Fashionista

Lately, Miriam has been more and more aware of what she is wearing and what pictures and decals it might have on it. Along with this comes a more passionate desire to choose what she wears. Usually I offer her a choice between complete outfits so we don't have anything terribly crazy. But that could only last for so long. Yesterday while we were getting ready to go to Wheeler Farm for an afternoon activity, her purple pants had sat in something and had to be changed. While we were at her closet, she grabbed her favorite skirt, a pink gingham pattern with a tiny little Elmo tag on the side. She wasn't about to not wear it. At the same time, she did NOT want to take off her yellow shirt with the purple flowers. Purple, pink, and blue are the three colors she can identify with a pretty good percentage so she knew I knew what she was talking about. I finally gave in and let her wear pink gingham with purple flowers, along with her favorite hat, thinking that the whole ensemble might detract from the red road rash she currently sports on her cheek, her ear, and down her neck. No, it not poorly applied blush. I am still in control of that, at least. I should have realized it really wouldn't have mattered. After her wade in the ditch turned into a sit down, she stood up and declared "WET!" So the mismatched outfit came off, but she enthusiastically opted to keep the hat. She loves hats and any time she sees somebody wearing one, she shouts "HAT!" But I shouldn't have been surprised at how well she pulled the entire look off. This little chica just might be rewriting the fashion code.

Anything Can Happen!

While I was working at Jordan Valley, I came up with a lot of fun groups combining music, books, movement, whatever. Every once in a while, I'd do one of the groups with a bunch of normal kids and had a lot of fun with it. I always thought "gosh, if I could find a place I could do one or two fun groups a week and nothing else for a decent pay, I would totally go for it." Fast forward to last summer when Miriam was getting big enough to take places without a valid and real fear that she'd completely melt down. I started checking out the library programming that they had for kids. I went to the Whitmore Library in Cottonwood Heights, the Sandy Library in Sandy, the Murray Library in Murray, and the Tyler Library right here in Midvale. Most of the groups were fine. Some were even good. But the professional eye in me always thought "oh, I would have done this," and "I would say that..." And part of me really wanted to lead a group so that Miriam could attend a group done to her mother's professional standards. So I asked Kami, my friendly local librarian, about their special programming. She said to write up a proposal and to send it to her. She said she thought the going rate is $50 for an 45 minute-ish group. So I wrote up a proposal that had several different ideas about groups I could do with a bunch of kids combining music, books, movement, etc, entitled it "Anything Can Happen!" and emailed it to her. She promptly emailed me back and asked if I would like to do this througout the county library system or just at Midvale's Tyler Library. I thought she loved my idea and wanted to spread me around, so told her that I would love to go throughout the system. "In that case, you need to send it to this other lady..." Sigh. So I sent it to the other lady. About two weeks later, I got a phone call from her saying that she'd love to talk to me about special programming and could I call her back. This was in March, just before a trip to Boise. So I called her back. When I got back from Boise I called her back again. A month later I called her back again. After a while, I decided that she must have died without giving her phone pin to anybody and that my messages were just floating around the Salt Lake County Voice Mail system. That seemed to be the only logical explanation of why nobody had called me back. So I put the library group idea on the back burner and started something new. I did a little summer music class with some kids in the area. I did both theory stuff and fun things and quite enjoyed it. But when the class ended a few weeks ago, I didn't feel a great pull to start another yet. I did start thinking about my library proposal again and decided to figure out who the programming person was now that the one I had called was so assuredly dead. Yesterday I got a phone call from the original library programming lady. Imagine my joy to find she was not dead but instead alive and well enough to be working! She said she was working on December-February's special programming and had pulled a file with my proposal in it. She wanted to know if I was still interested in doing special programming at the library! Absolutely I am! So we chatted for a while and she is sending my "Anything Can Happen!" special programming out to the branches of the library so the local librarians can sign up for me to come do my dog and pony show for them. At the end of the month, she'll email me back with times that the libraries have requested and we'll go from there. I am so excited to see how this all comes together because in my mind it's the best of any possible worlds. I get to go do groups without having to commit more time than just the group time to the place of business. The people who attend the group get to attend for free. And more important than anything else, Miriam does in fact get to attend a group that is done to her mother's professional standards. When I get my schedule, I'll be sure and post it so I can have groupies that come just for me. I'm just glad that I wasn't doing it as a primary source of income. Job hunting is frustrating enough, but when they don't call you back for six months, it would be even more so unless you're like me and just taking life as it comes with a husband who is making enough to pay the bills. It just goes to show that if you just wait for long enough, that "Anything Can Happen!"

How does your garden grow?

