What's Happen'n with the Hopes

3 1/2

2012-01-14T17:59:00.000-08:00

i am a big believer in half birthdays. but i knew that because nova is three year she wouldn't get it too well. regardless, i wanted to do something anyway, so on jan 12, she was in the living room and i called her in the kitchen. i surprised her and stuck a candle in a cupcake and sang happy half year birthday to her. she about died. here is the aftermath. even as a three and a half year old, she had frosting on her cake like she was turning one. alas.....
also, i have been meaning to take some pics of nova seeing that i haven't really taken purposeful pictures of her recently. so today we headed to the park. i can't believe how big she is getting. as much as i hate her growing so fast, i love the little person that she is becoming.

pictures

2012-01-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

december pics:

gingerbread houses: much frosting was consumed.ice skating for the first time for dan and nova---who knew we had to come to california to do that? nova loved it! and i loved that it was cold! :)

we went on a hike christmas eve---(i know! hiking in december!)with some friends in the ward. it was actually chilly, but alot of fun.
decorated cookies--i don't know if nova ate more frosting than she put on the cookies, because there was ALOT of frosting on the cookies.
rapunzel was played
birthday party for a friend at chucky cheese---that place---i don't know that i have ever been. it is major sensory overload for kids. nova had so. much. fun.
all ready to go to our new years eve party.
double princess jammies: check.
rainboots: check.
nacho and frenchy: check.
blanket: check.
she made it til 10:30 and came and declared she was ready for bed and she wanted to go home.
and now my baby is a sunbeam. i am trying to hold it together.
and of course christmas was enjoyed. can you tell?
and now life will slow down right? right? riiiii-ght.....well at any rate, here's to a brand new year!

The Fourth Annual Hope Christmas Video

2011-12-17T18:49:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year once again. Take a break from all the wrapping (or, for those of you who haven't even bought presents yet, the anxiety of not wrapping) and enjoy the fourth installment of our Christmas tradition: The Hope Family Christmas Video 2011.

You may notice that the theme of this song seems to directly contradict the sentiments I expressed in a previous post. I think this was Suzanne's way to force me to apologize. Although this song was my idea. I prefer to say that I did this ironically. That's right, I just became the Christmas Hipster.

And yes, those atrocious Christmas sweaters made it in the video once again. Frankly, we'll probably keep using them until they fall off. Fear not, we'll wear shirts underneath.

I'm beginning to wonder why we don't do Christmas cards instead because this is way more work than sending out cards. After spending so long editing it and listening to the song of the year for the 627th time, we never even watch them again. Then again, I guess people normally don't go back over their old Christmas cards (Suzanne's mother probably just scoffed, "Well I do!")

For those of you who are new to the tradition, you can catch up on the previous installments at the following links:

Christmas Video 2010
Christmas Video 2009
Christmas Video 2008

questions/submissions

2011-12-14T16:52:00.001-08:00

10 things i have asked myself today.

10. if i was to truly buy a car during the holidays does it come with a ginormous red bow on the top? can you buy that separate? or are they strictly for commercials? hmmmm.....i submit they should be included. and then i submit i should purchase a car in december.

9. can mariah carey give us a horrible christmas song? i submit not. here and here. so jazzy. and so easy to rock out to while making dinner. nova agrees. dan does not. but i like this song even better. sorry mariah.

8. why is mariah carey married to that guy that hosts americas got talent? i submit i don't understand. don't worry, i only thought of this for a moment.

7. is it obsessive compulsive to know how long i have to wait for the next green light at every light on the way to go get dan at the train? i submit it is--but only slightly.

6. is it strange to try to get my blinker to coordinate with the blinker in front of me while waiting for a green light? (clearly i am enjoying the california traffic.)

5. is it wierd that in this month called december i have not stepped foot in a department store? i submit that at some point in the next week i definitely will.

4. is nova ahead or behind the trend of wearing her headband like a hippie? i submit she is a tad behind, but could potentially bring it back with her sweetness.

3. could it be possible that i have mastered the chicken pot pie? i submit that i have, but am hesitant to declare myself marie calender.....yet.

2. what is the big deal with quinoa and couscous? the submission is still up in the air at this point. but i do submit i thoroughly enjoyed giving them a try.

1. will we ever get our christmas music video done? i submit that we will.

and for the grandmas who are less concerned about my random thoughts and more concerned about: WHY AREN'T YOU BLOGGING EVERYDAY????? WITH PICTURES OF NOVA????
this is for you.

nova with her representation of who-ville out of pie crust. (don't worry, i didn't actually use that pie crust after she had so lovingly worked with it.)nova and her mask she made. complete with hair accessories.
and nova and myself after she did my hair. i'm tellin ya, the headband hippie look is a good one. nova is totally stuck on it right now.

feet in the sand in december. we quite like it.

nova and mr. claus. (please note the hippie headband.) she loved him and was so excited she nearly lost control of her bladder. almost. luckily her good friend hazel saved her place in line. phew. nova and hazel at the san fransisco zoo. they had such a blast. they had more fun playing on the hippo statue, the staircase and the water fountain than actually looking at the animals, but they had a good time nonetheless. all the way home nova kept saying, "that was really fun huh mom."

we also attended a representation of bethlehem with our friends the stokers. it was crazy! they had roman soldiers, sand on the ground, booths set up to die fabric, make bracelets, taste wine, (skipped that one....) and they acted out the story. nova loved it. thanks for the invite stokers. they even had an angel come out of the top of a building singing. the angel.
and nova bundled up on the way over. it actually does in fact get a little chilly here people. a little. our blood is thinning but i will never admit that again.

A Controversial Opinion

2011-12-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

I must first point out that this is Dan because I am about to voice an opinion that seems to be in the minority. In fact, it's an opinion that draws incredulous looks and indignant snorts. So prepare yourself.

Ready? Here it is:

That's right. That's me expressing the unpopular opinion that December at the beach is infinitely preferable to December in the mountains and snow. Just wait, I haven't gotten sacrilegious yet. I would rather have Christmas morning with a view of the beach than with a view of snow-covered mountains.

Disown me if you must, but there you have it. The only white Christmas I want is sea-foam white (er, off-white to green, depending on the beach of course).

I had always kinda suspected I felt that way. I enjoyed the beach in Madagascar as much as anyone could without touching the water. Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at Half Moon Bay, and while we quietly watched the sunset over the ocean, I came to the realization that I won't miss the snow. In fact, I am ecstatic that I won't see a snowflake this year. I tremble with joy at the thought that I won't have to shovel a single sidewalk or pay for hip-reconstruction after an unfortunate encounter with an ice patch.

I'm content to let the sand exfoliate my feet ... even though I'm still not clear on what this exfoliation stuff is and why it's desirable. Regardless, I have it. Envy me, ladies.

To be fair, I've never had many reasons to truly love the snow. I don't ski; I don't snowboard; I've never even been ice skating. Hockey, is cool, I guess, but I don't play it. One of my most frightened moments as a child involved a chunk of frozen snow and a broken window. And my snowball manufacturing skills are woefully inadequate. I have yet to achieve more than an uncertain draw in a snowball fight, and that was with a third-grader ... two years ago.

Don't get me wrong. There are things I like about snow. It's beautiful right after a snowfall, when everything is swathed in a glowing blanket of white. Snow days were the holy grail of our youth. We prayed for those harder than we prayed for peace on earth, good will toward men. Actually, I can't recall praying for world peace as a child. We prayed for snow days harder than we prayed to win our next game of Pogs.

I do love sledding and snowmobiling. I've almost died doing both, but that doesn't take away from the fun of it. Nevertheless, we rarely get in more than one good sledding session in a single year, and I haven't been snowmobiling since I was 16. So it hardly seems worth it to endure months of snow-bound agony for a few hours of fun.

So enjoy your snow; you can have my portion. Send me your photos of lawns blanketed in shimmering white and I'll compliment you, honestly. I'll also be grateful I didn't have to witness it in person. Oh, and if we do come visit, I'll hound you incessantly about scheduling a monster sledding day. But other than that, I'll stay inside with some hot cocoa for the rest of our visit.

I know I'm mostly alone in this opinion. Please don't be offended. I'm completely okay with you enjoying your mountainous driveways and near-collisions with other harried drivers skidding around on the slush, constantly accusing everyone else of not knowing how to drive in the snow.

But if you get a chance, come on over and we'll spend some quality time with our feet in the sand, listening to the crashing waves.

It's magic.

And it's addictive. We'll see if you don't change your tune. C'mon, who doesn't want to spend a December like this:

they lied

2011-11-28T13:46:00.001-08:00

dan and i have been married 6 years and 3 months and 9 days. i have asked him on SEVERAL occasions to run races with me. but he has kindly declined. it just isn't his thing. he prefers bike riding. but i keep asking hoping that someday i can contaminate him with the running bug. WELL, whoever tells you that you can't change someone in marriage......well, they lied to you, because take a look at this:

yep, that is dan's sweet, sweet backside on thanksgiving morning. we signed up for a race! as in BOTH of us. as in ALL of us. (and i think he even liked it.) better yet, i kept getting side hugs the whole way through as we ran as he told me how much he loved me. (or maybe he was just trying to slow me down.....:))

need further proof? here we are ready to walk out the door in our running gear. (and in front of our thankful tree which looks much happier than it did on nov. 1st)

there were 21,000 people running the 5k! it was a run/walk and it was insane. one of dan's clients, applied materials, put the race on. this is one of the posters that dan's designers designed for the event.

nova in action, or should i say nov-action

she was super excited and loved it when people cheered from the sidelines. she even got a ride.

then we had a dinner with just us. lots of people actually asked if that was going to be weird or lonely. it wasn't at all. sure we missed being with family. and yes cooking it all alone wasn't awesome, but listening to christmas music while we cooked and cleaned up rocked. and just to be with the people that i love the very most was so awesome. i am so blessed to be with the people who i need the very most. both dan and nova make me better and i couldn't ask for better people to eat thanksgiving dinner with. (and we may or may not have watched punkin chunkin later that night---that is CRAZY btw!)

friday we met up with the gibbs. (dan's old mission companion) we checked out the golden gate bridge. we saw a sea lion right off the pier and nova tasted some seagull poop. (totally not intentionally. she was posing for a picture and put her hand on the side of the pier and then rubbed her face. AHHHHHHH!!!!! ) then she freaked out because she had poop in her mouth. yep, i would say we definitely experienced the bridge to be sure.

it was so fun to hang out with the gibbs and really cool to see the bridge.

here we are all standing on the bridge.

it was such a fun weekend. we are so blessed. i am so thankful for Heavenly Fathers tender mercies to our little family. i love love mc-love this time of year. and i may or may not be extremely excited to be putting up our christmas tree tonight and to begin planning the annual christmas music video........

terror+elation

2011-11-19T15:08:00.001-08:00

although the october fun has come and gone, we still have been doing our best to enjoy november.

the other day nova and i went on a fall walk. i gave her the camera and i asked her to take pictures of things that she thought were beautiful. here are some of the pictures she took.

i think this pole is one of my favorites, but she said it was "just lovely".

nova has also been quite the helper in the kitchen lately. here she is checking the low protein play dough with her 'mometer'

and THIS is what she looks like going to do laundry. (can i say i particularly dislike this aspect of california living? i enjoy getting all of my laundry done in less than 2 hours--that i particularly LOVE. no complaints here. in one day, its all done! and then we have a folding party while watching castle. BUT....i don't like hauling it to the laundry room. i used to convince nova to help carry the soap and the detergent, but now, she needs to bring her baby----in the stroller. every. single. time. AND she insists on wearing princess shoes. so its not the fastest trek. and i hate giving my shiny quarters away. why must personal hygiene cost so much? boo. BUT, nova loves going over to do it and gets super excited when i tell her its laundry day. i am trying harder to share her enthusiasm......but i do miss my washer/dryer) ok, now we can move on.

so, in addition to taking time to enjoy the fall foliage, keeping our tummy's full and keeping the stink down, nova has also been getting some serious time in on her bike. she is getting pretty stellar. and she is also getting stellar at crashing with minimal crying. is it bad that when she crashes she asks if it looked cool? because every time she crashes i try not to make a big deal out of it and say, "WOAH, that looked awesome!" thoughts?

we made a massive gratitude tree in our dining room that we have been adding leaves every night with things that we are grateful for. nova contributed the nice addition coming off the trunk.

and dan even carved our initials. ahhh....

dan treated the ladies in his life with some spa treatment. (he would also not admit that nova convinced him to let her paint his "tiny" toenail purple because it would give him "magic powers.") :) what a guy right?

nova met her team of doctors who will help manage her pku in california and i am so excited. they are so awesome and nova loved dr. enns, her genetic counselor, and nutritionist. they are going to be great. its a blessing to be so close to a hospital and is another tender mercy in how we have seen Heavenly Fathers hand in our lives. AND when they took 7 vials of blood she didn't even cry! (last time we were at primary childrens we had about 4 people holding her down to do her blood work. it was beyond horrible. but she did so awesome and i am so proud of her and she was pretty proud of herself too--which, when you get a rad bandage, why wouldn't you smile like this?

and last but certainly not least: the most hilarious picture of nova ever. and also to show what nova picks for the activity for FHE. terror + elation=hysterical laughing from every single one of us.

dear october

2011-10-31T20:38:00.001-07:00

dear october,
i love you. you are fun and spooky. you are chilly--even in california....at least at night and when it rains. your leaves are beautiful and orange is all around. you bring traditions old and new and get the holiday season rolling. you are just pretty much my favorite month. thanks to you, this is what we got to do:

nova has been really into dressing up and costumes lately so i decided to exercise my motherly powers and stated that you would not be fed this week unless you attended dinner in costume. i insisted we needed to practice dressing up. it was really fun and nova especially loved it. then on friday we had a "witches and warlock" dinner.

here are some highlights: 1st night: dan was "super-locker" (i don't know what that is, but when dan asked nova what he should be, that is what she said. nova was a super hero, and i was a cat

dan and nova "locking things" and getting the bad guys

one night we dressed up in sleeping beauty characters. (per nova request)

don't tell sleeping beauty....but merriweather is takin your man!

