him and her

SIRIUSLY FUNNY

2012-02-08T11:58:00.000-06:00

I have several hilarious friends. But every February Jenny takes the blogospheric cake hands down with her themed Valentines. This year I just couldn't keep them to myself.

Go take a gander.

You're welcome.

(I just couldn't do a post without a picture. It's a disease. This is us with Jenny at her wedding last October.)

HEAVEN FORBID HER FEET GET COLD

2012-02-07T08:45:00.001-06:00

Finley takes the first opportunity she can to get completely undressed in the morning, after her naps, in the middle of Target... basically at all times. I don't mind her running around sans clothes at home if she was content to keep her diaper on - but getting that thing off asap seems to be her true goal. I guess I might have to start potty training sooner rather than later.

Good thing we are moving to a warmer climate soon. At least then she won't even need the socks.

ROLL TIDE

2012-01-30T08:15:00.000-06:00

Bama here we come! By July 1st we'll be moving our little family to Birmingham, Alabama for at least six years. And even though it was one of our top choices we are still in shock. A little because for some reason we didn't expect it and for another reason it's weird that it has all finally been decided. We kind of don't know what to do with ourselves now. As long as I've known Brad every decision we've made has led up to this point. And we're in! Hooray!

Sign me up for big hair and lots of football. ROLL TIDE!

KILLING TIME UNTIL MONDAY

2012-01-28T14:34:00.002-06:00

The past week has felt like we have been twiddling our thumbs while time goes slower and sloooower. Monday is the big day when we hear if/where/when and basically everything that will decide the next six years of our lives. EEK. So we tried to busy ourselves out of the house so we wouldn't go crazy. We tried to do a little eagle watching (did you know that the Alton area is one of the most famous places in the world to spot bald eagles in the wild?) but there weren't many out and about. We drove down the Mississippi river and looked for them nesting on the bluffs. We saw three for sure but we weren't in the right spot to pull over to view them. But no worries! The Alton visitors center has a real bald eagle that you can visit on Saturdays in January. So we made our way there and hung out for a few minutes. We learned a few fun facts! Want to hear them? I knew you would! Bald eagles aren't endangered anymore (except for in a few states), if you want to know what it feels like to have a bald eagle land on your arm just hold a gallon of milk straight out to your side, they like to eat rabbits and deer meat, AND they don't get the white head and tail until they are about four years old. Don't you feel smarter?

It didn't kill nearly as much time as we hoped, Monday still feels forever away.

Finley liked the real bald eagle but not the fake stuffed one out front.

BABY QUILT SNEAK PEAK

2012-01-20T16:01:00.001-06:00

Here is sneak peak of the Baby Dos quilt. I meant to stay away from pink this time but I couldn't help myself. I'm kind of in love with the fabric. Way more than I was with Finley's. Which is a bummer - her sister's quilt is going to be sooo much better. Don't tell. Although when then they are old enough to appreciate quilts it will be pretty evident. I've made a lot of quilts in my day but not many baby quilts. For some reason down sizing them confuses me - style wise. This is going to have a very thin layer of batting and it will have a minky backing (I'm kind of nervous to work with minky). Finley's quilt is nice but it's not snuggly. And I'll be machine quilting this instead of hand tying it so that it can withstand multiple washings (a must for a baby blanket). Also, I made Finley's way too big. She still doesn't really use it much. I want this quilt to work as a baby blanket and then a lap blanket as they get older. My mom made us quilts when we were about in middle school with leftover fabric scraps from items she had made us as kids and I love that idea. So I figure I'll make them another larger blanket later on.

Soooo that was my rambling about baby blankets. Fascinating I know! Have a good weekend. I know were I'll be late into the night - at my sewing station away from little jam hands watching/listening to old episodes of Friends.

"SUMMER BREEZE" MAKES ME FEEL FINE

2012-01-15T08:27:00.000-06:00

This past week it's been unseasonably warm. Nice enough for us to spend some time outdoors without having to pile on the layers. So we've taken to going on lots of walks and playing in the yard as much as possible so we can soak up these days before the inevitable big chill sets in until April. A time at which I will no longer be as much fun playing outdoors since I'll be waddling around. It's so weird to think that Finley only has a few more months of being an only child. She won't even have any memories of this time! I know her life is about to be turned upside down - a lot of big changes are coming for her little world and I'm already feeling guilty about it. Maybe that explains why I let her eat way too many conversation hearts yesterday. "Sure Tooty Buns, help yourself. You're about to hate me real soon."

