Ode to October: Post 3

October 3

My Mom, Dad and I went to the Saturday afternoon session of conference. My Dad had never been to conference before, so it was a treat to bring him!

Dave watched Lucy outside the conference center. He said an Ensign Photographer took lots of pictures of them. I just checked the November Ensign and they didn't appear to have made. That's okay, someday we will be in the Ensign.

I did a little SLC Temple Photo Shoot and shared posted a few of the many pictures I shot. I love pretending I am a professional photographer. I can hardly wait 'til I have a state of the art camera and actually know how to use it! Anyway, if you want to praise my photography skills in the comments section, I will be your best friend! (Flashback to elementary school!)

After conference we went out to dinner in honor of my birthday, at The Mayan (my favorite restaurant in Utah). I think I will post the pictures and a little blurb in a separate post, since this one is already getting long. I had to work hard to get my Dad to come, it's a funny story, so stay tuned!

Here's the goods!



Lucy and Momo. I think they both have the same cute cheeks.

Yay for Conference!

Creativity in the Classroom

It's taken me a while, but I really wanted to write a little bit about what I learned at the "Opera for Young children workshop I attended in October. I will share the details in another post, but before that post I wanted to set the preface and share a priceless (Plus very entertaining and hilarious) video that we were assigned to watch before the conference.



So my latest topic of passionate discussion is the need for more art and physical activity in school. I think it is totally unreasonable to make kids sit still, learning about Math, Science, English and History for 6 hours every day. Why is P.E. only twice a week? Why not dance everyday? What about the power of music and using it as learning tool? What about art?

Dave always said P.E. was his favorite subject in school. I'm guessing he was not alone. It's natural for children to have energy, and they should be able to use it. I believe we are training children that life is supposed to be boring, hard, and miserable with little spurts of enjoyable moments, such as art, recess, singing, dancing, P.E., etc. I realize some people really love Math, but I don't think it is the majority. Well, kids just grow up to get miserable jobs that they hate and then every once in a while have a vacation where they actually enjoy life. This is dumb. The percentage of time enjoyed should be higher, but I believe we are actually teaching our children this philosophy.

And we wonder why 60 % of America is overweight? It is very obvious to me that school drains the life out of them. Lucy has soooooooo much energy. She is excited to wake up in the morning. She asks me to run around with her all day. Why do children stop doing this? People can be conditioned for anything and I believe we are conditioning children to sit all day long. We punish kids for having energy. We tell them they have problems if they can't sit there and pay attention all day. I wonder why so many adults feel like they have no energy.

We were blessed with a body and I believe it is supposed to be used. If all we needed was a brain, that is all we would have been given. I'm not saying we shouldn't educate our children in Math, English, Science and History. There is lots of value in academic subjects, I just don't think it should be given preference. I think the joy of life is in the arts, in CREATING rather than memorizing. And why not teach them History by acting it out, instead of focusing on memorizing dates they will undoubtedly forget?

Somewhere out there is a dancer, a singer, an artist, a composer, who has no idea because they were never given the chance. They might be sitting there wondering why life is miserable, but it only is because they don't realize there are worthwhile things that they would actually love to do. They were told to stay seated, and raise their hand if they can answer the question. Don't go off topic (be creative), please stand up (use energy).

What would you do if you were more creative and had energy?

What could our children be if they stayed creative and kept their energy to pursue those creations?

I'm not blaming teachers. I believe they are amazing people with good hearts, who have been trained a certain way. The school boards are the ones running the show and saying what matters and what doesn't and that if you're class doesn't get high enough scores you are in trouble. (My personal feeling is that by increasing creative activities, children will actually focus better on the academic subjects and actually perform better on standardized tests.) I guess I can't just put the blame on them, I guess they just have pressure to teach what society values. I just don't know why more people don't value the arts, or if they really do then why are standardized test scores the gold standard?

I am concerned because Lucy only has three years until she will enter the school system. I definitely don't want to home school her because I believe there are great social benefits to going to school, and I don't know if I could do much better than a teacher anyway. Knowing me, Lucy might end up dancing all day long and getting a little behind in the boring areas.

Is EDUCATION just a fancy word for DECREATIFICATION?

I know I sure wish I was as creative as I was in 3rd grade. Ideas used to come a mile per minute. I am trying to retrain myself in the way of creativity, hoping that it is something you can regrow, like building a muscle, rather than a one time shot, like your growth plates closing up and leaving you at 5'7'' forever.

I don't have the solution, do you?

Do you even agree with what me and this video are saying? I realize not everyone loves the arts as much as I do. Am I just talking crazy talk or is this really a problem we are facing?

