We 3 Sullivans

Christmas Tree Hunt 2011!

2011-10-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

We picked out our Christmas tree and I got some very sweet photos of Emma. Every fall I like to take some cute portrait type photos of Emma, I guess it's her version of "school photos".

Wheeler Farm

2011-10-08T15:06:00.001-07:00

I took Emma and her best friend Gwen to Wheeler farm. They got to milk a cow and pet some horses and goats. Fun times! They wore their cowboy hats for good measure.

Rock On!

2011-10-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

Emma and Kira

2011-10-08T15:00:00.001-07:00

"Mom, Stop taking pictures please!"

I took Emma and Kira to the Aquarium! It was really fun.

Piano Lessons!

2011-10-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

Emma started piano lessons today. I think it's the start of a great journey for her. She's very excited and we found a great teacher.

SWIMMING SEASON!

2011-06-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Tooth Gone!

2011-05-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Frank's 30th Birthday

2011-05-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

For Frank's 30th birthday Emma wanted to do a presentation on Frank's favorite dinosaur. I was so THRILLED to get to help her with this. She said she wanted me to use my "great craft skills" to help make a really cool dino habitat for the Stegosaurus we fashioned together out of air dry clay. We then read up on the Stegosaurus and created a speech Emma could give. She was so excited to give her first "official speech"...and so was I. She practiced this presentation about 15 times with me and finally on the morning of Frank's birthday she got to show him. Keeping this a secret was really difficult...but we pulled it off. I will have a video of Emma's speech soon...I promise!

Frank loved it. I think it's the best gift he's ever gotten. Later that day we went to the dinosaur museum and Frank and Emma each bought a small fossil. Great 30th birthday!

Emma using a Knife

2011-05-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

Of course under the supervision of Frank, but just like her father she has an unending sense of humor. I get to live with the 2 funniest people I know. It's awesome!

Emma's 7th Birthday!

2011-05-10T10:50:00.001-07:00

Baby Duckies Came to Visit!

2011-05-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

Swim Class!

2011-04-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

Emma has been taking swim lessons at the community center with her friends Patience and Dante. She's learned so much and she's having a blast!

New Haircut, Tooth Gone!

2011-04-03T18:19:00.001-07:00

Phase 1 - Moss Graffiti

2011-03-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

Emma cuddling the moss we found. She was so excited to try this!

Kitty was curious about what was going on...actually no. He is only curious if it involves food, food with meat, since we don't eat meat anymore he is rarely curious. He has proven at least one cat cliche wrong!

We painted our initials in the wall with our "moss" paint....we'll see what happens!

Emma painting our pot. It will hopefully become a moss covered fairy scene over the spring and summer...we'll see!
Emma, as it should be noted, liked the taste of buttermilk....she kept asking for more!

You Should Be Dancing!

2011-03-15T13:38:00.001-07:00

Emma has a new love for the Bee Gees thanks to the movie "Despicable Me"....WHICH I LOVE! I don't normally like kids movies, but I do LOVE that movie. It could be because of my unabashed love of Steve Carell...I can't really tell for sure.

Sledding!

2010-12-30T20:09:00.001-08:00

Emma slid down with Micki

They walked back up.

Emma got stuck so Micki headbutted her up the hill

And then taught her how to climb in the snow....

Festival of Tree 2010

2010-12-11T21:38:00.001-08:00

Emma LOVED it.

Lots of beautiful trees. This was my favorite. I love the black and white and purple.

Dancing!!!!

And GIANT BUBBLES. What is Christmas without giant bubbles?!

Our Fireplace

2010-12-11T21:33:00.000-08:00

So I was inspired by a tradition from my childhood. My mom had a stack of old bricks and every year us kids would draw a fire and then we would stack the bricks around to make a "fireplace"...it was so fun. Emma had hung up a stocking on a stray nail under our outer kitchen counter wall. And it looked nice. So I got out my Cricut and cut out fire and logs and bricks and Emma and I inked the bricks and logs and glued everything to a black poster board. Instant fireplace! It was really fun. Emma even sits there and pretends to warm her hands.

SNOW!!!!!!!

2010-11-29T20:32:00.001-08:00

She is just right...

2010-11-18T16:09:00.000-08:00

....and she always will be.

My Birthday

2010-11-15T22:31:00.000-08:00

Obviously this is me catching up on older things that have happened. I turned 32 in September and as usual we went to Tracy Aviary and this time Emma and I hand fed some birds! It was amazing! I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I am such a bird freak. So much so I actually posted pictures of myself...I hate doing that.

This little guy was playing tag with Emma. If she ran from one side of his enclosure he followed her and if she ran back he flew back as well.

Emma is big, but not yet as big as a condor. BUT CLOSE!

I just thought she was hilarious.

Behold the Beauty...

2010-11-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

No, not Emma...though she IS something to behold. LOL But our future Christmas Tree. We went and chose it several weeks ago and in a few weeks we will go chop it down.

Oh yeah, Emma was in soccer again!

2010-11-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

Apple Picking...

2010-11-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

...Did not go so well. Feeding the animals was fun. But the weather was miserable. It looks bright and sunny but it was FREEZING. Mya didn't even want to leave Frank's arms, he's a warm guy. Emma and Darius tried to find apples but they had all dropped and shriveled and were quite gross. But we bought apples and went home and Nana made apple crisp. It was nice just to get the chance to even try apple picking.

At the Beach in Marshfield

2010-11-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

I am going to post some stuff from our vacation and the wedding so my blog is obviously not in order but oh well. LOL

This is when we went to the beach with Nana. It looks really cold but it was actually a nice day. Emma got cold at the end but that is because she got wet. But I can't say no to getting in the ocean when she hasn't seen it in 3 years.

November Fun!

