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Family Photos Arizona style

Saturday my friend, Sheri agreed to take some family photos for me. We headed over to Freestone Park which is a beautiful park. I had heard of it, but never been there, however, I definitely plan to go back. Anyway, she brought her camera and her daughter and took a bunch of pictures of our family. Crazily enough, it was a windy day (as you will witness with some of the hair) and it was a bit chilly as well. Being that we have adapted so well to the heat here, that means it was probably like low 70s and we were freezing.

Tell me which of the photos is your favorite of our family. I want to enlarge one and frame it for our wall. Let me tell you, between Ryanna looking anywhere but the camera for most shots and Owen being obsessed with watching the ducks and the water and my hair flying everywhere, it was a miracle that we got anything good. Oh, and yes, that is a bruise on Owen's forehead. Don't ask me, I don't know how it happened.

Remember, please tell me which number is your favorite and why, so I can decide which one is best! That means all of you too who never post comments. Don't try and be sneaky. I know you're reading this and not posting. Obviously the other shots are simply for your enjoyment.

Photo #1

Photo #2

Photo #3

When a Good Thing Goes Too Far...

I went to book club the other night. No, this post is not going to promote literacy again. I know you're sick, sick, sick of that, so keep reading.

The friend I sat next to said she had spoken to her sister that day. Apparently her sister was at their mom's house for Thanksgiving. She went through the canned goods and discovered (I am absolutely not making this up) that her mom had canned M&M's.

This is just wrong for multiple reasons:

1. If the bag was unopened, you should've left them alone, that plastic bag was doing just fine.

2. If the bag was opened, could you not just finish them up? Could you not put them in a candy dish and let visitors eat them by handfuls?

3. I'm pretty sure this isn't what the Prophet meant when he said store a year's supply. I mean, it's left vague, so you get what's a year supply for your family, but this might be over the top for me even.

Although, if they were peanut butter M&M's, I might cut her some slack, 'cause dang, those would be a part of my year's supply as well. If you're going to have to survive on whole wheat, rice and some dried apples, you might as well have some dessert. No, fruit is not dessert. Fruit is only a dessert if it is covered in chocolate or assisted in its effort to act as a dessert by being a part of lots of sugar or cream.

Books for Christmas!

So, my wonderful husband sends me articles from the NY Times, so that I can be semi-aware of the world happenings around me. We never watch the news at our house because it is so incredibly depressing and disturbing. The most recent article was about the lack of pleasure reading that is going on among youth and young adults. Click here for the whole text.
Some of the sad statistics that this trend is causing (according to the article):

• Reading test scores are declining.
• Employers are rating workers deficient in basic writing skills.
• FEWER THAN HALF of Americans over age 18 read novels, short stories, plays or poetry. (Okay, poetry???--I rarely read that stuff either unless it's cited in something else I'm reading.)

I don't want to be redundant with my thoughts here seeing that I recently spoke about reading for fun, but seriously, less than half of our population ever picks up a book and reads for fun? Do people just veg out in front of the TV or computer as their sole source of satisfaction? I mean, Harry Potter books, love 'em or hate 'em, brought back a plethora of youth, and adults, to the love of literature.

I just can't believe that parents are allowing their children to play on the computer, or video games or whatever else it is that they are doing without somehow ever picking up a book. Being that I had no siblings to play with during my childhood, books were such a blessing in my life. I would escape for hours on end in the pages and feel the emotions of the characters and let my imagination create scenery and faces from the text. I suppose that most of these youth and young adults mentioned are still reading, they are probably reading various things on the internet, some of it's even worthwhile...like my blog! I just think we should consider stretching ourselves a bit more than a two page internet article.

The article also mentioned that ours is not a society where the love of books is promoted. Seriously, when's the last time you turned on the TV and saw an author (other than JK Rowling) as the main guest on The Tonight Show or any other program that would draw a younger audience. It's really sad too because I belong to two different book clubs and I love discussing the literature and seeing the book from each person's perspective.