Ode to October: Post 2

October 2 (2nd half of the day)

We took a ride on the Heber Creeper with Me, Dave, Lucy,my Mom and sister Lani. I have always wanted to ride and had a wonderful time being treated to it, as part of my Birthday weekend.

The train is old fashioned, just like the olden days. It moves slowly, and passes beautiful mountains, lakes, and farms.

Lucy fell alseep in the car on the way, so the first half hour of the ride she fell back asleep on Dave. It was sweet. She woke up enjoyed the last hour of the journey.

Thank you for the great treat!

The pictures are from the end of the trip to the beginning (I just didn't have it in me to reorder them today. When I work on the laptop, without a mouse, I HATE dragging things around!) so don't be confused!

Lucy, hanging out the window.




The back of the train (so cute, I wish the lighting was better!)
I really wanted a picture of the barn in the background, so I took a picture of Lani really quick. It turned out soooooo cute!
Oh, and here's my model shot!

Me and my little sis. Ohhhhh......
The wind was strong, so we zipped sleeping Lucy into a cozy little pouch.
So sweet to have a sleeping little one in your lap. Dave is covering her ears with some extra tights I had in the diaper bag (I don't know why they were in there). This was before we decided zipping her up would be easier.
Pretty little stream, with two pretty ladies.
Looking at the cows

The start of our journey. You can see the old fashioned train car behind us.

Fun Journey! Fun Day!

That night my parents went to my Dad's mission reunion and Dave took me out to see "Into the Woods" as his birthday present, while Lani babysat. That is one of my favorites, so of course I loved it, and still have the songs stuck in my head. It was Dave's first time to see the show, so I really enjoyed sharing it with him. The weirdest thing happened during the show.

The Little Red Riding Hood went into Grandmother's House after her main song (which takes place after they escape from the wolf's stomach) she screamed really loud. We didn't know what was happening at first because earlier in the show she screamed the same way when the Baker took her cape, and it was totally part of her character.

But then, Cinderella's Mother comes out saying "Dad, get up here." He runs up on stage and comes out 30 seconds later calling out "Is there a Doctor in the House?" The curtains are closing now, as a young man runs up on stage saying "I'm an EMT"

After that big drama we sit there for about 7 minutes before someone comes on the intercom explaining that Little Red's ankle is hurt and it will be about 15 minutes before the show will resume.

One of Cinderella's stepsister's fills in as Little Red and one of the Junior Theater volunteers takes the place of the stepsister. It was crazy! In all my play going days, I have never been to one with so much real drama! I think it turned out that she had gone to the hospital and her ankle was broken, but I am not sure.

The funny thing is, I have always wanted to play the part of Little Red Riding Hood, as Dave knows, since I always sing her song. He was encouraging me to go backstage and volunteer to play the part. I really wanted to, but I didn't want to be insensitive. I didn't know if the girl was going to be okay or not and didn't want to overstep my bounds. Wouldn't that have been a story if I had filled in the role? It would have been a dream come true for me.

Very fun day, with an interesting night. Stay tuned for more "Ode to October" Posts! We'll see if I can get them all in before November is over.LOL!

Lucy Quotes

Sunday November 8

Lucy wakes up and asks first thing "I watch T.V.?"

I answer "No, it's Sunday. We don't watch T.V. on Sunday"

She responds "I can watch T.V. on Monday Morning?"

I don't ever remember telling her that before, but I must have said something like that because I really don't think she knows the days of the week yet. Her mature answer really surprised me.


Later at Church was the primary program. Lucy really loved it, but she kept saying "It's my turn" and trying to run up to the stand. Dave brought her up after sacrament meeting to have her turn.

While I am mentioning primary, I should also mention that I am the new Primary Chorister! I am thrilled about this calling!

Monday, November 9

Lucy praying on her breakfast

"Dear heabeny Fader. Thank you the food. Thank you Cinderella. Thank you Prince. Bless the food (I prompted that sentence). Jesus Christ. Amen."

In most of her prayers she says thank you for everyone that is with us. Last night at dinner we had me, Dave, Heidi, Sierra, my mom, my dad, and friends AJ, Hannah and Aubrey. She said thank you for everyone, including herself. I was impressed!

Funny girl!

"Sometimes I go to beach" I told her we would go to the beach later and she dreamily looked off and said this!

"No Dis Nummy. Dis Nummy" She says while sorting through the food on her plate and tossing non "nummy" things aside.

Her favorite phrased this week are

"look at me"

"watch me"

"whoa cool!"

"where's Lucy's?" In response to telling her that something is not hers.