This year in my garden, we planted a sqash plant, a cucumber plant, two round tomato plants, and a cherry tomato plant. We also planted some sunflowers from seed. The cucumber plant promptly died upon insertion into the ground, but the others have thrived. I've watched their flowers for the past month wondering when something was going to happen. And it finally did! Last night for dinner, we had squash and tomatoes with our rice and gravy. Tonight we just had squash and tomatoes, to heck with the rice and gravy. A cucumber would have tasted nice with it, but oh I love that fresh-from-the-vine taste. Pictured below is the first ripe tomato plucked from the vine. Miriam has been pulling off green ones for a while, but is always disappointed in the taste. As soon as she saw the nice ripe red one, she excitedly took a big bite, which is also pictured below. And there's a picture of a sunflower in the sun. Oh harvest time is so beautiful!

Sesame Street Again!

Sesame Street is broadcast on KUED (7) at 6am, which I believe is way too early to get up and watch tv. It is on KBYU (11) at 1pm which, ever since Miriam switched to one nap days most days, is out. So I have been a little sad at not having Sesame Street to watch. And Miriam misses it too. But lo and behold, it is on digital channel KUED 7.2 at 8am! That's a great time for television! Sesame Street has returned to Midvale! And because I have learned how to put on youtube videos, here is the one of Ben Stiller and Telly Monster singing the People in Your Neighborhood. I love it! I'm not sure what the little dancing music note at the bottom is all about, but the official "sesame street" version was unembeddable. So just deal with the dancing music note.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS! We have had a marvelous two weeks watching our good friends Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Dara Torres, Misty May-Traener, Jeremy Wariner, Sanya Richards, Asafa Powell, and so many others. We were amazed at Phelps' feats of glory, shocked as both USA mens and womens 100m medley track teams dropped the baton, and could tell that even to the untrained eye the Chinese divers were a lot better than everybody else put together. Last night we bid farewell to the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube, and Beijing as a whole. I always cry a bit when the flame goes out. But here's one good thing: I will be able to go to bed at night. For two weeks I've watched NBC til all hours not wanting to miss anything. In looking up Miriam's high fever last week on webmd.com, I noticed a new malady called "Olympic Exhaustion." They say that during major sporting events, and especially the olympics, lots and lots of people go with less sleep, contributing to less effectiveness at work and in life. As Bob Costas last night was lamenting about why can't the Olympics last longer, I thought that as much as I would love that, I couldn't survive it. As it is, I'm excited to go to bed on time tonight with no fear that I'm missing a major world event.

The Queen of Clean

First of all, let me assure you that Miriam is as filthy a girl as can be. A bath is required every evening and after most meals and snacks, although it usually is just a quick wipedown. The first thing I do after she goes down is marvel how messy things can get in such a short time. But other than being a very normal 18 month old little girl who is interested in absolutely everything, she also has a clean streak. It started when she was tiny. Very often, the only way we could get her to stop crying was by turning on the vacuum cleaner. It was instantly miraculous. After I got really tired of carrying her around while vacuuming, I just plugged it in by the rocking chair. We could turn it on and Miriam off as easy as pressing a button. I thought then she might grow up to be a lover of clean things. So far, I was right. She is fascinated with the potty. She knows that if she sits on it she gets potty candy (marshmallows), but in order to sit on it, she needs mom or dad's help. She can clean the potty though, all by herself. So often I'll hear splashes from the bathroom only to come in and see Miriam with the plunger or the toilet bowl cleaner, getting everything spic and span and wash washing it til it shines, a huge smile on her face. She also loves puting things away. Once her tin of crayons were on the bed in the office. They don't belong there, but that's where I had put them for some reason. She found them and brought them to the front room where we got them out and she colored. When it was time, I told her to put her crayons away. I saw her start putting crayons in the tin and I let her keep going by herself. After she was in bed, I gathered the few crayons that were left on the floor, but could not find the tin. I finally checked in the office and there it was on the bed right where she had found it. The lid wasn't on and there were crayons spilling out the side, but she had put her crayons away. It was so sweet I teared up right there. She loves to help washing the windows, she loves to wipe the table, she always helps dad with the kitty litter, and she knows to take her diapers and throw them in the garbage. If only I could get her to wash the guck away instead of just rubbing it in...

And for your viewing pleasure, you can push play and see how immediate and amazing the vacuum cleaner was for us. I love our Kirby!

Isn't it ironic?

This has long since been a favorite of mine. So apt, so appropriate, so unfortunately true. I'm the only person that I know who has sprained an ankle in Geometry class and chipped a tooth in the library. Yesterday a girl I know was wearing a shirt with this cartoon on it. I, now being a proud resident of Midvale, was shocked to see that it reads and has always read "Midvale School for the Gifted." It almost makes me feel like it's fate that I live here now. Things that make you go hmmm...