2010-11-07T00:28:00.000-07:00

Cosette came over to play for a few hours on a lovely November day. Emma read to her. They even pretended to sun bathe since it was 71 degrees! Also Cosette loved Kitty, even though he tried to attack her many times...she couldn't get enough!

Happy Halloween...in the rain...

2010-11-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

We had a great Halloween other than the rain...but we survived. Emma was a 'Devil Butterfly' or a 'devilfly' as she calls it. And Frank and I did not dress up...but we had fun. We went to Micki's house for a party and all the kids had fun. Joe dressed up as Aang and Frank fixed up the photo to look as if he were in "avatar state" in his own house. LOL

Pumpkin Patch!

2010-10-29T22:57:00.001-07:00

We went to Wheeler Farm and did a hay ride, a maze and picked a pumpkin with the Rogans and Maren. it was fun! And we ran into Jen and Cozy and Everet!

October Snow

2010-10-27T10:52:00.001-07:00

Yes, we got back from Mom's wedding just in time for 28 degrees at night and snow in the morning. All the while it's nearly 70 degrees back in Mass. DAMN YOU WEATHER!

Emma loves it though. And mom, the bare belly is for you!

Mushrooms and The Office

2010-05-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

Emma and her BFF, Paysh, found mushrooms while at the park. This spurred Emma to reenact the scene from The Office where Michael eats wild mushrooms and Dwight saves his life. (Don't worry folks, my child did not REALLY eat found mushrooms. She knows better.)

Libriary and Thai

2010-04-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's "new" thing wasn't exactly NEW as much as it was something we hadn't done in a really long time. We went to story time at the library with some friends. It was really fun. The theme was rain and rainbows. Emma was excited to hear a book her Grandpa reads her and they made a rainbow streamer craft. It was nice. We played at the park after.

Today we went to a Thai restaurant. Emma had Thai Curry for the first time, she also had some golden fried shrimp and Tom Kha (coconut soup) which she seemed to really like.

We got some stuff for her birthday party today and she's very excited...but she is, as always more excited to see her Nana in a couple weeks.

Pennies!

2010-04-14T07:23:00.001-07:00

So yesterday Emma and I decided to count all the change in the house. I told her she could have it and we could put it in the fun change machine at the store and she can get whatever she wants with it. Emma is really great at counting by tens so we divided up all the money into piles of 10 and went from there.

We ended up with a grand total of $5.11 cents. As you can see Emma is REALLY happy to have $5.11! I want to be 5 so I can be that thrilled to have $5.11

But the fun didn't end there. We decided pennies are good fun. So we made 3 flowers. One representing each of the "Three Family"...that is something I adore about my girl. She is always thinking of the three of us together.

We also built a wall with all of the change. Emma got bored of helping me after a while but she was very interested in watching me work. LOL

Emma and I also did something else new yesterday. We went to Ikea and instead of her tagging a long with me in the store we decided she'd have fun in the play area. This is hard for me. I'm not used to dropping her off anywhere. But we talked about it a bit and she does well at the daycare at the gym. So I signed her in and dropped her off and she had a blast! Homeschooling an only child forces you to seek out play time and this was a perfect chance. So we both had fun. And she got to jump into her first ball pit, something else new too!

Bottles

2010-04-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

So we had some soda bottles that Emma asked if we could recycle for Earth Day. I of course said yes and I said "I'll do ya one better!" (No I didn't actually say that, it just looks good in writing.)

So we took our bottles and filled them with water and we blew in them. Emma LOVED it, even though she wasn't able to make the bottles whistle, she is determined to keep trying. We will keep you updated on her progress. But I explained that it's hard to do, but once you get a feel for it it gets easier. She had fun anyway. Listening to different sounds, figuring out how to make different notes. Tapping them with pencils and clanging them together. All around good stuff.

Swing Fun!

2010-04-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

Emma does this and pretends she's a fish...she's got all the apartment kids doing it. FUN!

And this pic for cuteness.

Emma is 4 feet tall!

2010-04-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

Another Page Maps Contest!

2010-04-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

I love Page Maps and I love their monthly contests. Here is my latest entry. The winner gets 50 sheets of their choice of cardstock from Couture Cardstock. That is a GREAT prize. As you can plainly see this is simply a page about Emma Belle as flower girl 2-3 years ago at Becky's wedding. I used pink, white and brown because, well Emma has brown eyes, brown hair and pink cheeks and she's in a white dress! Simple, yet yeilded a lovely page if I do say so myself. I found those satin and pearl flowers in the fabric section of the craft store and I used the paper lace because, what looks more wedding-y than paper lace, pearls and satin? And I did my trademark rhyming poem for the journaling (which is BROWN but the camera made it look purple...) and my favorite technique of using chopped up ribbon under a flower for the embellishment. This was really fun to do!

Neighborhood Egg Hunt!

2010-03-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

"Emma, will you dry the table for me please?"

2010-03-23T19:20:00.001-07:00

"Yes I will Mama!"

Playin' with makeup, Posin' with Kitty

2010-03-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

Emma's new art passion...

2010-03-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

...well, maybe not PASSION, but she LOVES it so far. We have plans to make many more things. It's so simple all you do is ball up bits of tissue paper and glue it down. Simple, yet really pretty. Easy for little fingers and open to all kinds of ideas.

Coloring Eggs with Nikki!

2010-03-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

Emma's long time friend, Nikki, invited us over to color Easter eggs. This was Emma's first time ever coloring eggs before and she had a lot of fun. After they took a spin in Nikki's princess car.

St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's day was really fun this year. We went to the park with the kids. Actually we went to the park with a pile of IRISH kids. The Sullivan child was joined by the Rogan children and the O'Neal children....ALL dressed in green! I might add more photos later since the only photos I have are pics I took off facebook...so check back! I like how you can only see Patience bum in one photo.