She says so many funny things these days, I really can't remember all the cute things I was going to write down. Just thought I would share these ones while I still remembered.

Ode to October: Post 1

So many wonderful things happened this October, but I neglected to post anything. I would say it was because we were moving and such, but let's be honest, I always have an excuse. Hey, I always get to the good stuff.

Anyway shoot back to October 2.

My parents came to town so that my Dad could go to his mission reunion and attend conference which he has never done before. It just happened to be the same weekend as my Birthday, so they completely spoiled me!

The weekend was so jam packed that I will only tell you about Friday morning in this post!

Me and my mom took Lucy bowling. This was actually her second time, her first time being the week before with David, but this was my first time watching her.

I never thought it would be so much fun to take a two year old bowling, but it was really really cute. Lucy was so excited about rolling her ball and cheered whenever she knocked pins over (which was pretty common since we had bumpers up) Check out the joy!





"Heaby Mommy Heaby. Help" I kept making her carry the bowling ball just because I love the way she says "Heavy!" Is that mean? It was only six pounds.



What a fun way to start an amazing Birthday Weekend. I truly think this was my best birthday ever and this was only the beginning of 3 days worth of fun! Okay not as cool as the time my Dad took me on a biplane ( I was turning ten, I think and my whole goal in life was to fly.)

My apologies for the false info

Just wanted to let you know that you were given false information. I posted on Saturday that I had gotten a bee sting on my foot and it hardly hurt.

I spoke too soon. It did swell up a little later and by Sunday I was noticeably hobbling.

Today wasn't so bad, just serious itching.

I had no idea that bee stings got worse with time.

Dave said he knew that would be the case all along, but didn't want to burst my bubble on the way home from the beach when I kept going on about how quickly my bee sting healed.

I'm sure it will be fine in just a day or two, but I didn't want you to go on believing in my miraculous bee recovery story!

Have a fun day!

Funny Hair

Lucy always asks me to do "Funny Hair" when she is in the bath. I took this picture about a month ago, and in those couple of weeks her hair has already grown too long to do this with! I still pretend to do it anyway, but I am really glad I got a picture while I still could.

Oh, now I strangely miss our old pink bathtub. It was so fifties, which was exactly how the entire neighborhood felt. Everyone knew everyone. You waved and talked with your neighbors as they walk by. There is no place like Provo and especially the quaint little neighborhood we lived in.

Goodbye baths in the pink bathtub. We miss you.

Happy Halloween!!!!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!! The color orange, black cats, playing dress up... ahhhhh my mouth is already watering! I guess that is kind of weird since I hate hate hate being scared. I don't even watch scary movies and I totally freaked out in this mildy scary Haunted House we went to. I still love it. We usually have a Halloween Party (murder mystery are my fave!), but since we just got to California last week (Yes, we moved back sooner than anticipated: Dave found out that he could still get in state tuition for his SUU Graduate program even in California, and Utah was starting to get cold!) and I have been sick (just a little cold, not the dreaded swine flu for those of you who were worrying about talking to me at church tomorrow)this week, we didn't pull one off this year, or last year since we were in Korea (whoa I can't believe that was a whole year ago, time is flying!). Our tradition is falling apart after 3 solid years! That makes me sad. Oh well, I will just have to throw the best one ever next year and enjoy our first year taking Lucy trick or treating!! I love how she says "Trick or Treat." I am not as crazy about her candy obsession. What mixed messages we send our kids huh? Be cute, dress up, say "Trick or Treat" okay now "Thank you," but don't eat the candy! Kids must be pretty confused if you ask me!

Just wanted to mention a random occurence before I get to the sweet Halloween pics. We went to the beach today (and I think I should just rub in that the weather was perfect, don't be jeolous, just come visit me and feel lucky you know someone who lives here!) I got stung by a bee, which was unpleasant obviously. I stepped on it and found the bee stuck to my foot with the stinger inside my foot. Usually the bee flys away... odd, oh well. It hurt a little, but not really as much as I remember from being a child. I went and stood in the cool, salty ocean water and I seriously couldn't even feel a twinge of pain after only 10 minutes. SWEET! or should I say salty? I was so glad our beach day wasn't ruined! Yay.

Okay, what I really wanted to say about the beach was, people brought sleds and all the children were sledding down the sand mountains. That made me happy, because I was sad I had to leave Utah before taking Lucy sledding. Guess I didn't miss much. I thought you would enjoy this funny So Cal Sledding picture from Halloween Morning:


Isn't that one of the most awesome pictures you have ever seen? So funny, yet cool!

