Take time to enjoy life

I think too many times in life we are in a hurry to do whatever it is that we are doing right then that we fail to enjoy those little moments and the fun experiences around us. I have been lucky enough since moving out here to be able to slow down a bit and watch for these times. Although I am sure there are plenty I have missed.

What brought this thought about has been two similar experiences I have had recently.

I have always considered myself a fairly observant person. A couple of weeks ago while Ellie and I were out shopping/walking around, I noticed a goose that had nested in a planter box. Someone else had noticed as well because there was food and water in the planter near the goose but you could walk right up to the edge of the box and that goose wouldn't budge for anything. Then earlier this week, Ellie and I were at the grocery store and underneath one of the plant display trellises out front was a mallard. He was just chillin' there.

With both these experiences, I noticed several people walk by and never look at the animals. They really could have seen them but decided not to stop or look. I do realize I am a nerd and easily distracted by this type of stuff but I also feel seeing these things is relaxing, almost a step away from the world and the challenges in life. I think more people should take the 15 seconds to stop and enjoy the wonderful creations around us.

Just one of those days

Today has just been one of those days when you just want to look up and say "Really?". It started out just fine. Ellie woke up a little early but sat quietly on our bed and looked at books for about 30 minutes so I could be lazy. We headed downstairs for some "mi mou" (Mickey Mouse) before eating breakfast.  Ellie decided she wanted Corn Chex instead of Fruit Loops in her cereal bowl. After eating, I was sitting on the couch and must have dozed off because the next thing I know, Jake is telling Ellie to stop that and leave it alone. When I asked what, he said she had pulled like 5-6 wipes out of the container.  (She likes to wipe her face off then wipe anyone else's face before trying to wipe down the couches, chairs, tables, etc and then throwing them away.) Apparently since Jake caught her, she just went straight to the garbage with them. So I head over to check it out. There were close to 30 unused wipes sitting at the bottom of the new garbage bag.

Ellie has been trying to potty train herself for a while now. Every few days over the past couple of weeks, she would grab herself and talk like she was worried about messing her diaper but that has been about it. Within the last week or so, she will actually walk into the bathroom and pat the toilet seat like she wanted to sit down. Of course, by the time we are in the bathroom, she has already peed in the diaper. I decided to let her sit on the toilet to see if it helped her understand. The first time I sat her on the toilet, she screamed. The next time she was on and off in less than 2 seconds. Yesterday she sat on the toilet 3 times after peeing in her diaper but she would sit for 5-10 seconds.

This morning as we were jumping in the shower, I asked if she wanted to sit on the toilet and try to pee. So she sits down but I wasn't expecting much when I hear little splashes. Ellie starts to smile one of her biggest smiles at me. I couldn't believe it. She actually peed in the toilet at 19 months! I started to think maybe we should try to find a potty chair and buy some pull ups so she can work on it more. Then after the shower before a diaper is put on, she peed on the floor. Really?

Always and forever

I thought it was about time for some random thoughts I have had lately.  This first one came about because several of the shows I watch had weddings in them. The part that I found interesting was that in all 3 of the shows, one or both people in the relationship (whether talking before the marriage or during their vows) mentioned wanting to be with the other person forever.

It was then I realized that staying with someone forever is a fairy tale idea, one that a lot of people want but one more and more people aren't willing to work at. Then next thing I thought was how sad it was these people talked about wanting to be together forever but as part of marriage ceremonies, the officiator says the words "til death do you part." Once one of them dies, they will no longer be together.

It made me extremely grateful that I was married in a Temple of the Lord and sealed by Priesthood authority for time and all eternity, giving Jake and I the opportunity to be together forever if we strive to live the commandments. It also made me realize that this takes a lot of work by both parties involved because marriage is about bring 2 lives together, not giving one life for the other.

It also made me think why when people start relationships they can't/don't want to be apart and love the idea of forever but then as struggles and challenges come up they don't work to stay together. Many people now just give up and get divorced. I have found that challenges are easier when worked on in groups, even personal challenges seem lighter when the spouse is actively involved. There are plenty of days I think that being married for 5 years has been way too long, but there are other times when forever won't be long enough. I just need to do my part to make sure that when I feel like 5 years is too long, I act and treat Jake like forever isn't long enough.

Crazy baby

I don't know what has been up with Ellie lately but she has started doing the funniest things. I find myself laughing quite a bit. I am trying to write down a few of them but I have forgotten a bunch.

The other day while I was in the kitchen, I had just dried my hands on a towel. I think I was putting away dishes or cooking but out of the corner of my eye, one of the dish towels that hangs on the oven door disappears. Next thing I hear is "bbboooo, bbbboooo." I look down to see Ellie wearing the towel over her face.


