the culprit

"nova, who put my rugs on the couch?"


"i don't know."

"ok.....i forgive you...."

seriously....i can't keep the rugs ON THE FLOOR.....nova is constantly dragging them around...weird...and dirty...good thing we vacuum them everyday too.


in other news, i have been working on 'christmas-a-fying' our home....and yeah, that's a word. it means, to make your home feel warm, cozy, happy and christmas-y and/or to make your home TOTALLY AWESOME!!! seriously, go ask webster.....

anyway, i made a couple of wreaths that i found online here:

mine looks better than i anticipated....my bow could use a little help....but it was pretty fun.

then also i did this one which is pretty psycho, but i like it oddly.....i found the tutorial here. super easy and cheap... anyway.....so to sum up:
i love christmas
i love rugs on my couch and the little girl that puts them there.
i love dan for being excited with me when i take on projects like wreaths made out of cheap materials.

here is also a video of nova watching her favorite thing of all time these days: cinderella.....particularly bibbity bobbity boo. all she wants to do is sing and dance to this show.

don't you judge me.....

so apparently it has come down to this: i only blog on holidays. don't you judge me.

we had a great thanksgiving. we spent it with dan's family in j-town. we ate a TON of delicious food, went to a movie, dan and i hit the black friday sales together, played some games, watched some football, went to the temple and took a few good naps. all in all, a great holiday. today we all have been hit too hard by the reality that the regular mundane must return and nova is wondering where all the people are to dote on her. what....am i not good enough anymore? apparently not.

previous to the thanksgiving holiday, we have enjoyed relatively good weather. we went on some drives, went to the park, dan's parents came for a visit, my parents came for a visit, my brother and sister-in-law and nephew came for a visit, canned some potato stew, diligently attended story time. amongst other thngs and have just really been busy apparently.

one highlight of the month is that we took nova to the discovery museum. that is a really fun place and nova had a complete blast. we went their and were able to have a PKU friendly breakfast, get current info on PKU, and then mingle with other families and adults who have children with PKU. it is always reassuring for me to go to events like this and see other people dealing with the things that i am. i leave feeling uplifted and encouraged every time they have a function like that.

and we'll end it there for now. here are some pics to share. tis the season right?

nova at the discovery museum. they have a little kids sized grocery store and nova filled her cart with bananas. ----side note: they have this section in the museum where everything is 'kid sized'. as nova was playing in the grocery store area, i thought to myself. 'self, i wish i was little, so i could do this (grocery shopping) too.' and then i thought to myself, 'self, you do get to do this (grocery shopping), and it isn't THAT fun.'......i guess everything seems more fun when it is fun-sized........

black friday: mission: hard drive---success!
ok, i know this is insanely late, but i was proud of my costume this year......
dan made a robot out of a diaper box for nova
bundled up for a brisk walk......dare we leave the baby and bear behind.....nay i say.nova and dan's favorite spot: up in the tree reading books.

do i even need a caption for this pic? i love this girl!

Nova's First Halloween

Apologies to any of those coming here for witty banter or funny stories. This is strictly a post for pictures of Nova in order to keep her two grandmas from strangling her parents for not posting pictures of her often enough. At this point you may be saying, "But you already post so many pictures of that darn tyke even when you do bother to write something." Obviously, that's just not enough pictures for those grandmas.

Most of you nodded your head at that last sentence. If any of you thought, "Good grief, how could they possibly need that many pictures? She looks exactly the same in every one!" I can only conclude you either don't have kids or you don't have parents.

And you should consider yourself lucky.

Haha, just kidding.

Well, 95% kidding anyway.

Okay, fine mom, I'm just kidding about the 95%.

It's 98%.

So for any of you still looking for anything other than pictures of Nova, flee while you still can. I promise Suzanne will return in a few days to give one of her hilarious posts. In the meantime, it's nothing but baby cheeks from here on out.

Front cheeks, not the rear ones; just in case that warning alarmed anyone.

First up, some pics of Nova enjoying the fall leaves. She loves them.

Next up we have Nova in her Halloween costume. Suzanne's cousin had a cute lion costume that worked out really well, and Nova didn't seem to hate it, which is actually a big deal for something with a hood.

We took her Trick-or-Treating, but she didn't really get the concept until near the end. We tried to get her to extend her bag to people to get candy but she just looked confused. Somewhere around the second-to-last house she suddenly realized that the stuff people had been tossing into her bag was candy (or NUMMIE-NUMMIEs, in her words). You can imagine the change of character that came over her. We were worried she'd have an aneurysm when we told her "This is the last house."

Don't worry, she survived, and we kept our sanity.