1 little, 2 little witches

glow in the dark hide and go seek for FHE--with glow sticks

pumpkin carving at dan's work

oh, and did i mention that we went swimming? (because its still totally warm here!) sorry to rub it in.....

we went with nova's new friend hazel to a mom 'n me trick or treat event on santana row in san jose

and finally, the big day arrived:
we drew monster pictures

made pumpkin pancakes and painted some "spooky nails"

the whole fam for the ward trunk or treat. (saturday)

in full costume:

i think that she had a fun night....

sigh....until next year october. don't stay away to long. we kinda like you around here.

suzanne

pumpkin patch checklist

2011-10-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

how to pick a pumpkin:
1. get hopped up on bunny love...check. (if you get this joke, we can be better friends if not, you need to go watch pysch.)

2. hold a baby chicken. (and look really proud of yourself.) (then immediately wash your hands.) check.

2. next, get the adrenaline pumping by running through the "scary" haunted house. check.

3. take a hayride to find the optimum picking spot. check. (take a picture with mom saying something to the attractive photographer dad.) check.

4. grab a wagon. check.

5. inspect the pumpkins to make sure you find "the right one". to find true happiness you must find the right pumpkin at the right time and in the right place.....oh wait.....i think that is not how that quote goes....but regardless: check.

6. make sure you look good with the pumpkin. check.

7. sit and breath in the pumpkin air. check.

8. find an extremely heavy pumpkin and make dad eat his words. "if you can put it in the wagon, we can get it." check and check.

yep dad, she can get it in the wagon.... (its 20 lbs!)

loved loved loved today. i have never been to a pumpkin patch before and it was so much fun! nova loved it and so did dan and i! definitely something we will do again.

it got me in the halloween and fall mood even though it was flaming hot while we were there. if it doesn't feel like fall on the outside, at least it made us feel like fall on the inside. happy october!

Dan's New Job

2011-10-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

This is Dan, if you couldn't tell by the correct use of capitalization (oooh, burn Suzanne!). I'm writing a quick note in response to a boatload of requests to know more about what I do at my new job.

As soon as I figure it out, I'll let you know.

See ya.

Okay, I know that's not going to fly. I work as an Associate Account Executive for a design firm called Larsen (larsen.com). The company does all sorts of design for businesses in the Silicon Valley, from internal docs and presentations, to marketing and branding for major events. We cover it all, basically.

My job is to manage client relations and keep projects on budget and on time. I fill out estimates and proposals for new projects, work with the client to resolve issues and make sure the designers have what they need (time, resources, etc.) to get the job done right. They do some amazing work and the company has an impressive portfolio.

I like it. A lot. Not just because I feel like I have a job that matters, but also because the people I work with are amazing. They're smart and they take care of each other. The main office is in Minnesota, so this is just a small branch down in Palo Alto. It's only about a dozen people in our office, and it's just like a family. I'm exponentially more fulfilled and happy now, and Suzanne says it shows.

I'm also loving the ever-loving love out of California, though I never doubted I would. Also, when we told people we were moving to the Bay Area, at least 70 percent of them expressed dismay at the possibility we would either A.) die in an earthquake, or B.) turn gay. You will all be happy to know that neither has come to pass.

We are happy here and excited to see what the future holds in store. And I couldn't be happier that I'm stuck with two of the most interesting and hilarious and beautiful girls I know. I now return you to your regularly scheduled dose of CrazyZanAndNova.com*

*That sounds like a URL I should probably invest in before they turn famous.

today

2011-09-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

so normally our days include this:

but today was different.

today, we got a little crazy.

oh, wait this was yesterday. this is nova's "costume" that she wore to dinner. don't ask, because niether dan nor i have a clue where this came from. on the way home from picking dan up from the the train station, she was talking about a costume and a surprise and how it was going to be "breef-taking" (breath-taking) and it was. panties on the head and all, it was breathtaking, and literally brief-taking. :)

but alas, i digress. that was yesterday, and this post is about TODAY.
TODAY, we went and got ourselves one of these babies.

'cause everyone knows that with a library card in your pocket, you just look this good.

believe it peeps. we are taking california by storm. library cards today, who knows what tomorrow will bring. we will try to calm it down, but, with a library card, we may be on a roll, and it may be hard to stop us.

internet!!!

2011-09-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

we are here and have internet! here are some pics for the g-ma's who have been dying:

nova and her best friend sam.

my sisters i left in utah.

best women ever.

my daughters i left in utah---the yw threw me a going away party. seriously, i bawled all night. i love these girls more than i ever thought possible. this is the cheesiest smile pic :) love it.

pic by our old address sign right before we left.

we are here in california and we have internet!

it was a whirl wind of a week but we feel settled minus hanging stuff on the wall.

so much has happened that i have no idea where to start. so instead of the details, i will give a top 10 things of what i have learned in the last week.

1. if your license plate says california on it, you don't signal.

2. leaves actually DO change color in california----yay! (and they are really pretty!)

3. i never thought i would enter a walmart worse than the one in harrisville utah. i was wrong. mountain view wins the game of worst. walmart. ever. i need to find an alternative place to purchase for my business.

4. i should have paid more attention in spanish in ms. pugina's spanish class.....(or listened more intently while she repeatedly showed us E.T. in spanish.) at any rate, i am the only one who speaks english to my child in my apartment complex. i need to buy a dora dvd immediately to be a part of the "in crowd".....because "vamos nova!" isn't going to fool them much longer.

5. nova can live in a swimming pool and has a white bum to prove it.

6. johnny appleseed day can will live on no matter where we live. (see above pic that i can't move.)

7. we have too much stuff. why do we have so much stuff?

8. i can successfully drive on a busy 5 lane free way and live to tell the tale....but barely....see number one

9. don't store real gourds and pumpkins for the following year. its gross.

(ok, a disclaimer here: i didn't realize they were real. i know that sounds dumb, but i thought they were fake, in the real-est of ways. i bought them last year, and then put them away with my fall decor. i opened my fall box this week and..............lets just say, they looked different and SMELLED different than they did when i put them in there 12 months ago. luckily they were bagged good and nothing else was affected. lesson learned.

10. showering with a glass shower door makes me feel wierd. i don't like it and will not be putting that on my list of things i need in a future home.

Big News Redux

2011-08-26T14:54:00.001-07:00

Suzanne kinda buried the lede in her post yesterday, so here's the big news up front:

We're moving to California!

Silicon Valley to be specific. We're excited for the adventure, and we really feel like this is the best move for us, in both senses of the word. I start a new job September 19.

However, we could use your help if you know the area or know someone who does. We're aiming for the Menlo Park/Palo Alto area because I firmly believe that I'll be happier by paying more for an apartment to be close to work and saving gas/car insurance/sanity on the 1-2 hour commute that's the norm for so many there. And of course, Suzanne would love to live in a safe (which translates to "not cheap") neighborhood.

Before you say it: We know, it's ridiculously expensive over there. We're currently weathering the third wave of sticker shock during our apartment hunt. Nearly everyone we talk to immediately brings up the cost of living when we mention the move, and it's giving us a neurosis. We're so grateful that you want to help us stay informed, but on this particular issue we are keenly -- nay, painfully -- aware that prices are astronomical over there. So please don't be offended if you bring up cost of living and we roll our eyes or go into paroxysms.

So, if you have any leads on apartments in the southeastern bay area (approximately Redwood City to Sunnyvale), or have relatives in the area, we'd sure appreciate a kind inquiry into open housing options, especially if they know of a deal.

Regardless, we're excited to share news with you, and we are super excited about this opportunity. We'll be sure to keep you informed as the process progresses.

updates and some big news!

2011-08-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

blogging clearly isn't a priority right now for me. clearly. but i'll give it an update anyway. july started with the celebration of our nation--we celebrated in jerome. a morning run, breakfast, games, hike, nap, fireworks and family.

next up, the celebration of my birth. it was such a sweet day with the people i love the most. and dan successfully surprised me with an awesome gift that i did not anticipate. (i ALWAYS can guess what he has up his sleeve no matter how hard he tries to fool me.....but this year i was fooled....and it was fun!)

then it was our little nova's birthday. 3! how did that happen?!?!?! she had fun and kept saying it was the best day ever. she made her own low-protein cake, went swimming with her best friend sam and we had a barb-q.

girls camp! i have crappy pictures, but it was SO much fun. i love these girls like crazy and it was the best week. here is the hike with my 4 years. we zip-lined, hiked, ate, sang, did NOT sleep and danced. AND, we created a flash mob choreographed by yours truly. 300 people participated and it was so awesome!

then, we had a family camp out. nova was OVER. THE. MOON. the tent was "so beautiful" and "the best tent ever" and we were the "best mom and dad" and "i can't wait to go to bed".....but didn't......sweet, sweet camping.

and then nova wanted to take some pics of me and dan

and then it just got crazy...

like i said......over. the. moon.

and finally, our anniversary. 6 years.

we even got a profesh photographer:

and then, we celebrated in family fashion. we figured 6 years ago we started a family for eternity and we wanted to hang out with that family, even if we are still small in numbers.

and FINALLY, FINALLY, the big news.....dan got a new job in CALIFORNIA. he starts september 19th. we are excited and nervous, but definitely feel we are going where we are supposed to. nova swam in our stream to celebrate....ok, it was just really really hot today.....but it seemed fitting.....sorta. and if any of you have relatives in the san fransicso bay area, who have a sweet rental they want to rent to a small family......let us know! :)

boat load of pics

2011-06-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

here is a boat-load of pics with little explanation. so here we go:

we made a trip to idaho for a girl get-together. nova seriously adores her cousins and plays so well with them. she was in heaven. i am so glad that she gets along with them so well. it is so important to me for her to have a good relationship with them since the relationships i had with my cousins were so important and critical for me growing up. here are some pics of the fun we had.

we had our annual girl tea party for the hall girls. it was rainbow, and as maddie said, 'its so beautiful!' we had rainbow fruit, rainbow tutus for everyone, and rainbow pancakes.

i had youth conference with my lovely adopted daughters. it was a blast and we even met someone kinda important.....AWESOME!!

in front of the temple with my girlies 14 and up. seriously love these chicas. like. a ton. they are so fun and so good. i really can't get enough of 'em.

i literally have been running around this last month too. i ran the odgen 1/2 marathon, the teton dam 10K and the ragnar wasatch back. the ragnar was crazy intense, but i was with some seriously fun people. our team name was: "you don't think we know a butt load of crap about the gospel, but we DO." it really was so fun. a nacho outfit was worn several times, we ran 194 miles between the 12 of us, we didn't sleep much and sat in a van and cheered each other on. we ran it in 32 hours and 18 min.

this week we also went to the princess festival at thanksgiving point. nova was in serious heaven. in the picture with cinderella, she is almost crying she was so excited. way worth the drive to go to see her face. you basically walk around meet princesses, watch little performances, and get their autographs. its a charity event to raise money for "in our own quiet way." its a great charity and it was really fun to be there. it was also fun to see the hundreds of little girls all dressed up and excited to be at the festival.

sleeping beauty

rapunzel

and princess and the pea

7 long years

2011-05-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

let me tell you a story. about 7 years ago my good friend ryan introduced me to the CD wicked. he gave me the CD on the grounds that he knew i would love it and one of the songs in there reminded him of me. he played the song 'dancing through life' and from that moment in the crestwood lounge in rexburg idaho, i wanted to see the broadway musical wicked......