Another time, I was fixing my hair in our bathroom. Ellie normally just runs around and plays with whatever she can find. I could see her in the mirror on the other side of the room. I go back to my hair when I hear her run up behind me. I then hear "tchoo, tchoo" (like when kids pretend to shot something) and feel this sharp point stab the back of my leg. I look down and Ellie somehow found a toothpick in our bedroom and had stabbed me with it. 

Right now she is really into the show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney. She tries to say Mickey Mouse but it sounds a lot like "mi ma". She always asks to watch the show and now has started putting on her Minnie or Mickey ears. Mickey and Minnie sound the same.

Ellie as mi ma.

 We bought the large buckets from home depot for food storage but before the food was placed in them Ellie thought they were her toys. Don't ask how she was able to do this unassisted because I don't know. I heard the bucket moving, it was quiet for a bit and then I look down to this.

We had just finished eating dinner. Ellie told us she was done and was let out of her chair. Jake's chair wasn't tucked in so she climbed up. And seriously, who can't resist biting pizza crust.


She took 3 bites out of the crust without using hands.

We received a recall notice for our 4Runner so we took it in to have them fix the floor mat and gas pedal, free of charge. They had this cute kids area and Ellie wanted to play with the blocks. If you listen carefully she says, "Oh no. It broke."

She has also started walking crazy like and shaking her head at the same time. This she has only really done while we are at a store shopping. Most people just laugh hysterically as we walk by.

I love this little girl. 

18 month check up

Ellie went in for her 18 month check up last week. That was a completely new experience for both of us. The doctor's office is in a medical center and because Ellie is a new patient, we had a whole bunch of forms to fill out and questionnaires to answer so they could assess her progress. She seemed to be just fine as we sat in the waiting area. There were crayons and papers to color on.  Just as we were called back, Ellie decided to clean up every single crayon she could find which I guess is a good thing.

The nurse's name is Bonnie, which happens to be the same as one of Ellie's great grandmas. She is very nice and Ellie waved to her. Then we entered the exam room and Ellie transformed into angry baby. She screamed any time the nurse came near her even if I was holding her. Who knows how accurate the measurements are? They reported that head size as 19" (89th percentile) and weight as 23.9lbs (40th percentile). We never were able to measure her height and the weight measurement was both of us minus my weight. Fun for me!

When the doctor came in, she really reminded me of a mix between our old pediatrician and her nurse. Still Ellie wanted nothing to do with her. She again screamed, cried, and buried herself into my shoulder, when I allowed it, rather than look at the doctor. She wouldn't even let the doc see the family pictures we carry around for Ellie.

Then came the fun part, shots. Ellie needed 3 immunizations so I had to lay her on the table, grab her hands to keep them from flailing, and lay on Ellie's upper body to hold her down. This so the nurse could hold her legs and give the shots. I have never felt like such a terrible person before but at the same time realizing it is hopefully for the best. Gratefully Ellie has forgiven me, especially since I stopped off at Chick-a-fila on the way home to buy her chicken nuggets for lunch. Although they were cold and had to be reheated for her to eat since she feel asleep 3 minutes into the car ride and slept for almost 4 hours. She was really tired.

I just hope the next appointment doesn't go the same way.

Watterson Dinner

As some of you may not know, Jake has family here in Colorado. Steve, Jake's dad, has a cousin who lives here along with most of his family. Jake has been talking with them lately and since they were having a family dinner, they invited us out. I was excited to go meet them. This is the same family that is in charge of this year's Watterson family reunion, which will take place in Granby, CO next month.

We went to Russ Watterson's house, north of Denver. It is an extremely nice house and vaguely reminded both Jake and I of my uncle Russ's summer home near St. George. Ellie had so much fun playing because there were kids, swings, a trampoline, and volleyball dirt.

We ate a delicious Mexican dinner with fresh guac, tacos, chips and salsa, etc. They wouldn't give us a food assignment so we decided to make rainbow jello, a recipe that my mom gave me and Jake's family loves. When we arrived with the jello, they all kind of laughed and said that it had been a while since they had eaten rainbow jello since their grandma used to make it. That was a little weird that one part of the Watterson family knew of rainbow jello but another didn't.

After dinner, Russ turned on the water for the "river" in the backyard. All the kids enjoyed this cold, refreshing playtime. Ellie was a little hesitant at first and only put her toes in. She played around the yard for a bit and then went back to the water. This time she didn't get out until her lips were purple and she was shaking.

