my break-up with summer

I love this time of year—the end of Summer when I'm sick of the heat and longing for those crisp, cool days of Autumn. It's kind of thrilling to look up on the mountains and notice the leaves changing colors.

Now I realize that this is a silly thing to get excited about, but I also get excited about dishes, holiday decorations and sewing material.


I'm just easy to please I guess. Try. You'll see I'm right. Here's my wishlist.

curly girl

So here's Gwen's little post-bath baby 'fro.


And here is normal hair, that has started to curl behind her ears and in the back.



I am keeping my fingers crossed for curly hair.

grandma & grandpa

Today Nezzie said, "I really miss Grandma. She used to rub my nose." And when I asked her if she wanted some toast she said excitedly, "Grandpa's toast!? Yes, with butter! And can I lick the butter off of the knife?"
(At the airport the morning they left after getting NO sleep the night before.)

We really miss you guys and all the noise you made around here.

great wall of evil

So I met my Springville sistahs, Courtney, Katrina & Becky (who needs to start a blog already) for dinner at P.F. Changs last night. Courtney is here visiting from Florence, Italy—where she and her little family live while her husband studies painting—so we had to get together before she leaves.

And it was seriously just what the doctor ordered. After having quite an emotional day, it was a nice way to end it by hanging out with these girls and just laughing. One highlight of the evening was splitting the Great Wall of Chocolate cake.


Good news is that it is probably the healthiest cake ever made. It only has 2240 calories and 89 grams of fat. I'm super excited to weigh in at w.w. this week.

Thanks girls and buon viaggio Courtney!

fiddle dee dee

So Mom and Dad leave manana, early in the a.m. We. are. so. sad. I kept getting choked up at church today when I would think, "I won't be sitting with Mom in R.S. next week" or "This is the last time to do 'what took you so long' after church." I have been trying really hard to not think about the fact that they are leaving so soon.

So in honor of them, Inez wore her chinese dress with a norwegian hairstyle to church today.






And I won't think about them leaving just now. I'll think about it tomorrow.

goin' gnomin'

We have been frequenting the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point at least once a month for a little more than two years now. We usually go with these cute kids so their Mom and I can chat while they run amuck throughout the museum. And yes, I apologize because we are the Moms who are too busy chatting to notice our children rocking the huge turtle skeleton. At least it only happened once and it's not a real fossil. My threat of "getting in trouble from the workers and never being able to come back to the museum" has totally lost its credibility with Inez.

Anyway, a few visits back I noticed this sign as we walked through the entrance. I'm not quite sure if I never noticed this before or if it's actually new.

So we (and when I say "we" I mean "me" since Inez is usually busy running, jumping, hopping, twirling, or acting like a unicorn and/or horse and/or doggie and Gwen is just kickin' it in the stroller) decided to meet the challenge of finding the gnomes hidden throughout the galleries.

Now I would say that "challenge" is a mild word for this rather frustrating activity. The sign, as you can see, is not very informative. One is left thinking, "Are the gnomes green? Are they painted on the wall? Are they all this size? Are they all identical?" Another thing that was frustrating for me was trying to keep Inez within sight while I madly scanned every nook and cranny.

And then, I found one! Do you see it?

I was on a roll, or so I thought. The whole rest of the exhibit I was madly looking everywhere for another little red gnome just like this one.

Well, my luck started and ended with this little guy. I came to the conclusion that the people at Thanksgiving Point are evil liars and put one little gnome in a pretty obvious location just to reel me in. At the end, I was frazzled, my eyes ached and Inez was so tired of hearing me talk about finding these cute little gnomes.

Before we left I decided to cheat a little by asking a lady checking hand stamps at the door. She only knew of one and that was because someone had told her! And she works there!

So here it is. Do you see it? Yeah, me neither.

Look closer. A LOT CLOSER.

What. a. gip.

We're totally going back too look for the other 11.

Curse you Dino Museum! You have me hooked like an easy sudoku puzzle.

summertime fun

One day Nezzie's friend, Kaia, came over.

It was lovely and warm outside so we got out the Nemo sprinkler.

We chewed on some long grass, like Grandma K. taught us.

It was fabulous.

in the spirit of chocolate rain

Now that Chocolate Rain isn't stuck in your heads anymore, we thought this time we would give you a little ear and eye candy. We present you with the worst music video ever made:



Thanks, Matt.

the cat's meow

I have never seen a baby move as fast as Gwen does when she sees our cat. As soon as she spots him, she immediately starts pumping her arms and legs as fast as her little frame can handle without exploding. Her smile will suddenly grow wide as she squeals in delight. All the muscles in her body flex and her little hands ball into fists. She stares at him in awe—like we might gawk at a celebrity.

