We Love to Laugh!

This is my new favorite activity with my boy! What a cute, goofy laugh he has!

Let's Get Established, Yeah Yeah Yeah!

"Who, being loved, is poor?" -Oscar Wilde

Okay, cards on the table: I got married when I was 19-years old. Yup, I was a baby, and I looked like a baby, too. See?

It's crazy to think how young I was, and when I tell people, even those of the Mormon faith who tend to marry young anyway, I usually say my surprising young age with a quiet and ashamed voice. Not because I think I made a poor choice, but it seems to me that the world thinks I missed out on a lively single-life experience or that because of my marrying age divorce is inevitable or something along those lines.

Well, amid the sea of statistics and opinions that say Nick's and my marriage (he was only 23) is destined to be ridden with regrets and separation, a friend found and shared an article with me that helps me lift my head with pride about my decision to marry young!

"The fairytale wedding is [seen as a] gateway into adult life. But in my experience, this idea about marriage as the end of the road is pretty misguided and means couples are missing out on a lot of the fun."

 

The article goes onto say a lot of other things, but the jist of it is that since we all have to get financially established and secure our place in the world anyway, why not do it married to your favorite person and enjoy that establishing period all the more??

Good question!

The first example to the contrary I can think of is Scrooge in The Muppet's Christmas Carol who had someone he really cared about and lost her because they didn't have enough money for a descent home.

You maybe snickering to yourself because that maybe a juvenile example, but it's one that is not far from how some people choose to go about their single life -- alone AND poor. How sad! Why not be poor WITH someone who makes poverty a lot more pleasant??

A close friend asked us yesterday if we've been in school our entire married life, and we confirmed their suspicions. You could absolutely say that for the past 7+ years of marriage Nick and I have been getting "established." We don't have tons of excess resources. Neither of us ever spent a summer backpacking through Europe. Our birthday and Christmas gifts have usually been very small and inexpensive items. More than once we've bailed each other out of tough/expensive fixes using creative methods. We have had to say to each other many times four of the most loving words one mate can say to another: "We can't afford it." 

However, like the article said: we have also had so much fun!!  There's not a thing about my financially poor life with Nick that I would change because it has not felt like it was lacking in anything that truly matters! Oh how I love cuddling up with him at night and reminiscing about the life we've established together -- side-by-side, hand-in-hand, as we smile and laugh because we haven't had waffles in months since there are no extra resources to replace our broken waffle iron.

As I look ahead to our 10th, 15th, 20th, 50th, etc. anniversaries, I think how precious these "good ole' days" are going to be to us! How grateful I am to have found my eternal mate so early in my life and to have had the extraordinary opportunity to get established along side him!

Aly TV: Alexa's Greatest Hits, Voume 1

Tonight at dinner Alexa asked for some songs.  This led to a performance of some of her classics including "Popcorn Popping", "The ABC Song", and "Five Little Monkeys". From a live performance over dinner, we present Alexa's Greatest Hits, Volume 1.

Could you tell which letters of the alphabet are her favorites?

Oregon is Weird

We've been vacationing in Oregon, one of our favorite places ever! We really love it here, but it sure is weird!

That was reaffirmed when I went to a huge bookstore, Powell's, in Portland, and had to park in a structure that only had 12 spaces per level. Yeah, it was small, narrow, and just ridiculous. Why? Because people in Portland hate cars.

So, I enjoyed a couple clips from YouTube last night celebrating weird Portland, so you should enjoy them as well.

More deets on our vacay in future posts. Peace, yo.

 

Attaining Creative Vision

While putting on my makeup the other day, Alexa was intrigued, so I let her play with an extra makeup brush I have. She rubbed it on her face, and then ran off. No problem, she does that a lot. After a couple minutes of silence I thought I should check in on her. I found her in her room, using the brush in a very nontraditional manner.

That's Alexa's humidifier water she's painting all over her legs. Yeah. It's like she was just waiting for the appropriate tool to help her attain the creative vision she seems to have had in mind for sometime.

Toddlers are crazy, and so clever, and even more fun!

Sharing is Caring

Here Alexa is trying to share a delicious delectable delight with Daddy, but Daddy knows better!

We had other delicious delectable delights yesterday when we shared our Thanksgiving holiday with our friends, The Parkers! It may have been the most delicious meal I have ever eaten!

When biological family is inaccessible, we turn to our friends in our neighborhood and create a new type of family -- one not connected by blood...hmmm...not a terribly new concept for us!

Our family is so grateful that we get to see Alexa's birth family tomorrow and share some of the holiday season with them. It is so wonderful that we get to be around all sorts of family during this time of year!

How special it is that we get to spend one day a year thinking about all the ways our lives have been blessed, and too avoid an obscenely long post I won't list them, but let me just say, our hearts are so full!

And just so you're aware, it is now okay to listen to Christmas music! YAY! No one is happier about that than I am, but you got to respect Thanksgiving by not listening to Christmas music before today. It's not Thanksgiving's fault it doesn't have music!

Have a wonderful weekend celebrating the beginning of the Christmas season! God bless!

My Adopted Asian Baby

 In this one she's trying to do this pose, all sweet and demure. Not really her thing. (That baby is so cute!)

Oh no wait. That's just Alexa being straight up ca-razy! Love this girl!

Also, FYI, I'm not dead. Sorry posts have been sparse, but I've been re-focusing my life and so I've had to force myself to have less screen time each day, and the blog is suffering a bit. It's all for the better though! A real post tomorrow, I promise!

Food, Glorious Food!

 Getting silly-crazy at dinner time is the best!