A Major Award

Last week was Midvale's Harvest Days. Because I am a member of the Midvale Arts Council and because I had a picture I really liked, I entered the Harvest Days Art Contest. I am sure you recognize the picture as one I posted on my summary of our trip to California. I cropped it and centered it a little and entitled it "The Race." I thought it was perfect. There were four photographs in the photography section, and I got... THIRD PLACE! Which means NOT LAST! The other three photographs were taken by the same artist, so I don't feel bad making somebody else be last by me being third, because she was also first and second. So many times I think my purpose for being somewhere or doing something is so others will see that they're not the worst one. I'm no better and usually pretty proud of it. I am also proud of my first entry into an arts contest. As my 3rd place prize, I get $10. Which recovers my $5 entry fee with $5 left over. Anybody up for a trip to Wendy's?

Stimulating the Economy

We finally stepped up from our $100 garage sale washer and dryer, and just in time. The weekend before Sears was to deliver our flashy new high efficiency front loading washer and humongous dryer, our old shaky dryer quit working. We sold them as-is on ksl.com for $40. Which, if you do the math, means we got 4 years of washing and drying for $60. Not bad at all. And we are now washing and drying clothes with the best of them. My mom used to tell us how she and her sisters used to sit in front of the front loading washer and pretend they were watching tv. Now that I'm an owner, I find that it's surprisingly relaxing to watch all the clothes go around and around and around. I think it's in Jack Weyland's book "A New Dawn" where Dawn, a brilliant science student, realizes a new mathematical formula while watching the clothes spin. Maybe my mom was onto something. Anyway, I love the economic stimulus plan! And my clean clothes!

Eighteen Months!

HAPPY 18 MONTHS TO MIRIAM! We've been saying that she's "18 months" for so long, that it's amazing that it's finally here. I can't believe so much has happened in the time that it takes a sister to go on a mission. Then again, the 18 months of the mission took a long time to get through. Maybe it's about even. Anyway, Miriam is absolutely wonderful. Here are some of the things that have fascinated me about her lately.
Her budding sense of humor: This girl is funny! I once used a big sombrero in a music class I'm teaching, and for the next week or so it was sitting in the office. One Sunday morning Miriam went to go get her bike, a common occurance. She busted out of the hallway riding her bike, screaming, and wearing the sombrero. She laughed and laughed, going around the table a few times, then went and put the hat back, knowing that it had been funny. Another time I slipped while I was going down the stairs and fell down about 5 stairs. As I sat there taking note of whether or not anything was broken, I heard Miriam's little voice coming from the top of the stairs as clearly as I have heard her say anything, "all fall down!" Sometimes when she laughs at something that she does, she puts her hands on her knees and leans over. Oh, I think she's a funny one!
Her language acquisition: It amazes me how much she soaks up. She can understand most of the directions I give her, find objects in a book, and frequently can tell me what she wants. Whether or not I understand is another matter. One day she wanted to go on a bike ride. It was still pretty early, so I told her I needed clothes first. She turned around, and pointed solemnly to her nose. Close, but no cigar. The next day we were reading a book and it had a part where eyes open and close. I said "open and closed," and she immediately pointed to her clothes. Again, close. But she's getting much more accurate. She knows the letter "M," but doesn't realize that there are other letters. Any time we see a sign with prominant letters, she points to it and enthusiastically says "M!" Sometimes there really is an M, which makes it even more exciting, at least for me. She knows flag and star and flower and dinosaur and elephant and really most any animal you can think of and cracker and cheese and milk and water and eat and please and high five and gosh she has lots and lots of words. It's interesting to figure them out though. She knows how to say "icee," meaning a popsicle. One night on the trampoline she kept asking for icees, but would never eat more than a bite or two. The next night we figured out that she was actually asking for "ashes," apparantly what she calls Ring Around the Rosie. That evening went much more smoothly with more dancing and fewer uneaten icees.
That she knows to do even things that she doesn't like: Miriam is not a fan of face washing. When she is sitting on the edge of the sink with a washcloth, though, she'll dab her nose and chin. She doesn't like getting her temperature taken, but when she picks up the thermometer, she'll hold it close to her bum. She also doesn't like lotion time, but when she finds a lotion bottle, she'll sit and make the "lotion-putting-on" sound that we do, and rub her legs, arms, and belly. She doesn't like to wash her hair, but when she's in the bathtub she'll ask for some soap and rub it on her head. She doesn't love diaper changing time, but one day it was strangely quiet so I checked on her while she was watching Sesame Street. She had a the package of wipes open, a pile of freshly used wipes next to her, and the upper front area of her pants surprisingly wet. She had just sat there wiping herself with the wipes. Not because she likes it, mind you, but because that's what you're "supposed" to do with them.
That she knows the "routine": I love hearing her giggle when we get to the page of the Spot book that the monkeys get tickled. She knows she's about to get tickled. I love that she can ask for specific movies and books. I love that when I tell her it's time to eat, she'll go to her chair. One of her favorite times of the day is when we wave goodbye to dad as he rides his bike off to work. Sometimes, she'll be on the front porch waiting to give the high five before he even gets out the back door to get the bike. And speaking of bikes, when we are getting ready for a bike ride, she'll get out her helmet. I love seeing her little diapered bottom run down the hallway to wait at her crib when it is bedtime and I offer her a "baba."
I could go on and on... I love this stage of her learning things so fast and having preferences and figuring out how to portray them. I love that she can say Mama and Dada, and sometimes when I ask "what do you want?" she says "Mama!" Oh it just melts my heart.
The next things we're working on include being okay when she says please for something and the answer is still "no," staying in nursery for longer than 10 minutes without completely falling apart, not throwing things at my head, and sitting at the dinner table for longer than the time it takes for me to sit down and start eating. Fun times for everybody.
WE LOVE YOU MIRIAM!!!

