On friendship, sisters and bravery

Do you know my friend, Casey? She is kind of a big deal. Our story is one of those "we were childhood friends who grew apart because of life's circumstances and then were reunited because of the blogging world" old chestnuts.

Barb and Casey, circa 2007 (yes, we're at Baskin-Robbins in the dead of winter, what of it?)

Casey found my blog one day and we reconnected. We had both changed a lot since our days of playing on the same street and planning elaborate pet talent shows. We became friends again based on the adults we now are, not the children we were. Even though she lives in Indiana, I feel lucky that I'm on the shortlist of people she wants to see when she comes back home for a visit.

At the premiere of Twilight- I've never heard so many preteens squealing all in one place!

Casey's expertise in navigating the blogging world has given me courage- she helps me to be brave enough to try new things (I've called her my security blanket before). She has opened her soul to her readers on her blog in a way that can only be described as honest, admirable and raw, even. She has struggled with horrible demons and challenges like depression and infertility and come through it stronger and purified as if by the refiner's fire. She is one of the bravest people I know.

at the Pioneer Woman's book signing last year

Casey is expecting her second daughter (nicknamed Mozzi) who joins her first little cutie whose nickname was The Moosh. She will have two girls and they will have a sister. I have a sister, as does Casey- we know firsthand that sometimes a girl just needs her sister. Both of us are separated from our sisters by large geographical distances. I think sisterhood and friendship are closely linked- sometimes, if you're lucky, you can find sisters in the world to be your surrogate sister. That's what I wish for Casey- that she will always have sisters around her to help her through those hard times. (So far, she's got a small army all organized by Emily to throw her this virtual baby shower!) And that's what I wish for Mozzi- that she and The Moosh will love and support each other.

at the Casual Blogger Conference last year

Congratulations, Casey! I'm so happy that another baby gets to have you for a mom, because you're awesome at it.

Nighttime

Charlie, I love our nighttime routine. Usually Daddy is home and we do the routine all together, the three of us. It doesn't take very long, but it is my favorite time of day.

We get your bottle out of the fridge and head into the bedroom. This turns into a game of "I'm gonna get you..." that you never seem to tire of. You and daddy hide under the covers on the big bed until I find you. You always scream and laugh.

I love putting lotion on your lovely skin, keeping the eczema you've had your whole life at bay.

I love putting on your footie pajamas and telling you "One arm, two arm. One leg, two leg." and having you help put on your jammies.

I love going into the nursery together. Daddy carries you and then lets me get settled in the glider and then hands you to me- you are getting heavy and I let Dad do the heavy lifting whenever I can.

I love your independence and I remind myself of that when we struggle to get your teeth brushed. We do it in the glider and it takes a lot of patience on our parts as we convince you to take turns brushing- Charlie's turn, Mama's turn, Charlie's turn, Dada's turn. Charlie's turn involves lots of chewing toothbrush bristles and asking for more toothpaste.

I love reading books to you on my lap while Dad sits on the footstool nearby. Sometimes Dad does the reading and I sit on the footstool, but I love that Daddy lets me have more than my fair share of turns snuggling you and reading to you. I love that you can find the moon (and lots of other things) in your favorite books, including Goodnight, Moon, Goodnight, Gorilla, Pajama Time, and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

After a few books, we sing songs. I love hearing your dad sing with me to you. We add new ones every so often, but the favorites are Itsy, Bitsy Spider, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, I am a Child of God, Snow is Falling all Around, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. We always end with "May There Always Be Sunshine" a song we learned at Kindermusik. (It's a Russian children's song and there are many versions, this is how we sing it each night). (Mama usually does the signs as we sing).

May there always be sunshine,
May there always be blue skies,
May there always be mama,
May there always be me.

May there always be laughter,
May there always be big hugs, (with a big SQUEEZE from Dad)
May there always be daddy,
May there always be me.

I love praying with you each night, Dad and I taking turns saying the prayer. I'm excited for the day when you will pray in your own little voice, right now you just listen.

I love getting you into your crib and making sure you have your two blankies and your toy giraffe and the rest of your bottle. You snuggle right up and "get cozy".

I love that after we have turned out the light and turned on the sound machine, we always say, "Goodnight, buddy. We love you. See you in the morning."

And I love that after we shut the door, your dad and I turn to each other and say, "I love that guy." We love you so much, Charlie. We are so lucky.