*Is Tooty Buns a weird nickname to call your child? It one of our favs around here.

But I'm also really excited for her to have a sister. Like REALLY excited. But having two girls exactly two years apart is going to be quite the adventure. Those teenage years are going to be a doozy.

And it was short lived because the very next day it turned into this...

*Don't worry we were making a fashion statement with buttoning our coat one off... or sometimes some battles are better not fought at all.

AND BRAD IS OFFICIALLY OUTNUMBERED AGAIN

2012-01-12T12:05:00.000-06:00

There is going to be a lot of females in our house! Another GIRL is on her way. We were lucky that at the last minute Brad was able to come along, so I didn't have to wait all day to find out. Baby Dos was very cooperative and the tech said she doesn't normally like to say she's 100% sure but this one was as close as it gets. The only time Dos didn't want to play along is when she tried to get a profile picture, she wouldn't stay still long enough to get a very clear picture at that point. The tech was trying to do it at the very end so I think Dos had had enough of being poked and moved around. Everything appeared fine and she looked healthy. And we are very excited. I didn't tell Brad but as soon as I went into the ultrasound I knew for sure that it was a girl. It was that moment of confirmation I had been waiting for - too bad it was about three minutes before they made it official. Oh well, it was fun to be surprised. And not only do we already have about 95% of the things we need I have all the clothes we could possibly need even for the right seasons. Hooray! Although that won't stop me from picking up a few more newborn items - they are too cute.

I promise this was not a set up. I was trying to get Finley to hold the picture facing me but as soon as I handed it to her she set it down and gave the picture a kiss. Okay I might have set it up a little because as I handed it to her I told her it was a special picture of her baby sister - and usually she gives her toy babies lots of kisses. But I'm taking the love and excitement where I can get it!

And here I am today at 19 weeks. A stranger at the grocery store actually asked me when I was due - so it's official, I must look pregnant.

FAUX-LUTIONS

2012-01-10T21:26:00.001-06:00

Remember my problem with "resolutions?" I feel like setting "resolutions" jinxes you to automatically fail at whatever you've set out to do. So these are my initiatives. And since my year is pretty much split up into pre-baby/pre-move and post baby/post move I've set these initiatives for the first six months of the year. I feel like they are all pretty reasonable.

I actually have a much larger list of things to do and make before the baby arrives but I'm trying to set myself up for success. I'm such a cheater.

Also, #9 will be the true test of my will power. I am admittedly THE WORST at keeping track of my phone. I always leave it in the bottom of my purse on silent or in the car or on the opposite side of the house wedged between two of Finley's toys. It's a mystery. I'm just not one of those people addicted to my phone, and seriously sometimes I secretly wish I lived in pre-cell phone days. Sssshhh. Don't tell anyone I said that. I just don't like people thinking they should be able to get a hold of me at all times. Man, did my anti-social tendency just show itself or what? BUT I have come to understand that I have adult responsibilities that require me to occasionally use my cell phone for more than calling my mom and texting Kristin quotes from Felicity. Stupid adulthood.

FOUR DAYS

2012-01-08T20:22:00.000-06:00

...until the big gender reveal! Anyone care to venture a guess?

(Since no post is complete without a picture I've included this one of Finley's awesome post nap bedhead from yesterday - I'm just grateful she has enough hair for that to happen.)