We then went back to my apartment and we made green beaded necklaces with the kids. We took some fun pics of them in green, on my green couch in their new green jewelry!

Frank then came home and made boiled dinner. It was a lot of fun, and I got VERY sunburned!

What we've been up to...

2010-03-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

Now that it's March I am starting to perk up and that includes blogging! YAY!

So, here are some pics of what Emma and I have been up to.

We made food coloring swirls. We've actually been doing a lot of stuff with water, oil and food coloring, just seeing what will happen.

We played in the rain, well Emma played in the rain and I stayed under the roof!

We also made a game. I saw this idea online and so we made it together.

We've done many more things but I didn't take pics of it all. We went to the movies twice and we've had multiple dog weddings. More pics will come...now that I'm not in my winter funk.

Nana Visit '10!

2010-01-30T18:51:00.000-08:00

We've had a lot of fun with Nana, mostly being cozy inside talking and watching movies. It's just nice to get to spend time together. We did go to the park yesterday though. The weather was nice enough that Emma could play for an hour or so finally. It's been a very very cold winter so far.

So, Emma played, Nana took photos of the mountains.

Then Emma and Frank chased each other around, as you can see, Emma eventually won.

Scrapbook Layout Contest for PageMaps!!!

2010-01-30T17:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.pagemaps.com/blog.php?do=blog&id=85

I am entering another one of their really fun layout contests and I am really excited about this one. The prize is some really yummy Basic Grey goodness.

I did a few things I am very proud of on this page. I wanted an embellishment that was very reminiscent of dry grass and another made of denim since that is what this page is all about. After searching high and low for something I wanted I was disappointed. But then, I realized, hey! What is my problem? I can make what I want myself. And that is what I did. I took a bit of denim and sewed it with some yellow floss to make a denim pocket embellishment. I then used layered solid Bazzil papers for the center of the layout and snipped the edges and roughed them up in order to bring the dry grass part of the page to life. I then also did the same thing with the journaling square. The patterned papers are DCWV. I loved that I found a paper that looked denim and the plaid that brought the blue earthy tones and pink together. Also, plaid so so very fall.

I also found some chipboard letters that had a knit pattern in pink printed on them. So perfect for Emma's lovely fall sweater. I paired it with the murky brown letters. Both sets of chipboard letters are Best Creations/Craft n Craftin'. For the journaling I mixed stamping and Cloud9 Design Rain Dot letters in white. I topped it off with some monochromatic layered paper flowers and a velvet and yellow stitched ribbon. The velvet also felt reminiscent of the dry grass and the yellow stitched ribbon seemed very "denim" to me.

I really loved this page. Not only was it fun and challenging but it was so great to bring this really great day to life on a page.

Emme Belle; Future LARPer and geek in training...

2010-01-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

Emma is going to be a LARPing geek someday. Well, she already is. This is ok. My friend Micki is a LARPing geek, so I have her help since I really don't relate to these things well. That's the beauty of having a diverse community. If Mya someday becomes a girly girl then she has Aunt Penny to lean on while Amy wraps her head around it. LOL!

Anyway. Back to Emma the LARPing geek. (LARP=Live Action Roll Play.) Emma got a sword and shield from Dollar Tree after spending months obsessing with Zelda. She's been in many sword fights ever since. She wins them all no matter how huge and imposing the invisible enemy may be.

I needed photos of some of this.

The other part of this is, Emma is now obsessed with Astro Boy. She LOVES him. She watches this show several times a day. We talk about Astro Boy. This is not passive TV watching. She shouts and cries and cheers through every episode.

It just goes to show you never know what kind of person your kid will be or may become. Emma used to love Cinderella and pink. Now she loves Zelda and green. The Cinderella stuff I could relate to and that was nice. But the Zelda stuff is new to me...and awesome because now I get to learn.

Thank you Aunt Amy!!!!!!

2010-01-11T16:49:00.000-08:00

Today Emma got a shockingly large package from Amy, inside was a beautifully painted box with finger puppets inside and a puppet theater/stage.

So Emma wanted to make a movie with her puppets:

Fun video!

2010-01-09T12:42:00.000-08:00

I've been sorting through my old photos and videos and found this! This is from our trip over 2 years ago.

Emma's New Room!!!

2009-12-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

Festival of the Trees 2009!!!

2009-12-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

Every year we host a party to go along with the Festival of the Trees. The Festival of the Trees is a really cool concept. People create gorgeous trees and sell them. All the money goes towards a children's hospital. It's amazing there are thousands of things to look at. Trees, centerpieces, wreaths, gingerbread houses. And there is music and dancing and singing. Many school choirs, children and adult will perform on either of two stages. It's an amazing time.

Afterward we all go to our apartment, where Frank has been cooking up yummy food, and have a little party. Frank prefers to stay home, he's not into spending 2 hours looking at trees and lights. (His loss!) So he stays and cooks things like stuffed mushrooms, fried polenta with sausage and sweet peppers, caprese spears. MMMMMM!!!! It's probably my favorite day of the entire year. My friend Micki joins us with her kids and everyone piles into our tiny apartment and eats finger foods and chats. It's a perfectly lovely Christmas tradition.

Inside a bubble!

Emma is very thrilled. As you can see she got a face tattoo at the kids craft area.

Kira Lynn and Uncle Boone holding hands. This is another thing I like, we all get to spend time with each other, kids go off with other adults, cousins get to hang out. I just like the inter-family bonding that goes on at things like this.

Tyler! Love him! He's about to get glasses! At the end of the party this little darling boy came up to me, with no one telling him to, and said "Penny, thank you for the party. I love you." I hugged him and then had to sniff away tears. He's not biologically my nephew but he IS my nephew all the same.

Becky and I almost fell down and started drooling over this tree. Look at all the scrapbook supplies! The tree was only $4000, we should have just got it!

