Truly beautiful

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."

~Audrey Hepburn


*I've always thought she looks like my Mother, another truly beautiful person

Priceless

Who needs to buy pics to decorate the bathroom when you have this model!?

K, seriously, he just cracks me up. Love him. These were the three we picked.





P.S. Click on the first one to get a better look at his expression. Priceless. HA!

Bangs - For the Record

Let it be written, let it be known.

P.S. They are actually growing on me. No, I mean, like getting longer. Har har har.

I'm still not loving it, despite what you might think from all the glamour shot poses I'm throwing out. On a good day, it's fun to have a change. On a bad day, I wear a hat or barett/headband and pull them back. Kris loves them. Go figure.

How white trash are you?

White Trash has such a negative connotation. Probably something to do with the word "trash" :)
But here's the deal, it's ok to be white trash AS LONG as you are AWESOME about it!

White Trash: Not mowing the lawn for four months

Awesomeness: Finally "mowing" it by crawling around the grass with a hedger since you don't HAVE a lawn mower (ps all the neighbors have gardeners)

White Trash: Getting everything you own for free, at a garage sale, or on Craigslist

Awesomeness: Selling it for a profit

White Trash: Chronic greasy hair from lack of washing
Awesomeness: "Bumble & Bumble Hair Powder" - The perfect hair degreaser

White Trash: Alley/Dumpster diving at any time and for any reason

Awesomeness: Finding an old bbq IN the alley and dragging it home behind a bike with a rope ON a tandem beach cruiser (see pic below)

White Trash: Chronic malfunctioning toilets
Awesomeness: Resetting it yourself by gluing it to the floor

White Trash: Old dumpy cars
Awesomeness: WITH one headlight out, one tail light out, no seat cushions in the back, and a door that will never fully close (all the neighbors have the typical Lexus, Mercedes, BMW and one even has an old school Rolls Royce)

White Trash: Pulling out a 12 foot palm tree by attaching it with a rope to the hitch of the car and driving back and forth for two hours until it rips out of the ground
Awesomeness: Putting it (standing up straight) in the garbage can and then slipping the garbage man $20 to chainsaw it up - oh yes he did - and take it



I'm not sure we totally belong in Orange County yet....but at least we're pretty awesome... (and I blame, ahem, I mean I give Kris credit for about 80% of it :) Go ahead, click on the pic to enlarge, and you'll see what I mean.

The Truth about Bangs

If you have a friend that is trying to convince you to cut bangs, she probably doesn't like you.

1. You actually have to DO your hair to look decent.


2. If it's hot, bangs make your forehead sweat which makes your bangs wet. Wet bangs = not cute.


3. When you are doing your hair, somehow long hairs always get caught in the short hairs and tickle your face.


4. If the wind blows, you may or may not look ridiculous. Hopefully you will be able to see yourself in a store window or mirror. If not, OH WELL!


5. Sometimes bangs want to kink or twist or part in weird places and there's not much you can do about it.


6. You thought aerosol was a thing of the past UNTIL you cut bangs.


7. You can't just roll over in the morning and have that cute beachy/messy hair look like grown out bangs give you.


8. Morning bangs = Punky Brewster

Sometimes they ALMOST look cute if only...xyz...so you get a pair of scissors and cut them a little only to find they look even worse the next day.

To be fair, I HAVE experienced one positive thing about them since CUTTING BANGS ON SATURDAY...

1. When you are relaxing in the hammock and a bird poops on your head, your bangs keep the poop from touching your face. True story.
   

Just when you think "CUTER" is NOT...EVEN...POSSIBLE

It






Keeps





Happening!

Seeing Dad Again After TWO WEEKS!

Enough said.

Hyperemesis gravidarum

Yes, it sounds like a spell from Harry Potter, doesn't it? It's actually a rare condition pregnant women get. What is it? Basically, take the worst you ever felt pregnant, times it by 100 and let it live with you for nine months. We are talking CANNOT LIFT YOUR HEAD OFF YOUR PILLOW sick.

My sister Liz was blessed with this awesome condition so Tofer and I went to her house in Chicago for two weeks to help her out. In her last visit to the hospital for dehydration (yes, there have been a few emergency room visits already) she got an IV for several hours that ran different meds through her body and for the entire two weeks I was there she didn't throw up once!! Now she is on 4 different meds and progressively getting better. Poor Liz. But we are so happy she is feeling better.