It is the most entertaining, endearing sight. It's amazing to watch her pure little human self explode with such powerful emotions.

This is why we have we have kids (and cats) in the first place, right?

chocolate rain

I don't know what to say about this. There really aren't any words for what you are about to experience.

two girls in a box

lips and legs

Our very own little Liv Tyler (the lips)

has two top teeth broken through (number three came through a few days ago).

Gwen's favorite thing to do is to crawl over to these steps,

get up on the first one,

and then turn around to sit on the bottom one.

Then she stands up

and sits down

and stands up

and sits down.

And she repeats it. Again and again and again and again and again and again...

I should also mention that at every possible moment she is waving her arms with extreme excitement

a different milestone

So I walked into the living room today and found Gwen trying to climb up the slide.
It is so strange to think that it was only three and a half weeks ago when I found her standing in her crib for the first time.

another milestone

This is what I found when I went in to get her after her nap.

Standing up all by herself.

And these pictures are actually from July 20th, but had been taken on a different camera and I finally just dumped them onto my computer. But now she pulls up to anything that is standing still and cruises quite easily. She has also conquered the couch pillow blockades that I have set up. I fear that we are heading for the days of heavy duty baby-proofing.
Ugh and hooray.

precious girl

I just love this little one.

manna from happy valley

This is one of the many reasons why I love my in-laws.

grilled peach melba

I watched Everyday Food one Saturday with drool and determination to try this recipe. We improvised a bit and put the peaches on foil because our grill is dirty. But it still turned out so good, plus I got to spoon off and eat the excess deliciousness.

muy. muy. delicioso.

And please understand that this picture does not do it justice.

happy birthday dad and joe

So their birthdays were actually on Monday, August 6th. I'm just a little behind in my posting, but the sentiments remain the same.

My brother Joe was born on my Dad's 30th birthday. Quite the birthday present, eh? My Dad just turned...well let's just say he's "over the hill." That way, I won't get in trouble for telling his age. He does however look good for a blankety-blank year old, as I am often reminded. Must be those good ol' Norwegian genes.

Here are a few favorite pictures of both these guys. And please excuse the age/quality of some of these pictures. Dave just taught me how to scan pictures correctly and I am now becoming a pro with photoshop. And when I say "pro" I mean I am becoming a bit less frustrating to Dave when I ask him how to do something.

dad

Taken the day my Mom was born (Christmas).

Graduated first in his class from NAOCS (Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School).

Here is some guy with Carol, Kristy and Heather, that closely resembles Dad—except for the large mustache. Actually, this was the seventies, as he entered the "B School" at Harvard, so maybe it's okay?

He has run 13 marathons, and countless 10Ks and 5Ks.
This was after finishing the Palos Verdes Marathon.

Here's a sweet action shot during the St. George marathon.

Falling asleep in his chair, as usual.

Always making us laugh.


Still running at his age, and winning medals.

A true Cougar, he bleeds blue. Here he is hiking the Y in his "BYU--Heck, Yes!" t-shirt.

Grandpa of 18, and a great one at that.

His wanderlust...

taking Mom with him to the far reaches of the world.


One of my favorite childhood memories (Carol probably won't remember this;) ) was when we would ride around the neighborhood in our VW Van. What distinguishes it from any "normal" drive was that the side door was open and we would sit with our legs hanging out. As we turned corners and passed over the gutters, water from our neighbor's sprinklers would splash up on our legs and feet and we would squeal with delight. I know, we were easily entertained. But the best part of my memory is that when my Dad started to slow down as we approached the house, us kids would start chanting, "go, go, go, go, go, go" until he would either stop in front of our house, much to our dismay, or speed up again and take us on another trip around the block, which was always met with cheers, squeals and probably fist pumps.
Here's a picture of our beloved VW Van, that's me in the passenger seat hanging out the window followed by Heather in the kickin' socks, next to Joe and Kristy barely in the frame.


We will be so sad when Dad returns to China in about three weeks. He'll be to Beijing for a year with Mom and I have simply been refusing to think about it until I absolutely have to. I am in a state of denial so I will probably finally think about it as I sob all the way home from the airport. Although the girls are probably going to miss them even more, they are such buddies.

I hope you had a great birthday Dad ! I love you, and sorry for eating so much frosting off your cake.