Our fall trip... so far.

Lots of things have been going on lately, but just so that my family knows I'm still alive, I will blog about our trip to Utah and Idaho.  Travelling was about as easy as it gets with 2 kids, and as soon as we got to Utah, Violet was in love.  We first stopped at my grandparents' house and after picking raspberries off the bush and gorging herself, she asked me, "Mommy, can we stay here?"  I had to tell her no, we were headed to aunt Lena's house.  But she was equally delighted to stay there because Lena has a bunny, and both kids thought little Willa was the coolest animal in the world.

 Charlie started squealing every time he saw her. The next day, we went to BYU and took a tour of my old place of work.  I got some ice cream and brownies but nothing seemed to taste the same.  Also, it made me feel really old. Fortunately, we went back later and got bread with honey butter and it was just as good as I had always remembered.  We also headed to the Eyring Science Center where Brandon used to spend 90% of his school hours.  They have a display of some beautiful quartz crystals in the lobby, and Violet couldn't help but notice how pretty and sparkly they were.  Then she turned to me and said, "Hey mom, this is quartz."  That's right, my 3-year-old can correctly identify minerals without a field guide.  She is just like her daddy.  We went upstairs to the Geology office and the secretaries actually remembered us (they said they recognized my nose...) and it was fun to actually run into someone that we used to know.

We had planned a camping trip to Goblin Valley that day, but it ended up raining, so we stayed around Provo.  We instead went on a drive around Mt. Nebo and enjoyed the autumn colors.  And being the wannabe-photographers we are, we took about 400 pictures.


This one was taken using the macro extension tubes that we bought with Brandon's birthday money from Mom.  Thanks, Mom!

Violet occupied herself by throwing rocks into the stream and stood out nicely against the fall colors in her blinding outfit.



Lena took some nice family pictures for us.

And Charlie is always, always cute.  Even if he makes grumpy faces most of the time.

The kids loved spending time with Lena.  Who wouldn't? It was hard to convince Violet to leave Lena's house.  She told us that we could go to Idaho and she would stay with Lena.  But somehow we got her into the car and now we are in Idaho... with Mia.  Let the fun begin.

From an anonymous donor

Awhile ago I found a canvas at my mom's house.  I was a little confused because my mom doesn't paint, ever.  When I asked her what it was for, she told me that someone had left it there for me.  She couldn't remember whom it was, but I took it anyways, because I had been wanting to do a painting of Mount Rainier ever since we had been 2 years ago. Well, here is the finished product, and if you want to take credit for donating the supplies, here's your chance.

I have been a little better at motivating myself to do these projects.  People at Brandon's school sometimes ask him what I want to do with my life (apparently having kids doesn't count) and he tells them, "Lindsey wants to live off my money and be an artist."  And you know what, it's kind of true.  And I figure that if this is what I'm doing with my life, I had better get good at it.  So I've been trying.

What have I been up to?

Art projects. I may actually reach my 5-in-a-year goal!  But grr, they never photograph well.

 Cleaning up after kids.  I was doing my hair in the bathroom when Violet came up to me and informed me that Charlie had ruined her rug.  When I asked her how, she said, "He put his hands on it." So I came into her room to find this.  She had given him an enormous peice of  chocolate candy, and it was everywhere.  But boy, did he love it.

 Enjoying the weather.  It has been pretty nice out lately and Violet and I even caught a show at Miller Outdoor Theatre.  I'm not sure if she was more excited about watching Cinderella or sitting with her friends, but who cares, it was free.

 Crafting.  We painted some pumpkins for the first day of fall, and Violet was thrilled about it.

 And enjoying time with Brandon.  He frequently gets tackled by the kids, and is a great sport about it all.  He has finished all his interviews for internships next summer (I know, this last one just ended!) and has THREE offers so far.  I can't complain about that.

And I haven't had too much time to blog because I've been too busy enjoying it all!  (Minus the cleaning up after the kids part.)

