a blended life

Here's a few pics of Hannah. I feel like turd right now-we are all sharing a lovely cold-so this will be short and a little dry. Hannah spends her mornings with Grandma while I practice for my recital. The arrangement is working out well-I am getting a lot done and Hannah is very attached to her 'gamma'. She got to sit on dad's lap during Leah's school program. Hannah takes a while to warm up to people, but once she decides she likes you, you are IT. I took the girls to the Festival of Trees-a fundraiser for Primary Children's Hospital. Families donate these trees, usually in honor of a child or loved one who has died. My favorite was a tree decorated in cowboy gear, for a little baby boy that passed away. A sign next to it said "Heroes aren't supposed to die." *sniffle* This picture is of Hannah's favorite tree (because it's orange, one of her favorite colors). Hannah wants to be just like her big sister. She keeps asking when she can go...

This post will be mostly about Leah, because she's providing the most interesting material these days. If someone reminds me I'll do a post about Hannah in the next day or two. *DAILY PONTIFICATORY MOMENT* They way I see it, there are different levels of interest regarding stories about other people's kids. Level One: The Grandma Level. Interest is high and they never get sick of pictures, stories, daily anecdotes, etc. Level Two: The Distant Cousin Level. Interest can be high if the story is good enough, but usually the listener is feigning interest and only wants occasional pictures and updates. Level Three: The Sean Day Level. No interest, and you can't even feign interest. Most people have enough tact to stay out of this category. There might be sublevels, too, but I don't have the patience to get into that. Okay, having said that, here is what Leah is up to lately: She decided that Hannah was no longer allowed in 'her' room (a broad term since Leah is s...

I'm having the same problem with blogging that I usually have with journal writing-I get behind and I don't want to take the time to revisit the past, so I don't do anything. Now that I said that in writing, it sounds really lame. So I'll start with what happened today, and if by some miracle I get post some pictures of previous events and whatnot...well, let's not get too excited. I'm one day at a time right now. So here's a small itinerary of how my Tuesday, December 8th looked: 5:00 am - Up with Hannah 6:00 am- Hannah asleep, up with Leah 9:00 am- schlep through a foot of snow to practice the piano at the church 10:30 am - leave church, previous tracks covered up with new snow 11:15 am- Piano lesson in north Provo 12:30 pm - Van stuck in piano teacher's driveway, in between an Audi and a hoity toity wrought iron fence. 1:00 pm - Get pushed out of sticky situation by two strange guys, run errands 1:30 pm- Van dies at Toys R Us. Get jumped by a strange ...

Hold your applause, but....I've decided to start blogging again. The past few months have a been slightly to moderately turbulent, but I love having a place to write down what's going on in an impersonal, candid and sometimes overdivulgent way. So here it is. Again. Rather that recap the past few months of pictures and events, I think I'll just start with Thanksgiving since it's recent and besides, who doesn't have some stories when family gatherings happen? This year was sort of monumental--ALL of my siblings and their families came. We had a surprise 40th anniversary party for my parents, who will celebrate 40 years on December 13. Okay, sort of a surprise since Mom sniffed out some info about it from someone's wall on Facebook.

I forgot to mention that Brian got another job to supplement the bus driving one. Hooray! We feel very blessed, especially since we keep hearing about people in this neighborhood that are getting laid off. Also, we've been asked to teach the 6 year old class in church and we start this Sunday. It'll be a new experience for both of us-we've never been in the Primary before! We were told "It's a very...uh...energetic class." We'll see how that goes.

What happened to our little baby?! She's 5?! Geez. We had a very low key, low budget birthday for Leah that turned out pretty well. This was my first try at making fondant. It looked really nice but tasted terrible! I'd like to do it again-it's really fun-but gotta get it to taste better. Leah brought some cupcakes for her little summer preschool. She was so proud and kept saying "But what if they sing to me?". Hannah likes to help with everything. The whole event wore me out. Leah showing off her bike. She just this year has understood the concept of pedaling and is really excited to learn to ride. Brian has taken her out a few times and she loves it. She's very committed! She also got some other really nice gifts and has had fun this week playing with everything.

I can't get these things out of my head so I'm posting them here. I'm aware that it's totally meaningless. Favorite new words: Locavore Melee Squee Bromance Favorite new spoonerisms: Rot 'n' Heady (think pizza) The thot plickens Also, I wanted to post some random pictures to catch you up on the past month. This first one is Brian at the Logan temple: Fun at Grandma's house, at least until it started raining for three weeks. The girls like to dress up as a fly and a rooster. Wouldn't you? Poultry love. Hannah and Leah are very close-it's so cute! I think we are settling in but still feel a lot of uncertainty about the future. I haven't yet made peace with the electric stove, but there are worse things, right? At least we have Rock Band.