Miriam's first eyeliner application

She's a natural! It's centered around her eye, going mostly in a horozontal direction, except of course for the drawn-on temple tendrel. She could use some help with blending, but it's possible that I stopped her before she got to that point. Please also note the toothbrush in her hand. She LOVES getting-ready-for-the-day time. What a cutie!

Happy 24th

Growing up in a state where July 24th was not a state holiday, we still celebrated the arrival of the pioneers in what is now known as Utah. We would gather as a stake for a grand pancake breakfast, complete with sausage, eggs, and juice. No pancakes that I cook at my own house ever taste quite as good as those cooked on the scout grill by the high priest group leader. The primary kids, having prepared for days on end, were dressed as pioneers and had their bikes and scooters decorated. We had a little covered wagon attachment that my dad made for our wagon that we pulled along. I thought we were just about the coolest ones there. After breakfast, we paraded around the church once and called it good. We got home before it got too hot. I remember when I was in Young Womens, one of my leaders, who had recently moved from Bountiful, Utah, expressed great disappointment in our meager celebrations. I guess it's whatever you're used to, because now that I live in Utah where it is indeed a state holiday, none of the stakes I've ever lived in have ever done anything to commemorate, and I haven't really participated in the bigger state-based celebrations. There's the parade in Salt Lake, barbecues, fireworks, and campouts, but they don't really call to me. Nothing like a greasy pancake with warm Tang while watching the primary kids reinact the historic trek. I try not to be too vocal about it, because I remember how sad it made me that Sister Beckstrand didn't like our celebrations, but I miss the 24th of July in Boise. This year, the Boise Stake is hosting a ~10K (from the stake center to the hosting chapel) and a ~5K run (from another chapel to the hosting chapel) prior to the traditional breakfast and parade. And the parade is still all that. When I was there last week, Adelle invited me to come see her in the parade. She already knows what she's going to wear, how she'll fix her hair, and what wave she'll use. For our celebration, we watched The Parade on tv this morning. Miriam got her flag out and waved with the Tooele High School band, welcoming the pioneers. And it's a good tradition. But in my heart I will be in Boise on Saturday morning, and with that celebration my spirit will feel like the pioneers finally arrived.

Home Again, Finnegan

Miriam and I spent the last week in Boise visiting my parents. We had a great time. Brent spent the last week backpacking in the Uintas, and he also had a great time. As we were packing, I was deciding which shoes to bring and he was deciding how many Ramen Noodle packets to bring. I think I got the better trip. And because this is my blog, that's what we'll stick with. If you'd like to read about Brent's adventure, then you can. Our week consisted of just being home and with Nana and Papa, and visiting Marsaela and Adelle. This picture is from the Boise airport. Miriam was enraptured with this Boise River sign and really, why shouldn't she be? Water flowing indoors? What more could a girl ask for? Highlights included a swimming party at Adelle's house, picking up some great bargains at garage sales (I should be good through Christmas, at least), and having Miriam sit at the kids' table at the family dinner. She didn't eat much nor stay for very long, but she was sure excited about it. Marsaela, who just turned two, loved Miriam but was a little wary. The feelings were returned. But as long as both got a spot with Papa, there wasn't much to fight over. I know, it's not a great picture of any of them, but I think it is a good visual of the tentative truce that was built between the two little girls. Anyway, we are now home sweet home and although I miss Boise, I love being home.