Anyway, here is the goods, the fall photo shoot back in Utah where leaves fall and things change colors, plus a very scary Lucy and Lucy as Belle for Halloween!


Is this not Halloween Worthy?


Scary!!!

Fall Photos. This is the first time I have ever braided her hair. I am no pro, but it is still pretty cute (of course Lucy has a way of doing that to anything she is involved in).


As Lucy would say "Heaby, berry Heaby"



I stopped getting genuine smiles out of her so I asked her if she could do a mad face. It turned out much cuter than her smiles at the time!!


Throwing Leaves
No toy can compare with a big pile of leaves! The neighbor kids actually raked them all up for us, just so they could play in our leaf piles. None of them had big trees in their yards! Good deal for us!


Lucy and one of her best friends from the neighborhood, Taylor. She used to come over and play with her all the time. The picture turned out very darling. Lucy sure misses her and so do I!


Lucy on her way to the "Trunk or Treat" church Halloween activity. She looks like and opera singer! She is really just blowing a kiss!


Her Nana Lisa got her this Belle costume for Halloween from Disneyland. So Spoiled! You can tell it is high quality as well as gorgeous on her. Thank you Thank you Thank you! Lucy loves it! Anyone who knows Lucy knows she is very very Belle obsessed. She couldn't be more thrilled to look like her!

Anyway, I hope you truly enjoy your Halloween! I would love to hear comments about your Halloween traditions. I am always trying to add on to the festivities!

Word to the Wise

Don't sautee dehydrated onions, even if you don't have fresh onions on hand the and recipe says to first cook onions in a pan of oil.

Just add them later, or else they will burn and you will have to start over.

Been there, done that!

Surprisingly, my second attempt to cook chicken curry with deydrated onions worked! All I had to do was wait until the simmering phase!

"When at first you don't succeed, try try again."

Thank you for teaching me that saying mom. Your family enjoyed dinner last night because of it!

Nana & Sleeping Beauty

September 5

I never finished blogging about Lucy after her Birthday party, so here it is! After Lucy woke up from her much needed nap, we went to go see the movie "Up," but it was sold out, so we went to a nearby park and played until dark (as you can see in the pictures!) Lucy had a ball playing with Nana.


One game we played was "Wake the Princess" where Lucy pretends she is sleeping beauty and then we wake her up with a kiss. Since that sounds like such an exciting game, I will brake it down into action shots for you!

The Sleep



The Kiss



The Awakening



Pretty Amazing how that works, huh? Okay, okay, but you gotta admit, it's cute!

The next day after church we had an adorable little photo shoot, since I don't have nearly enough pictures of these two!


Let's get them a little closer together...perfect!


They are both so beautiful and look so much a like (of course everyone at church was surprised when I said she was Dave's Mom and not mine)


Oh, I love when kids do sweet cheeks!


And the sweetest little kisses!



Lucy on her new bike! (That is not very new now, but was only one day new when we took this picture, even though it was second hand to begin with!)


Alas, Nana couldn't stay with us forever and this is such a sweet goodbye picture at the airport I had to close with it!

Thank you so much for coming Lisa! We had so much fun with you and miss you a lot!

Lucy Quotes and adventures

"I'm too big"

"Roll over Mama"

"Nope" It's never just "No," it's always "Nope"

"Yup" Yes, has turned into Yup, as well.

"Where Lucy seat go?"

"Go away Mama!"

"I wuv you Mama!"

"I wuv you more!"

Here's the details:

The other morning Lucy told me "Roll over Mama." We were on the bed and she wanted me to move, so she could open the blinds. Trying to be funny I said it back "Roll over Lucy." She answered "Nope , I'm too big!" I couldn't help laughing. You're too big? Then I realized I always say that to her because she wants me to put her clothes on, and play in her little tent and jump on the bed. My answer to all of those things is "I'm too big." And these days with her using the toilet, I tell her all the time what a Big Girl she is. So I guess she thinks you don't have to do what your Mom tells you to do if you are "big, " even if it is just little big, and that that is a good excuse! The next morning I asked her if she could read me a book and she again answered "Nope, I'm too big." Silly girl!

Crazy adventure the last few days. On Friday I went to Logan with my sister Lani for a conference about teaching the arts to children, with Michael Ballam's Opera For Young Children program. Dave convinced me to go without him and Lucy, and I am so proud I did my first over nighter without her! I'm sure it was harder for me than her! Dave said she was totally happy and fine, although she did wake a few times in the night, she went right back to sleep. Yay! I am so proud of myself!