7 LONG years......and......

this weekend i went to WICKED with my mom and sisters! it. was. awe. SOME! i have a secret desire to perform on stage, and secretly wished i was there alone so that i could stand up and sing and dance and cheer spontaneously. but, i held myself back. i have such an appreciation for people who can make that much sound with their vocal chords.....and have it sound good. really good. because lets be real, put me on a stage with a microphone, a costume and a green painted face and i could probably make loud sounds too, but it definitely wouldn't sound good....but it would be funny right?

anyway, here are the highlights from our 24 hour adventure to boise:

-olive garden.....do i need to say anything more? yum!
-heather, natalie, my aunt robin, and my mom. need i say more? some of the best people on this planet.
-lots of snacks....which may have not been a highlight--the fact that i am running a half marathon this saturday may make me think less of this as a highlight.
-jumping on the hotel bed, and catching my mom do it on video. funniest thing ever.
-staying up late, laughing and talking, but trying not to wake up nat's little boy archer
-archer. the squeeziest baby ever
-pier one imports and all things bright and beautiful in that store......
-a husband who was as excited for me to go and have some 'mom and sister-time' and watched nova, and did all of her pku-feeding business so i didn't have to worry about it.
-a dans mom and family for helping entertain nova--i don't think she was even aware that i was gone for 24 hours
-learning that my map navigation skills are way totally awesome.
-wicked
-wicked
-wicked

jumpin on the hotel bed to show our excitement

even my mom was a sport.

heather

and natalieand at the show...oh, and did i mention it was awesome? oh i did? ok, because it was but honestly, the these women right here and that i was with, are even better, which is saying something....

Nova the Runner and Magnificent Moms

2011-05-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

Two quick notes for you today. First of all, Nova took part in a race yesterday and, much to our surprise, ran over a kilometer by herself. Suzanne ran a 5K to support a fundraising effort for an ill friend, and organizers held a Kids K race after the adults finished. On a whim, Suzanne signed Nova up for the Kids K, fully expecting her to poop out after the first minute and need to be carried.

As you can see in the video below, it turns out that Nova got into the running spirit immediately. I think she was excited by seeing everyone else take off running, but whatever her motivation, she stood in awe for a few seconds when the other kids started and then ran after them, arms pumping wildly and Sunday-shoe-clad feet slapping the sidewalk.

Aside from being carried for 30 feet and subsequently demanding to be put back down so she could run, she ran well over a kilometer all by herself. Reportedly, she even stopped midway through the race, got down on hands and knees, and for reasons unknown did a little pushup before jumping to her feet and racing away once again. That's right, my little two-year-old isn't just tough enough to run a race without stopping, she's also confident enough to sacrifice her finishing time to stop and intimidate fellow runners with a display of upper body strength. She's not too proud to admit that she's completely terrified of men in soldier mascot costumes though, as you might have noticed when she crossed the finish line.

She's one of a kind, our little girl.
The second item that needs to be addressed today is mothers. They deserve our praise, thanks, and love every day, but today of all days I'd like to do it publicly. Too often we dismiss the roles of mothers in shaping our lives and assume that people would have turned out roughly the same regardless of who had mentored them.

Ridiculous, I say. Simply absurd.

I'm grateful that Nova has such a caring and hard-working mom to help her shape her future and become a brilliant and beautiful woman someday. And I'm equally grateful for a mother who was instrumental in shaping a man who isn't very brilliant or beautiful, but is as close as he could be considering what Heavenly Father gave his mom to work with.

Furthermore, thanks to all the moms out there who put endless hours, days, weeks, and years into raising upstanding children, no matter how hopeless it seemed at the time. We have wonderful friends and family because of you, and we can never thank you enough. Whether you're enduring the terrible twos or just wishing your twenty-something son would call you more often, remember that we need you and you truly are the epitome of charity and love.

Thank God for mothers.

eggy treasures and a sidenote

2011-04-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

our new bro-in-law dave works as an accountant for some assisted living communites, and they put on an easter egg hunt for the residents families. so even though dave isn't 85 years old or a resident, he and elisa invited us to come on over and find us some eggy treasures. although nova was a little confused, she finally figured it out, and we all had a lot of fun--thanks "leesdave!"

SIDE NOTE: as a parent i have come to realize the utter oddness of holidays. a fat man who comes in your house in the MIDDLE of the night and leaves you presents? he watches you and sees if you are being naughty or nice? CREE-PEE. or, lets knock on people's doors, many of who perhaps you don't know, and they will give you candy.... stranger danger anyone? or the most recent, a bunny who leaves eggs? shouldn't it be a chicken?!!! since when do bunnies lay eggs? why do our holidays confuse? anyway.....its just that sometimes as i am explaining traditions and holidays to nova i realize how utterly weird some of them are, as they are coming out of my mouth, and as i watch the puzzled look on her face. but then again as per last post, the traditions we are creating around here are just as weird......so.....lets move on.

the pics:

nova was SUPER creeped out by the enormo bunny at first. BUT, then as we were trying to get her to find eggs, she asked where they came from---and we told her the bunny had hid them. "that bunny is a tricky one!" is what she said. then when she realized there was CANDY in the eggs, she ran over and gave the bunny a hug and said thank you. from there on out, they were the best of friends and she wouldn't stop talking to the bunny....

and non-hunt related pics, nova and her new-ish bike. our neighbors were giving it away and asked if nova wanted it. she is obsessed with practicing everyday. and she actually is doing pretty good.

the painting princess. she LOVES LOVES to paint. in fact loves doesn't even do it justice. she paints approx 4 times a day. but of course you have to be dressed appropriately while doing something as regal as painting.

blowing bubbles.....

snuggling with dad.....

oh, and read this song before looking at the next pick:
to the music of popcorn popping

i looked out the window and what did i see?
nova looking back through the window at me!
this girl always has a big surprise,
funny faces right before my eyes!
she can be a handful, but being a mom is neat,
she makes us laugh and she is real sweet,
her name is nova so,
and she makes us happy!
in 15 years from now please do not hate me! (for posting this pic!)

ha!
happy saturday!

what a bunch of fools...

2011-04-02T11:28:00.001-07:00

yesterday we celebrated april fools, well, like a bunch o' fools. see the pics to see for yourself.....

Fool #1

Fool #2
and the complete group o' fools!

please note: i can't believe this picture is being posted on the blog. wearing your swimsuit over several layers doesn't slim you.....obviously......
also note: the straw glasses were fun, but only drink water through them, they drip and its kinda gross, but good for a laugh. but if you are going to laugh, drop the straw, or you will have milk in your mouth, around your eyes, and coming out your nose.

also yesterday night we went to the Ogden Temple to get some pics. they are closing it and renovating it and it is going to look completely different. we love that temple. we have had some really amazing experiences there. its sad to see it change, but we are excited to watch it all go down and then come back up. it was cool to go and take nova and hang out there and talk to nova about it. she loved it. she really loved that Heavenly Father had a 'swimming pool' at His House, and she was bummed that we were wearing our dresses instead of our swimsuits.

good bye old Ogden Temple. we love you.

2011-03-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

just a quote:
"I have been WAITING and WATCHING for a cute little girl to APPEAR on SOMEBODY'S BLOG (or even in my email) wearing a PRINCESS DRESS from a recent wedding. If I gotta be patient about ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE in my life, then you better help me out on this one. Do I make myself clear???"
yup heather, when you send harsh words, they end up on the inter-web......hahahahaha!
ok, so she was joking. seriously people she was. but its true, i haven't posted for. ever. dan has, but not i. but here you are--mostly for heather--hopefully the anger is diminished.

so here are some blurbs with pics---please enjoy heather!

nova before disney on ice......can we say excited much?nova and i before our tea party date for relief society
happy pie day! and nova with just the apple, minus the pie. someone call racheal ray......my pie making skills are too much, and i may need a show soon. ha!
rain storm at our house=dancing in the rain. we love us a little singing in the rain action at our house. one of our favorite movies, and we love to do it ourselves even more.
and pretty much the only pic i took at the wedding! seriously!!!! (and this is before the meltdown in the bathroom incident dan wrote about earlier.)

one night nova was crying after we laid her down for bed and i went in and she said she needed a snuggle. so i laid by her and she said that she was scared and needed to say a prayer.....ahhh.....seriously, how am i so blessed to have the people i do in my family. and then after the prayer, she said she needed to take a silly picture with mom, and then her 'scared would leave.' oh nova........

we did a countdown to valentines day and one of the days dan took nova on a date. he took her to tangled----just little girls, not moms---nova was SOOOOO excited. like more than SOOOOO excited. seriously, her face looks Ca-RAzy in this pic, but i had to pic this one because its funny and it shows how much she adores dan. and it shows my retro apron....that was made out of my grandma's fabric. love.pink breakfast for v-day

snow cones with real snow! (and made by snow white) it was so themed! hahaha! totally not intentional. i just made the snow white connection as i am typing. ice from the freezer is the pansy and more sanitary way of making snow cones.....plus using real snow is just more fun. the end.

nova getting ready for dave and elisa's wedding with jen---which by the way was awesome. i love weddings and theirs was awesome. we are so excited for them and they really are so cute together.
and dan posted something yesterday that is pretty funny.

Nova Says the Darndest Things

2011-03-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Nova: Did Sissa Jones have her baby?
Suzanne: Yeah, she did!
Nova: What it is?
Suzanne: It's a little boy.
Nova (obviously disappointed): Oh, that's to bad.
Suzanne: Why?
Nova: Boys are so boring!

On a separate occasion, we were at a reception when Nova said she needed to "go kinkles," which is her way of saying she needs to use the restroom. I asked her where Suzanne was, and Nova replied that she was already in the bathroom herself. So I told Nova I'd take her and headed to the boy's restroom.

Things went as they always had during the hundreds of other times I've taken her to the bathroom. After we had washed her hands and were on our way out, she looked up at me with a confused expression and asked, "Where's mom?" I thought, "You know the answer to that; you're the one who told me she was in the bathroom," but I thought no more of it and simply replied, "She's in the girl's bathroom."

Later it would become apparent that she asked this because she was genuinely confused. She thought we were in the girl's bathroom and so, logically, she should have seen her mom.

As I walked out, I heard some sniffling behind me. Confused, I turned to find Nova's face slowly dissolving into an expression of abject woe. She let out a piercing, mournful wail and melted to the floor in the most dramatic fashion possible.

I immediately assumed that she was hurt, that she had caught her fingers in the door or something. I had often heard her cry, but seldom with such despair in her voice. It was loud, and the cries echoed down the white brick halls of the church.

I stood her up and asked what was wrong. She brought her head up to look at me with eyes that clearly communicated a feeling of anguish as well as a distinct sense of having been betrayed. She choked back a sob and bawled, "You took me in the boy's bathroom!"

She collapsed back into a puddle of tears and sobs while everything suddenly came together in my mind. I desperately wanted to tell her that I had no malicious intent, but I found that all I could do was laugh. Her pathetic display coupled with a genuine misunderstanding and the sheer absurdity of it all caught me as irresistibly hilarious. I fought it, I tried to choke down the guffaws, but just as she looked up to see what all the gurgling sounds were for I belted out an enormous laugh right in her face.

As the combined sounds of an unjustifiably loud laugh and an equally over-the-top cry echoed down the hall, she tried to communicate just why this crime was so heinous to a father that quite obviously wanted to destroy her life. "I was wearing a dress in there!" she wailed in absolute horror. Then, emphasizing each word, she nearly screamed, "I almost died!"

Well, you can imagine just how hard it was not to laugh at that. And I'm sad to say that I also crumpled to the ground giggling like a Primary boy who has just tied Sally's braids to her chair. I couldn't stop, and poor Nova thought that I was reveling in her pain. She gave me a look that said, "I will never forgive you for this."

That sobered me up a little, only because I didn't think I would get that particular look until she was 16 and I had just told her prom date the most embarrassing story I knew about her. But even that couldn't stop me from hissing laughter through my teeth as I desperately tried to clench my jaw and hold a straight face.

Of course, Nova's screams could be heard throughout the church, and several people, family and strangers alike, came rushing to see who had lost a limb. Instead they found a poor little girl crying as if she had just watched Cinderella suffer a grisly death, and her father fairly crying as well, but from the gut-wrenching laughter.

This didn't win me any friends.

And now there are several members of the Jerome community (as well as their in-laws) who think I am a horrible person who delights in torturing little girls. They're half right; I mean, you can bet I'll be telling Nova's prom date about this.

On Being a Parent

2011-02-10T19:48:00.001-08:00

Do you know those times when you don't know whether to laugh or cry?

Part of me is actually pretty impressed. I mean, it does have a certain artistic quality to it.

And if anyone makes a joke about that Footprints in the Sand poem, I swear...

just seein blue

2011-02-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

conversation this morning:

nova calling me from the other room: "mom! i see blue eveething!"
me: "cool!"
nova: "no mom, its all blue!"
me: "what's blue?" i call
nova: "my belly! and toes! eveething! come see!"

NOOOOO!! i think! markers! so i walk upstairs....nope not markers, but i see a completely naked chick-a-dee and this:

me: hahahahahaha! what are you doin?

nova: "oh, just see'in blue."

what a kid! today i'm thankful that i have a daughter who is excited about seein blue. who knew goggles were so cool.

co-EL

2011-01-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

i love january 1st. i love the feeling of starting fresh and new. i love setting goals, and predicting what the year will bring. is it just me? after january 1st, i don't really care for january, but january 1st i love. weird i know. BUT the real reason for the post:

question:
can anyone guess the character that nova is playing in this pic?
and 10 extra cool points if you can guess who dan is also. hint: he's smoldering

in other news today is 1/1/11.....CO-EL. (it's like the time 11:11 only more magical.) and guess what we did today, on 1/1/11 at 1:11pm and 11 seconds (yes, i counted down)....took a picture--because, yes we are that cool. or should i say, co-el.
and some other pics: nova and dan, with nova's snowman named silly cow.....hmmmm....yeah, i don't get it either.
can i just say, i VOWED growing up that my children would NEVER, and i repeat NEVER wear moon boots...........and now mine does, with her nightgown.....but coming from her mother, she sure knows how to rock them. :)happy january everyone!