Back to Miriam... but sticking with the food theme

One of my favorite snacks is dipping Wheat Thins into cottage cheese. My favorite way to eat Wheat Thins is with cottage cheese, and my favorite way to eat cottage cheese is with, you guessed it, Wheat Thins. I can't remember where I picked this up, but I think it was a roommate (Britney? Ginger?). I'm sure I wasn't clever enough to start it on my own. However, Miriam has picked it up from me. If we ever get out the Wheat Thins, she immediately asks for "dip dip." If we ever have cottage cheese with dinner, she asks for "dip dip" to go along with it. Sometimes she'll even go to the fridge and say "dip dip," instigating the treat without any prompting whatsoever. She "dip dips" other things, but it mainly means eating cottage cheese with a cracker. She tends to use the Wheat Thin as a spoon rather than as part of the snack, but she is amazingly efficient at it. She has eaten more cottage cheese on her own this way than I thought possible for a little girl who for a while was content with three pretzels as her entire food intake in a day. Wheat Thins and cottage cheese are the most common snack around our house. Too bad it's kind of wet and drippy and not as easy to clean up as other things might be, but at least it has some healthy aspects to it! And as a disclaimer: I prefer the Original Wheat Thins for my own dipping pleasure. I bought a box of MultiGrain but was disappointed in them. Miriam now uses the MultiGrain Wheat Thins as her cracker spoon because she's not eating the Wheat Thin anyway, so why waste a good one?

Free food yet again

July is National Hot Dog Month! HOORAY! In celebration, tomorrow, Tuesday, July 15th, between 5 and 8pm, Wienerschnitzel is giving away your choice of an original Chili Dog or a Kid's Cone. You don't even have to dress up! My hope is that I can get the Chili Dog with no chili. I just don't think I could stomach the chili... If you for some odd reason don't know where the nearest Wienerschnitzel is, click here for their website.

Free food update

So we printed off the cow heads yesterday from Chick-fil-A, and took Miriam's cow puppet. Once we got there, I tied the head onto Miriam, who didn't want it and wriggled out of it. So I went to Brent. He didn't want it either, but he was smart enough to sit still. Once Miriam saw mom and dad were getting cow heads too, she was all about it. It really was cute. She put on her puppet hand and mooed for the register worker. There weren't any other people dressed like cows, so I felt kind of silly, and Brent even said "gosh maybe we should just pay the $2 for a sandwich." But then we heard people in line saying "maybe we should go home and get some black and white and then come back" so I felt better. I ordered free sandwiches for Brent, Miriam, and I. Then we ordered some potato waffle fries. Then another worker came over and said, pointing to the puppet, "they have props... give them a free kids meal!" So on top of Miriam's chicken sandwich, she got a free kids meal too. The three sandwiches, two waters, apple juice, chicken nuggets, large fries and small fries came to a total of $1.86. Plus they had a great kids play area that Miriam loved. And on the way home, I got a text from my friend Lyndzi that said that 7-11 was giving away free slurpees because it was July 11th (7-11). So we had slurpees on top of that. It turned out to be a very successful venture. I LOVE LOVE LOVE free food!

Free food

I'm always up for something free. "Leftovers," as my mom calls it. But here are two options for free food!
First, today, July 11th, is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a. If you go in dressed completely as a cow, you'll get a free combo meal. If you just have a cow head or any other partial cow part, you will still get a free sandwich. Plus, there are all sorts of cow costume ideas on their site, plus a cow mask that you can download and print out. Can't lose with this one!
Second, my friend Kacie is sponsoring a giveaway for a $25 gift card to The Sonora Grill, what I hear is the most fabulous fresh Mexican restaurant ever to hit the streets. It's in Ogden, but might be worth the drive. I've already signed up on her blog, but if I make a link to this review and offer, then I get three more entries. I'm not dumb... I know that three extra entries mean I have a much better chance of winning!
Bon appetit!

One of my favorite CDs

When Miriam was born, I made her a mix of songs that played at our house over and over and over for weeks if not months. One of the songs was "Daughters," by John Mayer. I love the soulfulness but yet not polished quality of his voice, and Brent and I would often talk about how we especially liked it when that song came on. For Valentine's Day that year, Brent got me the at-that-time new John Mayer CD "Continuum." I absolutely loved it, listened to it over and over, and it is still one of my favorite CDs. One thing I love is the obvious thought that is put into the lyrics of the songs. They sound more like poetry than mere lyrics. I love listening to them and hearing how the words fit together and come together to mean something bigger. My favorite two songs on the album are "The Heart of Life," and "Stop This Train." They explore the feeling that life-is-turning-out-to-be-not-quite-what-I-thought-it-was-supposed-to-be-yet-I-think-it'll-be-okay. John was born the year after I was, and this might be a common theme for those who have been in the adult world for a few years now and are trying to cope with the "is this it?" emotion. I listened to "The Heart of Life" nonstop for a while. It sums up so perfectly the motto of life. "No, it won't all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good." It made me cry the first time I heard it because it was so apt. In "Stop This Train," he wants the world to stop so that he can go back to being a little boy when things were safe and happy. In it, he talks to his dad about how to deal with getting older. I love imagining John turning to his parents for advice and just wanting to be little again. I can relate to that. I also love how he refers to himself in his songs as "John." When his dad answers in the song, he says "John, honestly..." It makes it so personal like he really is my friend telling me a story. I have purposefully not read a lot about John's personal life. I don't want the idea that he's a player or rude or gay or a guy who makes bad financial decisions taint his music for me. I'll just keep his music as my friend.