 Mmmm...Mommy's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies aren't just Daddy's favorite anymore!

  Oh! I love Hot n' Ready Pizzas!

 Daddy's night to cook is always delicious!

Happiness is...Big Shoes to Fill

Alexa just loves trying on Daddy's shoes! Sorry about the "censoring" in a couple of the pictures. One of the photographers in our house doesn't notice/mind a little something extra in our family pictures. Have a great weekend!

Bigger Than My Body

I revamped my personal Chore Chart this weekend because things weren't completely getting done with my old way of doing things. So, I re-evaluated what I was asking myself to do each day. Monday was the first day of it and I admit I got almost everything done that I wanted to do, but I had this epiphany Monday night (and an inkling here and there previous to then): there will never be enough time in the day for all the good things I want to do.

It's a bold revelation, I know.

 And you wonder why I don't get as much done as I'd like...

 Answer: stools and cream cheese frosting.

I know all you long-time stay-at-home moms out there are just totally rolling your eyes at me right now, but I thought that somehow, by adjusting this thing or that, at the end of the day I would be able to say "Yes! I've done it all!" Well, reality keeps on slapping me in the face with the fact that my heart is always going to want to stretch my body further than it is capable.

My realization though, as of late, is I don't think that feeling has to be as frustrating as I originally thought it should be. Allow Michaelangelo to explain with the following two quotes:

"Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish."

 "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."

It seems to me that Michaelangelo realized that our hearts should be stretching our bodies to try to do far more than they are capable. That is a good thing! In fact, I would venture to say that is a great thing! We should be filling up our days with interests, adventures, and most of all service opportunities that have far more demands on our physical bodies than we can accommodate.

Ultimately my situation has not changed since last Monday, nor will it change for a long time coming. What has changed, however, is my perspective, and I'm really okay with being, as John Mayer put it, Bigger Than My Body.

Aly TV: Let's Do The Chicken Dance With Elmo

Last week was Aly's first birthday and she got a lot of gifts from friends and family including books, a toy piggy bank (for our piglet), a top, a play school-bus, a purse, and a "Chicken-Dance Elmo".  I have to admit that Rachel and I were pretty baffled by that last one when it came in the mail, but it turns out that we just didn't appreciate how fun it is to do the chicken dance with Elmo.


And lucky for us, it doesn't have an off switch, because why would you ever not want to do the chicken dance with Elmo?

Thanks to everyone for the gifts and especially to Grandma and Grandpa Sullivan for Elmo.

Aly TV: Silly Time

Like most babies people, Aly gets a little silly when she's sleepy - particularly when Mommy helps with a little tickling.


Just a little silly.

Aly TV: On the Run

We have previously commented on Aly's serve case of happy feet here and here, but lately she's developed a new symptom:  running.

As you can see, this is getting serious.

My Father-in-Law, the Superhero

Serious.

His lair is underwater and he explodes out of it...without skis.

Funny story: when I was a little girl my sisters and I would make believe in our ginormous backyard that we were outlaws...with super powers. The super power I chose was to control water, and I discovered this super power when one day we were running from the law and I got thirsty and a cup of water appeared in my hand. 

I know, incredible!

And according to Nick's mission zone, his superhero name would be Nice Nick Nelson. Catchy, no?

Thursday Thirteen #17: Pictures I LOVE from My Silly Girls Photo Shoot

These are photos from a shoot I participated in a couple weeks back to participate in Silly Girls United. We had such a blast and I intend and doing an informal shoot this weekend in Washington State. More to come on that...

I'm not numbering them. That's right, I'm a rebel. And I am going to refrain on commenting, because, well, I'm supposed to be writing a paper and not a blog post. The theme of the shoot was Stripes and Polka Dots (which I totally voted for). Enjoy!

This is the only one I'm commenting on, because I wanted to point out that freckles are built-in polka dots!

If She Wants to Rock, She Rocks

If you were here, I'd dance with you. But since you're not, looks like I only have one option...

Have yourself a silly weekend!

Thursday Thirteen #12: Phrases I Use That Others May Not

1. Don’t be a hater. (Used when I'm feeling picked on for some reason or another.)

2. Eat your face! (This is used for intimidation purposes or as an exclamation of achievement. Example: After winning a game of Scrabble you may say “EAT YOUR FACE!!”)

3. That’s super great!

4. Poco eficiente. (Portuguese for “less efficient” taken from the old missionary guidebook, used to describe something as less effective than another something.)

5. Desculpe (It’s how you say the equivalent of “excuse me” in Portuguese.)

6. Your mom/your mom/your face/your mom's face is  __________.

7. Your thoughts? (Used to express interest in another’s views or opinions.)

8. I’m gonna beat your face in. (It sounds mean, but I only tell that to Nick to keep him in line. He always responds “I know you will.”)

9. ...all up in my grill. (Example: the other day I had seen a spider and I told Nick "That spider was all up in my grill" to which he responded "I'm sorry the spider was all up in your grill, Rach.")

10. Do you understand my concern? (Taken from the old missionary guidebook.)

11. Nich (It’s my only nickname for my husband, and I am pretty darn sure no one else calls him this.)

12. Are you listo? (In Spanish, listo means ready, so as when I am ready to go somewhere I ask Nick this question and his response is “Oh, I’m listo.”)

13. Don’t be all “Negative Nancy” up in here! (I do say this to Nick, so someone once told me I could just say “Negative Nick,” but I prefer ragging on him as Nancy rather than Nick.)

Orange You Glad to See Me?

May I offer a suggestion?



Go and buy a pair of colorful tights (black and brown don't count) and just see how fun you feel!

This is post #111...make a wish!