Check Out Those Guns!

Current update: Todd weighs 15 pounds more than he did before leaving. I needed a picture because I couldn't believe it. Um, pretty sure he's packing five extra pounds in each arm. Can you say HOT! What a man!
Mid-October could not come soon enough.

Dear Recent Purchase,

Hello! Thank you for arriving in my mailbox only two days after I ordered you. Thank you for being just as cute on me as you are on the model. Thank you for making me want to go swimming. You are adorable and I love you.
I bought you because my husband told me he wants to take me on a sweet Hawaii vacation for two this fall. Of course, I want to look hot for him. Also, I need to give him good reasons not to back out on this vacation promise. I think you will be a great motivator.

Please don't be jealous when you find out I have another incredible swimsuit from last season already residing in my drawer . I will wear both of you. You will take turns traveling all over the Big Island while your sister suit dries in the hotel bathroom. Besides, I think you're even cuter than her.

I look forward to many happy days in the sun with you!

Love,
Your New Owner

www.limiricki.com

My New Love

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Rebekah stopped by for a visit and left me with a gift: a hodgepodge pile of single-serving microwave popcorn packs of varying flavors. Yesterday I had one and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it:

Orville Redenbacher's Natural Garden Herb and Olive Oil

I thought it smelled kind of funny as it popped in the microwave, but all it took was one taste and I am forever sold. This stuff is heaven!

Usually I love the first few buttery bites of microwave popcorn, and then as soon as it cools off it gets disgusting to me. I hate the smell that lingers in the house until the next day. Not this time. Each bite was money. I was sad when it ended. A few hours later, I left the house for a while, and when I smelled it on my way back in, I stopped in my tracks and soaked it in. Aah, savory.

Today I found a stray piece on the floor.

I picked it up.

I was going to throw it away, just get it out of Hazel's reach.

But then I saw the flavor flecks, and all my reserve fled me.

I ate it. And I loved it.

Immediately afterward, I tossed Hazel in the car and we went to the grocery store to find more. I was distraught that Day's Market did not carry this particular flavor. We went to Smith's and were out of luck there, too. These are the only grocery stores at my fingertips.

In a craze, I called Rebekah and asked her where she got it. Thankfully, her answer was "Walmart." I'll be making a trip to the Park City Walmart this week, and don't be surprised if I come back with this stuff in bulk! I'm talking food storage here, folks. I'm dying for more!

Hazel Hodgepodge

Hazel has an adventurous spirit, just like Todd does. She is always on the move. It seems like she's always seeking a challenge. Her latest favorite is to find objects to crawl around where she has to go up, down, over, under - baby obstacle courses! She plays under the table, weaving through the chair legs, all the time.
Last Friday we met up with one of my best friends from high school, Nick Sidwell, and his wife Sarah and daughter Molly. Molly is only six weeks younger than Hazel, so they're destined to be buddies. She's a bit of a gentler spirit than Hazel is, though. I think the Haz freaked Molly out a few times with her boisterousness. Hazel is also a lot bigger than Molly is. We put their hands next to each other, and it looked like Hazel had Man Hands. Here they are, hanging out:
We all went rock climbing. It was my first time trying it outdoors. I was scared to climb on real rock, without the colored handholds to guide me, but it was actually pretty fun. Even Hazel gave it a go:
Last but not least, I told Todd that Hazel is crawling really fast now, and he asked me to video it. Here it is for him to see, as well as anyone else who is interested.

"Keep Me Even!"

I've got a slight obsessive-compulsive tendency to be even. It has plagued me my whole life. I remember walking home from elementary school concentrating on taking three steps in each sidewalk square- whether or not the square was the appropriate size for three steps - so that my left and right feet would get equal opportunity to walk behind and in front of the sidewalk cracks. When I passed a crack that was especially big or thick, I had to walk in place for a couple of steps to give both feet equal opportunity.

I've still got it. When Todd kisses my neck, I make him kiss the other side, too.

Something happened today that makes me wonder if Hazel may have inherited this trait from me. (Heaven help her.) Both of her bottom front teeth broke through her gums.