Things that annoy me

I'm not sure where else to put these, so here it goes.
- When I go to people's houses and they apologize for it being "so messy," and I look around and all I see are 2 dirty dishes in the sink and a toy on the floor.  Some day I'm going to say, "Are you just trying to make me feel bad about my house?  Because this is cleaner than my house is, ever."

-When people pin a picture of an outfit and put the caption, "Casual," and the outfit involves big earrings and high heels.  Please, if it doesn't involve either a t-shirt you found on the floor or your birthday suit, it's not casual.

-When people say, "Pin now read later."  In other words, "I'm trying to get a record number of pins but the content really isn't that great."

- Old men who brag that "in fifty years of marriage, we have never had an argument."  Congratulations.  Try being married to me.

Fall pictures

It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to take pictures of the kids every fall at Hermann Park. My friend asked me if her son could tag along and get his pictures taken too, which was a ton of fun, especially for Violet.  I made them a scavenger hunt and they had to find "clues" that told them where to go and how to pose.   So I got pictures while the kids thought they were just playing a game.  Worked like a charm. The only hard part is deciding which ones I want to print out!

The best kind of sick day

I do not cope with pain well.  I know that we women like to pretend that we're all tough after we have kids, but honestly, with both of my deliveries I only lasted through an hour of labor before I was crying in the fetal position and asking for an epidural.  Being tough is just not my thing.

Yesterday I woke up sick.  No fever, but I felt like my muscles had been sent through a meat grinder and there was a construction crew in my head.  I used to like the achy, lay-in-bed symptoms, but I now have kids, so I dread the days when I have to deal with them when I feel like making a cocoon in my bed.  Luckily, Brandon has a super flexible schedule, so he got up with the kids, changed our flat tire, and took care of them until about 1:00.  He is an awesome husband.  But eventually he did have to go to school, and when I got home from dropping him off I was in bad shape.  I called my friend who lives in our complex and she volunteered to take Violet and Charlie for awhile.  I was more than happy to get rid of them for a few hours, so she came over and took them home with her.  I then took a glorious nap and woke up THREE HOURS later, called, and she said that the kids were being great and I could leave them there as long as I wanted.  I came to get them awhile later and after I got home, she came over again with some chicken soup that she had made especially for me.  And in my head, I was thinking, "WHAT? Who does that?"  I'm beginning to lose count of all the times she has saved my butt.

And that got me thinking about the last time I was really sick and I had equally great help.  It was when I was bed-ridden after having Charlie and having a nasty spinal headache.  I remember laying in bed with a little newborn, and Brandon comes through the door with Gatorade, pills, and IcyHot, and offers to rub my back.  I don't think I could have been happier if he had come through the door on a white stallion.  That was exactly what I needed.  I spent the next couple of days watching movies on the bed and taking several naps a day.  Then when my sister came into town, she sang and danced to Jingle Bell Rock just to cheer me up, took Violet for the day, and came back with two 44-oz drinks from Sonic-- an Ocean water for yumminess, and a Coke for caffeine.  For weeks after that, any time I went to Sonic, Violet would ask if Poodle was coming, too.  My sister also laughed uncontrollably when I was hobbling to the bathroom and Violet ran up behind me and slapped my butt, and actually knocked me down. And even though I was bed-ridden, post-partum, and pathetic, those first days after having Charlie are some of the fondest memories I have.  I have to say that I have very good sick days.

Blogging inspiration

Do you know who is the best person in the world at motivating me to blog?  My sister.  She called me last Sunday and we spent at least 15 minutes on this topic.  I told her that I feel like I can never blog unless I put a bunch of pictures, because that's all anyone cares about.  But she assured me that she likes it when I just post about how crazy my life is, with or without pictures.  Because it's funny.  Having days where you feel like shooting someone and then hiding in the closet with a bucket of ice cream is fine, as long as you can laugh about it. Right?

