Kate has it pretty good being an only child right now. She doesn't go to bed until 9 or 10 most nights so she gets to hang out with mom and dad on the couch watching tv some nights eating her new favorite snack- popkey (popcorn). She even knows where to get it in the pantry, tells you to put it in the microwave while she gets a bowl out to put it in.

Its a Shaaaak!

On Saturday we took Kate to the Living Planet Aquarium in West Jordan. The Aquarium was hardly respectable- but Kate still loved it. We had fun just watching her run from tank to tank almost shoving other people out of the way. Her first favorite thing she saw was some little frogs. She went back three times to see them. That was until of course she discovered the shaaaaks! and it has been all sharks at our house every since. Even that night I heard her up in her room talking when she was suppose to be sleeping. A long stream of words she told me " A shaak, a shaak, a frog, ribbit, ribbit, a fish, a jelly, a shaak, ribbit, "kissing sound that a fish makes" etc." when I went to see what she was up to. The next morning even she ran into our room upon awaking and yelled "A Shaak". It is so much fun watching her develop new interests and teaching her about new things.

Bath Tub- My New Best Friend

The number of baths I have taken in my adult life did not exceed 20 until recently. I have good personal hygiene of course, I just never saw the appeal of a bath. Even my morning showers for me were more about efficiency than enjoyment. Well until I became a mother and found that the ten minutes I take in the shower are perhaps the only guilt free moments to myself I may get that day. Then came the home stretch of this pregnancy. With four weeks to go- it feels like the end. I think the only parts of me that are not experiencing discomfort or pain are my elbows. With about 80 weeks of pregnancy under my belt, I still have yet to determine whether I just have really hard pregnancies or are just more of a complainer that others I see and talk to. My shrek feet are back, I can't sleep for more than three hours on one side or it gets bruised, I still throw up five or six times a week, and my sciatica is back making my right leg buckle unexpectedly when I bare any weight on it. Then I tried a bath a few weeks ago to relieve some of my aches and pains. Being a woman I literally had years worth or bath salts, scrubs and creams given to me as gifts or favors that have just been sitting in baskets in my guest baths, or waiting in bathroom cupboards most likely never to fulfill their full potential. Now ever night before attempting to fall asleep, I spend some time in the tub. I am making a dent in that supply of Bath and Body Works products and I don't know that there any more enoyable 20 minutes of my day. For just a moment I feel almost normal.

All in a Hard Day's Work!

It is a pretty rough job being a stay at home mom. While Jake has been hard at work all day what have me and my almost two year old girl done.


We colored....a lot.We watched a movie.

We played with Magnet Princess Dolls.
We played with her pet shop collection.
Of course it is all not fun and games- literally. There is the 30 minute fights over eating lunch, small tantrums when I refuse to draw one more "Beast" and cleaning poop out of the tub when I just didn't get her out in time. But who knew I would grow up and to some degree still do the same things everyday.... except I think Kate has even better toys than I did, especially when I get to pick them out and buy them. And especially when I have a girl who seems to like all things super girly. I wonder if I will enjoy playing with my new son's trucks and boy toys as much? Tomorrow's line up of things to do probably includes more coloring, movies and over and hour of reading picture books. It is hard work, but someone has to do it!

An Almost Perfect 10

Jake and I eat out a lot, well almost always once a week, and have for the last six years for our date night. When we lived in Provo there were so many different places to eat that we made a rule that we couldn't eat at the same place twice. With this rule also came a fun little rating system where we would give restaurants scores based on food, menu selection, customer service, price and value, cleanliness, location, uniqueness, etc. and always a point for something given free with the meal. We didn't hand out good scores too often and nobody really ever got above an 8. But tonight we went out to eat at a restaurant we have frequented since our move here, and I decided they get an almost perfect 10- a 9.5, with a deduction for value as they have raised their prices a bit lately. It is Tarahumara in Midway, Utah. This little locally owned authentic Mexican restaurant serves a combination of food you would expect and also more Indian style Mexican with an adjacent Pasteleria. Some points in their corner include-the owners are so kind and remember us, the place is always super clean, there is a great salsa bar with 20 plus kinds of toppings for your food, there are color crayons and paper on the table for Kate, the food is good and well porportioned, free chips or course, there are often coupons that are even valid on the weekends, and it is usually not to crowded. It is a little different in that there are no waiters- like a Cafe Rio, but it has a much more upscale feel. Yes more points seem to go to things not actually related to the taste of the food. It is not a perfect or properly weighted or completely constructed system. I have mentioned Tarahumara to several people who live around here and are shocked to find that they don't know of it. It is possible that their name throws people off, or people are unsure of more authentic side the resturant offers. Congratulations to Tarahumara for gaining our strange standard unimportant seal or approval.

So it was Christmas

It has been a long time since I have been a-blogging, it was the holidays and I still feel like we are trying to catch up. I don't want to spend to much time trying to catch you up, but here are some of the more noteable things.

Deciding to stay put- Most years we travel to Fresno to see with Jake's family since we don't seem them nearly often enough, but two 15 hour car rides with a teething toddler and being 33 weeks pregnant just didn't seem practical. Making the week super relaxed and comfortable here in our own home.
Seeing tons of friends and family- Because we stayed put we were able to see tons of friends from high school, college, law school, and old wards plus some family who have since left, but returned to the state for the holidays.
Shoveling Surprise- I left the house a day or two before Christmas on a day when it had snowed 8 or nine inches. I came home hours later to see that my driveway had been shoveled. I suspect a kind neighbor who saw me knocking the entrance down so my SUV could clear it.
Christmas Cards and Neighbor gifts- At the start of the month I decided not to do either, it would just add stress and expense to the holiday and as of Dec 7th, I hadn't done a thing towards Christmas so something had to be cut, but as the weeks progressed and we received so many cards and gifts I wanted in on some of those fun things, so did them last minute and had fun doing so.
Scrooge Gifts- In my family we purchase a gift for one person, like a drawing, so Christmas is not so expensive, many people do this. But for the rest of the people we give a Scrooge gift- a gift that costs around a dollar. It is so much fun to see what people come up with, it adds a lot more presents to the gift exchange and only costs 6 or 7 dollars to get everyone. A tradition I am glad we continue.
Our Computer- It seems like with a house and kids, most Christmas and Anniversary gifts are things we need like a new washer or something. This year we bought each other a new computer- Jake even went out on Black Friday to get it. We debated about it for some time, but I am glad we got it. It works so much better than the laptop we have had for six years, it was a great deal, and has some new fun features like a DVD burner.
One trip Shopping- As mentioned before, I got a late start on my holiday projects. About ten days before christmas I got my Mom to watch Kate for two hours, and then left her with Jake for 6 hours. I was able drive to Provo hit ten or more stores- get every single gift I needed, make my neighbor gifts and all without having to stop for diaper changes and snacks. It was so productive and easy, I think I will save errands for when I am alone more often. I saved so much time not making multiple trips, and also not having to buckle and rebuckle a car seat ten plus times.
Kate-Of course nothing was better than watching Kate learn about presents and do her "ohhhhhhhohoh" when she was really excited about something or shout "ChrisChris" It was fun to be around my family, perhaps mostly because they give kate so much attention, and she has so much fun with them. She did get a little bit of a spoiled attitude, not so much because of all the gifts, but because of all the attention. It took a few days to break. She did enjoy all of her new things though we kept Christmas fairly small, she was very pleased and of course loved turning boxes into cars almost as much as the toys anyways.

Now life is almost back to normal, I have managed to take down all the decorations and the tree and we are back to our normal routine. With the holidays out of the way it seems like the baby should be here soon- but we still have six more weeks.