This was my favorite, not sure why, but I loved the colors.

Wizard of Oz tree. Emma loved this of course!

Labyrinth Tree!

Rock tree. My mom loved this. She really likes the trees made from things other than just tree. LOL

I liked this tree, it was really cool. My Uncle Neal love Lucy so I took a pic for him.

An outhouse, a gingerbread outhouse!

This was a gingerbread house based on Nightmare Before Christmas. It was really awesome.

Micki's daugther, and Emma's best friend Patience. Gotta love the goofy side of being 5!

My mom and dad enjoying hot chocolate.

Sean-Paul just chillin' at the "after" party.

Micki and her new baby Ender.

Oh yeah, we went to a lake.

2009-12-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

No, this is not one of us, it was just very cool to watch. This is some reservoir up in the mountains just past Layton. IT WAS VERY COLD! But we still had a blast. Anything is better than sitting at home staring at TV.

I don't know why but I LOVE this shot. The towel flying in the wind. Becky moving towards Kira. Emma drinking her hot chocolate. It sums up the day well.

My Kira Lynn. I love my niecey pie.

Dry grass+New jean=Fun slide!!!

2009-12-04T12:05:00.001-08:00

Mario and Luigi!

2009-11-01T19:34:00.000-08:00

First Snow of the Season!

2009-10-28T09:53:00.001-07:00

PageMaps Layout Contest (october)

2009-10-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the glare, I haven't yet found a good way to take pictures of my scrapbook pages.

I love the PageMaps website so much. It's the most useful scrapbooking tool I have and these monthly challenges are exactly what I need to keep me on my toes! This layout was a huge challenge for me, but again it made me grow as a scrapbooker. It took me way too long to figure out what to do in place of the ticket embellishments since I wasn't feeling the ticket idea for these particular photos. But when I decided to bits of chopped up ribbon it felt suddenly so right! This is also the first time I've ever used a rub-on on a layout.

Hikes and Caves and Streams! Oh YAY!

2009-10-06T13:37:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we were finally going to Timpanogos Caves. We had planned this trip for a couple months. Friday night I got 2 hours of sleep...this happens to me every autumn. When the weather changes it takes me time to get used to it and have a bout of insomnia. This night it was awful. Nothing I did got me to sleep. I finally feel asleep at 6:30am and then Woke up at 8:30am. I decided I wasn't going to go to the caves. I didn't want to go on a mile and a half walk and then spend and hour inside some caves when I was so grumpy and tired. At the last minute I decided I would really regret not going and I got ready.

Little did I know this "walk" was entirely up hill!!!

This photo above gives a vague idea of what we went through to see these caves. (Click on the photo to get the full effect.) The red arrow is the trail I'm standing on. The black arrow is the part of the trail we WERE standing on about an hour before. The blue arrow is the parking lot where we started. 1.5 miles doesn't SOUND long, but when you are also going up 1100 feet it gets a little hairy! I was BY FAR the fattest person on this trail and Emma and Tyler (my nephew) were by far the youngest people who were walking. Kira, (my niece) was carried, by Neal, up most of the trail and she even slept a good hour on the way up!

Imagine walking up this for an hour and a half.

We saw some great fall scenery the entire time...no it's not NEW ENGLAND awesome, but not bad for Utah! Pretty leaves and crisp air.

Emma was awesome, she was EXHAUSTED but very brave, she even got a couple of blisters on her feet but didn't whine at all, that's my amazing girl!

Cozy! (Cosette, my niece)

Emma chose an interesting place to break the rules...LOL

We made many friends on the way...they really loved the peanuts in our trail mix.

Emma's best impression of falling off the mountain.

We all joined in. (Frank was the photographer here.)

I loved this lone tree on this odd ridge, so cool.

Taking a break.

Another break.

There were a lot of breaks!

Another friend!

Getting close! When we could see the entrance we were very excited!

At the top! We're fat but cute. I LOVE HIM!

Kira, still sleeping in her daddy's arms.

Inside the caves

Pillsbury Dough Boy

Frank had some fun with the guest book...lol

Frank and his "Mountain Hat"

It took at least an hour to make it down, it was almost as hard as going up. There are cliffs on one side of the trail, the trail switches back and forth on the way up. So watching the kids and keeping them from the edge was difficult by itself.

After we went and spent an hour or so at a stream and the kids got to get wet and muddy. My camera died by then but Becky took pics. That will be a later post.

I'm glad I went...I really WOULD have regretted staying home. I was just so proud of myself making it up there. I felt sad for how out of shape and fat I am, but I am proud of myself for not quitting half way though.

More pictures of Emma near water.

2009-09-06T21:16:00.001-07:00

Love her!

2009-09-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

Bridal Veil Falls

2009-08-30T11:09:00.001-07:00

We went to see a waterfall in Provo. On the way we hit a traffic jam. It was so crazy because on the OTHER side of the freeway an 18 wheeler fell over in the middle of almost every lane of traffic. Though it seemed like no other cars were involved. But it backed up OUR side of traffic, all because of rubber-necking. People are weird.

But we finally got to the water fall and it was great! Emma loved it. She has no nerve endings I swear because that water was ice cold and she could get enough.

Dada got her a snow cone, she was very happy!

Frank was climbing up...and then back down.

Emma trying to get me off her back...she won't smile for pics anymore!

We met a dog named Sammy. He liked to fetch rocks out of the water. First you throw a rock. Then he fetches it out and adds it to his pile! Emma loved this dog so much.

Hummingbird MADNESS!

2009-08-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

This hummingbird was right up to my face! It was amazing. I am hoping to get better video and photos in the next couple weeks as their fall migration gets into full swing.

Rock...

2009-08-11T22:23:00.001-07:00

...you need no money, no job, no nothing but ROCK in this life.