 

Well, fortunately I haven't had many of those days lately.  But it does still seem like my life frequently throws me curves.  It's a good thing I have such awesome friends, because I feel like I am always the one who calls and asks really weird favors of people.  "Can you drive stick? And if you can, could you drive me and my kids to the DMV in my own car that I don't know how to drive?" Or how about this one, "Can I come over and take a shower at your house? Because we just inexplicably lost our hot water and tomorrow is Sunday and I'm starting to stink." Yes, these are actual questions that I have had to awkwardly ask my friends these last couple of weeks. Luckily, we ended up getting our hot water back and I didn't have to shower at someone else's house.  But really, it seems like weird things always happen to me, and nobody knows that better than my friends.

 

I also love having a friend who always gets me into the zoo for free. Score!  And our zoo now has a splash pad in it!  How cool is that?

The golden age

We are officially over the terrible twos in this house.  Okay, Violet was never really terrible. in fact, compared to a lot of kids, she's an angel.  But from the time she turned 2 till a couple of months ago she did not have great sleeping habits. And by not great, I mean coming out of her room every 5 minutes until 10:30 or screaming at her door for half an hour.  It would alternate from night to night depending on how much screaming I could handle.  She had given up naps, but was still in the phase where if we got in the car any time past 3:00 she would fall asleep and ruin her bedtime. Couple this with a newborn who had gas until he was 6 months old and it becomes clear why I use birth control. 

But Violet is almost 3 now, and it's glorious.  She goes to bed on time, without crying.  She entertains herself.  She is independent.  Charlie is sitting up and almost crawling, so he can entertain himself for almost as long.  And he sleeps in till 9 every morning.  Every person who ever criticized me for sleeping in when I was younger (I got that alot-- "Just wait till you have kids! You won't be able to do that anymore!") can kiss my butt.  I love every minute of late morning sleep I get, and I don't care how lazy it makes me. 

However, this isn't to say that this age is perfect. Yesterday at the pool a kid started playing with Violet's floatie, and she wanted it back.  I told her, "You have to share your toys," and she responded, "Or not. "  Then today I was trying to get her to come home while she was playing outside, and I said, "You can jump three more times and then we have to go home."  And she looked at me and said, "Just don't talk right now, Mom."  And weeks ago when we were still living in corporate housing, we came to our other house and when we pulled into the garage she yelled, "Are you kidding me, Mommy?  I want to go to the splash pad house!"

Ah, yes. Back talking has begun.  But who wants perfect, anyways?  I would take spunky over boring any time.

For the love of food

Oh, Charlie.  I have never, ever met a baby who loves food as much as this little guy does.  He can't really crawl yet, but if there is food anywhere in a room he becomes completly mobile.  This morning Violet was snacking on some dry Lucky Charms and made the mistake of leaving her bowl on the floor.  This was what we came back to. 

I will find you, and I will EAT YOU!

When he was only 6 months old I was holding him and walked through the baby food aisle at the grocery store.  Immediately, he forcefully spat out his binkie and started smacking his lips.  And just last week I bought Violet a soft serve cone at Burger King and handed it back to her in the car.  Then I heard, "MMMM. MUH MUH MUH MUH. MMMMMM" coming from the back (those are Charlie's food noises) and thought, great, he is going to complain all the way home.  Actually, though, he decided to take matters into his own hands, literally.  I looked back a couple of minutes later and Violet had a chunk of her cone missing from the side.  At least he enjoyed it. 

Surfside

We finally went to the beach.  I told myself that if I lived another summer in Houston without going to the beach, it would make me the most boring and useless mom on the planet.  So when a couple of friends invited us to surfside, I made sure we came.  Violet immediately felt at home in the sand and water.  To make things even better, there was a little girl there that she knew, so she stayed self-entertained the entire time, which was great because I had to spend a good amount of time trying to keep Charlie from crying.