But that is not all of the adventure. We decided to move back to California (which is a long story, if you want to know comment about it and I will write a post about it, otherwise it's just a lot of details I don't know if you would care for). Part of Dave convincing me to leave (don't get me wrong, I want to move to California, but I just always thought it would be in a year or two and then all of a sudden we are leaving, and I get really emotional when it's time to leave people, especially since I just got my dream calling in the Mia Maids a few weeks ago!) was that I could write a list of things I wanted to do before we left. One of the things on the list was go to the Salt Lake Temple. (I originally went through the temple there and haven't been there since, so it's kind of sentimental). We decided to meet in Salt Lake Since it is halfway between Provo and Logan. Lani and I drove from Logan, while Dave and Lucy drove from Provo. I was so happy to Lucy and she was happy to see me after our long night apart! When I told her I had to leave again, but would come back that night, she said "Nope!" Then I said "Will you hug me" and another big fat "Nope" escaped her lips. Then she just looked hurt and pouted "Go away Mama!" I told her that made me sad and then asked if she was mad at me because I had to leave again. She answered "Uh huh." Finally I got her to hug me a few minutes before leaving for another couple hours. Lani drove Lucy home, while Dave and I attended the Temple.

Well, Lani had a date at 7:00 p.m. and we got out at 7:10 p.m.,Whooooooops! Took a little longer than we thought. Luckily her date was a little late! Anyway, I asked Lani if any of her roommates were around that could watch Lucy. One roommate could, but she had to go at 8:00, which would be cutting it close. Lani called again because Lucy went into hysterics when she tried to leave Lucy with her roommate. I told Lani to leave and then called up our good friends, babysitters, and renters, Nathan and Lindsay and asked them to go get her because Lucy loves them. They so wonderfully helped us out and all was well! Crazy, crazy Day!

After all that, when it was time for Lucy to leave Nathan and Lindsay and go to bed, she told me again "Go away Mama!" I was sad. I tried to be a big girl, but she has never not wanted me before. When I told her that what she said hurt my feelings, she did give me a big kiss, so that helped. And she has been making up for it by telling me spontaneously all day today "I wuv you Mama!" answered by me saying "I love you Lucy! I love you more" to which she responds " I wuv you more" and then we go on that way about 20 times. She wakes me up that way these days and I love it. There is nothing else in all the world like waking up to Lucy touching your cheek and saying "I wuv you Mama."

Anyway to finish the explanation of all the quotes, Lucy's car seat was locked in Lani's car last night, so we just went without it to church this morning. (Shhhhhh! Please don't call the CPS!) When Lucy got in the car and saw that her seat was missing, she exclaimed in a very bewildered voice "Where Lucy seat go?" The way she said it was really funny. It is never quite the same in writing. Anyway, that is the low down on all of Lucy's recent cute quotes and the rest of our adventures!

The newest Usborne Book Consultant

I recently became an Usborne Books Consultant! I always promised myself that I wouldn't do Sales, and especially not Network Marketing, but then again I also always promised myself I would never marry before the age 21, nor have children before age 25, all of which I have done! I guess the moral of the story is not to be judgmental or make ridiculous promises to yourself (Beware of the humbling experience soon to follow)!

I am very excited about being a consultant, selling Children's books. I couldn't resist when I hosted a party and saw all the awesome books they sold (I hosted the party just to get free books, which is an awesome perk of hosting a party if you would like me to throw one for you! Ha ha, it is so weird trying to sell stuff. I can't believe I just threw in a pitch for you to throw a party! Selling things is going to take a lot of getting used to.) Anyway, I really loved the products they offered. Maybe it seemed grander than it was, just because I have been reading millions of ridiculously boring books to Lucy while in the process of potty training. I am so excited Lucy loves reading, but she asks me to read to her nonstop and they really need to be more exciting books.

I haven't really had any training yet, but I do know a little bit about what I can do. People can buy books from my website (click here to visit the website), home party's (awkward!!!! But seriously these are short, fun, educational get togethers) and you can become a consultant for elementary schools, and run Usborne Book Fairs and earn books for the schools. Anyway, I am excited about this company and my new job! I promise all of my friends I will never be a pushy salesperson. If you want me to come do a party for you I would be overjoyed! If you want to buy books through me I will be very grateful! If you are buying children's books for Christmas presents, please check out the website and all the awesome books we offer, before paying high prices at a bookstore. Other than that little plea I will not bug you. I might ask you personally if you would like to throw a party, but if you say no it won't offend me and I won't keep asking.

I will probably post again, some more details once I know more details, but for now I just wanted to make the exciting announcement! Wish me luck!

Click here to check out my website and browse the books!