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July 7, 2010
Daisies make me feel all summery. We had gigantic daisy plants in our front yard growing up and every summer I looked forward to seeing them explode with flowers. So last year when Jeff and Pearl decided to spruce up our flower bed by the driveway as a Mother's Day present, I asked them to plant some daisies. Since it's right outside the nursery window I get to look at my flowers an obscene amount of times a day and wanted to make sure I had something that made me happy when I looked at them. Days before we headed out of town for the 4th, I could see tons and tons of buds just ready to burst. I just knew they were going to all open while we were gone and as we pulled in the driveway late Monday night, it was the first thing I noticed... all my daisies were in full bloom! We only have three plants but they are huge, taller than Pearl and just bursting with gorgeous flowers. And they sure make for a great view when you're nursing a baby 20 times a day.
July 6, 2010
If you see one of these in your neck of the woods, you have to stop! I'm not a huge fan of shaved ice but these little North Shore Hawaiian shave ice stands that have popped up recently are amazing! The ice is as soft as recently fallen snow and the kids working there don't drown them in syrup. I've never been to Hawaii before so I have no idea if these are the real deal, as you'd think from the grass skirt and flowers all over the stand, but I like the idea that for $2.50 I'm enjoying a small bit of paradise on a hot summer day.
July 5, 2010
This is pretty much how I spent my time at Bear Lake. Feeding a baby. Cole must have thought the only way to get my attention with so many willing and eager hands to hold him was to eat. I'm pretty sure he faked hunger a few times just because he either thought it was funny to watch me trudge back up the beach or so I'd hold him. I'd pick him up and set him on my lap and he'd start smiling and cooing at me. And as soon as he saw my nursing cover he'd kick his legs, open his mouth and start rooting around, and make this cute "oh oh oh" noise. A few times the kid just played with his meal, smiling and flicking you know what just out of pure happiness. It was super cute and pretty funny. But that little twit wouldn't take a bottle to save his life! Pearl was just the same... she never took a bottle. Even my dad couldn't convince him that taking a bottle wasn't the end of the world. And we're not even talking about a bottle of formula! I made my sister stop and pick up my breast pump for heaven's sake! While it's nice to know Cole loves me, it sure would be nice to get a break once in awhile from the mental exhaustion of knowing you're the sole source of nourishment and can't be gone more than two hours. I just don't believe my breasts are that wonderful to render the decision to starve. I mean, no one has ever paid that much attention to them in the first place!
July 4, 2010
Jeff is going through his mid-life crisis, a little early if you ask me or take a look at his longevity gene pool, and has a list of "toys" he'd like to acquire. First on the list is a pair of four wheelers to take to Bear Lake. Since my grandparents have beach front property, we get the luxury of trudging our way through the marsh, willow trees, bugs, and muck to get to the beach... on foot while we watch every year as the neighbors zoom their way up and down the beach on their four wheelers. I don't really mind but every year Jeff threatens to buy some four wheelers so we can avoid the long walk down to the lake.
Since Mother Nature was cruel and had a nice cold spell greeting us this weekend we hadn't made it down to the water until this afternoon. Emily, my sister-in-law, and I told Pearl and Ruby we'd take advantage of the warmth while we could and walk down to the beach (ha... the water was so high this year that we had about a seven foot strip of wet sand to call the beach) to scout out a spot for the rest of the family then come back after lunch in our swimming suits. At first glance the walk down didn't look so bad, even with two kids, two chairs, and two bags full of towels, treats, water bottles, sunscreen, and some beach toys in hand. By the time Pearl was stripped down to just her panties because she had managed to get sopping wet the quick walk down was looking pretty daunting. So up we trudged... me carrying two wet, cold, hungry, tired, and whining little girls while Emily lugged all of our "essential-we-might-need-it" supplies. Thank heavens Jeff realized we were in trouble and sent reinforcements to help us. It was at that moment where I finally realized Jeff's midlife crisis might not be so bad after all.
July 3, 2010
I love my grandma. But she has a serious problem. She is a hoarder. The woman can't part with anything... newspaper clippings (it's her hobby), elastics, those plastic twisty ties, various food containers, zip lock baggies, etc, etc, etc. And her compulsion to keep everything spills over to every property they own, including the their property at Bear Lake. So when I saw my dad replacing some of her clothes pins I just had to snap a picture. It's just so grandma to still keep these things around. After 30 years of use holding towels, swimming suits, and a few pairs of undies you'd think these things would be falling completely apart. But these babies have weathered many a storm and from the look of their springs in comparison to the ones my dad was putting up, they could probably hold up another 30 years. Apparently today's clothes pin is a cheap version of yesteryear's. I made my dad hang them back up after I took a picture not just for sentimental sake but because if my grandma finds out he threw away some perfectly good stuff, she just might heart attack.
July 2, 2010
We headed to Logan for the 4th of July weekend, making a stop to watch the fireworks show with my family. As a kid all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents would cram into the USU stadium with half of Cache Valley to watch the show. Then we'd stay up the rest of the night as pyromaniacs lighting what must have cost my grandma a good $500 (I'm not joking) worth of fireworks. It was AWESOME. But my expectations for the fourth have lowered over the years as I've realized it's just not worth battling the crowds for a parking spot at the stadium, trying to keep kids entertained and happy while you wait for it to get dark enough to start the show, or spend that much money on explosives. Luckily Pearl is still young enough that we can get away with watching them from a distance, although I'm sure at some point that will change and I'll be crazy enough to do exactly what my parents and grandparents did for us as kids and fork over the money and sanity to get into the stadium. Pearl and Ruby took turns yelling "Pink" and "Green" in between mouthfuls of popcorn. It didn't matter what the actual color of firework was in the sky, they were all pink or green. I didn't watch much of the show since it was WAY past Cole's bedtime and had to start walking back to my parent's house before the grand finale to get Cole fed and in his jammies. I seem to remember doing the same thing three years ago when Pearl was a baby. Too bad this year she wasn't as eager to go to bed after the fireworks display as her little brother!
July 1, 2010
You realize you are older than you think when the toy that used to be fairly popular when you were a kid is a HUGE hit for show and tell, only because no one has ever seen one before. Pearl's old school View Master with 3D slides no less was the talk of the town at school. I guess none of these kids have ever seen anything that wasn't digital before and that's why she has suddenly jumped levels in coolness with her camera. The ironic thing about her choice for show and tell is that it was made on a whim as her dad was threatening to leave her at home if she didn't grab something and fast. She hadn't played with it in months but since it was the nearest toy within reach, she excitedly grabbed it and headed out the door. And I'm not sure where she came up with this idea, but apparently you now say "Pickle!" when you want your friends to smile for the camera. Pearl played with that camera all evening, making up games and asking me what pictures I wanted to see. But I have my doubts that come tomorrow she'll even remember she has it.
July 7, 2010
