Thursday, August 27, 2009

strange bedfellows

warning (mom): this post contains content regarding spiders.

i woke up with a start this morning and shot up in my bed. i found myself swiping at something on my arm and quickly realized that i had been awakened by the feeling of something crawling across my arm. blurry eyed, i couldn't see the culprit, and i started to think that maybe i had imagined it all. and then, i saw it. a spider crawled across our quilt and up onto randy's chest.

by now, randy had been awakened by my sudden movements, but was even more out of it than me. i told him not to move. just what everyone wants to hear. especially when they have just woken up.

spider lovers: do not read on.

without even thinking, i snatched the spider up in my hand (i just realized that i had a tissue right on my bed stand, but there was no time for such things) and clapped down on it with my other hand a few times, killing it. all this within the first fifteen seconds of waking.

i haven't detected any bites and felt a little bad for killing the spider at first. but this spider woke me up before madeleine woke up, an offense far worse than a bite. and that deserves the death penalty. at least for spiders.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

manti, boise, mccall

we've been out of town for the last week and i am finally starting to settle in and upload the pictures. two saturdays ago randy and i started our trip off by driving down to manti for one of my best friend's weddings. of course, i didn't take any pictures with my friend or his wife, but we did get one of the temple and a few of some of the beautiful local architecture.









randy also snapped this of me:



after the wedding and luncheon, we headed back to provo and picked up madeleine (who had a hard time leaving a new toy from grammy that randy's uncle dropped off) and then drove up to boise. let's just say it was a long day of driving.





we spent the rest of the weekend up in boise and then on monday, headed even farther north to mccall, idaho, where randy's family spends a week each year. madeleine had a blast with cousins, playing on the beach, and swimming, and we all enjoyed the relaxation and time with family. here are some pictures from the week:



(looking a little drunk, but it was the only beach picture i had of her playing in the water)











making all sorts of fun things at "grammy camp:"











we were sad to leave and can't wait for next year!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

an explanation

if you take a glance over at the blog archive on the right side of my blog, you can see that my posting dropped significantly in june and july. now, i realize that my self-worth is not tied to the number of posts per month, and i also realize that most of my posts are silly musings that few (if any) readers actually care about, but i do feel a certain obligation to keep family (especially grandmothers) apprised of what's going on in our lives, including pictures. and i have been slacking in that responsibility of late.

but... i do have an excuse. you see, i am pregnant.

most of the people who actually suffer through my blog posts are family members, so many of you already know that i'm pregnant, but i figured i should break the news to the few of you who may not know yet.

i am pregnant, due around february 3rd, and unlike my pregnancy with madeleine, this one has not been so pleasant. thus, the lack of posting. i'm convinced that we are having a boy or twins, because i have not been feeling nearly as well as i did when i was pregnant with madeleine. i shouldn't complain, because it still hasn't been as bad as many women's pregnancies, but it has been rougher for me and sapped my energy for the last couple months. then again, it could be another girl and this pregnancy has been different because i have been chasing around a toddler.

rambling... congratulations if you have made it this far.

all of this is to announce that i am pregnant, that we are excited about it, and to excuse past and future blog-slack.

that is all.

reading list

i haven't really done any updates on books that i've read lately, but i have been reading. the ones that i can remember...



madeleine decided to behave as though she was two for a few weeks at 18 months, so i decided to read 1-2-3 magic, the discipline system that we had growing up. i really like the system and it was good to actually read the book on it (it is short and an easy read) to know some of the details about it that weren't readily apparent to me as a child but which are very important as the one disciplining. fortunately, it has worked well with madeleine and (most) of her tantrums have ceased.



a tree grows in brooklyn was a fun novel to read. it seems like it was pretty autobiographical at times, so it felt like a very accurate portrayal of growing up in brooklyn during the beginning of the 20th century. not in my top ten book list or anything, but i would recommend it as a good novel.



this was my favorite book that i've read in a while. barbara kingsolver (author of poisonwood bible, another favorite) spent a year with her family eating only local foods - either those grown on their own land or within about a 100 mile radius. the book documents her family's experience as locavores and touches on themes of food consumption, gardening, raising poultry, and other issues relating to their experience. she is a little preachy in the first few chapters, but once she really launches into her family's year-long experience, i really enjoyed it. her writing is humorous and insightful. i came away from the book feeling inspired (rather than overwhelmed) to be a more socially responsible eater, more self-sufficient, and to be more involved in my own family's food consumption.

i read this book for bookclub and one of my favorite parts of the whole book experience was getting together with the women in my bookclub to discuss the book. we always have refreshments, and after reading the book, the woman hosting decided to use completely local refreshments. it was a delicious meal of local vegetables, cheeses (my favorite), and other food items made and grown by women in the group or from local sources. it was a fun way to wrap up the book and a delicious meal to eat. it did help that we read the book in july/august, rather than january.