It pleases me to think they will probably grow at a similar rate and be even in her mouth, instead of one being taller than the other. Am I crazy?

Facebook Success Story

This is my girlfriend Sonia. She and I went to junior high and high school together and had a crazy fun time. She is stinkin' hilarious! Also, she rolls her eyes at memories of almost everyone we went to school with, so I feel pretty honored she still thinks I'm cool. The #1 reason I joined Facebook was because I sincerely wished I was still in contact with Sonia.
She came over Saturday night and we chatted, squealed, giggled, reminisced, and bragged about our hot husbands and how lucky we are that we married them and not our high school "sweethearts." (The backstabbers!) It was so much fun, and lasted way past my bedtime. She made an awesome mango margharitta that was so much fun to sip. You can find the recipe here if you wish.

Spoon Aversion

Hazel ADORES graham crackers and milk. And she loves vegetables she can carry around with her and gnaw on, like celery and green peppers, although she isn't really able to eat those, just suck on them.
But she is adamantly against anything entering her mouth on a spoon. She started out okay with baby cereal. That only lasted about a week. She will not have anything to do with anything mushy, be it baby cereal, baby food, real human applesauce, even delicious small pear chunks if presented on a spoon. She only wants food she can pick up.

Most of the time, she gets a bottle, then I plop a spoonful of baby food on her high chair tray and put graham cracker pieces in the middle of the mush, so she has to get it on her fingers to pick up her cracker. That way she's at least exposed to the other flavors. But that's as good as I've been able to get it. At the end of the meal she looks like this:
but has not really eaten anything but the graham cracker.

What can I do to get my kid to eat real food? I don't care if she doesn't eat baby food, but I don't know what else to give her at this pre-chewing point. She likes pears, watermelon, and apples, but they all go flying out of her hand before she can get much in her mouth. Any ideas of good, grippable yet baby-mouth-mushy foods I can introduce her to?

Seriously?

Craziness.

I need about a thousand extra hands to keep this girl alive until Todd gets home.

p.s. I'm loving it!

High School Journal Entry

Today in Relief Society, the lesson was on keeping a personal and family history. It made me curious, so this afternoon I've been perusing my old journals from junior high and high school. And I came across an entry that made me laugh out loud. It's a majorly embarrassing moment!

Background: I made this boy a plate of cookies, and made a big deal all day at school about how I had something to give him. I took it to his house late that night. Here is the story, quoted straight from my own 16-year-old words:

Boy came to the door...I handed him the plate of seran-wrapped cookies. He looked at it.

Then he picked up a piece of ABC gum (that I had put on there before dinner, meaning to take off before I gave it to him, but I guess I forgot.) Anyway, he picks it up and says, "What's this?" in a very confused voice. I grabbed it from him and put it in my pocket, stuttering, "Oh, it's...nothing."

I left as soon as I could. I felt so embarrassed. I can't believe I forgot to take my gum off of the seran wrap. I have never felt so humiliated in my life.

Every night that I'm outside late enough for stars to be out, I make a wish on the first star I see. You know, that old "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight" stuff. Well, my wish that night was that Boy would forget about the gum.

Happy 4th of July!

I love you, Soldier.

Also, I love America. This morning I sang "American the Beautiful" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" to Hazel. She smiled. I'm going to instill a deep patriotism in her heart like my dad did for me. That's exciting for me to think about.

When I was teaching kindergarten in California, we had a four-week unit about patriotism. During that month, every day I would have my students stand up, face the flag, put their hands on their hearts, and I would sing the National Anthem to them. By the end of the month, they were all singing along with me. Every single time I sang it, I would cry. And someone would ask, "Why are you crying, Mrs. Bonner?" And I would say, "Because I love America so much, and I'm so thankful to live here." Before too many days had passed, I'd have a kid or two announce at the end of the song that they were crying, too, because they loved America. I hope I really did instill a love of our great country in some of those sweet five-year-old hearts.

Hazel's New Lovey

Hazel grabbed the almost-empty toothpaste tube out of my hands about a week ago and hasn't parted with it since. It goes with us upstairs, downstairs, and in the car. She adores it. What the-?