This water is a little chilly when, especially with no clothes on.



Ellie and Jack (aka Jack, Jack) playing together.

It was great to meet and hang out with extended family. I can't wait for the reunion now. Thanks to Russ and his family for having us over.

P.S. Why is it that diapers seem to hold so much more water than pee? Ellie's diaper was overflowing from being in the river but it wasn't dripping and I have had less full diapers leak onto her clothes.

Children's Museum Free Day

Denver's Children's Museum and Target have partnered together and because of this partnership, the museum offers free days the first Tuesday of every month.  Since Jake wasn't able to come with us last time and it was his reading week (in prep for finals), we went for a bit.

Ellie was just as excited this time as she was when my mom was here.  She wanted to show daddy everything, especially the trains.

Train Conductor Ellie here to knock the train over and break the track.

 We spent some time playing in the animal area again. Ellie needed a little persuasion to go down the stairs the first time, but I think it's because there were probably 3x the people/kids there this time compared to last.

 Because there were so many kids, I wasn't able to dress her up in those cute costumes again.

We had a lot of fun in the bubble room.

Help. Daddy trapped me in a bubble.

I geeit. I geeit.

Pop!

 We tried to stand in the bubble enclosure but there was this rude little kid, around 8 or 9 years old, whose mother hadn't taught him to share hogging it.  He played and held the rope for close to 5 minutes while we were waiting and around 10 minutes before we started waiting. He had to stay inside the enclosure and wouldn't let the other kids touch the rope to pull the bubble up around them. His mother just sat nearby watching all the other people standing, waiting for their turns and she would just giggle like he was simply being cute.

We also went shopping. Ellie loves shopping.

Momma, money?

 They had done a little rearranging with the activity centers since our last visit. The market was between the invention center and the animal area. Where the market had been was now an animal care center. Kids to dress up and pretend to be vets, assistants, groomers, etc. There were checklists and supplies all over the place.

Ellie picking out her victim, I mean, her patient.

 She chose to be a groomer.

Aahh. Isn't that sweet?

Brush, brush, brush.

Watch out family in Utah with pets. She is fully ready to be your pets groomer. I just know Bella and Baxter (Calee and Devin's dogs), Sophie (G-ma Wendy's dog), Reagan (Stef's cat), Tippy Coconut (Maddie's cat), and all the animals at G-ma and G-pa Wattersons are going to love having a new groomer.

Seriously, who wouldn't want a cute pet groomer like this.

BWAHAHA!

We had lots of fun and were glad that daddy could come play too.

Summer Internship

Can I just say, YYYYEEEEAAAA!!!! Jake was got home from signing a contract for work at a summer internship. And even better, it's at the law firm that he considered his top choice. They deal in construction and real estate law so it should help him determine if it's really what he wants to do. Since it is an internship, there will be a small amount of compensation with part time hours. The only down side, which isn't a huge one, is that the office is about a 25-30 minute drive as long as there isn't a lot of traffic.

I am so excited for him and excited that after next week, we will have one full year of law school behind us.

Easter

Easter this year was quiet compared to what it could have been. We originally didn't have any plans except for the past few years some of the families in our ward had their own egg hunt. So we filled some eggs, dropped them off to one of the families, and the next day some of the men folk hide the eggs. There were about 10 families participating. After the kids played at the playground and a potluck lunch was available.

At first Ellie didn't understand what to do with the eggs. She would pick them up and try to hand them to Jake or I. Once we showed her to place them in her basket, she was all over it. 

Here's an egg in this tree.



 

I found some eggs.

It was quite fun. Later that night, Jake and I made a different kind of Easter egg.
 

First make rice crispy treats.

 

Make sure you wash the eggs first. And don't forget the jelly beans in the middle.



You have rice crispy Easter eggs filled with jelly beans.

Easter morning we didn't do anything special. We had been fairly busy the day before and I didn't want to worry about coloring eggs so we didn't. I didn't even make a special breakfast. We did have a small basket and some toys for Ellie.
 

She didn't want to stand since I was crouched.



Seriously, look at that cheese!

 Toys R Us had a sale of buy one, get on free on Fisher Price toys. So we cashed in a gift cert that Ellie got for her birthday and she was able to receive a shopping cart and a little people Noah's Ark. So far, great purchases.


What a cutie!

We did buy a ham (courtesy of WASCO and a Christmas gift cert) and had a traditional Easter meal with homemade rolls and everything. Now we have ham galore because 3 people just don't eat 9.5 pounds of ham.