My Favorite Things #3

For years, cleaning the bathroom has been my least favorite household chore. It felt like no matter how hard or how long I scrubbed, it would never really get clean. I tried all sorts of different tub and toilet cleaners, and was disappointed in each one. Then one day I was talking with Erin about mopping floors, and she said that she absolutely loves her "Scrubbee Doo" mop from the Don Aslett cleaning place. She also suggested their Johnny Mop cleaner for the toilet. I went online and found that there was a new Don Aslett store in South Jordan. One fun day, I went in and purchased the Scrubbee Doo Pro, along with the Johnny Mop and Safety Foam. I also threw in some microfiber towels and the Bathroom Cleaning Kit. My Scrubbee Doo is amazing. Cleaning the floors has never been so easy and effective. The Safety Foam is a great toilet cleanser and the Johnny Mop a fantastic toilet brush. But I was most excited about the Bathroom Cleaning Kit for the tub and shower. It came with "Showers-n-Stuff" (the cleanser), a foaming nozzle, a big white scrubber, and a grout brush. I love how easy it makes it to have a bright, sparkling clean tub. You spray the cleanser on with the foaming nozzle, then spread it all around with the white scrubber. Let it sit for five minutes or so, then rinse it off using the scrubber dipped in clean water. If you have a tiled tub area like me, you can use the grout brush to clean between the tiles before you rinse it all off. I have never had anything get my tub area as clean as it is now with my Bathroom Cleaning Kit. And not only is it cleaner than it ever has been, it is easier to get it that way than with anything else I've ever tried. I love the way that my tub and shower area look, and that's not something I've said often. To get your own, go to http://www.cleanreport.com/, or to a Don Aslett Cleaning Center, which are in Idaho Falls, Boise, Pocatello, and Nampa, Idaho, or Logan and South Jordan, Utah. You will not be disappointed. Liberate yourself from soap scum and experience the freedom of a truly easy clean bathroom!

The Arctic Lion Returns

Zeke had his lion-cut appointment yesterday and he looks great! Although he loves boxes of all shapes and sizes, he's not a fan of being closed in a box without choosing it. His cat-carrying box has now been retired after him tearing another hole in the already-duct-taped box. He did magnificently at the groomer. He got a gold star rating. The other option was "I'll do better next time." I was so proud. He's been especially cuddly since we got back. I don't know if it's a "thank you for the hair cut" or a "please never take me in the car again." Either way, he's a better cat without all that fur.

Grand Old Flag

Avid readers of this blog already know that Miriam greatly enjoys watching the dance specials on the KBYU International channel. They also rebroadcast band, orchestra, and choir concerts, all of which she has greatly enjoyed. It's quite cute. She'll sit down right in front of the tv with her ankles crossed and her hands clasped and grin at the television. After each piece, she claps energetically, looking around to make sure we're clapping too, then waits for the next number to begin. One of her favorites is the BYU marching band's concert. She's seen it a few times now. The entire band is sitting on the stage, yet they are still doing their tuba shakes and other such movements. During some pieces, the drill team comes in with their flags. Now, Miriam knows about flags. At the Levanger Cousin Spring Extravaganza, the opening activity was talking about the importance of flags. Two cousins shared about two important flag events, namely Betsy Ross and the making of the first American flag and Moroni and the Title of Liberty. The cousins then all went and made their own flags, drawing on them things that made them who they are. Then there was a small cousin parade and of course a photo op. I don't know if any of the other cousins still have their flags, but Miriam loves hers. When she finds it, she marches down the hall waving it around. Sometimes she pokes Zeke with it, but I don't think it's done out of malice. More like enthusiasm. One time, she held it all the way down the street to her friends' house and back. It's only like four houses, but for Miriam that's pretty big. So when the flag dancers come in on KBYU, Miriam gets excited. Once we realized what she was so excited about, we gave her her flag when the dancers came on. That's all she needed. She now dances and prances around the room with her flag, swishing and waving it along with the Cougerettes, or whatever the team is named. It is amazing to see her be so focused on something she obviously already loves and to see the intensity that she is willing to give to it. Let's hear it for the Fighting Cougar Marching Band and Flag Team with one extremely adorable home addition waving with all of her heart!