 Yes, Charlie hated it.  The sand was gritty, the air was sticky, the fish were smelly, and it was impossible for him to stay asleep.  I set him down and got a couple of cute pictures of him before some water washed over his legs and he started crying.  Then I took a couple more pictures before picking him up, just to be mean.

 But both of the kids got lots of daddy time, and that made everyone happy.  Brandon is so much fun.

 One thing Charlie did like was being held by me in the water.  I guess the rocking motion of the waves was soothing for him, and he would just lay his head down on me and stare off in the distance.  I love having such a cuddly baby!

 Violet and Brandon built a pretty cool sand castle.  This is what Violet spent 75% of her time doing (and undoing).  She also told me that a little princess named Mary lived in it.

 And Charlie didn't mind digging around in the sand while propped up on my leg.  All in all we had a great time, but by 2:00 we were worn out and headed back home.

Growing up!

My baby has been reaching a few milestones lately so I thought I'd include some photographic proof that he is getting oh so big.

Charlie has decided that sitting up is fun, and luckily our pool is the perfect depth for that stage.

Violet keeps our lives interesting.  Look at this face, she is up to no good.  A couple of weeks ago we found a lizard in my mom's house and had to catch it and put it outside.  When it scampered off, she said, "bye, baby lizard! See you next week!"  Then when we went inside to tell my parents about it, she said, "We found a lizard, and we didn't lick it!" I can never figure out how she thinks of these things!

Also, Charlie has started on solid foods.  Can you guess what is one of his favorites?

Clearly he's pretty enthusiastic about it.

And lastly, Violet is very girly.  She will only wear things if they are sparkly, and she loves pink.  Today she picked out a headband that would give Atley a run for her money and can't stop looking in the mirror and squealing.  No problem with self-esteem here.

The value of common interests

When I was a newlywed, Brandon and I started getting into taking pictures of all the places we've been.  When I showed my dad some of the pictures, he told me that a common interest is the basis of a long and happy marriage.  I thought he was joking.  It seemed too simple to be actual advice.

Well, it's been 4 years and it turns out that my dad was right.  It's easy being a newlywed.  Brandon and I were both full-time students working part-time jobs.  We took a few classes together, and even if we didn't do everything together, we had no kids to interrupt our time with each other. 

Fast forward to the present-- our days don't exactly have much in common.  Brandon goes to school, studying things that most people can't pronounce, let alone understand.  I go entire days without talking to anyone over the age of 2.  He goes on snorkeling trips to Australia and Belize and calls it "work." If I could go 24 hours without dealing with someone else's bowel movements, I would call it a vacation.  I get together with friends several times a week.  His social life involves talking with his professor about research projects over lunch.  After work, he would love nothing more than to relax at home.  After being with the kids all day, I would love nothing more than to leave the house and drown my stress in sugary liquid calories from Sonic.

So while there is nothing I would really change about my life, Brandon and I do need things to bond over.  So we bought a brand new camera, because we both love photography. Yes, it cost alot.  No, I don't feel bad about it.  At first I was feeling guilty because we also have to buy tickets to Utah and it looks like I may go to Belize with Brandon in November.  Then I realized that Brandon works and we are not in debt and I don't have to justify to anyone how we spend our money.

And belive me, this camera is worth every penny.

Spoiled

I sure got a lot out of Brandon's trip to Australia.  I already posted about how I get spendy when I'm alone.  Well, aside from spoiling myself, Brandon also spoiled me by getting me some nice Australian opals and tons of candy bars.  I couldn't stop looking at the opals and eating the candy bars.  We also ordered our nice new camera, which is coming next week. In fact, I felt a little undeserving and put myself on a budget-- I'm not allowed to buy clothes or eat out for the next 2 months.  Of course, Brandon didn't care that I spent money on myself when he was gone because he thought I looked nice in my hot pink skirt.  And let's face it, taking care of my kids is not an easy job.