Jolly Green Giant giveaway (*sponsored post)

As a child, my parents were great about letting us try different activities. I remember trying lots of things once and not really sticking with anything. One of the things we tried was a children's contemporary dance class at a studio called Virginia Tanner Dance. I remember that my sister and I were placed in the beginning class because we were total novices. However, many of the children in our class were much younger than us. Over the course of the class we had to create and then perform an original piece of choreography to go along with our assigned color. We were assigned green so we made up a dance with tall, tree-like moves (I think that's what we did. It seems really weird now, but that's kind of what I remember doing.) Then we were given our costumes- they were green leotards with different patches of green fabric sewn on. The green patchwork costumes coupled with our obvious larger stature led my sister and I to dub ourselves the Jolly Green Giants of the group. That was not my favorite performance.

Our costumes were remarkably similar to this

image source

I've always thought of that story when I see the Green Giant brand and now you can, too!

Anyway, I have an opportunity to give away a fun little prize package to one of you. I received a prize package from Green Giant and MyBlogSpark to test out. The prize package included one frozen sample of Green Giant boxed vegetables, an insulated tote bag, serving bowl, a heat-resistant serving spoon, and pedometer. I actually was most excited about the insulated bag- I have already used it to take a pot of soup to someone in the hospital and it was still steaming hot an hour after I got there. I was impressed!



Frozen vegetables work really well in our house because I never know who will be here for dinner and when, so they are a lot more convenient than fresh produce sometimes. This particular package of veggies was a broccoli and cheese one- something that both of my particular boys will eat. And they have Weight Watchers points on the package for those of you who might be interested in that.

Please leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite or least favorite vegetable is to enter to win your own prize package (the insulated tote alone is worth it, but all the other stuff is pretty cool, too.) You have until Friday, February 25th to enter.

Charlie-21 months

Giveaway post still open below!!

I'm a little behind on my updates: we've just been busy playing with our fun little guy. I just love this age- Charlie is talking more and more every day and he says the funniest things. He is just the most fun little companion throughout my day. Here's some of what he's been up to.

He's been saying "mmmmMMMMmmmm" with so much emphasis. He does it while eating but also sometimes in the bathtub while drinking bath water (gross).

He hides so quietly that sometimes it takes me a few minutes to find him. Before, I usually could find him by his excited giggles but now he's figured out stealth hiding. Luckily, he has a few favorite spots and can often be found in them (behind the rocking chair, by my side of the bed, in my closet behind my clothes, under the dining room table, behind his curtains in his room, up the ramp toward Grandma Barb's apartment, etc.)

Playing with stickers at church- this kept him occupied for at least 20 minutes

He still loves his trains and plays with them every day

He loves to play the piano with mom, dad or by himself- he really likes to turn the pages of the Children's Songbook and look at the illustrations

Charlie is the only child in our ward's nursery. He loves it, though, because it means he gets to have all these great toys to himself!

This child LOVES the snow. He will go out and "help" shovel whenever given the chance.

Look at that pure joy on his face!

He often begs for a "no ba" (translation: snowball) and often eats them on the couch like a treat. This one day I convinced him to wear his mittens so his hands wouldn't get too cold.

When Sam and Lily got new bikes for Christmas, Lily let Charlie borrow this old bike of hers so he wouldn't feel left out. He can't ride it, but he loves to sit on it or be pushed around on it.

We finished Kindermusik (which we LOVED) and started a Gymboree class (with James and Chelsea). It's been so great for these two little boys to get out all their energy on the fun slides, ramps, and mats. Charlie has a look of intense concentration on his face the whole time- he hardly talks or smiles because he is so focused on the "work" of climbing and sliding and picking up balls and rolling them down the slides and ramps.

(John joined us on the last day of Kindermusik. You can see our teacher Ms. Katie and Chelsea and James all playing the drums.)

Here's Charlie exploring a tunnel at Gymboree

Charlie found this Lilo and Stitch hat at Sam and Lily's house and they graciously let him have it (I think my dad bought it for them at Disney on Ice?) He wears it at least once every day. His favorite thing to do is put on this hat and a multi-colored string of beads and go running through the house, sometimes running into walls and doors.

