they lied

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

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

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

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

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

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!!!

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.