How my biggest fear confronted me

Do you know what my biggest worry was about Brandon going to Australia?  It wasn't that he would die in a plane crash, or that someone would break into our house while I was alone with the kids.  It was that I would have to deal with a cockroach all by myself.  Unfortunately, this fear came true today-- the day before he gets back.

Cockroaches are my biggest fear. You're probably rolling your eyes and thinking, "Duh, everyone is afraid of cockroaches."  True, but not everyone has involuntary, irrational, hysterical reactions to seeing them.  I've lived in Houston for a total of 12 years and have still never gotten up the courage to kill one.  The closest I've come to "dealing with one" was trapping it under a shoe box and hiding in the other room until Brandon got home.  When I was pregnant with Charlie, I found a dead one in my shower and upon seeing it, jumped out of the shower onto the toilet seat and screamed until Brandon came to flush it down the drain.  I'm quite certain that standing wet on a slippery toilet seat while 7 months pregnant was a far greater risk to my safety than standing in the shower with a dead cockroach.  And I'm pretty sure that seeing me 7 months pregnant, standing butt naked on top of a toilet was far scarier to Brandon than the cockroach was.

But like I said, this is not a rational fear. 

And earlier today I glanced over and witnessed a giant cockroach crawl into my purse.  Yes, the very same purse where I keep my keys and wallet.  I consider it a great credit to my self-control that I did not shout every expletive that I know right then.  I mustered up some courage and threw a pillow at my purse to see if that would scare it out.  Nothing happened, so after 5 minutes of having an elevated pulse, goosebumps, and sweating (you think I'm kidding, but I'm serious) I moved the pillow and found the cockroach under it.  This would have been the perfect opportunity to kill it since it was no longer in my purse, but my involuntary reaction got the best of me and I just screamed and ran. When I had calmed down enough to re-enter the room, I realized that it had gone back into my purse.  Armed with a broom handle, I climbed on top of a lounge chair and planned to poke my purse until it crawled out. But I just couldn't do it.  I was a queasy, sweaty mess so I did what I normally do when I experience trauma: I called my sister. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: I just saw a giant roach crawl into my purse and I don't know what to do.
Carrie: Gross!  Just dump everything out and kill it.
me: I can't. I'm scared of cockroaches.
Carrie:  I know they're scary, but you just have to do it.  You'll feel so much better after you kill it.
me: No, seriously, I -- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
(At this moment I had just witnessed the cockroach crawl out of my purse and over to the kitchen.  I screamed for a full 5 seconds, ran to the other end of the room, and started sobbing.  It scared Violet so much that she sunk into the couch, covered her face, and began to cry.)
Carrie: Are you okay?!?!
Me, still sobbing: NOOO!
Carrie: What did it do? Did you get it? Was it crawling on you?
Me: No, it just ran out of my purse.  Which was exactly what I wanted it to do, it just scared me.
Carrie: So it didn't even run towards you, and you still screamed like that?
Me, in tears: YES!
(Now Carrie is laughing hysterically)
Me: I'm going to Mom's house.

And that's the kind of fear it is.  I bet you've never seen a grown woman cry because she saw a cockroach.  But now you've at least heard of one.

Running wild.

Let me just get this out there: I cannot be expected to be a responsible adult when Brandon leaves. 

I develop a sense of entitlement when I'm left with the kids. There's nothing like being left alone with your own offspring (knowing that your husband is touring the Australian rain forest for free) to convince you that you deserve a $1200 camera.  And boy, do I want a $1200 camera.

And when I spend every waking moment with my kids, I get impulsive.  Doing nothing but taking care of babies makes me feel boring.  I hate feeling boring, so I want to do something fun to prove that I'm not boring. And to me, fun usually equals dumb.