Charlie found my Grandma Bonnie's old magnifying glass and he LOVES it. He thinks it is the funniest thing ever!
Charlie is getting really attached to his matchbox cars and trains- he carries them around with him and gets upset when he can't hold them all at once. He lined them up on the couch like that all by himself. Also pictured, his two blankies (a green one and a blue one) that he needs to sleep.

The number one comment we get about Charlie is his cute, curly hair. This was a great shot John took of his hair at church.

And here's the rare day when his naptime habits flattened out all his curls- he looks like a completely different kid! (He LOVES to color and has really great fine motor skills. His favorite part of coloring is taking all the crayons out of the box one by one and then putting them all back in.)

Another shot of his "straight" hair

We love this little boy!! He's just the most fun!

Vote for Fictionist for the cover of ROLLING STONE!

I've written about Fictionist before (here and here)- they are an awesome Utah band made up of extremely talented guys (two of whom are my high school friends). They are one of 16 bands in a Battle of the Bands contest where the winner will be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and get to play on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. This is a HUGE opportunity for them and they have worked so hard for it. Plus, their music really is some of the best out there right now. Please click on the widget below to rate them 5 stars, as well as Tweet about them and "Like" them on Facebook. You can see all the official rules here.

Love is...

photo from ara133photography on Etsy

...making a big pot of soup so that there's plenty to share with someone in need.

...requesting your husband clean the shower for Valentine's Day and waking up to the sounds of scrubbing.

...wet toddler kisses.

...watching Modern Marvels and 30 Rock together.

...doing the dishes, taking out the garbage, bringing in the milk, changing the dirty diaper, or doing the laundry.

...being remembered.

...sharing the best thing about your day.

...requests from a little boy to build forts or fetch fruit snacks. "C'mon, Mom!"

...friendship that endures through time, distance, and big life changes.

...knowing that wrestling a toddler in church is worth it because the truth of the gospel means I can be with my family forever

Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Original, affordable art from Hue and Hum

Are you searching for a Valentine's Day gift(s)? You will love this idea.

My friend, Caitlin, is an artist married to Robbie, her musician husband/high school sweetheart. They have a blog called Hue and Hum where they write about their cool life- including art, music, home improvement projects, crafting, traveling the world, and most recently, their puppy, Albus.

Here's the good news for you- Caitlin aka "Hue", is offering two Valentine's Day prints for a pay what you want price. She's created two unique pieces of art- a "Friend-tine" and a "Lover-tine" and both are beautiful. It's such a great opportunity to get original artwork but also stay within your budget- because you are setting the price!

For all the details about how to get this great (and AFFORDABLE!) piece of art, visit Hue and Hum.




(p.s.- watch for a free original song from "Hum" (aka Robbie from the awesomely talented band Fictionist) to be released on Valentine's Day!)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I miss you and love you so much! I'm glad I live in a time when the internet, email, and Skype exist so that I can talk to you even though you live on the other side of the world. We'll celebrate with Aunt Barbara here (my mom's twin) and think of you!

My parents and their four grandchildren- Fall 2010

Grandma reading to baby Charlie

The posterity- Charlie, Lily, Elizabeth, and Sam

My mom, Beverly, and her twin sister, my Aunt Barbara

Me and Mom on my wedding day

The Next Generation

I got together with some girlfriends and their kids for a play date in January. It was so satisfying to see that our overly idealistic and optimistic teenaged selves weren't just dreaming when we said that we'd be friends forever and our kids would play together one day.



L-R Kate (Amy's daughter), Evelyn (Susie's first daughter), Charlie (my very sleepy son), and Alyce (Susie's second daughter)



The first generation- Susie, Amy and me (we aren't quite "little old ladies having a luncheon together" but we'll get there)

I read it in 3.5 hours

Ree Drummond's (aka The Pioneer Woman) memoir arrived on my doorstep yesterday. I read it today during Charlie's nap and during his snack- I read it in one sitting! I just couldn't put it down. I am a big fan of her blog and writing anyway, but this really is a well written memoir- I think many people would enjoy it even if they weren't familiar with her blog. Ree will be in Salt Lake on February 10th for a *book signing at the Salt Lake Main library (downtown) sponsored by the King's English bookstore. I hope I can meet her this time!

*I just called King's English to get the scoop. You have to pick up a free ticket (each person can pick up two tickets) at their bookstore (1511 South 1500 East in SLC) to get admission to the book signing. Once at the library, your ticket gets you into the auditorium for a reading and then guarantees a place in a signing group.