with their mission so he can get back to looking like what he's supposed to look like, which is precisely "santa's skinny mexican brother."

and that description is something i'll have to explain in another post.

my first santa threat

my sister amber routinely complains about living in vegas, but what she does have going for her are the "santa cams." since everywhere in vegas is littered with cameras, she decided to use it to her advantage and explained to her children that the electronic devices that pepper almost every establishment are santa's cameras and that's how he knows if they are behaving. it's hilarious to see them go into a restaurant or store and scope out the surveillance. when they start acting up her arm will fly toward the ceiling and she'll yell, "santa cam!!!"

yesterday i experienced my first santa threat. i was putting anna down for her nap and we've gotten into the habit of telling her a story before she goes down. if her dad is putting her down he'll tell her a story about his protagonist, "jumbo the elephant" (usually about how he learned to use the potty), while i will tell her a story about mine, the "three little stars" (usually about how they learned to obey their parents and share their toys).

the problem is that she has gotten into the habit of both asking for repeated stories and adding "RIGHT NOW!!!" to her request (this applies to almost all requests if they are not met the first time). it goes like this, "mom, that was a good story. tell me another story about the three little stars." then i say, "it's time to sleep now. no more stories," and she will wind herself up into a frenzy and say, "MOM. tell me another story about the three little stars RIGHT NOW!!!"

yesterday's story had been about how one of the stars had not been very good and had been worried about santa not bringing him anything. so after she demanded another story in such a polite manner, i said, "anna. santa is watching you. little girls who talk to their mommies like that get put on the naughty list." she was peering at the ceiling at that moment. her eyes instantly shut. with her eyes closed tightly, she whispered out of the side of her mouth, "goodnight mommy," turned on her side, and went to sleep.

i walked out absolutely elated. how long does this last? 3 years? 4? santa is freaking awesome.

this happened the other day

and not just to her, but to the sofa, cabinets, desks, the ladder, chairs and windows in our library/office. this is a picture of said library/office. just imagine it with a white couch and love seat instead and a 2-year-old's sharpie art spread throughout and you've got the idea:
the best part was when she tried to barricade herself in when she saw me coming to investigate what was going on - standing behind the glass with arms and legs spread wide, looking and screaming at me like a wild animal.

*note the binky in the first picture. we have saved it as her first piece of artwork.

make you laugh one minute, break your heart the next

today about a minute after we drove past a school, anna says to me matter-of-factly, "mama, i just looked at my body and it's big enough for me to go to school now." i laughed and replied, "well sweetie, you just have to get a little bigger before you get to go to school." she thought for a second and i looked in the rear view mirror to find her inspecting her arms, legs, belly, etc, before she said, "no mom! look at my body! it's so big now!"

right after this exchange we pulled into the grocery store parking lot where a salvation army bell ringer was at work at the entrance. as we were walking in, anna was holding my hand and asked, "what's he doing mommy?" i looked down at her and replied, "he's collecting money to help people who don't have enough food to eat or presents for christmas." she looked up at me with big sad eyes and said, "oh mama. that's so sad. that is too bad."

we walked in the store and i spent the next 40 minutes shopping, thinking about how lucky i am that i can afford to buy all the groceries she needs, and feeling so grateful that she has never known hunger or cold or despair. and i thought about how it would feel as a mother if i had to struggle to feed my little girl, and mostly about kids who go to bed hungry.

on the way out we could hear the bells again and she said to me, "mama, we should give them some of our money." so i pulled a bunch of change out of my wallet and helped lift her little hand to the opening so she could drop it all in. after she was done i said, "maybe that will help someone not be as hungry." she replied, "awwww. that is so nice."

and then i spent the next 30 minutes fighting back tears. as i'm doing right now.

seeing blue

it's a boy!

(his name will most likely be "miller anders bates." miller after my grandparents, and anders is steve's middle name.)

i was 50-50 going into the doctor's office and couldn't say i had a stronger feeling one way or the other. she did all of the health screening and much to my relief everything was normal (i already have had all the pretesting, due to my "advanced maternal age" and all, but it's still nerve wracking). i happened to see the telltale body part before the ultrasound tech announced it and said, "it's a boy, isn't it?" to which she replied, "yes indeed." anna was with us and when i said, "anna, you're going to have a baby brother!" she goes, "but i wanted a baby sister!"

i have to admit that we were partial to having a girl and i sort of just planned on it, so it was a little surreal afterward - i was in a bit of a daze. and right after the doctor's we went to the mall to exchange some clothes steve had bought for anna (yes, he goes clothes shopping for her by himself) and i realized, "oh my gosh, we have to get clothes for a boy." (do you have any idea how much clothing we have for a girl? i'll let your imagine run wild with that one.)

steve realized as i walked off into the boy's section that the procurement of a boy wardrobe has commenced and he's going to have to do scouts someday, so i wasn't the only one in a daze.

as the news has settled in i am really starting to look forward to miller's arrival. i'm hoping i get a mama's boy to match our daddy's girl, who frankly, has been getting LOADS of attention from her idol as she's cemented her place as THE apple of his eye. don't worry though, i'm already pressing for #3. steve is not keen on the idea, as having his 50th birthday party and welcoming baby #3 in the same year is not an appealing thought to him. give him some encouragement people - we all know he looks way younger than his years and acts well below his age, don't we? he can do it!

hawaii redux recap

we went to hawaii again a few weeks ago and had an absolutely glorious time. the weather was perfect and because it was our second trip this year we knew the drill and what/what not to bring (like i realized i don't need dresses for steak dinners and nights out with the hubby, which have never transpired on any trip we've ever been on. time to get real). we were just really low-key about it (i may or may not have washed my hair for more consecutive days than ever before in my life). anyway, i thought i'd better post some pictures or else we might lose all record of the trip ever taking place.

also, we flew back on halloween night so anna didn't really have a halloween this year. she didn't miss anything really, but i did miss putting her in a ridiculous animal costume and will be going gangbusters next year to make up for it (pics of her last two halloween costumes at the end).











and recapping halloween 2007 and 2008:

counting my blessings

you know what was awesome? encouraging anna to get potty trained, not knowing she had diarrhea, and having my morning sickness kick in full force when she fell off the potty during the act.

our new collegiate jewelry

so we went through the arduous process of getting licensing to do byu, u of u, and utah state jewelry over this spring/summer. you would have thought we were trying to apply to build a nuclear reactor, nonetheless, we were finally granted the license and the byu bookstore and stadium store was our first customer! it's now being sold there as well as online, and will be in the u and utah state's bookstores soon. i have to say it's all really really cute - i get excited to go to games so i can wear it, and i don't really wear jewelry very often, if ever. and, i know it's expected since i own the company, but it's very well made and affordable as well.

anyway, we're doing a giveaway on give away today next week and i need to send them photos of the product. the problem is that the photos are like 14 MB each. the best way i know to shrink them into a reasonable size is to post them to my blog and resave them from the blog to my desktop (yes, i am actually that dumb). so, here is our new line of jewelry, and if you want a 10% discount on them (because any girl who loves any of these schools will love any of these things), go here and use "firsttime10" when you check out.