Yesterday Brian took a job as a bus driver for Nebo school district. Yay! We feel very blessed. It pays well and has the kinds of hours that will allow me to work on my senior recital and maybe teach some lessons, plus will let him work on his ultimate goal, which is being a chaplain in the military. The downside is that it doesn't provide many hours in the summer when school is out Leah made a funny-but-accurate observation yesterday: "I don't live in a closet anymore." We'd never referred to our stay in Tin Can Alley as 'the closet', but it's pretty true. I think she and Hannah are grateful for the extra space they have to run around in now.

Good news-today we were able to schedule three job interviews. Two for Brian, one for me. I am not in the market for a job, but an opportunity popped up that I took (here's the story-a store I really like called Rod Works had a hiring sign in the window. I spur of the moment decided to apply -because I'm a spur of the moment person so I can do stuff like that- and they called me for an interview.) I don't think I would take the job even if it was offered to me for several reasons, the two biggest are 1)I'm still getting ready for my senior recital and 2) I don't want anyone else taking care of my kids. But, we are not in a position to be picky and if I'm sure it's the right thing to do, I will take the job. By Saturday we will know more. At least we feel a little more hopeful about life! Other than that, we are doing pretty well. The girls are adjusting to their new life and I'm enjoying not having the stress of going to class hanging over me. We are try...

I can feel my blogging juices starting to ooze (wow, that was really gross. sorry.) but so much has happened over the past month that I don't know where to start. We are now moved into my parent's house...*sigh*. It is a very strange feeling of gratitude for their support, yet not wanting to be here due to our fiercely independent natures. In this neighborhood, there are 11 other couples living with their parents due to economic strain. So really, we fit right in. Brian is on a desperate job hunt -anything!-that has him a tad stressed and moody. We'll forgive him :). My parents deserve a huge hug and some kind of reward for putting up with us. In an effort to find free entertainment, we wound up at the Monte Bean Science Museum on BYU campus today. The short version : this museum is a groteque, inhumane display of exotic stuffed animals. Elephants, zebras, all kinds of deer and large cats, even a liger. So there's my slightly controversial but heated opinion on hunting...

I actually had a surprisingly good day, considering a)Leah got up at 4:30 am, b)Brian was working and c)Leah pooped her pants. Church was good, and Brian let me sleep quite a bit, so by the time he left for work I felt great. He got me these very pretty roses yesterday. Leah gave me a fuzzy purple corn bag (the kind you microwave and put on your neck when you get a migraine. Feels divine.) After Brian left today, she and Hannah took it upon themselves to make me happy. It was so cute and unprovoked. She went to the neighbor's and picked some tulips: "Here mom. I got you some flowers for Mother's Day." I didn't even know she knew what that was! Then she and Hannah played outside for two and a half hours. I normally wouldn't post such unflattering-wow-I-need-to-lose-some-weight pictures of myself, but Leah insisted on taking this picture of me. She even said "Okay mom. Say 'Cheese Booger'!" They went to bed without a fuss and I'm considerin...

Q: What's worse than living in a trailer house? A: Living with your parents. Q: What's worse than Cache Valley? A: Happy Valley. In case you haven't heard, we are leaving Cache Valley in a couple weeks and moving to the Provo area. Our contract ends at Tin Can Alley (*) June 1st, so Brian is looking for work in Utah County and pursuing a career as a chaplain in the military. We will be staying with my parents for a short time. I really don't mean this to be negative-we feel really good about this move and know that things will work out. It's just not what we had in mind and that's okay! Thank goodness for parents who are willing to house a nutball family. *Tin Can Alley is my little play on words, taken from Tin Pan Alley-a section of Manhatten where musicians would go (a long time ago) to record, publish, or try to get their big break. We refer to our trailer as the tin can, and I've been trying to finish my music degree, so...get it?

This past month has been a big blur of tests, illnesses, life changes, and a some ugly school work. I'm starting to feel a bit more like myself...hence the blogging... We went to Baby Animal Days. This is Logan's best event, in my biased opinion. They fill this huge farm with all kinds of newborn litters of animals-kitties, bunnies, puppies, piglets, etc. It's so stinkin' adorable. The girls wanted to ride the ponies: Hannah's melon didn't really fit that helmet: Hannah liked the baby goats. The whole thing is really overwhelming for Leah, so we let after this and didn't get to see the other animals. We had a pretty good Easter-very low key, especially considering that Brian was working (as he does every Sunday.) I tried so hard to get a good picture of the girls looking super cute in their dresses, but it turned into a huge fight. Oh well, Leah looks cute from the back, too. Hannah can sniff out chocolate a mile away. Easter was a good event for her, bu...