Sorry the video is sideways.

And, in my defense, this post WAS made last night, but I left to let the video upload and I forgot to hit "publish"....so I guess I failed my 14 days straight....lol

The Luck of the Irish

2009-08-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

So about one year ago Frank's employer, Sensory Sweep, began to hand out late paychecks. They said publishers were late giving them money and so they were late giving employees money. We took that in stride. After a few months paychecks not only got later, the began to bounce and go missing.

We liked the free health insurance and hoped to ride out this storm, hoping that this company would recover. But they never did. Frank ended up quitting at the end of November. Turns out it was a good decision. This company wasn't paying the IRS any taxes, they were stealing 401k money and apparently this isn't the first time they've done this kind of thing.

So we head into the Christmas season with no job, no income except unemployment.

Frank has a promising job prospect in Austin, Texas. He flies out for an interview, the job looks good, looks like he might have it! After a few days of denial that we'd have to move to TEXAS I accept and begin to look forward to renting a house, having a yard and seeing new birds.

The company in Austin ruptured and closed their Austin branch.

Job after job is close but no cigar.

Frank interviews for a job in Provo. They like him, he's exactly what they want. But they don't like his "look"...his long hair and beard offends their BYU sensibilities. They insult him, call him "anti social" and offer him a temporary job if he gets a haircut and shaves his face. You know Frank...he's SO antisocial...with is love of cooking and being with his family. He declines this nasty offer.

Another job interview in Austin! Great! Denied.

Finally...FINALLY a real job offer for a small company, small but solid. We aren't out of the woods but at least it's a steady paycheck. Smaller paycheck, but steady. The bottom rung of a potentially lucrative ladder.

Today, 5 months into the job, laid off. The company forced to close it's doors because their biggest and onliest client decline to sign a contract because the owner of the company died in a car crash. Tragic. Ripples into the universe that happen to hit the Lucky Irish 3.

How can we have this much bad luck? Did I mention our car broke down...twice...with in 3 weeks...costing us over $1000?

The law of averages demands that we have stability for at least a little while. I was just unclenching my fists from this last round of madness. I was just starting to believe things were looking up.

We'll survive, many have it worse. At least we have each other.

sigh

2009-08-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

Frank and I went to the movies today, we saw Julie and Julia. It made me uncomfortable to watch a movie about a lost 30 year old woman who blogged her way into SOMETHING.

sigh

10th anniversary

2009-08-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

I never did say anything on the blog about mine and Frank's 10 year wedding anniversary last month.

10 years seems like a long time to me, so much longer than it's felt. Frank and I always had this image of doing something really amazing on our 10th. We didn't have much of a wedding and no honeymoon. We are ok with that. Life with each other is great as it is. But we always told ourselves our 10 would be something really great.

Well, a years worth of financial crap can ruin those plans. Late paychecks turned into no paychecks which turned into months of unemployment which mercifully turned into a good job in a solid industry and a trustworthy company. But we are still a ways from recovering from all that burden.

Well, as our 10th anniversary neared Frank and I realized that some fancy vacation, huge party, big gifts weren't really all that important. Frank and I are happy to have ridden the waves we have together. We ended up having a lovely dinner at home and watched a movie on TV. And I mean this honestly. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Frank and I have always believed it's about our relationship and not the stuff. Frank and I can still laugh until we hurt and we can talk until 4am. We are still so happy to be together. No one else we'd rather be with than each other. And that makes us lucky! How many people get that in life? Not many, and those of you who DO have that, good for you! I get to wake up every morning and hang out with my best friend, the funniest person I know and someone who loves me and my flaws.

I am only happy I get to spend many more decades with him.

This is not easy!

2009-08-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

I wrote some poems about blogging every single day:

Roses are red
The night sky is starred
Blogging every day
Is getting kinda hard

------------------------------

Roses are red
Birds like to soar
Reading this blog
is probably a bore

--------------------------------

I thought it easy
to blog for fourteen straight days
But I was so wrong

-----------------------------------

Big
List
Of
Good &
Great
Ideas
Now
Getting

(that last one sucked!)

Death

2009-08-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

Emma's been talking about death a lot. She's had reason.

It started a few months ago when I was watching Family Guy (I'm a bad mom, shoot me.) It was the episode where Stewie kills Lois. Emma talked about that for days, it sparked a few of her newest obsessions including her incessant, "Are they REAL or are they just acting?" phase. But anyway, back to death. Emma could not stop talking about that. Why would a baby kill his mother?

Then a month or so later Frank killed a daddy long legs in the bathroom and didn't hide the carcass well in the bathroom trash. Emma, who adores daddy long leg spiders cried and told Dada to never kill one of her BEST FRIENDS again.

Flash forward to a week or so ago at the family yard sale. A perfect storm was brewing:

Emma kept finding some very friendly pill bugs and was carrying them around the yard, talking to them, making little homes and telling everyone their different personalities.
Becky breaks out some quite delicious pumpkin cookies she got at the store.
Kira was roaming around stealing every bite of food that wasn't being gaurded.

The cookies we so delicious Emma was sure that one of her pill bugs would love to have a bite of his own. So she tears a part of the cookie off and sets it on a table placing the pill bug onto the piece of cookie. We all know what happened next. Kira wonders by, sees the cookie bit and gobbles it right down.

A moment later Emma comes by to see how the pill bug is doing with the cookie and asks where it is. She sees Kira chewing and said "Kira at my pill bug!" and she starts to sob. Poor girl. She asks me what happened to him and I tell her, "Well, he died Emma." More sobs.

Some where during this time Emma started her, "Wubbzy is trying to kill me!" thing. Up until this time Wubbzy (a Sprout show character) was one of her very best imaginary friends. I'm pretty sure this has something to do with Stewie killing Lois. She then recently made her own poison for him made of bubble mix, water, chalk and bits of a bullrush.