The Third Annual Hope Family Christmas Video

2010-12-18T15:44:00.000-08:00

You've all been anticipating it, so we won't make you wait any longer. Here it is, the third annual Hope family Christmas music video.

Frankly, we had no idea so many people liked our budding tradition. We assumed everyone just tolerated it. We actually considered not doing the music video this year (due to a tight schedule) and met with resounding cries of despair. Literally, some people actually screamed "Nooo!" when we told them we weren't making it. So we just wanted to thank you all for the support. It's nice to know people laugh with you instead of at you (well, we know you're laughing AT Dan, but he's okay with it).

Merry Christmas to all!

And for those who are new or need a refresher course, here are the previous Christmas music videos:
Christmas 2009
Christmas 2008

it's comin comin....

2010-12-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

it's comin comin! our christmas music video that is! hopefully by the end of the week we will have it all edited and finished and posted!
in other news:
nova is really into "princess gloves" right now.....and i don't have any fancy gloves, so we use mittens...that don't match, but she doesn't even care. what a girl!
nova headed to 'the store' and 'don't miss me ok? i be right back ok? i am so pretty ok?'
ok nova.
dan makes homemade tortillas every sunday.....so yum-a-licious. and nova loves to help.
nova has her very own christmas tree in her room and totally loves it! (and yes, in all of these pics of nova she is wearing her princess nightgown. the thing is with her at all times. she insists on wearing it ALL THE TIME. i can convince her to change her clothes to go out, but the moment we get home, and i am talking the MOMENT we get home, the thing is in her hands and she is asking to wear her nightgown.......sigh......and the pic of her in the coat, she is wearing her back-up, too short princess nightgown because we were washing her beloved pink one.)
and a picture from thanksgiving! the dance off champs---amanda and colton!!! woot woot! (and the champion thief.....carter, wearing amanda's shirt.)
and the dan hope fam before the turkey trot....yep, we are that cool....and no, i don't know why there is a random strand of hair in the middle of my forehead.
and i have no clue if what we are doing with our hands is a gang sign.....i hope not, we were just trying to be 'cool'

From the Book of Luke

2010-11-17T17:54:00.000-08:00

(Nova pretending to read from the scriptures)

"And da Lord say to da droids, get outta here!"

I guess C-3PO has some repenting to do.

happaween!

2010-10-31T17:02:00.000-07:00

we have had a busy week. dan had some business to attend to in rexburg and so nova and i tagged along. while in rigby, we had a grandkid halloween party. highlights included,
bobbing for candy in packing peanuts,

and eating donuts off a string---in nova's case, a rice krispie treat,and of course, 3 little witches
and we can't go to rexburg without seeing the "J's"! janalee and jenni! we had fun at the park and climbing the stairs to their 'big house'
and so we returned home and carved some punkins, ate with 'glow in the dark cutlery'
(sidenote: glow in the dark utensils are the best invention ever! and for a dollar! *gasp*nova thought eating in the dark with a glow in the dark fork was the best thing that has happened to her since she was introduced to cinderella. i also got a kick out of it.....and as usual, dan was a good sport....and if you want to get technical, a glow in the dark fork is a 'glark' or 'glork' in case you were wondering.) anyway, moving on.

here are some pics of yesterday's festivities
nova with her plastic pumkin and plastic spoon....yeah, that lasted like 1 minute before she realized that she was getting ripped off. and so of course she had to get in on it......'and i think after we took this pic, she said, 'i don't like guts!'and the final product....carrot nose and all

and the little 'nice witch' herself!
and as nova says........happaween everyone!
or to translate: happy halloween!

bliggity blog blog

2010-10-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

i am the grinch of blogging. i have my excuses, but i would rather not elaborate. BUT, i feel like i am not drowning as bad anymore and hopefully this blog thing can possibly be more consistent. so here are some pics.
sidewalk chalk!
princess picnic
completed dining room table! woohoo!
"please take my picture while i eat ok mom?" ok nova.
having too much fun at the restaurant

A Lament for the Job I Love ... and Hate

2010-09-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

WARNING: The following is a rant about conditions in an industry in which you most likely don't work (We don't know any science news writers, do we?). For those of you who would rather get the gist of the rant without all the details, then skip to the last paragraph and enjoy the YouTube video that illustrates the idea.

Once in a while, you come across something that so perfectly describes your negative feelings about a subject that it seems your soul sings in response. Then there are other times when you find a bit of satire so elegantly written that it exposes the same problems with only a wink and a tongue planted firmly in-cheek. Not only does your soul sing, but your very bones ache at the bittersweet truthiness. It's satire that makes you want to laugh and weep at the same time.

So you can only imagine my astonishment at reading the following article (hit the link below) from a prominent newspaper in the U.K. If I had some kind of recording device at the time, I'd have a lovely playlist of arias sung by my soul, accompanied by the syncopated cracking of my bones.

Take a moment to read it.

The Super Amazing Link of Awesomeness

Stop. Seriously, go back and read it.

The reason this article affected me so is that it's a stinging reminder of everything I hate about the industry I work in, specifically scientific and technical news reporting in a Web-based format. Don't get me wrong, there are so many things I love about it. I love being privy to the latest information in science and technology. It's one of the things I enjoy most. But I hate how we (the entire industry) go about doing the job we do.

Mostly, it boils down to a hate of journalism. I hope not to offend any journalists in the crowd. I once loved the field, relished in tracking down a story. But journalism as a whole is prone to sloppy writing. In fact, sloppy and uninteresting writing is encouraged for the sake of tradition; "It's been done this way for over a century!" It's overly formulaic, and for all the emphasis put on facts and specificity, it ends up being awfully vague and uninformative too often.

As a small tangent, the biggest problem is the establishment's fear of embracing the changes demanded by a connected world, where there are no arbitrary restrictions on word length (the Internet is not running out of space!), and no one really cares if you put the 6 Ws (who, what, when, where, why, and how) in the second paragraph as long as the lede is entertaining.

Those in the field might even notice I've been using the serial comma in blatant disregard of journalistic style. Stick that in your Associated Press pipe and smoke it, dear journalism! Sweet revenge.

But I'm straying from the point. The satire brilliantly written by Martin Robbins shows everything that's wrong (instead of complaining about it, like I just did). And that's what I love about writing done well. He absolutely nails every last grievance I have with the job and manages to be hilarious at the same time.

He even satirizes the "Related Links" at the bottom. In fact, I encourage you to click on the third link because it is unbelievable. That's right, Mr. Robbins just RickRolled you and a respected news publication. That's not traditional journalism, friends. But it is unmitigated genius. Even the comments section is a beautiful parody of the institution.

In short, it's the best thing I've ever seen on the Internet; and yes, we're talking about the same Internet that has given us such classics as the Numa Numa guy, LOL Cats, and Double Rainbow.

THE LAST PARAGRAPH: Welcome to those who just want the Cliff's Notes version (and I can't blame you, though you have to wonder what you missed...). Here's the summary: I found an article that effectively satirizes my job so well that it nearly made me cry tears of joy and sorrow. Simultaneously. It pretends to be serious while simply stating the obvious formula behind the very thing it purports to be. It's amazing. In order to illustrate the point to those who don't care about the formula behind writing science news, simply listen carefully to the lyrics of the song below. It satirizes love songs in exactly the same way. Oh, and in case you're wondering why I'm posting this diatribe on a blog previously dealing only in cute videos and images of a particular little girl, it's simple: I'm reasonably sure that none of my managers know about this blog. Sorry for the interruption.

caution:

2010-09-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

i can't find my camera. but here is a seriously hilarious video that was taken about a month ago in the end of potty training.......
caution: this video contains human waste.

the second video is what i listen to everyday. nova is constantly talking. it makes me SO happy. this is something i caught while i was washing breakfast dishes. she was outside playing with sticks and a bowl of water. the sound isn't too great, but its so funny to me. i wonder what goes through her head. the girl loves sticks. what can i say?

some people might say

2010-08-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

after 5 years, all i have to say is that,

we really are THAT cool.....

some said it 5 years ago,

and most are still saying it now....

happy anniversary to us!

(and since no one really wants pics of us--here are a few of nova.

2nd year pics

2010-07-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

look at this kid.

she's got the crazy faces,

the personality,the attitude,

and some crazy poses,
how did she get so big?
and so fun?
what can i say, we grow 'em good around here!

Nova's Second Birthday

2010-07-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today was Nova's second birthday, even though she's been into the Terrible Twos well before today. We had a little party for her and she received a boatload of gifts. It seems we need to coordinate a little better with extended families concerning gifts because this birthday haul was even more present-packed than Christmas.

She got some baby accessories, including a porta-crib, bouncy chair, high chair, backpack and car seat for her dolls. We're already tripping over them. But her favorite gifts were, without a doubt, the following:

A new princess nightgown which includes her latest favorite, Tiana (which is our least favorite! I swear, if we hear "I'm almost there" one more time...), an enormous headband and (the coup de grace) orange high-heel shoes.

She's rolling her ankles every other step, but she refuses to take them off. After a little practice she's already prancing like a runway model. Thanks Mama Be.

Also from Mama Be, we have a new ballerina outfit that she both loves and mistrusts at the same time. We have yet to figure out how that happened or what it means.

Note that the orange heels never left her pudgy feet.

And that brings us to the castle cake that Suzanne toiled over all afternoon long. As you can see, it turned out pretty well for a novice cake maker. And Nova loved it. Absolutely adored it.

Unfortunately, by the time we got around to the celebration and candle lighting, the infrastructure of the cake had weakened and the towers started to sag. As you can see below, the towers look a little worse for wear, and Nova doesn't seem to care a bit.

Happy Birthday Nova!

A Lesson in Self-Affirmation

2010-05-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

We all get down on ourselves every once in a while. We're human, after all. So I thought it important to share this little lesson in self-affirmation, adorably provided in video form by a little girl.

Not wanting to offer this up without ensuring its efficacy, I decided to test it for myself. See the results below.

As you can see, it works like a charm. Just remember the proper technique.

Step 1: Look at yourself in the mirror.
Step 2: Throw your arms wide.
Step 2: In your best sing-song voice, say "I can do anything good!" (remember: enthusiasm!)
Step 3: Turn around and do the "Running Man" dance.*
Step 4: (optional) Improv with other things you love, as shown (i.e. I love my haircut, dad, aunts, Allisons, whole house, other). Swaying side to side and doing fist pumps helps give you the proper rhythm and sense of style.
Step 5: Enjoy your new, positive outlook on life and sense of self-worth.

*Dancing on the counter top is optional.

peace...out....dude

2010-04-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

funny.....

i pick.....

2010-04-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

so there are a million things i could blog about: disney on ice, dr. suess's birthday, dan's birthday, a bashed eye and a sliced open head, st. patricks day, easter, snow storms, family visits, get-a-ways, the fact that i found a dead mouse TODAY and nearly had a heart attack.....but i choose to blog about one of my 3 favorite things EVER:

this is how she insisted going out to get the mail today. to bad i didn't look that cool. i gotta love that kid, and i really love being her mom.

a few tricks

2010-02-26T11:10:00.000-08:00

so this video doesn't do any of this justice, the camera is too distracting. BUT, we tried. this video shows some scripture stories that we have been working on with nova as well as some songs that she likes. and yes, she is wearing a princess nightgown....can't get the thing off her.

happy v-day!

2010-02-14T08:48:00.001-08:00

happy valentines day!

there is no easy way to say something like this, but i suppose it is more awkward to avoid it. this past week has been eventful to say the least. after a trip to the ER on thursday we ended up miscarrying after 13 weeks. the little face above gives us comfort and fills our home and hearts with so much love. we know that our loving Father in Heaven has a plan for us and that we will be stronger because of this trial.

i'm just sayin

2010-01-26T09:27:00.000-08:00

so pictured above is nova's first snowman. she loved it.
here is dan and nova doing......i have no idea. but its a funny pic!
nova her first day of nursery
and these 2 are pics i took at christmas time that i am pretty proud of.

i'm just sayin....my kid is adorable.

and to get this off my chest: perhaps one day when i have the chance to hopefully create a world, i think i will do winters a little differently. all the snow that normally falls within the months of dec-feb (or october-april if you live in idaho/utah) will drop in the month of december. then you have buckets upon buckets, you shovel, stay indoors for a while and then it melts and its done. i hate this, here a little, there a little, oh wait, lets dump a butt-load, now it melts a little....and on and on and on.
like i said,

i'm just sayin.

but beyond the snow, and since i have neglected my blog like i neglect cleaning the toilet, i will mention that christmas was fantastic. (i. loved. being. santa.) family was great, i ate WAY TOO much food and am a little relieved that the holidays are over.

we started the new year out being absolutely ill....ALL of us. i am hoping its not an omen of what 2010 will be like. and now january is almost over. only 3 more months of cold.....BLAH!!

the second annual hope christmas video

2009-12-20T17:54:00.000-08:00

remember last year? if you need your brain refreshed click here.
if you do remember last year and you have been waiting for your christmas wishes to come true, the moment has finally arrived. sorry to have kept you waiting. merry christmas! and happy sleigh riding!

note: dan is amazing. seriously, he rocks! he is why we have a video.

the culprit

2009-12-04T12:11:00.000-08:00

"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.....