Zeke the Wonder Cat

Soon after we moved into our own house, Brent and I decided to get a cat. We weren't very proactive about the situation, and decided that if anybody ever offered us a cat, we'd take it. So about a year later, a girl at work was looking for a home for a kitten she had found. It had been in the gutter meowing with the back portion of her right side burned. She didn't like people and she hissed a lot. But we took her home and now she is one of the sweetest little cats I know. She does have a paranoid streak and still does not like people. Of those who have been to our house, only a very small percentage have actually seen her. But she cuddles with Brent every night and loves feeding time. Her name is JoAnn, after JoAnn Seghini, the venerable mayor of Midvale, and we adore her. The summer after JoAnn came to live with us, a huge dirty white cat followed her home one day and stalked our back porch for a week. He would just stare in the glass doors and it really freaked me out. I thought he was going to kill Jo. We left on vacation for a few days and figured he'd leave when there was nothing to look at. But when we came back, the cat was still there. We decided he was ours and took him to the humane society to get his work done. I kept telling him that he's the one who chose to live with us, and that this is what you have to do to become domesticated. We initially had named him Gertrude, but with the help of Brian and Claudia we realized that he was in fact male. After we started calling him Ezekiel, his behavior improved dramatically. When I would tell people his name was "Ezekiel," a lot of people would hear "Easy Kill." Which may be considered a cool name, but not quite what we were going for. So we shortened it to Zeke and Zeke he is. Zeke is one of the most personable cats I have ever met. When the doorbell rings, JoAnn runs under the bed while Zeke walks in a stately fashion to the front door to see who it is. He is big and kind of clumsy, so when he plays his halves don't always match up. It's great. He loves boxes and will try to fit inside of any size of box. It can get pretty humorous. He also loves plastic bags and will lick any that are left out. He loves it when we come home from Macey's with grocery bags. It's like heaven to him. He also loves to open the cupboard under the sink and sleep in the dirty towel basket. It was quite amazing to watch him figure out how to get them open and I'm impressed. I'd also much rather him sit in the dirty towels basket rather than on the chair. He's pretty hairy. But he is the best kid cat I have ever seen. He's much more like a dog than a cat, and just sits and takes everything that Miriam dishes out. Of course we teach her to be soft and gentle, but frequently she will lay on him, roll over him, and generally pester him. Sometimes I wonder why he doesn't just leave when she starts to poke him, but he just sits and takes it. And Miriam LOVES him for it. She even can say his name. It started out as "See," but then she figured out how to add the vocal sound to the consonant. She now says "ZZZZZeeeeeeee!" every time she sees him and she gets really really excited. The neighbors share funny stories about things they've seen him do. He has the funniest personality and I can't imagine what his life was like before coming here. Because he is so personable, I can't imagine him not having a home before this. But if he had a home, I can't imagine how he could have become a scrawny stray. The one downfall is his hair. He has a LOT of it and it gets all over everything. Which is why we are taking him in for his second annual summer shave. He gets a lion cut and he loves it. He walks around like he's the king of everything. Last summer while he was decked out like a lion, he even chased a dog off the front lawn and stalked back and forth daring him to come back. It was pretty funny but you could tell Zeke was proud of himself. I could go on and on about this cat. He's a wonder of nature and I think he's fabulous. But I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

This is shortly after Zeke came to live with us. He's kind of funny looking, but gosh he's great.

I had the playpen out while Myelle was visiting and Zeke hopped in to see what the fun was all about. They were both pretty excited, so it was hard to get a good picture of either of them, but you get the point.

Fat cat in a little box.

This is Miriam's closet and her clothes totes. Zeke always finds the craziest places to sleep.

Sometimes Zeke will have his tongue hanging out. I think it's hillarious, but it's kind of sad how many pictures we have of him looking like this.

See?

Proof that Zeke and JoAnn really do like each other.

We love this crazy cat and we are so excited to be celebrating the second anniversary of his joining our family. HOORAY FOR ZEKE!