Now today, her fish died. His name was Binoculars. He was her prize for potty training. We got him just before she turned 3. So he lived a good life of about 2 years 4 months. We had a little flush-funeral.

LAZY POST!

2009-08-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

I went to Becky's house to scrapbook and I am showing you the two pages I did:

This first one isn't quite done. I want to find some kind of scissors embellishment to go in the upper right corner and then I will do the journaling in the lower left corner. This is Emma's haircut after Mama seriously messed up. I decided from that point on professionals should deal with Emma's hair! That is why it's called "Cute Oops"

On a funny side note, Emma has a very odd sense of humor. She and Kira were playing in the back yard while we were scrapping and she came running in saying, "Kira took off her diaper and it's all poopy and she was sticking the diaper on the end of a stick and swinging it around!"

Becky and I, of course, go outside to see what is going on. Sure enough, there on the ground near Kira is a poopy diaper and a long stick. Becky goes over to check to see if Kira still had a diaper on and strangely she did.

Emma then yells, "TRICKED YA! I found a poopy diaper on the porch! I made you believe what I said!"

I didn't even know what to say.

Sculpture

2009-08-04T21:02:00.001-07:00

Emma sculpted a cat out of play-doh!!! I am so proud of her. Art is her "thing" she says.

I asked Emma to pose like a sculptor:

Then today we rocked out to U2 while doing dishes. And I just noticed how EW my house is in the background...EW! Time for me to get the carpets cleaned.

Let me just say...

2009-08-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

...I love my child. She's not perfect. But she's GOOD. She's FAIR. She's sensitive. She doesn't like to hurt people's feelings. She's been very patient with her friends who aren't always these things. And that's ok. People mature in different ways, at different rates. But I do think it's important for me to take the time to recognize those things about my kid that are special. And this is one of those things.

Today she had two friends be mean to her. These friends aren't evil or bad....they were just having bad days. It did make Emma cry. But she never once said she didn't want to be friends with them. I think it's important to have that kind of patience when she has that kind of sensitivity.

I also think Emma is a good example to her peers. She's innately fair and honest. She never tries to cheat or tries to get more than her fair share. She is always willing to play a game with a friend even if she's in the mood to play something else.

These are underrated qualities in my opinion. Especially for girls. Girls do have to be strong. Don't get me wrong. I get that 100% But it's also important to be patient and flexible. To be understanding and sensitive. As long as she's not surrendering her happiness I see these qualities as nothing but a plus for her.

PHO!

2009-08-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

So, Frank attempted to make Pho, a Vietnamese soup, two days in a row. The first attempt failed before it even hit the table. The second attempt was served but wasn't super tasty. Though Emma and I DO enjoy being Frank's guinea pig's. How can I complain? I have a husband who LOVES to cook almost every single day.

He plans to keep trying this soup until he's got it right. And we plan to continue to let him use us to test the results.

I'm so damn PROUD of myself! UPDATED!!!

2009-08-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

I decided I wanted a table/desk to for scrapbooking. So we sold our unused recumbent bike and the money we got I was going to use to get the new desk. But I got thinking...I don't want to spend a bunch of money on something like that. I want to spend the money on actual scrapbooking stuff. NOT the desk on which I scrapbook. So I thought it over for a while, went out to my garage, hauled in a bunch of old shelves and a broken coffee table. I drew up a plan, got my saw and drill and went to work.

The finished product isn't pretty, it's not amazing, but I made it, for FREE, with matrials I had already and it took me under an hour and it's quit sturdy!

So here are the before and after pictures:

This last picture I updated to show how it looks with all my supplies nicely organized!

First Tomato! Emma wins!

2009-07-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

Frank and Emma each grew a tomato plant this year. They had a contest to see who's plant was tallest and Emma won. And Emma also won the who got to harvest the first tomato.

Echo, Wind, Water and Rolling

2009-07-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

Echo:

Here we are braving The Echo again. (For those who don't recall, this area is called "The Echo" because there is a huge storm drain that Emma liked to yell "ECHO" into when she was 2. And the name has forever stuck. Even other kids in the apartment complex call it The Echo.) We are braving it because of past car wrecks that lead cars to end up IN side The Echo. But, I figure they happened in winter and what are the chances? I can't live my life in that kind of fear.

Running! Cutest pic of Emma in a long time IMO!

Picking flowers for me. I'm special.

Rolling:

Fast

Stopping

Slow

Water:

And this is the Eye Sore, also known as Cowabunga
Bay. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against water parks
or fun. It's just so ugly, so so so ugly. So ugly. And yes
That is a huge bucket of water dumping onto the park,
And YES, that is kinda cool...but ugly. (And expensive!)

Wind
It is always this windy in Draper. Well maybe not EVERY day, but nearly everyday. Especially at The Echo, because there is nothing to stop the wind from building up. So even on a day with it's 105 outside it feels nice and cool in the windy shade. The wind here is so great that people come from all over the world to hang glide and other such wind related sports.

FINE AMY GEEZE!

2009-07-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, Amy guilted me into figuring out my blog password again, turns out I had it written down!

So here is a quick post and I will post something EVERYDAY for the next TWO WEEKS...this is my vow!

Don't lose all faith in me! Here are a few highlights:

Emma joined a Satanic cult, as you can see the followers wear purple and strike angry poses.

We saw a friend perform in Beauty and the Beast (our friend was Belle) and Emma Belle got to meet Belle!

We are growing basil
and tomatoes

Emma had a bubble bath outside.

Come back tomorrow for more!

Some random stuff!!!

2009-03-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

For a while I couldn't remember my account name and password for this blog but now I remembered!!!

So I'm gonna post some stuff!

Emma and Patience, BFF's!