We are seriously seeing such disturbing trends in our culture--we're fatter than we've ever been and now we read less. Seriously, what's next...

Books on Tape

So, I've been getting Derek books on tape to listen to in the car while he drives to and from work. He always has aspirations for reading more, but never has the time to accomplish the goal, so I thought this would be ideal. I also like being the one to pick the books on tape because I usually choose books I've read and then we can talk about the books later.
The first book I grabbed him was called Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi. I haven't read this book in several years, but I did remember that I liked it and the main character was a female dwarf. He enjoyed the book and thought it was well written.
The second book I grabbed him was a book I recently finished called A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (the author of The Kite Runner). It was a very sad book, but so powerfully written. He told me he enjoyed it as well, but that he definitely needed a cheerful novel next.
Well, I didn't get him a cheerful novel, but I did grab him a classic that I love...East of Eden by John Steinbeck. If you haven't read it, you should. I read it after my friend Tina and I absolutely loved the story.
So, I have been doing the same thing with Ryanna. You'll notice my "shelf" of books in the sidebar of my blog and you'll see that it lists The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. I thought that would be a book a bit above her reading level and would be good for her to listen to as we drove. Truthfully, I didn't know if she'd want to listen, but to my delight, she demands to listen to her books on tape every time we get in the car now.
So, after the first, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, I went to Ralph S. Mouse, also by Cleary. She seemed to enjoy both books and did pick up a bit of the story. I didn't know how well she'd follow because she's often busy looking at the scenery as we drive or daydreaming--something she does a lot. However, I figured even if she gets only tidbits of the story, hopefully, it's enjoyable and she's developing a love of literature.
Our latest book is Matilda by Roald Dahl. I was excited to get it because I didn't grow up reading Dahl. I read Cleary and Judy Blume mostly. My husband had been really excited to have her hear it. I have to say that I've been really shocked at the violence and the language. It's a children's book, but Ms. Trunchbulll (spelling is a guess since it's a book on tape), is quite a villian. It talks about the Chokey where she imprisons children for whole days or hours at a time...and the way she talks!!!!
She calls the children "stupid, little blisters, gobs of glue" (those are the phrases that are fresh in my mind from today's drive anyway). The way the parents treat Matilda and speak to her is appauling. I don't know, I am pretty disturbed by the whole thing really. It's making me worry that Ryanna's going to be afraid of school and start using some of the language that is repeatedly spewing forth from the Headmistress and the parents.
I'm still a little up in the air about how I feel about the whole thing. Not to say that the books I'm intrigued by don't have images that are violent or contain bad language in some spots, but I'm not choosing to read those books to my four year old.
Any of you who grew up reading Roald Dahl, what do you think????

My Sunday Munchies

Okay, I don't know if I'm the only one that suffers from this ailment, but I have to confess that immediately when church is over, I need to eat. I'm not talking about going home and casually perusing the cupboards and making a healthy meal either. I'm talking about, the car comes to a complete stop and it's about all I can do to help my husband get our children out of the car, get myself changed from my Sunday best to my pj's (YES my pj's--discovered the comforts of lounging around in pj's much too late in life and have been desperately making up for it by trying to wear them every Sunday for about six months now), and run like a hunted animal down to the kitchen where I grab for the quickest item that can be shoved in my mouth.


So, I could easily explain away this phenomenon by stating that it happens because our church goes through lunchtime, so of course I'm starving when I get home, but let's be honest, if our church started after dinner, I would still come home and want to shove food in my face. Healthy--not really, Satisfying--in a sick, I have no self-control type way.


I would like to end by confessing that once I've found a certain satisfying object and have inserted it into my mouth, the fat girl rampage ends there, but that would not be honest. Actually, on Sunday my mind tends to go into overdrive thinking about all of the yummy, homemade treats that I could be making. I usually start with either chocolate chip cookies or cinnamon rolls. To my credit, I usually make neither like today. I can't give myself too much credit though because I had a little bit of peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory left, so that was enough for me. I'm not kidding when I say I like dessert and I like it rich!