2009-11-30T07:21:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

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.....

2009-10-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-09-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-09-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

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.

you have a giant hole in your life.

2009-07-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

let me let you in on a little secret. i recently discovered that a part of my life has been missing, and being the sharing person that i am....i will share my secret with you so you will not have a giant hole in your own life, as i did merely weeks prior to this blog.

eclairs. over. the. fire.

WHAT? you say?

i repeat: eclairs. over. the. fire.

OH BABY! heaven in your mouth and down your chin, and possibly on your shirt.
seriously. so. delish.

here are the instructions:

HOW TO FILL THE GIANT HOLE IN YOUR LIFE/COOKING AN ECLAIR OVER THE FIRE

STEP 1:
go to home depot and buy a wooden dowel that is approx an inch in diameter.....if you ask them if they have them, they will ask you "what for?", and you will tell them that it is a mere piece of lumbar that will complete your life.....ok, seriously though, the lady asked me what i wanted it for, and i told her it was to cook a biscuit over the fire and she looked at me like i was CA-RAZY....whatev...i get that look all the time from family and friends ALL the time....didn't faze me. anyway....purchase a dowel. its about 3 bucks....you might want to get more if there are more people partaking of the goodness.

STEP 2:
go to your local market and purchase chocolate frosting, vanilla pudding (i got the fun snack packs) and those crazy shot gun biscuits....i don't know what they are really called.....the biscuits in the roll that you open and it sounds like a shot gun and it makes you want to scream everytime you open them......ya, you want those.

STEP 3:
build a fire. cook some hot dogs and let it die down to smoldering coals.....

STEP 4:
rather than explain in words, here is a video that shows you how.

STEP 5:
cook slowly over a fire--BE PATIENT....didn't your mom ever tell you good things come to those who wait? it is true in this instance....yes, she was right, cook until the biscuit comes off easily from dowel

STEP 6:
fill hole with approx 1/2 snack pack pudding. this is symbolic of the hole that has been present in your life without ever partaking of an eclair. then frost the top or side or a portion of the filled eclair.

STEP 7:
eat. now you can die happy....

dan....you have a piece of heaven on your chin....

also, we did sparklers last night with nova. she loved them....and apparently so did dan from the look on his face right here.

skittle a rink a dink a dink....

2009-07-22T08:30:00.001-07:00

i won't even bother playing catch up. we have been reunion-izing, girls camping, celebrating birthdays and trying to recover from the weeks of being gone. here are some pics and video of the last month of enjoying the summer. (the pics are in no particular order.....whatever though right?)

this picture is dan braiding my hair before girls camp.....what a man huh?

here is nova before our hike at the hope family reunion.

here is nova during the hike.....

and here is nova right before we got home....she was WIPED!

here is nova on her birthday before church....we were going to take some more pics after church, but we raced off to a reunion...so this is what we've got. happy birthday novs!

here are pics form our second trip to the zoo this summer. we went with elisa and also met up with our old neighbors the bennions.

here is nova and i after the 5k....she is sporting my groovy glasses

to preface the 5K---i convinced 2 girls in our ward in the young women to run a local 5K with me the end of june. we decided that we would have matching sunglasses and socks to intimidate the competition......even though you can't see our socks in the picture....oh, well

the day of the race was a local celebration for founders day. they have fireworks at night and here is the picture of the fam before we went outside. by the time they started nova was WAY to tired to be interested.

this picture takes us back to half-mas day. the glasses were part of the ornaments on the half-mas pine tree in our back yard.

here is nova with crazy hair on half-mas day...what a ham!

here is nova eating her cake and blowing out her candles....low protein cupcakes.....weren't necessarily her fav.

here is nova blowing out her candle. we have practiced the last few weeks and i think she did a really good job....what you don't see on the video is that we did the whole candle thing again in another cupcake......and she burnt herself.....

merry half-mas to all, and to all a good night!

2009-06-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

merry half-mas everyone! what is half-mas you ask, AKA as june-mas. it is the celebration of 6 months until the actual holiday of christmas. indeed, 6 months from today is christmas day! K-razy. and so, we celebrate. yesterday for half-mas/june-mas eve, we had a water party of sorts. i had a huge roll of plastic that we tried to make a slip'n slide out of.....didn't work so well, but when we spread it all out, it worked awesome, and since we have a slopped yard, we flew....seriously. the only think i would change for the next time we do this, is....check the bottom of the tarp for thistles, my thigh is PRETTY scratched from the thistle friend we had hanging out at the bottom. ouch....

anyway, tammie and her kids and her mom and nieces stopped on their way back from the pageant as we were trying to figure it all out. it was fun to see them too. i'm pretty sure our neighbors think that dan and i need to grow up.....they can keep on thinkin that if they want, cause we aren't gonna.

here are some videos. of our june-mas eve bash. before our lil family bbq. it also shows nova's stellar crawling skills.

dear jon and kate

2009-06-23T15:36:00.001-07:00

dear jon and kate,

i just wanted to say thank you.

thank you for ruining my day.

thank you for proving to america why reality tv bites.

thank you for giving up and showing everyone who may be in a similar situation, that when the going gets tough, separate, and divorce.

thank you for showing your kids that a marriage isn't worth fighting for.

thank you kate for getting caught up in what is NOT important, and thank you jon, for showing me what loyalty is, and that what is most important in life is making yourself happy.

thank you for disappointing your kids, for disappointing me and the 9.8 million viewers who used to really care about your life and enjoyed peaking in on you from time to time. you once made me laugh and now i'm depressed because you think you can't do it anymore.

COME ON! marriage is work, and so are kids! you two, of all people should know! why are you giving up! (not that i expected anything less, with the 'big announcement', ) but i was merely hoping you would prove everyone wrong and say YES, we are going to work it out. YES, we will learn to forgive. YES, we want to do what is best for our family. and YES, we are a team.

thank you for joining the reality morons like jason mesnick, who disappointed me by brutally dumping melissa and running off with molly. and mike who somehow let helen win the biggest loser, and the many others that have conned me in through the reality tube of despair. seriously.
thank you again for nothing. you are no longer on a reality tv show, even though some people may say that you are. what you have done is not reality. in my opinion, marriage is a reality that you stick to and make it work to make it the best thing in your life. way to go and screw it all up.

sincerely,
not your fan anymore,
suzanne

dear plus 8,

i'm sorry. be strong, and wear blinders the rest of your life in the grocery store line so you can't read the tabloids about your parents, or yourselves on how the decision your parents made affected you psychologically.

sympathetically,
suzanne

holla

2009-06-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

its been so long since i posted that i have:

ran a 10K with my sisters and mom....(minus tammie)

met with the gibbs (friends from DC) who were visiting....SO GOOD TO SEE THEM!!...which i don't have a pic of them and us, but here is nova's face of sheer delight on the slide at the park where we had our bbq with them.

ran to the grocery store a million times among other places.....which i need to vent. i hate it when people use the exit to enter and the enter to exit. read the signs people. keep the flow moving. its enough that i have a jinx that i will inevitably pick THE LONGEST grocery line to get through. i don't want to wait to go out of the store because people are NOT reading the door signs and there is serious congestion. honestly. BIGGEST PET PEEVE.

and done a jillion things that i don't take a picture of....for some reason i feel as though i have done a million things that are blog worthy....but apparently not....man, i am a loser.

so i guess that leads us to fathers day and a rockin 80's party.

first i have the best father. he has taught me so much about hard work and integrity and by living by the rules. meaning, he never accepted anything but my best in school, sports, or standards. he is always wonderful to give advice and give a good joke. i love that i have many of his characteristics. i also have an awesome father in law who has a strong testimony and is also a hard worker who has been so accepting to me as another daughter. and of course dan, who is super dad to our super nova. i couldn't do the parenting thing without him. nor would i want to. nova's favorite time of the day is when her dad comes home from work.

and lastly, we went to a neighborhood 80's party, which was, totally, like, cool. me and dan were convinced to do a lip sync performance to an 80's song, and pretty much we were like, groovy. i am so glad the 80's are gone, because the combo of big hair, leg warmers, layers and spandex leggings are not helpful in keeping your body temperature at the desired level......the off the shoulder sweatshirt wasn't enough to ventilate my overheating body. but other than that, it was fun. here is a video and pics of the performance......and dan made the guitars........and i am glad dan DOES NOT and WILL NOT EVER have a mullet. seriously....gag me with a spoon.

zoo, idaho trip and tea party

2009-06-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

it seems that i blog to sum up the week. lame......but here goes.

last saturday we went to hogle zoo. it was so fun. i haven't been to the zoo in years. we went with IPAD. (Intermountain PKU and Allied Disorders Assosiation) basically it is an organization that allows dan and i and nova to get together with other families who have children with PKU. it was nice to visit with other mothers who have the same concerns and worries that i do and to get ideas from them. this is one of the first functions they have hosted, so we thought it would be fun to go to the zoo and go to the meeting. BUT, it started late and so nova was pretty beat before it even started, but she still had a good time, but we definitely want to go back when we can be on more of our own schedule. (and i always TAKE my camera....i just don't take very many pics, and half of the ones i take....are crappy.....so not many pics at the zoo.)

nova on the golden tiger.....and nova also experienced a tigers blood sno cone......she loved it and it was hilarious to watch her eat it.

also, nova is now CRAWLING! and she has hair long enough for a very small ponytail! YA!

dan has been in LA this last week and so i decided to go home and help my mom redo her bathroom. BUT, to be brief, (if that is possible for me) we only got the wallpaper off and the walls scrubbed that needed to be painted. but, it was fun to be with my family and i was able to go to lunch with almost all my sisters, run with my sisters, visit, help my mom, and have a tea party! i have been wanting to have a tea party for a long time (.....i know i need to grow up.....) with all the girls in the family. i just want to start traditions for nova so she can have a close bond with her cousins since we don't live very close. so i got some ideas off the internet and we threw a little 'pink partea' we all wore pink, and we had sandwiches with pink rolls, pink jello jigglers, cheese and crackers, pink gold fish, watermelon, pink cupcakes, and pink lemonade. i also found a cute idea to make little bonnets out of paper plates, bowls and ribbon. we all wore feather boas and had lunch. it was fun for the adults, but the most fun for my two nieces. hopefully we can keep the tradition alive so nova will be able to have some fun memories with her and her cousins.

my mom and all the granddaughters

all the lovely ladies with our sweet hats and feather boas

the food table---and i made a cupcake bouquet from a tutorial i saw on ksl's program called studio 5 and it worked better than i thought it would.....which most projects i do are complicated and cause me to want to curse.....but please note, i don't....i just want to.

the partea table

nova and i in our fabulous getup.....that of course stayed on for the picture...barely.

the weekend

2009-05-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

weekend in pictures:

spent time with dan's family and ate at red robin.....YUM! (no pics....)

celebrated jana's birthday early--she is going to north carolina for the summer (she is going to be a camp counselor for little 5 year old girls so i made her a cake that was supposed to be her and then the cupcakes are her little camp girls.)

we went to the living planet aquarium-this is nova trying to pet the stingrays.

also here are some pics of the weekend and some more family pics we got back

seriously....i made her?????

summer agenda

2009-05-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

the following 3 months i will be:

with this kid:

doing this:

and a little of this:

and a lot of this:

plus i'll throw in a few popsicles and buckets of sunscreen.....sigh......ya gotta love the summertime!

side note: we have owned the pool and swimming suit for 3 days, and have been swimming twice and she already freaks out whenever she sees either one of them.

randomness

2009-05-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

IN CASE YOU CARE: (and since you clicked on the blog.....you must! :) HA!)

we finished planting our garden....already things have died.....this is not a good beginning....

we got back our family pictures that we took while in jerome.....i am super happy with how it turned out. (its the pic above)

i have committed to running a 10K.....i am super Xcited. (i don't know why i spelled that, that way....probably because i'm cool.)

nova is 10 months. KA-RAZY (this is the only pic i took yesterday on her 10 month birthday....i had such good intentions.

i was more thankful for my mother this past mothers day than last (which i didn't know could be possible.) but now being a mother myself i am eternally grateful for the time, patience and love that my mother put into raising me. if i can become half the woman she is, it will be a miracle. she is so loving and caring and has the capacity to love so much. she is sincere and hard working and is a wonderful support. i also am blessed with an awesome mother in law. she is a great example to me of optimism, and living the gospel. i love them both and i love being a mom to my little nova. i never knew how awesome/hard/fun/rewarding/perfect it would be......and from the looks of this pic, nova didn't know what she was getting into either.

and lastly, i am mad that helen won the biggest loser.....seriously tara? mike? why didn't you pull through for me? grrr....oh, well, they all look great and i cried through the whole thing, while fighting the urge to eat a cookie.

cinco de mayo: part dos

2009-05-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

here are the pics from this years celebration. and if you are feeling bad about forgetting about cinco de mayo or didn't celebrate it in true fashion, there is always sies de mayo. (may 6th) (dan woke up this morning and asked what we were doing for the sies de mayo.....uh....nothing.....my back is out from the pinata....j/k!)

p.s. the reason i look like total bum in these pictures is because i made mango salsa.....(yum-o! i know.....suzanne and mango salsa shouldn't go in the same sentence, but its true.) i digress.... i, first off, cannot cut an onion without totally crying and suffering from SEVERE burnage of the eyes SECONDLY, i think i may have gotten mango juice in my eye and my eyes were completely swollen, and i did not feel too great for the celebration. next year, i suppose i will add to my book/list of things i wish i would have known before cinco de mayo: wear goggles when making mango salsa, or eyes may implode and then explode and you will look a mess for your documentary pictures for posterity and all of blog-dom to see.

before: the hope clan with little penelope the parrot pinata.

after: penelope is dead, and dan is wearing a turban?

nova trying to break the pinata with her bare hands.

the delicious culprit.........mango salsa of eye burning delight!

cinco de mayo!

