Tricky Gurl

Yeah, I'm a tricky gurl (sic).

Tonight after I put the baby to bed I was teasing Casey and getting him all riled up while he was loading the dishwasher. He eventually reached the cracking point and warned me, "I am so coming to tackle you in 10 seconds when I finish doing these dishes."

I'm not stupid- at that point I fled the room and went to the bedroom so that if I was going to get tackled it would at least be on a soft surface like the bed. Then, inspiration struck!

I hadn't turned on the lights in the room yet, so I left them off and ran to the bed. I quickly threw back the covers and stuffed my pillow down towards the foot of the bed and Casey's pillow right beside it so it looked like a body under the covers. I drew the covers up and put the book that I had been holding while I was taunting him on the corner of the bed. Just for good measure.

I heard Casey coming down the hall, using the light from his open laptop to guide his way. I quickly sequestered myself behind the bathroom door just opposite from our bed.

I quieted my breathing and just listened.

. . .

. . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

I heard him come into the bedroom and call, "Tukataa?" (This is his Thai name for me meaning "little doll.")

He took a few more steps towards the bed and again called, "Tukataa? Where are you?" (Sometimes we play hide-and-seek like children and pretend we can't see the obvious lump under the blankets where our spouse is hiding so that we can look around a little bit before attacking the hidden person. It builds the suspense.)

I peeked out from behind the door and saw Casey firmly position himself at the bottom of the bed, trying to determine the best strategy for attack.

I saw him tip-toe up to the bed and prep for the grab at "me" AKA the pillows, when I rushed out of the bathroom with a "ha!" (quietly, because Sander is sleeping in the next room), and tackled him!

Yeah, we had a good time playin'. I'm a tricky gurl!

Besides, who says that just because you are married with a house and a baby you have to act like an adult all the time? ;)

Sunday Romp

This past Sunday was a B-E-A-utiful day in Utah! The cold, grimy weather broke for one day of shiny, chilly goodness.

After I got home from church, Sander went down for a nap, Casey and I had lunch and we decided to take advantage of the weather and go on a walk. What started as a nice, leisurely walk through the neighborhood somehow turned into a romp in the hilly easement behind our house.

It was extremely exhilarating to be outside in the sunshine after being cooped up inside by the cold, wet weather for so long. My inner child came out to play and, in a most unlady-like fashion, jumped over hills, ran though weeds and balanced on rocks while laughing and talking with my best friend (that's Casey btw.) We played until we found the baby monitor's range limit and then headed back home. (The monitor actually got pretty far! It was quite impressive!)

I was wearing a orange and pink sweater, a black skirt and; to complete the ensemble; a pair of beat-up, dusty tennis shoes- the epitomized picture of a tom boy. People looking down from their balconies at us probably thought they were watching and listening to a couple of kids play around in the easement between houses instead of two responsible adults taking a break from the cares of life to enjoy the sunshine.

The experience was actually quite liberating. It has been too long since I have thrown off my adult facade and let my inner child run free.

As we sat panting on our front steps, leaning against each other for support and listening to our baby's quiet breathing as he slumbered blissfully in his swing, I realized that life is good. In that moment, life was perfect. AND, in honor of the experience, I have coined my own phrase, or rather, I suppose it is one of my philosophies for life:

"Responsibility is what makes life run smoothly, Spontaneity is what keeps life fun."

You need a little bit of each in life and as long as you keep things in balance, life will be good. :0)

Live Christmas Nativity

This past Friday December 3, Casey, Sander and I went to the Live Nativity in Alpine!

It was a lot of fun too! You drive to a church and park your car and they have little buses or trailers that take you over to the nativity. Once you get off the bus a shepherd greets you and tells you the beginning of Christ's story. He tells you why Mary and Joseph needed to return to Bethlehem and encourages you to think about the three visitors Christ received the night of his birth. The visitors brought gifts with them; what gifts do we bring to the Savior this Christmas season?

As you follow the string of lights up the path (the very muddy path! It's a good thing we bought an outdoor stroller because Sander was totally off-roading!) you see centurions on horses and shepherd men and women.

Then you are led into a barn where there are various animals and people dressed in the style of the period, performing tasks such as working leather, baking bread, measuring rice, working wood etc.

There were camels!

And carpenters!

And swans!

and sheep!

And to top it all off, a live nativity with a brand new baby! Carolers stood in a balcony above singing Christmas songs. The whole atmosphere was very uplifting and really helped me feel the spirit of the season.

After you walk through there is yummy hot chocolate to warm your hands and tummy with. When Casey and I finished walking through we were talking about what a fun, family outing the experience had been when we came upon a HUGE line to ride the trailers back to the church!