Which equates to a Lindsey who is spendy and impulsive.  So I went and bought a hot pink skirt, got 3 new shades of nail polish, numerous new cosmetics that no one cares about, and I'm eating my weight in ice cream every night.  I gave myself lowlights in a shade of brown that looks an awful lot like black.  It walks a fine line between edgy and trashy, but I'm not even upset about it, because part of me would rather look like white trash than look like a housewife.  And I'm still planning to buy a $1200 camera.

Wait, who said this was a bad idea?  That's right, NO ONE.  Because there's no one here to talk me out of it.

My, this has been a fun two weeks!

Pinterest: worst offenses

Please don't take this list too seriously-- I'm simply amused by these trends.  I am posting this knowing well that many of my good friends (and probably myself) are guilty of some of these.  Post what you want.  I won't think less of you, but I reserve the right to laugh.

-Being pinned 14,000 times does not mean a recipe is great.  The last person who actually tried the recipe was probably pinner #1.
- If a recipe has only two ingredients, it probably doesn't taste very good.
- Cakes were never meant to be made in a mug.
- Cakes were never meant to be baked in a microwave. Which brings us to....
- Cakes were absolutely never meant to be baked in a mug, in a microwave. 
- If it contains whipped cream, can you really call it a salad?
- Fruit doesn't need dip. (That's just my opinion.)
- Not everything can be made in a crock pot.
- Ryan Gosling would probably never say what you just pretended he said.
- Ryan Gosling is not your significant other.  (Sorry.)
- Buying mason jars so that you can make crafts with them is not upcycling.
- If you can buy something for less than a dollar, it's probably not worth your time to make it yourself.
- Not all gifts fit in a jar.
- A gift involving a pun and a candy bar is probably not what your husband wants for his birthday.  Or maybe it is.  But I'm pretty sure it's not what Brandon would want.
- Homemade candy bars: what? Isn't the beauty of a candy bar that you only have to buy one? Who is going to eat a whole batch of candy bars? And who wants to spend the time making them?
- Greek yogurt can't be used as a substitute for everything.
- Painting upholstered furniture is never a good idea.
- Please stop calling every recipe "better than sex."  People will start to get the wrong idea about your marriage.
- Keep Calm and Whatever you put after that doesn't make sense.
And finally,
- You'll never be able to afford that. (Neither will I.  But a girl can dream...)

That's all I can think of for now.  Now that I've put all that out in the open... do you have anything to add?

Wanderlust

I'm not sure how anyone is expected to be sane and productive when they are left with 2 kids and no car.  This is my third day this week under those circumstances and by one of heaven's tender mercies, both kids took naps today.  While that helps with my sanity, it doesn't do much for my boredom.  And when I'm bored I get nostalgic and edit old pictures.  Enjoy.

Canyonlands National Park



Canyonlands National Park

Capitol Reef National Park

Popocatepetl, Mexico

Cathedral, Valle del Bravo, Mexico

Settling into summer

It's been awhile, hasn't it?  There hasn't been much time for blogging because lately it seems that all we do is move.  We moved into our new apartment a month ago and love it, but now Brandon is working and we are staying in corporate housing out by where he works.  Only during the week, though.  On weekends we move back out to our normal apartment.  No, there is nothing normal about this arrangement.  But we are enjoying both places, so it works.  Sort of.

 In other news, Charlie continues to grow and he is now quite good at sitting by himself.  He enjoys blowing bubble beards and wearing them around. 

 And Violet can't get enough of our pool out at corporate housing.  Neither can I.  It has a 6"-deep lounge area, plenty of swimming space, a splash pad, a fountain that you can climb in, and a hot tub. Violet's favorite part is the splash pad, which I love because it's shallow enough that I don't have to follow her around constantly.  I can focus on getting cute, funny pictures of her.

Summer is a beautiful thing.

Now that I've showed a bunch of pictures of our awesome pool, who wants to come visit me?  Because as fun as this pool is, I don't know anyone out here, and it gets pretty boring.  So come visit.  I don't even care if you just use me for my pool.