I curled Emma's hair, the after pics were...not good. LOL

TOBY!

2009-01-13T20:24:00.001-08:00

Emma's favorite commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-AiZVvq068

Emma's impression of her favorite commercial:

Pirate Day!

2009-01-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

Today, for Emma, is Pirate Day! She used an old wooden flower pot from my craft box as a peg-leg for Miss Buster (her little dog, if you don't know who that is, read back and become educated!) and then made an eye patch out of black paper and glued it to her face.

Frank is nervous.

2009-01-13T15:42:00.000-08:00

Frank has a two hour programming test for a company is Las Vegas tomorrow...he's kinda nervous. I hope it goes well. Las Vegas is only a 6 hour drive from Salt Lake City...Wish him luck!!!

Cute Random Pics

2009-01-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

Emma last fall
Emma in the car with me waiting for dada to get a few things at the store.
Emma and Tyler watching Ice Age 2

Stuff

2009-01-12T20:10:00.000-08:00

Well, as many know Frank was forced to quit his job because he thinks he needs to be paid for working...LOL

Let me explain those who don't know.

Frank worked for a company called Sensory Sweep, or SS as we will call them. (You can insert any rude or crude words for the S's you'd like.) Well, SS is run my a moron. This moron has mismanaged his own company to the point where Frank as well as every other employee was owed 2-3 paychecks. Frank and I simply couldn't afford for him to spend 40+ hours a week working for nothing.

So he quit.

He then was more or less insured a job at a company called Midway...(this is a HUGE video game company.) But the economy being what it is, the company was sold, then restructured and the branch in Austin Texas (where Frank and I were ready to move) was closed.

Then came the holidays...and so we heard little to nothing, because let's face it, companies don't bother with a lot of hiring during Christmas and New Years. But as of last week things have been moving again, Frank got half a dozen calls from companies and recruiters.

I have no doubt he'll have a job in the next few weeks....but WHERE is the question. He came close to getting a job in L.A. that paid 100k!!! BUT...neither of us wanted to go to L.A. anyway...No offense to my family in Southern California...but...100k there doesn't go as far as 60k in Utah...LOL

Frank has applied to a few other jobs here in Utah, one he is being seriously considered for is in Las Vegas. Another is in the San Fransisco area.

So, round and round we go...and I have no idea where our little family will end up.

Forgive my lack of posts, this kind of stress makes me less than cheerful...*sigh*

Christmas 2008

2009-01-12T19:37:00.001-08:00

Halloween 2008!

2008-11-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Piggytails

2008-11-01T18:39:00.001-07:00

Emma is finally letting me do a bit more with her hair, she has a tender scalp like me...but I did piggy tails...I haven't done those on her since before she was 2!

Leaves

2008-10-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Snow!?

2008-10-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

Fall in Utah

2008-10-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

Now, we don't have the fancy colors that you see in New England, but if you head to the mountains they aren't half bad! We went up to Brighton, (Frank and Micki and I with the kids) and saw some very pretty scenery. The third pic down is of a beaver dam we saw...Emma was very thrilled with this. And of course, I have to show the new bird I saw up there, a Steller's Jay, which is the western version of the Blue Jay.

FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS!

2008-10-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

There was a huge fire in the mountains near our home. We live about 5-6 miles from the fire, we got a great veiw of the flames and smoke. No one was hurt in this fire, just so you know, no homes were burned.

Summer in the Gardens

2008-10-09T20:59:00.001-07:00

Micki and I took the kids to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens this summer. It was really fun. Below are pics of the kids and some of the scenery and I got a couple pics of a Belted Kingfisher too. The pond pictured below has a bridge and it's called the 'Monet Bridge'...it's very much Monet looking, they did a great job. And Emma and her BFF, Patience.

First Dance Class

2008-10-09T20:46:00.001-07:00

The pictures in the dance studio do NOT turn out well, I am not sure why, but these are the only good pics I have so far of Emma in her dance stuff. I will try and take more next week.

Here is a small video from class.

Purple Emma

2008-10-09T20:37:00.001-07:00

Emma's Toe

2008-08-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my poor little girl lost her toe nail.

The morning started out very hopeful. We were going to go swimming with Micki and her kids. They arrived and we went out to the pool. The pool was closed for the season. This made me angry. VERY angry. It's the MIDDLE OF AUGUST.

So I went in to talk to the manager to find out what the hell was going on. (Yes, I am angry remember this entire horrid ordeal.) As I walked into the office, which is right next to the pool entrance, I noticed a very large decorative concrete block sitting on it's lopsided edge.

While waiting to talk to the manager I hear Emma scream like I've never heard before. I rush out there to find my daughter's toe a mangled mess, blood every where. Micki is holding her trying to comfort her. A moment later the manager comes running out.

I LOST MY MIND.

I screamed at that man, about everything I could think of. First the concrete block, then the pool being closed, then every other awful thing about the apartment complex we live in. (The fact that cars come flying into the property on an apparently regular basis...4 times total that I know of.) The state of the playground, that it's a child's death waiting to happen. The missing basketball hoop.

Seriously...I went off...screamed like a mad woman. Apparently I'm more of a mama bear than I thought I was.

We then piled all the kids in the van to drop them off and go to InstaCare. Micki stuck her key in the ignition and turned it. The key SNAPPED OFF in the ignition!!!

So, she had to call her mother-in-law to drive over an extra key for the van...luckily she go the end of the key out of the ignition.

While we waited, for what felt like FOREVER I gave Emma some Tylenol and Micki got the kids some soda...but Emma refused to drink.

Finally we dropped the other kids off and went to InstaCare. When we arrived we filled out the paper work only to be told that my insurance wasn't accepted there. So we had to get back in the van and go to a different clinic.