We thought- no way are we going to stand out here in the cold for 20 minutes waiting for a bus! We're walking!

It only took about 7 minutes for us to get back to our car and it was a fun little adventure. The exercise kept us nice and warm but there was definitely some more off-roading!

Sander and Casey successfully returned to the car!

But it got my new boots all muddy! :(

Overall a really fun Christmas activity, but I'll have to reserve total judgment until I get my boots clean!

P'wnd!

That's right- Casey got Punk'd!

We recently signed up for Dish Network and when my friend came by to install it, he showed me how I can set up the Dish so that the TV in our family room and the old TV in our basement in front of our exercise equipment have dual capabilities- meaning that each TV can view a different channel at once. Or, I can set it the Dish so that both TV's share the screen so only one channel can be watched on both TV's.

Well, I couldn't miss a golden opportunity like that to mess with Casey! So, this Saturday while he was upstairs watching football with Sander and I was running on the treadmill I got the perfect opportunity.

I turned the TV on and saw that football was on and I realized that I had changed the mode from the Dual settings a little while ago so we were sharing a screen. I quickly flipped to the Guide and found a show that I knew Casey would NEVER watch and would hate having on his screen- 16 and Pregnant. To make it even better, right at the moment I changed the channel, a pregnant girl had her shirt up and she was inserting a new belly ring into her 8-month pregnant belly button. Casey of course, immediately flipped it back to football. And I, of course, immediately flipped it back to 16 and Pregnant.

After a few times of switching back and forth there was a long lull where 16 and Pregnant stayed on so I knew I was going to get it. Sure enough, a second later Casey clomped down the basement steps and said, "Are you jackin' with me??!"

I almost fell off the treadmill I was laughing so hard. I told him about the dual monitors and then he made me come upstairs and fix it so he could watch football while I finished working out.

It was awesome. :0)

Motherhood Surprises

I think the thing that has surprised me most about Motherhood is how fun it is.

I was really not expecting it to be this fun, this fast. I expected sleeplessness, fussy days, frustration, lack of time and depression, but not fun. And, maybe it's because I have the best baby ever, but even the negatives have seemed minimal compared to what I was taught to expect.

I think there is too much negative media about motherhood. So, for all three followers of my blog, I'm going to try to put some positive media out into the void.

Motherhood is awesome. Motherhood is rewarding. Motherhood has filled me with joy and love.

I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home and take care of my little buddy. There is no better feeling than when my little baby looks up at me with his big, beautiful eyes, sighs and lays his head against my chest with complete and utter trust as I hold him close and kiss him gently.

Each milestone is so exciting and I cannot believe that my little guy is already two months! It has passed by so quickly and I can tell that he is growing like crazy! I can envision our future ahead of us and all of the things he will experience and go through and I can't wait to be there for him.

I want to have more children, but it is hard to think about that right now. He is going to grow so rapidly and discover so many things and I want to be able to fully commit my time and attention to witnessing that miracle. I understand why people wait several years to have another kid sometimes- there is so much to experience with the first one! I don't want to miss anything because I need to spend time paying attention to another little person. Sander is such a blessing, it is like I birthed another best friend for me to love, play with and cuddle all the time. However, I'm sure that when another baby does come along, my love with expand to include both of them and I will not feel like my attention is split and I will not feel like I am missing anything. I think I will probably feel like there is twice as much to experience as we have our own little party!

I feel so sorry for parents who have no interest or the resources to be involved in their kids lives. Babies/Children are going through such an amazing experience- figuring out a language, the rules of the world they live in, how to use their body and a million other things. I WANT to be there to coach my kids and give them advice when they get stumped. I WANT to have the right as a parent to instill values and morals in my kids that are different from popular belief or worldly perspective. I know that there are parties in the world today that are fighting to push a certain agenda in the media and in schools and I will fight tooth and nail to preserve the things that I believe are right and to instruct my children in those things.

So, there is my message. Be a mom if you can. It is awesome. Don't skip it- savor it. Learn what to expect and take it in stride.

I think children can provide such a fresh, new outlook on life that is so helpful to us as adults. They remind us of forgotten things and, if we let them, teach us to freshly experience life and find joy in the small and simple things again.

My body was made to be a mother and so was my spirit. I believe that motherhood is the greatest calling that I can have in this life and I am so grateful that I am able to be a mother at this point in my life. The world undervalues motherhood and I hope that somehow, throughout my life, I can influence others to see motherhood the way I do, that they may have the opportunity to experience the greatest calling a woman can be called to in this life.

And to all you moms out there- you rock. :D