And although we weren't able to read through the story, I did make an Easter Egg story of my very own. This is the scripture story of the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ broken into 12 parts, placed in plastic eggs with small tokens of the story in the egg as well. I can't decide if I want to make a second set with a Book of Mormon story or a kids version (not using direct scripture quotes).

I love Easter and have decided to make it more about Christ, even in decorations. Hobby Lobby had a Resurrection scene (like a nativity) and I would like to have pictures to put up dealing with Easter and its true meaning. Most of that will have to wait until after law school though. I hope that we all can remember the gifts we received on account that Easter happened so many years ago.

Ellie's funny saying

Ellie has started talking a little bit more and says some of the funniest things.  I don't think she understands the difference between "jes", "no", and "uh-uh" because no matter what you ask she always starts with "uh-uh" or "no". If she doesn't shake her head no, then she probably means yes so we ask "Yes?" If she wants it, then she'll say "jes" or if not she'll say "no" again. More often than not, she will just start saying "no, no, no, no, no". The best part, she has big pouty lips. 

No no no no no

If there is something that she wants, she'll start saying "Igeeit. Igeeit." over and over again until she got it.

She is very good at identifying animals sounds. She knows horse(hee hee), cow(moo), chicken(bawk), rooster(doodle-doo), sheep (baa), goat (blah), deer/moose/zebra*(blat), bear/tiger/lion/raccoon*(roar), dog(ruff), cat(maow), mouse/squirrel/chipmunk(geek), duck(cak, cak), chicks(peep), snake(ssss), fly(buz buz), bee(zzz), crow(a-aw), birds(weat, weat), owl(whoooo), elephant(bbphmf with trunk movement), monkey/gorilla*/chimp* (oh-oh), donkey(ha-ha), and maybe a few others. I know some of these aren't right but what does a zebra sound like? She is having a hard time learning "crack-a-lackin". If she doesn't know and we don't know, then she'll make up a sound for a creature that looks similar.

Today I tried to teach her to say our softball team name, Brown Chicken Brown Cow. It went like this.
Me: Ellie say Brown. 
Ellie: Brow
Me: Say Chicken
Ellie: Bawk
Me: Say Brown
Ellie: Brow
Me: Ellie say Cow
Ellie: Moo

Maybe we should work on saying actually animal names and not referring to them by their sound.

We also had a yes/no argument today about who knows what. She started with gibberish to which I replied, "Is that so?" She respond with "no" so I said "yes" and away it went.

She does understand quite a few other words and sometimes tries to say them. Some attempts are better than others.

Botanic Gardens Free Day

Here in Denver, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) work with organizations to help promote learning and culture. These organizations offer days when admission is free. Last week, Denver Botanic Gardens was having their last free day until after the main season so we decided to go and take Stanley.

To me, the gardens are so fun to just walk around to enjoy and appreciate plants, trees, and flowers.  Something is always in bloom. The day was quite warm except for the wind but we still enjoyed it.


Tropical heat wave in the Tropical Conservatory.



Stanley, look at this pretty flower while Ellie cheeses the camera.

 

Ellie sitting among some orchids.

Do you know how hard it is to try to take a picture of an 18 month old smiling while looking at the camera when there are so many things going on around them?

Ellie loves smelling the flowers.

 Not only did we stop and smell most of the flowers but we spent some good time trying to tell Ellie that the squirrel could walk in the gardens, with the flowers, but that she couldn't. 

Look. A squirrel. Come here squirrel. I'm nice.

Because it is spring, there were only spring flowers out. Boy they were pretty. Sadly men just don't understand (and mostly because women can't explain it) why flowers make women happy, even if they aren't for us. We still like looking at them.

Stanley among double Daffodils.

Daffodils and tulips about the only flowers out in full bloom. The irises and some roses were still prepping to come out. There were still a bunch of them. The tulips came in many colors, some with smooth edges and some with frayed edges. I thought it was a great way to get into the "Springtime" spirit.


Stanley with the Tulips.



Starfest 2011 Denver

Get ready for StarFest 2011. A place for science fiction fanatics come out in droves to present their true feelings about reality by dressing up as SciFi characters.

(As a preface to this story, Jake works with the Young Men of our church but because the area is so close to the University of Denver our ward is not quite newlywed/nearly dead. It's more like young marrieds with kids under 4 and empty nesters. So what has happened is the primary, nursery and youth are combined from 2 wards but the adult classes are still separate.)