A Major Purchase

Saturday morning during our walk, Miriam and I passed a big handwritten sign that said "HUGE TRAMPOLINE FOR SALE." It was in the 8:00 hour, and I didn't want to wake anybody up. I decided to sneak in the backyard and take a peek at the trampoline to see if it was something we would want. I snuck, but no peek was to be had. On my way out, a guy wearing basketball shorts and nothing else was on his front porch asking if I needed help. I asked him about the trampoline sign and he said to hang on, that he wanted to put some clothes on. About two minutes later, he came out in a pair of jeans and nothing else. Good thing he changed. Anyway, he took us out back and showed us the trampoline. It was perfect. He is renting the house and the landlord said that for insurance purposes they couldn't have it up. They were sad about it, but we got a great trampoline for $60. What a deal! Miriam has experience with trampolines: her Nana and Papa have one, as well as her cousin Skylar. I am positive that she knew what we were talking about and what we were doing. As we were putting the frame together, the bed was tossed aside on the grass. She climbed on it and started making her jumping sound. "Doom! Doom! Doom!" She brought us pieces of hardware and ran around in circles screaming until we finally got it up. Needless to say, we worked faster than we probably would have otherwise. Oh what a glorious time it was for that little girl to finally climb on her own trampoline. It has already been completely worth its price. She loves to jump on it, she loves to play ring around the rosie on it, she loves to run around on it, she loves to throw her toys off of it. She just loves it. She has also changed her "Doom Doom Doom" to something that sounds more like "Jumm Jumm Jumm," so it is also developing her verbal skills. I remember a long long time ago my sister Erin gave a talk in church about perspective (or something similar). She said that if a person didn't know what a trampoline was, it would seem like a very hideous lawn ornament. But once that person realized all the great times that are had on a trampoline and all the wonderful things a person can do on a trampoline, they see it as a beautiful object and value it more and more. That is true and I do believe it. However I must admit that we have already moved the trampoline from the lush side of the yard to the more barren side of the yard because it was blocking the lushness and now its blocking the barren-ness. Much better. I love being a trampoline owner, and Brent likes to say we have a tramp in the backyard. Either way, life is good in Midvale.

Honk if you love it

As a member of the Midvale Arts Council, I was asked to help with props for the summer musical, Honk. It's the musical story of the ugly duckling. I got the list of things that they needed and started collecting, spray painting, and hot gluing. I bought giant teacups, white umbrellas, frog umbrellas, and a straightjacket. I designed an old fashioned camera out of a box and a spray paint lid, hot gluing the black fabric to the back and mounting the whole shebang on a hoe before duct taping said hoe to a box that will hopefully hold it all up. It looked pretty good, if I do say so myself. I decoupaged seven baguettes and some french bread. I invited some of my young women over and they helped spray paint and design some things. They spray painted Miriam's car seat box and put some silver spray painted dowels on it for a television. They spray painted a tennis ball can to be the lens of a television camera. Now, the strangest thing about this experience is that I have no idea what happens in the play. I imagine that there will be six frogs in it somewhere, because I gathered six frog umbrellas. I bet there'll be a news interview because on the side of the television camera I was directed to put "America's Most Feathered," and a microphone with the label "AMF." Somebody is going to have a tea party with giant tea cups I bought in the WalMart garden center. I am excited to see the show and see how they utilize all my props. If you too would like to see it, it opens next Saturday, June 21st, and goes through Saturday, June 28th, except for Sunday of course. You can find more information at http://www.midvalearts.com/ or you can just email me. I took this picture before I loaded things up to take them in yesterday. It's not as impressive as it would have been if I took it before I organized them all, but I wasn't thinking photo op at that time. My favorite part is my and Brent's shadows looking at it all. What a crazy world.

California Dreamin'

We spent the last five days in Gridley, California (an hour outside of Sacramento) with Steve and Jayda and their kids Skylar (2 and a half) and Cole (11 weeks). It was a great trip. We got the grand tour and learned the history of Gridley, we spent a day in Chico at Caper Acre, a section of Bidwell Park with an amazing kids playground, and we saw Cole's blessing. We had fresh berries at every meal and Miriam was a star on the plane and loved spending time with her cousins. Although sleeping was rough and she had more off moments than in normal life, she enjoyed the trip. And one of the best parts of a vacation is coming back home. When we got within a few blocks of home, Miriam recognized where we were and started dancing and jigging and happily screaming. It was a wonderful week. Here are some of the highlights...


Miriam loved swimming!










Uncle Brent and Skylar playing dress up. Can somebody say "What an amazing uncle?!?" I especially like the "football stance" position and Skylar making sure she's doing it right.









Wading in the river at Bidwell Park in Chico. I love how the light comes off of the river. She looks more contemplative than she actually was at the time.







Reading with Uncle Steve










This was approximately Miriam's hundreth Ring Around the Rosie after Skylar taught her how to play. She loved it and fell down appropriately each time.








The Moore Cousins










Our last night was a rough one for us. This is the next morning after Miriam had finally gone to sleep... right before we put her in the car and drove to the airport.









This is probably one of my favorite pictures of the trip. Two little diapers running as fast as they can into the sunset. How much better can it get?