We finally get there, signed in and brought into a room. We only had to wait 3-4 minutes. I tell the story to the Nurse and he gets everything ready for the worst part of all. The shot...

They had to numb Emma's toe so they could look it over, do an x-ray and if need be adjust the toe if broken.

Soon as Emma saw the needle she screamed and started to fight. Emma doesn't like shots as it is, but already being in a lot of pain I think it was her turn to go nuts.

So, I had to hold my baby down. It took 4 people to hold her down. I held her upper body, Micki held her leg, the nurse held her other leg and the Dr. held her ankle. I have NEVER in all my life heard a child scream this way. I was doing my best to not cry this entire time, but at this point I was sobbing. I felt like I was holding my poor baby down to be tortured. This lasted what felt like 10 minutes, but I am sure it was only a minute or two. They had to inject her toe in 2 places and they had to move the needle around to numb the whole thing.

Soon as the shot took effect Emma finally calmed down and actually started to laugh because, "My toe feels funny!"

Then, Emma got a real treat. Emma is VERY into the human body, the inner workings of it, muscles, bones, organs...so she got to have her very first x-ray. And they let her see her x-ray as well. She loved every moment of this.

We then go back to our room and they have Emma soak her foot in a bath for about 15-20 minutes...(Warning, it starts to get a little gross here and there.)...because there was so much blood all over her foot and toes.

Then Emma said three of the cutest things ever. The Dr brought out a pair of tweezers and a pair of scissors. Emma got very scared and said "Are you going to cut off my toe?"....awww...poor thing! We explained that her toe nail just needed to be removed. She looked at me with the most skeptical face and said "No....." as if this was just the silliest thing she's ever heard. She started to freak out a bit again, but then soon as I got her to look up at the ceiling she was fine. Because she couldn't feel anything.

Then they let her look at her toenail and she got very sad and said "Will I ever walk again?" LOL!!!!!! Again, we explained that her toe nail would grow back in 5-6 months and she will be able to walk just fine in a few days.

They then put her toe nail back because they said it would offer additional protection and it would guide her new toe nail in. And the nurse began to wrap it up. But it didn't stay...his sleeve bumped the side of the bandage and it fell off....so he did it again.

Emma was asked if she'd like an otter pop and what color she wanted. She as her normal very opinionated and cute self and said "I like green. Green is my favorite color. SEA green is my favorite." She was then asked what color tape she'd like on her bandage...of course. GREEN. Then she was asked what color sucker she wanted as she left....of course GREEN. SEA green. LOL!!!

We then go to Micki's house because Emma felt very cheated out of her time with her friends. So we planned on the kids watching a movie but of course....a 4 year old with a numb toe will run around like a 4 year old with a numb toe. And with in 5 minutes of being at Micki's house the bandage fell off!

And her toe nail was MISSING!

So I had to call the clinic and find out what the best course of action was. We decided to just rewrap the toe with out the nail and put a sock on top of the bandage. I told Emma that I was going to throw away her toe nail. She started to cry....she wanted to keep it!!!

So we kept her toe nail.

We then came home and Dada brought home some cupcakes for his poor little injured girl.

And that is the story of Emma's toe.

(BTW, she is starting a dance class in a couple of weeks and the Dr. said she'd be fine to dance by then.)

Meet BomBom and Miss Buster

2008-08-09T23:53:00.000-07:00

The dog that Emma is hugging is named BomBom and the little tan dog is named Miss Buster. Emma has never been much of a security blanket type child. But for some reason these two dogs are her little best friends and play mates. They go everywhere with her. She named them herself! I got her a third little dog...but that one isn't as favored at all. I am PRETTY sure one of these dogs is from Amy and Luis...but I am not sure. The other might be from Nana, I don't recall but they sure are her favorites. (I also added a picture from Chuck e Cheese that show BomBom and Miss Buster. I went back to my Dad and Val post and added a few new pictures of Emma that I forgot about from that same day.)

Emma and her Cousins

2008-08-09T23:47:00.001-07:00

Funny Sleeper/Funny Dresser

2008-08-09T23:46:00.001-07:00

Emma is just like Frank, she can fall asleep in any position at any time.

Nature Walk Collage

2008-08-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

Micki and I took all the kids on a nature walk. They gathered different colored items that they found, we then went back to Micki's house and made collages.

First Hummingbird Pic This Year

2008-08-09T22:52:00.000-07:00

There haven't been many hummingbirds this year. Last year I had a hummingbird at my feeder every minute or so...but this year it's been only a few a day. But I got a video and a picture. I don't know what species it is though.

Damn my kid is cute!

2008-08-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a cute video of Emma listening to some songs with headphones on the computer.

EMMA WROTE THE ALPHABET!

2008-08-03T19:52:00.001-07:00

Yup! Tonight Emma wrote every letter of the alphabet on her dry erase board!

Emma's Intellectual Look.

2008-07-31T21:26:00.000-07:00

Penny and Micki together again!

2008-07-31T21:19:00.001-07:00

In 5th grade through 9th grade I had a very best friend named Micki. She was just about everything to me. She was the sister I never had, she was the other half of my personality, she was the bestest best friend a girl could ever ask for.

In typical mean girl fashion we got into a fight (neither of us can recall what it was about) in 9th grade. I scratched her Weezer CD, she tossed my backpack in a dumpster and we never spoke again....until 15 years later!

One day my brother sees her on Facebook and tells me about it. So I sneak a peak...but I couldn't see her pictures unless I was on her friends list. So I added her, telling her I was only curious and wanted to see what her life was like now. We ended up chatting...only to find out some weird coincidences!

1-We both married young and didn't have kids right away

2-We both had our first born with in 3 weeks of each other! Both girls!

3-We lived in the same small town...only 5 blocks from each other!

So...we met up and we've been, once again, inseparable!

Here are a couple pictures of us in our early 90's glory!