Anyway, Sunday usually continues on with our whole family eating random items for meals at random times. Ryanna had toast, peaches and a couple bites of my corn chowder soup for dinner. Derek never ate dinner I think and Owen had some chicken nuggets, peaches and one bite of my soup. I hardly ever get to eat all of my own food. It's my new diet called "be a mom your kids will eat half of your food" diet. It's probably saved me thousands of calories by now thus allowing me to eat things such as...well, peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory.
Sidenote #1: The above pictured cheesecake, is not the abovementioned flavor, but it would do in a pinch.
Sidenote #2: Do not be fooled by the frozen boxes of The Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes that are sold at Costco. They don't even come close to touching the flavor and texture of a fresh made piece from the restaurant.
Sidenote #3: You will soon discover that I have a penchant for sidenotes. They just feel good and let you know what I'm really thinking.

My Baby is ONE!!

Today my little boy turned one year old. Technically as I'm writing this, he STILL wasn't here yet. Yeah, he took his sweet time to show up. Apparently my body doesn't seem to understand that the kids need to come out at sometime. I was a week overdue before they would induce me. I walked my butt off for two weeks hoping to get something going on my own, but no luck. I did get several nasty blisters though. However, with only one dose of prostaglandin, my body gets it done! So, to some of you, this may sound gross or too much, but I actually got to see Owen come out. How you may ask? Well, they asked me if I wanted a mirror to see it. My first reaction was no, but then I thought, "I've had an epidural, I'm not feeling any pain, why not?" I figured if it was too much, I'd close my eyes or look elsewhere. Well, I only pushed 7 times and Owen was out. For those not impressed with 7 pushes please remember he weighed NINE pounds when he was born. Seeing him come out was a seriously spiritual experience for me. Amazing.

My first thought after they laid him on my chest (which they immediately did after he was born--covered in blood and such) was "Whoa! This kid looks big to me." He was so perfect though. I couldn't believe I had another baby. I was really worried about having a little boy because I didn't grow up with any brothers and so I thought it would be trickier somehow. So far, he's been such an amazing little boy. He is the sweetest thing. There are so many things I love about Owen...

• His smile--Dimples on each side (just like his sister and neither me nor my husband have dimples).


• His hair--It's very light brownish/blonde and in the back it has little curls.


• His belly--When he is walking around with just his diaper on and that belly is sticking out it is so cute (I'm still hoping this comes back in style for women my age).


• His little bum--There is something so funny and endearing about a naked little bum that is running away from you as you try to catch it to throw it in the tub.


• His chatter--He isn't saying a lot of words (ma-ma, da-da, na-na (for Ryanna)) but he is constantly saying something...I just don't know what it is...probably exactly what he's thinking everytime we all talk.


• His kisses--They are open-mouthed and they are rare, but so sweetly given.


• His honking--One time I made the honk noise when he grabbed my nose and it made him laugh, so we play that game several times a day now.


• His unconditional love--shouldn't we all be more like children in their quick nature to forgive and to want to love everyone around them? Owen loves me so dearly and makes me feel so important when he reaches for me and finds comfort in my arms.


• His backward eye-roll--when he's really wanting to nurse and he finally latches on, it's the eyes rolling back in ecstacy that just makes me giggle, must be a lot like I feel about food.


• His chest--He has a pretty deep chest, check out the picture of him when he was first born...it's funny because his middle name is my grandparents' last name who raised me and my husband swears that our little boy is built just like my grandpa with his deep chest.

Our little family has been so greatly blessed to have this sweet addition. I feel so thrilled for Ryanna to have a sibling that will be close to her age that she can call and talk to. I always wished I'd had siblings close to my age when I got to college. I wanted her to have Owen in her life as much as I wanted him in my own life. I wanted my husband and I to have the experience of having a boy and a girl to raise. It'll be interesting to continue to see the differences. Right from the beginning it's noticeable and I can hardly wait to see how much more evident it will become.