2009-05-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

happy cinco de mayo!

last year our cinco de mayo celebration was one of the funnest (i know....not a word...whatev...) holidays we celebrated in our small apartment. but after the celebration ended, i decided i should write a book entitled "what i wish i would have known on cinco de mayo day" but it wasn't really long enough for a book....so i decided to hold it in memory to share with someone someday....and you are that someone. and that someday is today. ah...hem....let me begin.

what i wished i would have known on cinco de mayo day.

1. don't put smarties inside the pinata....they explode on impact.....and then you have tiny smartie pieces and dust particles everywhere....and it is not fun to clean up.
2. you can buy pinata's in the basement of taco time......what? yes, its true. for cheap. i know: CA...RAZY
3. taking pictures and holding the stick/broom for the pinata at the same time is dangerous.....especially if you are pregnant.....
4. and thats about it......you can see how the whole book idea didn't fly.....aNyWAy.....here are some pics of last year.

here is dan and i....completely excited to eat our enchilada's, play uno, watch the 3 amigos, and break open our pinatas....in true hope fashion....complete with crazy faces.

here i am with my pinata.....pregnant hormonal woman with a stick....watch out little fish.....

here is dan, who apparently thinks he is playing baseball ....watch out everyone within 20 yards

here is the destruction afterwards....sorry little fishy's......please note the smartie explosion below.

also, in other news, our garden is clear. it is a miracle and we had tons of help and I AM SO GRATEFUL. after bagging another 20 bags yesterday, my cousin kelsi and her husband kevin and kids came over with a trailer and we loaded up the million bags.....or something, and threw the rest over the fence onto the trailer. then they helped drive it over and unload it at the weber county compost facility. yay! its done! and we COULD NOT have done it without help. it was a good lesson for me to learn that you don't always have to do things by yourself and that allowing others to serve you is a good thing. anyway, it looks SO good and now we can plant a garden!!!! whoo-hoo!!!.....(just for a little FYI: we bought a box of 40 black bags and used an ADDITIONAL 20 from another box........whew!) i am so grateful for the opportunity our landlords have given us to grow a garden. i am really excited!

BEFORE: (i know this was on my previous post....but its a big deal to me!)

AFTER:

war

2009-04-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

i have been at war. i am armed with shovel, spade, rake and trash bags, and i feel as though i am losing the battle with..................................our garden spot.....or the potential of a garden spot anyway. i have bagged 30 large trash bags of sticks, branches, and weeds, this past week. and i am only HALF-WAY done! what the what? i have raged everyday for more than a few hours getting down to what i am praying to be decent earth to grow produce in. BAH!!! i'm glad i didn't join the army.

but on the plus side, we are so blessed that our landlords are letting us use their yard for a garden, i have a better tan in late april than i did last august. i shower twice a day. once in the morning after running and once at night after being outside in the yard all day and nova loves being outside, and while i have anxiously been bagging, shoveling, sweating and pseudo-swearing she has probably consumed 15-30 leaves. she loves them, and i look over from the garden and she is squealing with grass, and leaves coming out of her mouth......crazy nut. hopefully there isn't a lot of protein in dead leaves, or we're in trouble. i'll try to get a picture. i am hoping that by tomorrow the garden war will nearly be over since we need to be PLANTING not PLOWING ASAP. but here is a pic of it at the beginning.....it doesn't do it ANY justice. i made it bigger to give you somewhat of a better idea. (please note the fence. you have no idea how tempting it is just to throw all the crap over it onto the neighbors side......but that would be rude, and seeing that national rude day isn't anywhere in the near future, i bag it in nice large black trash bags.......sigh.......i just know that by the time we get it cleaned and planted, we'll probably move....(which i think is dan's secret prayer, since he doesn't like his job much.)

and here is a random tidbit -- last friday was national pretzel day. yum. i made homemade pretzels and kind of forgot about them while they were raising....needless to say they were eNoUrmOusLy eNourMous. perhaps i should get a timer. sorry no pics.

my cousin kelsi had a birthday last monday and i ventured to make a cake. she loves moose. meese? hmmm.....anyway, so i did my best in making a moose cake because she is totally an outstanding person......needless to say i am waiting for the foodnetwork to call me to start my own show.

and here are some pics of nova by some of our flowers.....man i love this kid! and some of her getting dressed....

easterz

2009-04-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

you know in nacho libre when the priest talks about easterz? i love nacho libre....sigh....when i grow up i want to be him.....i mean really? blue stretch pants? AWESOME!!! anyway, about OUR easterz. it was enjoyable. we had good weather, went to church, went to the park, ate a fabulous easter feast of grilled cheese and tater tots.....who needs ham really? i hate water retention. then we all had a bit of a nap and had the easter egg hunt of our life. ok, not really, but it was pretty sweet. nova has no clue about easter, and could care less, AND chocolate bunnies aren't really part of her diet in the future anYway, but she does like running around on our shoulders and clapping. which is what she did while dan and i did a service easter egg hunt. at the beginning we both wrote down a number 1 service and a number 2 service we would like to recieve. we took turns hiding eggs in our enormous yard and whoever found the eggs in the fastest amount of time won the prize of the other person's #1 service, and the loser received the other person's #2 service. hopefully that makes sense. if not. don't stress. I WON....of course.....8 minutes and 12 eggs seriously. cake. i was like a hawk circling the nest checking for eggs everywhere. ok, actually dan and i both looked like morons running and darting around with a bowl in our hand. i took advantage of the colored eggs and won because of my super strategic placement of the blue egg on the blue bike. high five me! so i owe dan cinnamon rolls and he owes me a trip to the sandy aquarium and or zoo with lunch. sweet! anyway, it was pretty fun and i forgot how much fun easter egg hunts are. you never grow out of that kind of thing. at least you shouldn't have to.

anyway, here are some pics of nova and the eggs. she did enjoy throwing them. and running around the yard clapping. you always perform better when you have a cheering section right? as you can see, nova just wants to touch the eggs. who cares about a picture. this is the best that we got.

also, we are clearing out a garden spot......its a nightmare. more on that later. AND it is april 15th, and it is SNOWING and we have been given a WINTER WEATHER WARNING.....3 words. barf. a. rama. if anyone reading this is going to visit mother nature for the weekend be sure to give her a calender. i think she is confused. april does not equal december. i know that christmas and easter both have to do with the savior, but seriously!

oh and here is the famous magic whisk. nova loves this kitchen utensil. she freaks out every time we pull it out. it is a weird relationship, but whatever makes her happy.

OH AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: dan and i are going to do a spring music video. (i know---you are all super excited. but we decided we would let those who enjoy the blog decide the song. if you have a preference. let us know! (i know our christmas music video will be hard to beat. but darn it. we'll try!))

and this is just a goofy pic i took....nova needs her eyebrows plucked!

sweet nectar....

2009-04-10T16:00:00.001-07:00

our furnace is fixed and my toes are warm.....and i can no longer see my breath. can life get any better? i submit it can not......unless dan maybe brings a pizza home after work.... :)

and just because i get in major trouble for not posting a pic when i blog.....this pic is from kade's baptism

excuses, excuses...in case you care

2009-04-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

whoa, i haven't blogged in ages. i guess i should explain where i have been, not that it really matters. the week after our washington trip, we went to idaho for another party. my little nephew kade was baptized, and my little niece jaycie was blessed. it was so fun to be around family, but always a little crazy! that following week dan went to vegas to gamble, ok, JOKING.....he went for CTIA, which is a tech convention for work. my mom came home with me and stayed for a few extra days because she worries about me when i am home alone......which i appreciate even though i'm a big girl. it was fun to have company, and i enjoyed her stay. she came shopping with me and i found some jeans (which i was in desperate need of....i finally fit comfortably into my pre-pregnancy jeans and what happens, the crotch rips (ok, there was already a hole...but still) and the button broke......curses! they have been my favorite pants forever and i was saddened. ANYWAY.....) and nova realized her voice echoed in the mall and was making noise the entire time. it was hilarious and slightly embarrassing at times, but welcome to motherhood right? maybe i can get her back when SHE is shopping for jeans in 15 years....(i can only imagine the utter humiliation she would get if her mother started yelling like a lunatic because the acoustics in the mall were too good to be silent.) anyway, back on track. i missed april fools with dan....i felt bad because i had some pretty sweet stuff planned, but i suppose i'll get the chance in another 11 months.

dan came home, and two girls were very glad to have him back. i hate it when he's gone. we thoroughly enjoyed general conference, and had dan's sisters jana and elisa over on sunday. this week has been full of meetings, the temple, walking to the park, mutual, our internet being down and our furnace breaking. frigid i say. hopefully it gets fixed today. i am sick of being bundled up in mid april. we borrowed a space heater from my cousin and luckily nova's room is nice and warm but the rest of the house is colder than outside and our landlords are in DC for 3 months with work. it is probably more frustrating to them than us.

also, the ward basketball team made it to regionals, and i totally thought we would take the whole thing because we had a really pretty good team. but as it always seems to be with me in any type of finals, districts, region, or championship game, we lost. i think i am bad luck or something. i was pretty bummed. but at least the team that put us out (my cousin's team) won the entire thing. at least it was fun and gave me some good exercise. but really, i wanted the XXL T-shirt that i would never have worn anyway :) haha.

and that sums up my absence. nothing exciting. just the day to day business that fills up my day. oh, i also got my hair cut. TOTALLY love it. i feel free. i feel hip and i use much less shampoo in the morning. AND....i know i am being totally random here, but i just finished the 4th Fablehaven book. if you have NOT read this series, your life isn't complete! it was AWESOME. i cannot wait for the 5th and final one to come out. totally a good read. brandon mull is an excellent writer. its a children's series so don't judge me, but it is a really fun good read that would rock for the kids as well. also, while we were in idaho, my sister in law's mom took some ADORABLE pics of nova. they turned out really cute!

here are some random videos that will perhaps make this blog more worthwhile. ok, so i thought i was uploading a completely different video and 40 minutes later it is the wrong one. so i'll just leave it. its old, but its still cute. at least the grandma's will enjoy it.

whirlwind week

2009-03-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

this last week has been a bit of a whirlwind. it started off last monday where we celebrated dan's birthday a day early. we didn't do anything too crazy, because we were trying to get ready to go to washington to visit dan's grandparents for the week. we ate a transformer cake and opened presents and watched dark knight. the next day we headed off to j-town and the following wednesday we headed to the state of washington. to be brief, here is our trip in a nutshell.

