The Window Sill

A quick story tonight because I'm not feeling too good today. Nauseous and such. I think it's from food that I ate that was not so good. Who knows.

Anyway, here's a funny story about Patrick.

A few weeks ago I was changing him into a new diaper. We have a dresser right by his window where we have a changing pad and as of late, Patrick likes to stand on the changing pad and look outside. When people walk by, when cars go by, everything. He places both of his hands up high above his head on the window and looks out.

The other day, he managed to stand up in the nude. I thought, ok, whatever. I'll get some fresh clothes ready and let him stand there for a minute. Well, you guessed it...seconds later he peed in the window sill. He seemed pretty pleased with himself. I suppose he has not learned any sense of modesty just yet.

Winter in Full Swing

We've hit the part of the year where there is either bitter cold and dirty snow or a lovely fresh dusting of white everywhere. I love it and hate it at the same time.

Our most recent storm was on Sunday. Scott and I decided it would be fun to go sledding at Sugarhouse Park where there are plenty of hills to choose from. We took turns holding Patch and riding down with him. One of us would ride to the bottom and call up to Patch while the other was riding down with him in their lap. He enjoyed having someone to look at during the ride. Eventually I could tell that he was over all of that and really wanted to crawl. Scott and I tried to occupy him in other ways as his snow suit is not water proof. We put him on a sledding disk and pushed him back and forth on a tiny tiny little slope. He liked that for a few minutes and soon enough he was crawling off of the disk and playing in the snow. He LOVED it. Giggling and grinning behind his binkie and just having a blast pressing into the snow with his hands and crawling through it. Such fun.

Scott's sister Stephanie told me a while ago that she always saves all her soup making for this time of year. They have soup almost every night for dinner and she says it's something their family looks forward to every year. I've made two different kinds of soup myself so far this year: tomato and black bean. The tomato soup was ok but the black bean soup was AMAZING annnnnd bonus, I found avocados for sale at Rancho Markets 5 for $1...and they were good ones! Killer deal.

This part of the winter season brings other interesting things like really dirty cars covered in salt and grime and icy sidewalks. One evening, two young boys knocked on our door. They had shovels in hand and asked if they could shovel our walks. I'm thinking "wow, what nice boys". Scott informed me that we should pay them and that they were likely trying to make some money. When they finished, I gave them a $5 (we have a small house people and a very small amount of shoveling was done...and the job was not super through). The second kid said "Oh, I thought you were going to give us two 5s". I told him that one was all I have and thanked them for shoveling. Kids these days. ;)

We're hosting Patrick's first birthday party at our home on Saturday. That's another rough thing about the winter...it's obviously far too cold to celebrate his birthday in our yard or at the park. Our home will be cozy and fun though. I'm already decorating and trying to get things ready so that I'm not trying to do everything all on Saturday. I'm proud of myself because I plan to come in $200 less than last month in our grocery bill and that includes supplies and food for the party!!! Go me!

Thoughts: working outside the home

I have a wonderfully fulfilling life in so many ways.
I have a family that gets along and enjoys time together.
I have friends that support each other and who constantly open my eyes to new ideas and ways of thinking.
I have a husband that supports me in all of my crazy ideas (namely doing theater while working full time and raising our little man).
I have a (almost one!) little man that motivates me to be better and teaches me about Christ-like love.
I have a job where I get to constantly meet new people and it excites me every day.

More on the job. In the last 11 months I feel as though I've done a pretty bang up job balancing being a mama, wife, and business banker. Sometimes I get to sprinkle that balance with some theater. I've been a pretty great daughter, sister, and friend too. Though, there are times when I feel guilty about working a full time job. The other day, I read a friend's Instagram post about how blessed she felt to be able to have her little one with her constantly and how she will always put her daughter first; being with her all day every day. Maybe I read it wrong but I thought...am I not putting Patrick first? Is there truly something wrong with working outside the home? Will my choice to work a full time job negatively impact Patrick in any way? I worry about this constantly.