Although she has been thanking me endlessly, the truth is, it was FUN and Tofer LOVED playing with his cousins and I LOVED seeing all of them.

And THAT is why I haven't been blogging lately.

THE END

P.S. I would post pics but I'm pretty sure she would kill me since being an invalid makes you look especially awesome :)

When your heart fills up to bursting

The other day I was relaxing here in our yard...



...when the most AMAZING scent glided past me in the breeze...it was so beautiful I HAD to find it. I started pacing all over the yard when I came to this...



...as I leaned in closer I noticed these all over the tree...



...and as I breathed them in, there it was AGAIN. But this time the scent went straight to my HEART as I realized why it was so beautiful and familiar to me.

A long time ago, I had the GREAT HONOR of being able to wear one of these....



for a year and a half when I served as a missionary in SPAIN.

SPAIN is filllllled with orange trees. Now, every time I pass my little orange tree and I smell those beautiful flowers, I am sent back to Spain and my heart completely fills up. Sometimes I even cry, like now, just thinking of it. What a privilege that was for me - so hard, so amazing. Priceless.

I'm so thankful for my little orange tree.

So long Corporate America, you've been good to me

Six years in Corporate America. Five of those years working from home for HP. When I was hired I asked my manager if they cared where I lived since I worked from home. Her response, "You can live on the moon as long as you have an internet connection."

Can you say DREAM JOB!

I haven't talked about my job on the blog at all and now that I'm moving on to full-time motherhood I wanted to give a little shout out to HP, for being an amazing place to work full of wonderful people. Granted, all the downsizing and restructuring have killed a bit of the fun but man, I used to pinch myself all the time, I felt so lucky. HP you'll always have a bit of my heart. Don't change too much.

Highlights....

1. Creating and giving a communications training to a team in Bangalore, India and Singapore with one of my favorite friends and old BYU roomies who was also a co-worker of mine
   
2. Hotel shopping for a conference I organized in New York City. This meant traveling there several times and being spoiled sick by the Westin Times Square, The Roosevelt, The Waldorf-Astoria and the Essex House - all in an effort to win our favor
3. Presenting at a few of the many many worldwide webcasts I produced every few months
4. An absolutely pointless and fabulous team meeting trip to Munich, Germany
   
5. A week in Acapulco, Mexico (hotel hunting for another conference) where I swam with dolphins and got a lovely sunburn sitting with my laptop by the pool
6. Getting a one-way ticket to Houston because they needed my help so much...and staying for 17 days. I ate EVERYTHING on the Sheraton's room service menu and got a zillion starwood points
   
7. Working on my laptop while getting a pedicure
8. Traveling so much I would often forget which airport I was at
   
9. SPA trips and amazing hotels! The Ritz-Carlton in Singapore, the Leela Palace in Bangalore and a myriad of Starwood favorites.
   
10. I could go on forever. Thanks Marie, Pat, Emil, Katie and the million other people that made HP such a wonderful place to work and helped me appreciate the finer things in life (haha, Kris is ever so grateful :)

And now....the best adventure yet! Full-time, stay-at-home Mom. Something feels so great about typing that.

Happy One Year!

On February 21st Tofer turned one year old!

Tofer's latest:

1. He loves pushing around his walker, his own stroller and anything else that moves if he pushes hard enough
   
2. Watching "Anne of Green Gables" (potentially mother-inspired - haha)
3. Trying to run
4. Going outside
5. Wrestling with Dad
6. Sucking on pennies and trying to hide it from Mom
   
7. Toilets - watching anything go down the toilet, trying to splash in the toilet when mom is not looking, trying to put things in the toilet, flushing the toilet.....
8. Taking showers
9. Playing magnets on the fridge
10. Holding Mom :)
11. Kids, he really likes kids...time for a brother?
12. He says: Mom, Dadadadada, Nana (for banana) and Aaaahma (for Grandma)
    
13. He has never liked baby food. He loves english muffins with raisins and bananas
14. First steps at 10 months, he is now trying to run and it's hilarious
15. And he just loves to do whatever we are doing - sanding, sweeping, drawing, typing....he is a great little worker and the cutest kid alive :)
    

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE HIM!











We had a little party for his bday with some buddies but he was overwhelmed and cried most of the time :( Ha. Poor little guy. Alas, he pulled through and by the end was in fine form.