*nova traveled better than expected.
*nova and dan loved riding great grandpa hope's horse, chief. i on the other hand REFUSED to get on.....deathly afraid of horses.....
*nova got super sick while we were there.....sigh.....
*i ate fish sticks.....haven't had them since i was 5....still don't like them.
*skipped rocks in the lake....yes, grandma and grandpa hope live on a lake....why did someone not tell me this? i would have brought my swimming suit!!!!
*played mormon bridge with grandpa hope and uncle brad and aunt mel.....totally the highlight of the trip and i came to the conclusion that grandpa is hilarious, and it made me contemplate what i will be like when i get older. (if you played the game, you know that in each round there is a color that is called 'trump'....grandpa kept calling it 'trunk.' hehe....

and thats about it. we ate and visited and just chilled most of the time. the drive back was rough for me.....i struggle with long drives, but we made it home safe and sound. we returned to jerome on saturday night and made the last leg of the trip to p-view on sunday.....nova was NOT excited to be back in her car-seat and was REALLY sick of her toys.

anyway, it was a good fun trip filled with lots of snacks, many miles, and good company, so i guess you could conclude a good time was had by all. plus we had a portable dvd player in the car.....what more could you ask for? (besides nova sleeping the whole way there?!?!?)

since we have been back i have tried to stay home, and nurse the nov-ster back to health and keep her as far away from the car seat as possible because we are making yet another trip this weekend to rigby for a blessing and a baptism......hopefully nova has short term memory....unfortunately i don't and i am not looking forward to the drive.

also we had a sweet activity for mutual the other night....napoleon dynamite night--my girls won the dance off......WAHOO!! and i was pretty proud of my super sweet attire...dan on on the other hand was embarrassed that i was wearing stretch pants.

here are some pics of the trip.

nova looking rad as ever in her carseat.

dan on a horse.....what?

nova and grandpa hope on chief...seriously, click on the pic and see the look of happiness on nova's face.....its great!

nova and great grandma hope

dr. suess and confessions

2009-03-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

happy birthday to dr. suess

it's its been a long time since i blogged,
we've done much, including jogged.
and to honor dr. suess's day of birth,
we had a party....what on earth?
we wore great hats, except for our child,
she didn't like hers....she tore it up wild.
we ate green eggs and ham...and toast.
it was great fun, not to boast.
we are indeed glad for days like these,
and we will repeat next year if you please.

so despite the weird poem, we have had a busy few days. monday was dr. suess's birthday and we had a sort of party.....dan got home late from work and nova was practically in bed. but at least it was attempted right? i tried to make a sweet cookie stack dr. suess hat with red and white frosting.....it looked bad....but it still tasted pretty good! here are a few pics we took...seriously i took like 9 pictures of nova trying to get a her 'hat on.' she was NOT impressed and after 9 failed pictures the destroyed hat went in the trash......and of course dan was a good sport with his super sweet paper sack hat......and yes we look a little possessed in this picture.

yesterday nova and i ran errands and spent the afternoon outside.....she LOVED it.

and i have a confession......i do not want to make it, but, i must. i am ashamed.......AND embarrassed and i hope you don't think less of me. but i watched the bachelor......ugh. i can't believe i just admitted that to friends and family. i know its a dumb show and its addicting, and to shorten my spiel.......BLAH! i am disgusted with what happened and even more disgusted at myself for allowing myself to be sucked in to the stupid-ness and drama of it all......WHAT THE CRAP!!!!! that is all i had to say at the end. after the conclusion, i sighed and told dan as he was NOT interested in what i was watching that i really thought the couple was cute, and that they were going to be really happy together, only to find out 10 minutes later that it was all for naught and he dumped her on national television.......again.....WHAT THE CRAP??!?!?!?! and THEN 10 minutes later after the once proclaimed 'love of his life' was dumped and carted off in a limo he started oogling over the girl he dumped 6 weeks earlier.......again...WHAT THE CRAP??!?!?!? i will never name a child jason. he has forever destroyed the name.....not that i really liked it to begin with, but you know......and i am mad at the message the media sends to everyone about love. thats why so many people give up. thats what you get for watching stupid television........

drat

2009-02-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

lately my blogging has been less than interesting. normally i can think of something clever to write....but not as of late....could be lack of sleep, fighting a family cold, no time, or perhaps i am losing my creative and clever brain cells and i am just not as funny as i thought.......drat. at any rate, here are some pics, perhaps the clever, funny ideas will return soon....

nova and i constantly listen to music all day. she loves it. here is nova and dan dancing before dinner.

nova being polite for the camera......

and.....no more pictures please.....

a day in the snow

2009-02-14T14:12:00.000-08:00

this morning i woke up to a complete blizzard outside.......couldn't get out of our mountain of a driveway because it was so slick...sigh.....the groundhog was right....winter isn't over.....i guess you must embrace it eh? we took nova out in the snow today for her first time. she loved it! i'm trying to be happy about the white fluff.....but really....it can leave whenever it wants to.....nova doesn't agree though....

getting ready to go outside....

outside with dad watching the snow.....

kind of a close up.....trying to get a picture of the little snowflake on the eyelash....

valentines day what?

2009-02-13T13:46:00.001-08:00

so, i have a bone to pick about this particular holiday. the day of valentines that is. (who even came up with the expression....a 'bone to pick' anyway.....weird....)

first, i am all about sharing the love. i love to love. there are many things and people that i love, and don't mind sharing love with them. so in a way i can appreciate a specific day dedicated to love....but shouldn't we be sharing it all the time? and not merely one day a year? hmmmMMMmm......i know its a good point....

second, its just stressful for everyone involved. dan cOmPleteLy stresses out about valentines day. i feel that most men probably do. and so do women. women spend all our time thinking of what the perfect valentines day will be and it never really happens like we think it should, and then we are bummed. we also put time and effort into doing special things for our man and doing our part to be as romantic as possible all week long. this stresses the man out even more. men are stressed simply because it is the one day a year that romance is a must and some men haven't busted out the romance since LAST february 14th and are a little rusty and afraid of the expectations. they ask, 'what do i get, what does she want, what will make her oogle and want to kiss my face off because it is the epitome of perfection and romance?' ugh.

why make them stress. who likes a stressed spouse....not me. first of all, men, my husband included SHOULD....(in a perfect world) be busting out the romance daily. whether it is a love note, a small gift, a hug, a back rub, or a mere 'i love you' or their time. thats all most women want. sure there are women who are the exceptions to this thought, (maybe its you...which i am not judging) who want flowers, dinner, chocolates, a teddy bear, and hot cocoa by candlelight, but REALLY.....is it right to put such high expectations on men? i know there are men out there that are REALLY good at the romance thing and they woo their women all the time. awesome. great. but its just not how it works in most relationships. thats all i am saying. at some point or another every married and non married women has had too high of expectations for their man, and been savagely disappointed. (myself included) and its not fair to them. they don't read minds and romance isn't as natural as leaving the toilet seat open. so maybe help them out a little and ease the stress. give em ideas....maybe its not AS romantic, but its better than eating stale chips at 10:00 watching the news right on the night of february 14th.

and thirdly.....my last issue with the day starting with the letter V.......pink and red is a bad psychedelic combo.....PLEASE....lets move to the prettier holiday of easter shall we....pastels are much easier on the eye.

and with all that being said, i need to go wonder what dan is doing for me tomorrow and what romance he will bust out.....after all, this week i have sent him love notes, heart shaped sandwiches, strawberry pie and chocolate covered strawberries in his lunch.....and that doesn't even come close to what i have planned for tommorrow. i am thinking he probably will take me on a hot air balloon ride with micheal buble singing in the background and then he'll give me the perfect gift (that i can't even tell you what it is, because i don't even know what the perfect gift would be.....but i'm sure he does,) and we will embrace like they do on those jewelry commercials.......i'm sure thats exactly how it will play out.......hahahaha.....i am COMPLETELY joking......

and for some pics to make a long post longer....

here is a family pic of today visiting dan on his lunch break. (sorry nova, you have a sun chin)

and for those of you who feel that dan and i taint the picture....here is one with just nova.

just some pics

2009-02-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

i am not even remotely in the mood to blog, nor to be sister clever pants, but i thought i would post some pics.

nova and her new BFF Ning-Boo bear....thats what it says on the tag folks....we didn't make it up. she got it at her last visit to primary children's and she loves this thing. and its so cute when she sleeps with it.....as shown.....

nova and her sweet winter hat that we wear when we go on walks to get the mail.

and as always, a picture of nova after church.....but seriously, who doesn't love their kid in a dress.....unless your kid is a boy, then perhaps it isn't quite as cute......(and this super color-rific dress.....4 dollars.....oh sweet, sweet nectar.....someone give me a high five pUH-Leese!)

also we a WAY excited that nova has a new cousin, jaycie faith. she is SUPER cute and nova is so excited to re-unite with her after their brief separation from heaven mere months ago. AND nova was excited that her other cousin owen (and carter and maddie) as well as my brother ty and sis in law amanda came to visit this weekend. we had much fun with them while also enjoying the delicious-ness of red robin....YUM! thanks for coming to see us guys!

disparaging news from a hog...

2009-02-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

this little creature + his shadow =

this:

times 6 weeks........BLAH!!!

yesterday i was all miffed because the groundhog saw his shadow and i am SO over winter at this point in the season.....even though the sun seems to be in rebellion of winter right now too because it is GORGEOUS outside right now.....and i. am. loving. it....but according to Phil....it ain't gonna last....

but despite the drab news from the hog who lives in the ground, i could not let it get me down and of course in true suzanne fashion....i celebrated.

the little pic above (is supposed to be a ground hog) was inserted into a grilled cheese sandwich that was painted green with food coloring to give the appearance of a groundhog coming out of the green grass......it looked ridiculous and so i didn't take a picture but dan got a good laugh out of it and so did i. i also hung 6 snowflakes above the table to symbolize the 6 more weeks of winter we must suffer through.......but at least it gives me something to look forward too!

desparate times call for help from the blogging community.....

2009-02-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

6:00am-8:00pm = a fairly happy, busy little nova...who takes a good morning nap, yet terrible afternoon nap......but still fairly pleasant....
8:00pm-2:00am = peace and quiet in our home.
2:00 am-6:00 am = NO ONE sleeping in the household.

things we have tried:
*night light/no night light
*crying it out (both nova and mom and dad)....2 hours later....we gave up.....
*feeding her
*music
*rocking and singing
*tylenol/teething tablets

..........and NOTHING has been a success.......

suggestions?!?! (besides selling her to the circus.....i have a posting on craigslist but there have been no responses thus far....)

dan: the cause of my sleepless nights

2009-01-29T12:52:00.000-08:00

some may wonder what the heck my title is referring too. but really, do you need to worry that i won't explain?

back in '05 when dan and i began dating, i had many sleepless nights because he was either on my mind or i was with him until the very last possible second until curfew. then, when we got married, adjusting to another living, breathing human being in my bed was yet another cause of near insomnia. now having a baby (which also had very much to do with dan.....i feel i don't need to explain......) has caused me a plethora upon plethora of sleepless nights.......lately nova has been sleeping.....well.....not sleeping......she did so well until christmas time and its all been downhill from there. why? i don't have any idea....but to keep it positive.....we sure do love her and its a good thing she's a super-nova-babe, or we just might sell her to the circus!

nova looking cute for church....i LOVE this headband heather.....i got SO many compliments on it.....she finally will leave it in!

nova just being nova-licious.....and check out the no-hawk....that's right....its not a mohawk, but a no-hawk...

also here are some cute clips of nova dancing.....she is hilarious. she has this toy that she got from grandma hope and she LOVES it......and i always dance when its on and now she does it...........who knew you could get such sweet dance moves from your own mother!?!?!

lookin bigger

2009-01-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

not much has happened the last 2 days. we did however celebrate national popcorn day a day late. but no pictures.....oh well. i did find some sweet plastic popcorn boxes at the dollar store so dan and i drank out of them for dinner and then later ate out of them.....so to keep in my parents will, here are some pics of nova that i took just today.

lookin pretty big......

and it looks like she knows it. what a cheeser!

photo shoot

2009-01-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

here is a photo shoot and a brief commentary of the shots:

not looking......

kinda blurry......

bingo! holy cow, i have a cute kid. enough said.

national popcorn day!

2009-01-16T13:04:00.000-08:00

happy national popcorn day! nova got her 6 month immunizations today and is less than herself today, so i don't know if i have the energy and the time to go all out today and celebrate,....but for sure tomorrow! and you all should too!

here are some ideas that i personally think are hilarious......not that anybody cares, BUT if you need a date night or something fun to do....here you go.....plus, i don't have anyone to talk to right now, so at least i can get out my ideas right?

so you can do the following:
*eat popcorn and watch a movie. (but come on....do a little more!)
*have a 'catch the popcorn in your mouth contest' and see who can catch the most in a row.....or something.
*have a popcorn throwing contest.
*make white chocolate covered popcorn---here is my awesome sister heathers recipe:
1 bag microwaved popcorn
3 cubes of white almond bark
---pop popcorn, let cool and get out all kernels
---melt chocolate, poor over popcorn, stir to coat and dump on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and let cool and harden. you can also poor m&m's in while stirring in chocolate.....DIVINE!!!
*eat corn and drink pop for dinner with popcorn chicken......
*make popcorn and take it to neighbors and sing the song 'popcorn popping on the apricot tree' as if you are caroling.......you might want to go to people who would find this at least slightly funny.

hmmmmMMmmmMMmm......and i think thats all i came up with while rocking nova. so there you have it---fun night....not a lot of effort. OR.....if you want to have friends over, fill a jar of kernels or pieces of popcorn and have them guess how many are in the jar....winner gets a can of corn! or something......WHY am i even blogging about this.....honestly, i am just procrastinating things i SHOULD be doing.....but none-the-less, national popcorn day ONLY comes once a year.....so celebrate good times! COME ON!

also, i want to brag on dan a little.....he is so awesome. the last 2 nights he dressed up as a soldier/army dude and delivered invitations for new beginnings for the young women in our ward. 22 houses he visited ladies and gentleman.....in the dark and cold......what a trooper. he looked awesome and scared the crap out of some of the girls. it was hilariously awesome! i love him for doing crazy things for me! here is what he looked like! thanks again dan....i owe you big!

dirty litttle trap snappers

2009-01-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

as mentioned in my last blog we have a little bit of a vermin problem....we have rodents on a rampage, that are messing with our food storage and i am thoroughly grossed out. i detest EVERYTHING about mice. they are small and have beady eyes, they carry disgusting diseases. they chew holes in things and reproduce by the jillions. AND they are in our house....well at least part of it....they are only in our pantry, which i REFUSE to go in now. dan thinks i am ridiculous, i think i am wise.