Powder Mountain

The day after Christmas Scott and I went skiing with my brother and his BIL and SIL at Powder Mountain in Tahoe. It was an interesting and VERY fun day. Here's what happened:

We all got up and had a lazy morning (very a-typical for a group of people who plan to hit the slopes for a day. As a kid it seemed like we were all up and ready to go to the resort by like 7 or 8 AM) and headed off at about 10 AM. When we got there we waited in line for tickets and to purchase a rental for Scott. I borrowed my moms old skis. I wish I had a picture of them but they were definitely old school...like early 80's I'm thinking. LOVED THEM! I'm secretly hoping she gives them to me and buys herself some nice new ones. Anyway, after we redeemed our tickets and purchased Scott's rental we started waiting in line for fittings in the rental gear and I had to get poles. Some lady snagged us in line (an employee of the resort) and told us that she could easily take us some back way to get some poles. I told her that my husband had to pick out rentals and she agreed to help us get those a back way too (LUCKY US!!!).

Here's where our luck turned.

Scott brought his new GoPro camera to take some sweet action shots coming down the slopes. We borrowed my dad's selfie stick and once we were on the slopes thought...wow...we suck at skiing and won't likely have the skill to even use the camera...let's get a locker. Scott then found out that all the lockers were full (or so he thought) so, we decided I would carry the camera and Scott would carry the goggles he brought. That didn't seem too troublesome and we didn't want to hike everything back to the car. So, the decision was made and we hit the bunny hill.

It was a lovely little slope. Not even really worthy of being called a bunny hill but, it was a good run to just experience being on skis after a few year hiatus. Once at the bottom I realized DUN DUN DUN part of the selfie stick's telescoping had come loose and I dropped the camera somewhere on that run!!!

My heart sank. Scott was SO excited about that camera and I lost it. I was sure that I dropped it on the bunny slope so I popped off my skis and started walking up it looking for the camera. Nothing. We popped our skis back on and went down the hill still scanning everywhere. As we were getting on the lift to head back up and check the lost and found I was asking all the employees if someone had turned in a camera. Nothing. Once we sat down on the lift Scott lost his ski. We were already stuck on the lift and headed up so, at the top we had to wait for his ski to come back. Our hearts were heavy. This awesome gift Scott got from his work as a Christmas bonus was likely picked up by a stranger and we would likely not see it again. I told Scott that while he was waiting for his ski, I would go and check the lost and found. There was a line when I arrived. Only a few people and a couple of them were families picking up their season passes for 2016. A dad and small child posed for pictures in their snow gear; all smiles. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up. Yes, being late to the resort put us at basically a half day worth of skiing when we paid full day prices. Yes, we had to wait in a couple of lines but that one lady snuck us through so that was nice. Yes, I lost the GoPro and that sucked but maybe we just made a $500 charitable contribution to someone who took it. Scott arrived just as I was getting to the front of the line. We watched a resort employee walk in with it in that very moment. My spirits were instantly lifted.

Scott decided he'd make the trek back to the car to drop off the GoPro and I would wait for him just outside of the food court area and we would grab some food. I got a message from Nacho that they were eating too and I told them I would have to wait for Scott to get back before meeting them because he didn't have a phone on him. Right as Scott arrived I went to the top of the stairs to holler down to him. As I got there this lady stopped me and asked me to help her son get off the snow in his ski boots and walk up the stairs. She said he was nervous to step off the snow in his ski boots and she doesn't have experience with that and asked if I could grab him and help. I'm thinking oooooOOOooook. I head down the stairs to grab her son who is no small child. He's like 12 or 13 I'd guess and already kind of making his way to the stairs. When I arrive at the bottom she hollers down to me and asks if I can grab their skis. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? I'm wondering what's keeping her from doing this herself but, I feel like I need to pay into the good karma bucket seeing as how our $500 GoPro was just returned to us. I grab the skis and head up the stairs. As I'm walking, this older gentleman trips and falls into me. In all the history of sucky days I've never had such a series of sucky things happen in such a sequence. At that point it was laughable.