Well, 98% of it anyway.

FINALLY.....

hooray for october...i realize that october is in fact nearly over but it is just beginning for me since until just recently life has been super busy and crazy. i have been busy stressing over a plethora of things, and now they are all over and i feel a huge sense of relief and excitement that i can focus on somethings that i have been really wanting to do, blogging being one.

so for today's post rather than boring those who grace my blog with their presence with the oh so common 'i haven't blogged for a while, here is what we have been doing,' i want to write today about why i love october oh so very much.

1. hello, the main color for the holiday is orange......sweet mercy....need i say more.
2. the air celebrates the holiday. it smells SO good outside. (its probably the smell of orange.)
3. their are so many ways to decorate and celebrate. creative things to cook, and so many reasons to party....and i love parties.
4. you get to dress up, and i love to dress up.
5. now that i have a kid, we get to walk around the neighborhood and gather candy from people......ha!
and the last reason why i love october......drum roll please.....the leaves....i LOVE the leaves, and raking them and jumping in them and driving through them and looking at them and......sigh......they just start falling this time of year and you get to step on them and crunch them and its just beautiful orange-ness swirling everywhere....the world is simply orange-a-fied.....and that's they way...uh-huh-uh-huh i like it, uh-huh-uh-huh......

and pics for the grandmas...
nova after her nap with seriously crazy hair...this picture doesn't even do it justice. i love her face in it though.....'seriously look at this hair...."
















the H.A.L.L.S retreat that was a total blast. we all were asked to work on a 'grandma z' project this past year and then report at this year's retreat to honor my grandma and they way she took on and finished projects. my amazing aunt barbara made aprons for everyone using my grandma zelma's old fabric. they were retro and SO cute....and as always the retreat was SO fun!
















mom and nova's first crazy face picture together.....success! i have been working so hard!















nova in her blue suit staying warm
















nova after playing in the garden














johnny appleseed day 2009














i took this picture from inside. dan is so good at stopping and showing nova ever bug and crack in the sidewalk. its so cute.

is it true?

we have had several calls questioning the validity of my last post. it is true. dan really does have swine flu. he really did catch it in seattle last weekend. he really is wearing dust masks. and yes, we did eat pigs in a blanket.
and we are doing good all things considered. thanks for your concern. we feel loved! :)

when dan is feeling blue about having the swine flu i simply have to remind him that at least he doesn't/can't take the garbage out wearing my pink camouflage capris. hehehe....(this pic was taken a few weeks back when dan remembered that it was his turn for garbage duty at 11:30 pm and he wore my pants.....and i caught him in the act.)

oink *cough* oink.

tonight we are having pigs in a blanket.

here is my pig in a blanket.
















i know....i have a sick sense of humor.

dan caught the swine flu in seattle.

(and i realize these aren't surgical masks....that was a bit of non-thinking on my part when i went about purchasing my swine flu/pandemic supplies for my food storage. now all my fellow blog friends know what a dork i am. whatev.

i wish, i wish not.

it goes without saying that it has been a long time since i have posted. let me simply say that nova has started walking and i have been chasing. i have been canning like a mad woman, and actually enjoying it. we have been cramming in all summer activities such as swimming, going on a million walks, throwing a back to school party, attending a temple dedication, attending a fireside with Elder Ballard, plotting to refinish our dining room table, going to my mother in laws for a few days and canning again like a mad woman--(72 bags of freezer corn, 18 pints of beans, and 18 pints of carrots......whoa....) and in the process have upgraded our computer and i can't figure out how to upload pics or vid...crazy month.

in a totally unrelated bit, sometimes i wish i was nova. and sometimes i don't.

on saturday when we were once again chillin (literally) in our sweet inflatable pool. she was playing in the pool and i was feeding her some honeydew. (that's a type of melon, for those of you who may not know the deliciousness of honeydew.) and i thought to myself, 'self, why aren't you the one in the pool being fed a melon?' ya, i wish i was nova.

later we went on a walk, and she was chill-laxin in the stroller with a sippy full of kool-aid, and crackers, while i was sweating up a storm walking up the monster hill. (i may or may not have snagged a sip from the sippy....but that's irrelevant...) ya, i wish i was nova.

also on saturday i watched nova run into the wall twice, fall 5 times and hit her head on the table within 10 minutes....ya, i am glad that i'm not nova.

she plays with the same toys and reads the same books everyday...ya, i'm glad i'm not nova.

i make nova eat green beans---almost daily.....i am VERY glad i am NOT nova.

she gets put to bed at 7:45pm...i really wish i was nova.

so i guess this dichotomy will never be put to rest.