ANYWAY, we bought some traps, decon, and set 4 traps yesterday. all night long i swear i could hear traps snapping. needless to say we have caught 2 in less than 24 hours. dan was disgusting as he was carrying them out trying to explain how they really are beautiful creatures.......yeah right. well i have been thinking about the whole mice problem today....its a little hard to get it off my mind.....and and i have decided that i will no longer call them mice, but trap snappers and i will TRY to not be such a hater BECAUSE i know that Heavenly Father created all things and he took the time to create 'the trap snappers.' but its gonna be hard.......you see my detest for the trap snappers goes back to a young age of i don't even know....but its irrelevant........my siblings and i were getting ready to go outside and play in the snow. so being the obedient daughter that i am, i put on snow boots as requested by my mother. well there was something in the bottom of the boot and i thought it to be a sock from the last person who wore them.......so i put my hand DOWN the boot and shook it......nope, not a sock but a trap snapper....scarred. for a lifetime. no doubt about it.

SO....we'll see how i do. PLUS now that i have children of my own, i don't want to push the fear onto them........even though i feel the fear to be extremely logical. but whatever.
here are some pics of happy things that have nothing to do with the dirty little trap snappers.....i mean....a wonderful creature that was created that i wish was not in my house right now.

here are some pics of some reindeer cupcakes i made for the young women in our ward for christmas. they were super fun to make.

here is nova on her 6 month b-day......in a super CUTE orange sweatsuit that is WAY to big for her.......

and here is a cute one of nova getting ready to eat some tasty rice cereal and applesauce mixture.

and here is dan reading to nova before her bath. the book is one that he gave her for christmas

snippets and comments from the holiday season...and beyond

2009-01-12T09:58:00.001-08:00

ok.....its been ages since i posted. and a jillion things have happened. so i will merely write boring snippets of what has occurred since our totally awesome christmas video! hahaha....i still laugh when i think about it......

first off....nova is 6 months TODAY!!! CRAZY!!!! she is doing SO good. eating solids, rolling over, almost sitting up, babbling and grasping really well. she is such a ham and loves attention and singing, and gives great hugs and really slobbery kisses. the last 6 months have been the hardest and the best for dan and i. she is so worth every bit of it. i have never been as sleep deprived, stressed, worried or happy in my life. dan and nova make me so happy and keep me really busy. it makes so much sense that family is the center of our church. i am glad i know that we can be together forever.

now to back up a bit, christmas was fabulous. we had a great time at the hopes, nova didn't have a clue what was going on christmas morning, but still enjoyed herself and got some cute clothes and fun books and toys. new years eve, nova was sick and dan and i just stayed home...we really are old farts...we went to bed BEFORE midnight...LAME-O...but nova refused to be an old fart and woke us up right before midnight......apparently she wanted to see the new year in, but she must have been disappointed because she feel asleep shortly after.........

we took nova to primary children's hospital last monday and she is doing eXceLLent! we don't have to stick her heel and get blood EVERY week, we can now go every other which is WONDERFUL!!!! AND we don't have to go back until JUNE!!!! sweet nectar of nectars!

my mom has come down to visit, while dan went out of town for a business trip and it was SO nice to have some company. dan has worked a ton the last few months and having some estrogen in the house was nice.

in totally disgusting news, we have a mouse in our storage room which is right off of our room.......VOMIT! we are in the process of trying to fix the problem....do they make mouse bombs? i was thinking that would be a great invention. set it off and all little disease ridden vermon would be extinguished within a 50 mile radius.....or something.....i don't want them to die necessarily, i just don't want to be near them.....especially near where i sleep and keep my food.........again.....VOMIT! sigh....i digress....

this pic is of nova last week....so ALMOST 6 months.....

dan completed a project he has been working on since OCTOBER......again....sweet nectar of nectars. yes it is a bridge completely made out of toothpicks....minus the strings of course.....gotta love that boy!

also, he didn't shave the entire month of december.....which was apparent in the christmas video in our last post, and here are some pics as he slowly shaved it off at his parents house......i am simply glad he is well groomed MOST of the time and that he DOES NOT have a mustache......it doesn't suit him, and i don't like it!

later today i will post some videos and pics of nova on her 6 month birthday! i know.....you are all excited! :)

an unconventional christmas card

2008-12-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

merry christmas! here is a christmas card--hope style!

(there are parts that are slightly off.....dan had it perfect, but the downloading process messed it up a bit......ARG! also, thank you valerie for the sweet christmas sweaters! we have been dying to wear them!!! hahahaha!)

and if that wasn't enough for you, here is a poem, that sums up our year!

ode to 2008

january brought a lot of snow, but beyond that it was pretty lame,
dan fell playing church basketball, and now his knees won't be the same.
suzanne was sick of being in the apartment with no car and all the snow,
she took up some hobbies, but none of them included learning how to sew.

february we found out the gender of our little baby
it was definitely a girl, he said, not could be, or maybe.

in march dan had his birthday and renewed his drivers license,
we almost crashed on our way there, it was scary and intense.
in our ward we received a calling in the nursery,
in this month we also were past our 2 and 1/2 year anniversary.

in april we decided that we needed more space than our one bedroom,
so we found a basement apartment that would fit the baby in the womb.
dan built a table in our living room complete with sandpaper and saw,
it was a mess, but suzanne was impressed, and the result left her in awe.

may came and we packed up all our stuff and headed to pleasant view,
pregnant and moving wasn't fun and when we were finished, we said 'phew!'

june was full of decorating and planning for our new addition,
i was definitely looking pregnant, and it was hard to find a comfortable position.
we helped watch my cousins kids while they went to haw-aii,
we were both glad we were having one baby, instead of having 3.

july was hot and suzanne's ankles became really swol-len
the due date was drawing near and we both kept asking when?
we went for lots and lots of walks, we even did some jogging.
we ate spicy foods and i even tried squatting.

finally on the 12th, our little baby arrived
labor was pretty hard, and suzanne is glad that she survived.

in august we learned all about the disorder PKU,
we loved our little nova and cleaned up lots of pooh.

in september and october we enjoyed the season we call fall,
we were out and about and we probably went to the mall.

in november we enjoyed our thanksgiving quite alot,
we had fun with family and even did a turkey trot.

now it is the very merry, merry month of december,
and we are taking the time to look back and remember,
all the things we have and love and hold very very dear,
you are all included, and hope you have a happy new year!

we are so blessed and really are so thankful for all that we have. we are thankful for this wonderful time of year and for all the friends and support that we have. we are thankful for this christmas time and for our Savior who is the reason for the season.

have a very merry christmas!!!

love the hopes

shortest blog ever in the history of suzanne

2008-12-18T11:41:00.001-08:00

i haven't posted for a while, but here are some cute pics of the nova-nator
hope everyone is having a great holiday season! ONE WEEK TO CHRISTMAS!!!!
oh sweet, sweet nectar!

also, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BLAIN AND SARAH!

nova says, "thanks for getting married and having my dad, so my dad could marry my mom and they could have ME! i can't wait to see you next week!"

suzanne and dan say, "happy anniversary! we love you a ton and are excited to see you too. you are wonderful parents and grandparents and you are great examples of the gospel and marriage! we love you! have a great day!"

don't cry over spilled milk.....

2008-12-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

i don't even quite know where to begin with this entry. i guess i can only start at the beginning. yesterday i was perusing blogs and such and came upon the following picture at the better homes and gardens website.

first of all....clever! i loved the idea on the top left hand corner--snowman drink----the donut holes and glasses of milk.....well that idea led to another and i decided that we would have a white christmas dinner! oh, how fun i thought to myself.......BUT, i didn't necessarily have donut holes laying around in my pantry, or clear skinny glasses...and i HATE going to the store, especially if i have already been there ONCE already in a week. (i like to plan and do all my errands on one day so i don't haul nova all over ogden and collect germs along the way....i know i am paranoid....but no one likes a sick kid.....ANYWAY......) despite my dislike for the shopping idea, i did need a prescription anyway and decided to once again travel into the outside world.

we ran to the dollar store for some skinny tall glasses. then to walmart to fill my prescription AND to pick up donut holes---which they didn't have, so i got powdered donuts instead thinking i could make it work (and i also picked up milk and bread and some other necessary things so i could count this as NEXT weeks trip to the store as well. so i got the other items for the things on next weeks menu, badda-bing, badda-boom. done. well sorta. the nice pharmacist at wal-mart.....which i hate the wal-mart here....that is another blog and another time....told me it would be another HOUR before my prescription would be ready. normally i would say, what-ev, i roll with the punches, but i had a hungry child in the cart and decided i would just run back tomorrow without nova, while dan was home.....i wasn't about to breastfeed in public. PLUS i had a totally awesome white christmas dinner to decorate for! holla! so we toodled home.

we pulled in, i grabbed the car-seat in one arm, and grabbed my other groceries and my purse and my gallon of milk in the other and started the trek down our sidewalk to our door.

ok, i don't really know how to explain what happened next, and i am even embarrassed to try. i started up the sidewalk that is slightly inclined and then i ate some cement. i biffed it. i tripped, i ate it, i fell like i have never fallen before. it happened so fast, i didn't even have time to let my life flash before me. first my right knee hit, then my mouth and nose decided to connect with the asphalt. oh, and somewhere in the middle, my left hip took the brunt of the fall as well--i don't remember that part. being loaded down with child and groceries i couldn't even catch myself. i thought i had broken teeth AND bloodied my nose.........but it wasn't blood, it was my MILK---my milk had exploded, disintegrated over our sidewalk and i was laying in the white mess.

seriously. it. was. everywhere.

i quickly got up to make sure nova was ok--she was thankfully. she was smiling, and wondering why her blanket wasn't over her car seat anymore. i grabbed her and carried her into the house, ran back out and carried my milky grocery sacks and set them by the front door, ran back and picked up the pieces of milk carton, and took a jug of water out to rinse off the milk, my pride and my face off the sidewalk, AND i needed to cover the evidence because i tripped RIGHT in front of our landlords front door.

'SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?' i kept thinking. 'did that really just happen?' i ran back in the house to wash my hands and changed out of my milky clothes so i could feed my hungry child. i didn't know whether to laugh....because i KNEW it was hilarious, or cry because my chin was scratched, my knee was swollen and i already had a huge gash and bruise forming on my hip. i fed nova and changed her diaper and then went to survey the damage after situating her on the floor with some toys. my milk was obviously destroyed and had previously been rinsed off the sidewalk. my milk had also destroyed and soggy-ed my 2 loaves of bread. and last but certainly not least, my white, tall, skinny glasses you ask? CRUSHED!!!! CURSE THAT CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK!!!!!

SO......to end this senseless rambling, i still did our white christmas dinner even though it wasn't that cool because i didn't have the cool snowman drink---i just made snowman out of my powdered donuts. we didn't make snowflakes to hang above our table because i was in kind of a crusty mood. but here are some picks of our dinner---a day i never want to repeat. and today i feel like i was hit by a a very large semi truck. (and i know....the soup is yellow....but what ev)

and here are some pics of nova

and a picture of the hole in our bathroom ceiling.....but it has been fixed thanks to our awesome landlords!

not all choosy moms choose JIF

2008-12-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

choosy moms don't always choose JIF. just recently i was indulging in an occasional past time of mine.....ok, so its not really occasional---its quite frequent in fact---in taking a spoonful of peanut butter and then eating chocolate chips with it WITH a tall glass of milk--(don't forget the dairy!) sigh.....yummy! aNYway, i opened a new jar of peanut butter to indulge, and it happened to be JIF brand. to make a long story shorter, we had a huge stock pile of western family peanut butter that we have rotated through our food storage and have since replaced it with JIF----thank you costco for allowing bulk purchase for a decent price! ANYWAY.....it was gross, not delectible or enjoyable, just yuck-tastic.......maybe i have grown immune to the lack of quality in generic brands, but who cares? give me my western family back! sorry JIF, but this choosy mom is choosing not to choose you.

also, here i have my camera cord back and here are some pics from the thanksgiving festivities.

my lil nephew kade---dance off champion 2008

the jerry hall family turkey trot 08

dan and i pumped for the race

and here is a cute picture of my fam taking a nap on sunday

also another quick story, a few weeks ago nova and i went to dan's work to take him a work treat. he has recently moved buildings and now has his very own cubicle! sort of.....anyway, we took him some square gray sugar cubicle cookies, and a picture of nova for his desk.

and here is a picture of dan reading with one of nova's toy ducks.......weird! :) it looks like mr. duck is trying to move in on my territory!

and nova lookin cute in her sweet winter hat!