Scott and I laughed as we headed up the stairs to meet up with Brent, Nacho, and Ceci for lunch. The rest of the day was  perfectly fun.

Lately with Patrick

Lately Patrick seems to be picking up firsts right and left. I'll make a list:

getting down stairs. We'll call this crawling even though it's not really crawling...it's more like he carefully stretches one foot down to the next stair, looking over his shoulder, and places it on the stair below. He does the same thing to get off of couches and chairs and laps only in these scenarios he grasps the fabric of whatever (or whoever) he was sitting on and clenches his little fists sooooo hard; nervous of the distance he could fall, and slowly lowers himself until his toes touch the ground. So funny.

high fives. They're a little hit and miss right now but he's pretty good at them when he's focused.

cheesy grins.

mimicking conversation. He'll make sounds in the same way that we say certain words. It's adorable.

youtube videos. We've been avoiding letting Patrick watch tv and movies and we've avoided letting him explore our smart devices. However, on one of our many long distance holiday drives this year, I let him watch some classical music performances. When he heard the orchestra tuning and the audience clapping he clapped to. It melted my heart into a tiny puddle in one moment.

standing un-assisted. Lately, Patrick will stand with the help of an object and then let go. I think he is aware that this is a big "step" and seems proud of himself.

Patch also eats table foods, including meats. He loves meal time and is very vocal when he doesn't have a bite in his mouth.

I feel that he is just days away from walking. I want to watch him every second so that I don't miss his first steps. It is a joy to watch him changing so quickly.

I also feel the need to document his many nick names that he has at the moment:
Patch, Patch Man, The Boy, Pat, Mr. Man, Mr. P

I sure do love this kid.

The last 10 days

On Tuesday the 8th Scott had a performance with the Consortium Ensemble at St. Paul's Episcopal Church downtown. I don't know what got into me that night but I decided that I should go even with Patrick which, if you've ever seen a 10 month old boy in action, was a questionable decision. I also invited some friends to attend that also have a baby that is 6 months old. There we were, at the back of the church, letting the babies crawl around on the floor and trying to silence them while at a performance. I think the Orem library was a better location for Patrick to attend the concert with me but, we made it work at St. Paul's anyway.


Earlier that same night I decided to try and squeeze in seeing the lights on temple square. I also decided to not bring Patrick's stroller. Good thing I at least bundled him up really snug in a Patagonia suit thingie. I met Sue and Olyvia there with their babies. We were supposed to meet up with Julia a bit later. Before long, I got a text from her that they were on their way. I used the "talk to text" function on my iPhone to tell her to meet us at the nativities. On temple square they have nativities from all over the world set up. They are beautiful and my absolute favorite part about the décor there. Anyway, so I wanted to talk to text to let them know where to meet us and Siri heard "meet us at the titties" instead of the nativities. When I read the text I fell into hysterics. I doubled over in obnoxious laughter and captured the attention of many by standers. I couldn't help myself...it was just too funny.


After the temple lights and the concert, Mark and Sue came over to taste test eggnog. I purchased every variety that is being sold at Smiths and let me tell you, conclusively, Southern Comfort is the best eggnog around.


On the 9th, we drove down to Orem to celebrate Matt Nielson's birthday at this all you can eat sushi place. The company was divine and the sushi was pretty lousy.


On the 10th I had a very full day at work. We had our region meeting, an awards lunch hosted by the SBA, and then our team got to go to Boondocks to celebrate our victory in a little mini campaign. Laser tag, go cart racing, video games, virtual rollercoaster, arcade games. It was a blast to get out and party with the team. I missed little Patrick though. I'm not used to being away from him all day. That evening, we met up with the spouses at Fuji Japanese Steakhouse and Doug (my boss's boss) treated us to dinner. I chose the location based on the fact that it's a hibachi place and who doesn't love to watch their food being cooked? So entertaining! It's also always fun to see my coworkers with their better halves. It seemed like everyone was pleased with the meal and we just had a grand time laughing all together and making plans for continued success.