My apologies to my faithful friends and family- I have completely lost my head trying to finish this semester of school, and will catch up on blogging in the next day or two.

Finally! This thing is working again! My weekend started with a mission reunion without Brian (who was really sick, again). I'm glad I went. It was good to see some old friends and chat with the mission president and his wife. I posted this picture of us so Brian wouldn't feel bad about his unflattering picture. Here's Eliot Huntington and his family. He's from Watertown, SD (I point this out since I was born in South Dakota) and we were in the MTC and El Paso at the same time. The reunion was right next to this new temple being built. It's called the Oquirrh Mountains Temple (pronounced Oh-curr). Me and the girls spent the rest of the time at my parent's house in Mapleton. It's always so great to get out of Cache Valley (blech) and my kids LOVE their grandparents. Leah came home from school on Friday saying that she absolutely had to have a new skirt, so we went shopping on Saturday for 'something beautiful'. The whole event was a big tantrum and no...

I will post about our weekend when Blogger lets me put my pictures up already. geez.

This was a long week, but nobody's in the hospital and the car is still running, so we won't complain (right, Brian?). Besides, tickets for Billy Joel and Elton John go on sale tomorrow-rejoice! Brian took on the roll of Mr Mom for a few days this week so I could get school stuff done. He's feeling quite domestically proud of himself. I came home a few nights to the dishwasher and dryer running, plus kids fed (frozen pizza). We'll just call him Murray Poppins. Hannah drooled a perfect H on her white shirt. It's on the same level of coolness as a lightning bolt scar. What was her mom thinking, feeding her chocolate? I took this picture while driving and someone was honking behind me. I just couldn't pass up getting a shot of the winter not-so-wonderland we are living in right now. We've been dumped on...just another reminder of why Logan has never been a favorite place for me. I've seen some people pull out Christmas stuff as a joke, but general consens...

The two best rock pianists are coming to Salt Lake this year....I HAVE to be there!!! I've been to some great concerts-Simon and Garfunkel, REM, Sting. I am absolutely going to be there, even if I have to drag Brian to Las Vegas to see it. And while we're there, why don't we go to Cirque du Soleil?

Since when does a 2 and 4 year like XBox? Is this normal? So....Brian got an XBox for his birthday. Here's the order of who's been playing it the most: 1)me 2)Leah 3)Brian 4)my friend Emma 5)Hannah Leah has decided that she loves Indiana Jones -actually, she loves Marion- so she makes us play it everyday. She only wants to play one specific part of the game, and throws the controller if it doesn't go her way. She has no idea that the game has a point. It takes a great deal of patience to go through this ritual everyday. Anyway, playing XBox has taught her a new set of skills but I don't think that's any justification for playing excessive amounts of video games.

I couldn't help myself.

It's okay, we can laugh about this one. I'm more concerned about the bags under my eyes than the dopey expression on my face, and don't you think Simon and Garfunkel add a nice touch? It was a really nice day and the girls begged to go to the playground. I wish I could say that it was more fun, but....it's still pretty soggy out there. Hannah was soaked from the knee down-did I mention yet that she cried ALL DAY? Don't let the glasses fool you. She's a turkey in disguise. I tried to get them to play catch with a basketball. It worked for a few seconds, until Leah decided the ball was her own and not to be shared. End of catch. Leah could't make it down the twisty slide because it was damp, so she had to push herself down. So why was it still a big flying fight to get them to leave the half snow covered park? I wish I knew. Leah also had kindergarten registration today. She failed the screening test and was 'recommended' for Kindergarten Club which go...

We had the best trip! We knew a few months ago that we wanted to take a small anniversary trip, but we almost never agree on where (mostly because I like to default to Las Vegas). We ended up in Moab, UT--a place neither of us had been. The plan was to visit Arches National Park and get away from adorable but taxing children. Our first day was spent at Arches, taking little walks/hikes around some of the huge and totally cool rock and arch formations. This is Balanced Rock: A few pictures at the Windows Section: When we dropped off the girls at my parents, mom had a little belated birthday celebration for Brian. He enjoyed his cupcake later in the hotel. Hannah even sang Happy Birthday to Daddy all by herself, complete with simulating blowing out candles at the end. It was so precious! The cupcakes were really good, and so was the leftover cheesecake she sent with us. The next day we visited a state park called Dead Horse Point. We were the only people there, and I think I speak for ...