The bishop of the other ward works for a company that plans and prepares conventions of all kinds to come to Denver. So he allowed the Young Men, their leaders and the leaders' families to come see StarFest. Although I consider myself a "quiet" nerd (I like SciFi shows and learning interesting things about how life works but would collect memorabilia or wear costumes), I never imagined myself actually going to a SciFi convention. Secondly, I half believed that SciFi convention portrayed on movies or TV shows were typical over-dramatizations. I was wrong. I seriously think that we were 3 of maybe 10 people at this giant convention (a couple hundred to a thousand or more people) not dressed up or wearing a t-shirt with a SciFi design to it.

You could by collectibles of any kind (plates, posters, action figures, books, paintings, photographs, etc) for just about any SciFi genre out there (Star Trek, Star Wars, Supernatural, Harry Potter, Superman, etc) for any time (early shows and books to present). And there were costumes to go with it; Avatar, Sucker Punch, Storm Troopers, Sherlock Holmes (oddly enough), Klingons, etc. I didn't take any pictures of people dressed up but click here or here to see some photos.

I still enjoyed walking around and watching people interact and do their thing. Yes, I did laugh a ton at some of the stuff, especially chicks who acted like it was Halloween (an excuse to wear something slutty). For an extra charge, participants could pay to meet SciFi people; the chick from the TV show V, the guy who played "Crowly" from Supernatural, the guy who played "Chewbacca" the Wookie (who in real life is pretty scary looking), and other people I didn't know.

It was funny to see the creative things people would make to sell.  One of my favorites were generations paintings from the Star Trek shows (Original, Next Generation, Deep Space 9, and 2 or 3 others) with either all the captains, first mates, Klingons, medical doctors, engineering guys, etc. They were really good.

Ellie met R2D2

 

Jake and Ellie with the robot from Lost in Space. Danger Will Robinson.

There were 2 robots from Lost in Space. One for show and this one was plugged into a computer so one of the guys working there could type sentences and the robot would say them. Ellie thought that was great, especially when he asked her name and how old she was.
 

Ellie coloring an award at the World of Wizardry.

This wasn't only promoting Harry Potter but a new, more SciFi type novel about wizards.
 

Here are your Star Wars bad guys.



Yes, these guys are fighting with pretend Klingon something or others.



Room decorating contest

Since this took place at the Marriott, here's a look up at the room's from inside the courtyard. They were numbered so I'm assuming there was a contest of some sort.  

Check out the new and improved Ghostbuster car.

They also had the Jurassic Park jeep.  In the next hotel down, was the comic book portion of the convention. We just glanced at the stuff there. Some of the most interesting parts of the comic books were the newer artists who were trying to make a name for themselves and showing off their artwork.

If I had the money, I would definitely go to these things more often. It was just kinda fun to see all the people and do awesome people watching. Yes, also I am a nerd.

Grandma Wendy's Visit (days 4 and 5)

Day 4 of my mom's visit was Sunday so it was mostly a stay at home and relax day. Ellie did enjoy having Grandma come to nursery with her. My mom almost packed up one of the kids to take home because his parents were late in picking him up and he looks almost identical to my brother-in-law's, Devin's, baby picture. She figured that Calee and Devin could pass him off as their own.

We enjoyed some nice fish (halibut) and chips (homemade french fries) for dinner. I just thought my mom would enjoy some fresh (-ish) fish from Alaska since as kids none of us really ate fish and doesn't have the opportunity to eat it as often as she'd like sometimes.

Monday we drove out to Colorado Mills, our huge outlet mall. It was time to do some shopping.  We looked at clothes for Ellie, swimsuit for my mom (she was arriving home in Utah just to leave in 3 days for California), and just walk around. I like this mall with its wide halls and different stores, not to mention its an indoor outlet so its a little easier to shop in the winter.

We ate Panda for lunch because Ellie loves the noodles. We had to sit a one of the little kid tables they have so we could be near the carousel. Of course Ellie convinced grandma that she needed a ride, after Ellie snuck in the exit to the ride. We got on and Ellie choose her horse and the ride started. After about 10 seconds she wanted off. So I had her watch for Grandma Wendy each time we would go around. She giggled each time Grandma would pass because we would say BOO!


Not to sure about this, until we would pass Grandma.

We got some good shopping in. Ellie fell asleep, which was good, but then we came to the Build-a-bear workshop. They had these cute spring lambs and if you spent a specific amount then you received a free Easter basket. So we made Ellie a lamb. We wanted to have her record a "baa" sound but she was still asleep.

We timed things so well that we left the mall, drove home to pick up my mom's stuff, and made it to the airport so she could fly home without much waiting. It's always sad when our visitors have to leave. Ellie asks for them for a few days after, but we make sure to have a good time while they are here.

Thanks for visiting Grandma Wendy. We love you.