On the 11th, we went to see the Salty Dinner Theater Christmas show, A Christmas Carol. It's fun to actually attend a Salty show once in a while, not having been involved in any other way.


On the 12th, Scott and I modeled for pictures for the upcoming Salty Season. He posed as Romeo and the Phantom and I posed as Christine (of Phantom). It was fun to get dressed up and get our pictures taken. I'm excited to see how they turned out.


That evening I met up with Andrea and we went to the Dicken's festival. It was loads of fun to see Katie sing and see all the fun merchants/ vendors at the event. I purchased a few things including some pastries. yummmmm.


On Sunday we had a very average day. Scott stayed home and slept all day because he wasn't feeling well. I went to just the 3rd hour of church to do singing time. We played Sing or Dare. So many of the kids chose dare but then were all bashful about completing the dare. Do kids these days not know how to properly play truth or dare?! You chose dare and you have to take it...duh!


We had our first big snow storm of the season on Monday. It was so bad that I couldn't even get up the incline to Kathie's house in the morning and Scott was running really late from all the snow shoveling. I worked from home all day and was ever so slightly less productive because of that. We couldn't even break up the day with trips to run errands or anything because the snow was coming down ALL DAY LONG. The best and brightest spot in the day was when Patrick woke up, I could see that Scott was busy shoveling and I thought I may as well get Patrick ready for the day. Suddenly, Patch noticed that Scott was just outside. He started slapping the window with his little hands and making noises at Scott. Eventually he even waived at him. So adorable. I think it's safe to say that Patch loves his daddy.

In Stitches

My parents are in town this week we've had lots of Christmas fun.

On Sunday night, Mom and Dad came to our house for dinner right as they arrived in Utah. I made chicken that was seasoned with left over cranberry sauce. It turned out well but I suddenly found myself wondering if my food was good enough to serve my parents. I can't recall serving them dinner very often and was a little nervous about this experimental meal.

 On Monday, Mom and I tried to go to the new aquarium because it was free day but the line wrapped around the building (ridiculous) and that night we had plans to attend Scott's cousins husband's a cappella concert. So, we turned around and grabbed dinner with Scott at Cafe Rio and headed to the concert. The venue was an Episcopal church and they had a cry room where I could take Mr. P so he could just crawl around and make noise and play and yet I could still hear the concert and see what was going on. IT WAS AWESOME! Why aren't there more cry rooms...everywhere? Movie theaters especially. I'd love to go see a movie.

Wednesday, Scott had a concert at the library in Orem. His group did quite well and Patch was crawling around a bit. He also had a bit of fun testing the acoustics in the room and I had fun trying to keep him quiet. When Scott's group finished a particulary jovial and rambunctious number, Patch sat on the floor, turned to the group, and clapped for them with the audience. He just learned to clap last Wednesday so, this was rather exciting.

Thursday night was probably the highlight of the week. We attended the Christkindlmarket at This is the Place Park. It's a German style Christmas market/ fair thingie. It was SO much fun to see all the crafts and German things...and food! Not to mention that President Uchtdorf was there to award a medal to the Candy Bomber! So many local German celebs! Mr. P was bundled in a little snow suit and looked adorable! Bonbon was there with us and it was a great ladies night.

I have to share a funny story. One night, we were just sitting at home chatting. I was decorating the tree and Mom and Scott were talking on the couch. We were discussing the large amount of Christmas decor that my mom has and noticing that we're about to need additional storage for our growing supply of decorations. I mentioned that I want to go to the Container Store for one of their events. As I was reading the description we all started laughing and couldn't stop. The idea that the highlight of their event is to have "wrap stars" show people how to wrap gifts and then the grand prize would be a gift wrap organizer just got us laughing. It sounded so silly once I started saying it out loud. Scott then noticed that I had hung a Christmas banner with masking tape. I felt a little silly about that too. I just said "I just wanted to get it up" followed by a that's what she said joke. My mom then turned to me and said "who is she and what did he say". I was laughing so hard I cried.