Hopefully this baby will be a bit more cooperative with the ultrasound technician. If you recall Finley did her best to curl her legs up and would not budge. So we had to wait until I was 23 weeks before we found out for sure. So fingers crossed by Thursday night we'll know! Brad and I keep going back and forth but lately I've been thinking boy and he's been thinking girl. One thing is for sure, this baby is way more mellow than Finley. I was reading my journal the other day and it talked about how much movement I felt all day long at this point in the pregnancy, but Baby Dos just gives me gentle nudges maybe twice a day. And at my last appointment the baby stayed perfectly still for my OB to get his/her heart rate, but with Finley at nearly every appointment the doc would have to chase her around my belly to get an accurate reading. People say not to compare your kids and look at me doing it already! Oh well. It's inevitable, right? (Please someone tell me I'm right.) Brad won't be able to be there because he already had a patient scheduled for the same time as my appointment so I'll be going it alone. BUT I'm not going to look during that part and I'm going to have the tech right it down in a sealed envelope and we are going to look at it together over dinner that night. Brad's lucky I don't like to ruin surprises.

In other big news, this week is our deadline to submit our rank order list for the residencies we would like to attend. It has been stresssssssssful! We are deciding how to rank seven totally different programs and places (ie: Wisconsin versus Texas) which will also dictate where we spend at least the next six years of our lives. How it works is we submit our rankings, then the programs submit the candidates that they have chosen. The highest ranked place that we've chosen that also chooses us will be where we HAVE to go. There's no decisions after this point unless we decided to not do a residency at all, which really isn't an option for us at this point. So this rank order list is kind of a big deal. It's a big week at the Carn household!

We'll find out if we get in and where on January 30th. Oh the agony of waiting! Wish us luck!

CURRENTLY LISTENING

2012-01-07T09:12:00.000-06:00

I noticed a few years ago that I tend to listen to more male singers than female. I'm sure there's some scientific explanation but I'm too lazy to actually look it up. My 17 years of education is sad about that fact, but what can you do? Anyway, I digress. The point is lately I've noticed that the songs I've been loving are all female singers. I think it's just a nice time for the female singer/songwriter, they seem to be all over the place. So these are my latest favorites that top my current playlist - none of these are extremely new, but newish to me within the last six months. Enjoy!

Rachel Platten - 1,000 Ships

Kina Grannis - In Your Arms

(Dude - the video is amazing. The background was done entirely in jellybeans. That is some tedious work.)

Christina Perri - Arms

Ella Mae Bowen - Holding Out For Hero

(Yes this is from the new Footloose movie, don't judge. Some people love it some people think it's sacrilege, but I secretly thought the movie in general was kind of fun in an awesomely bad way.)

Mindy Gledhill - California
(Thanks to K for getting me hooked on this one while we were in - ta da - California.)

Plug In Stereo - Oh Darling

(This last one is cheating since it's actually a male/female duet, but it's the girl who makes the song)

CHRISTMAS 2011

2012-01-05T23:23:00.001-06:00

We spent Christmas at East Canyon in the Utah mountains with my side of the family this year. It was a lot of fun to be away and surrounded by the mountain snow, which was apparently hard to come by this year. We spent a lazy week eating, eating, and more eating, oh and watching movies, doing puzzles, and playing some games.

It was fun to have Finley a little more interested and engaged in Christmas morning. The very first thing she saw when she came down stairs was a doll that Santa had put in her stocking and she flashed a huge grin, exclaimed "baby!", and hugged the doll like it was all she ever wanted (even though she already has about four other babies). It was such a cute moment. With us helping she unwrapped her giant heap of presents - it was a little embarrassing how much she was spoiled this year - and continued to be very possessive of her new toys for the rest of the trip. It was more fun than last Christmas where she was done after 30 minutes. Considering we'll be a family of four next Christmas we are considering doing it on our own. Which seems so strange. We hardly ever traveled for Christmas growing up but it seems too grown up to have my own family for the holiday. We'll probably change our tune once we come to next fall. But who knows, we could be living very far away from any family next year. It may be the only realistic option.

WARNING: The following is what you call "picture overload" of Finley frolicking in the snow. Humor me. We are wired to think she's the cutest little snow bunny ever - even if she is wearing a snow suit to make her look like she should be hitting the slopes circa 1992 with gloves and boots two sizes too big. All we're missing is the huge sweatband and puffy bangs.

Ignore me in this picture - not the best - but Brad and Finley look so cute. This was our Christmas day venture out of the house to wear off the candy for breakfast overload.

We also took two trips to temple square while we were there to see the lights. Which is a miracle considering I think I saw the temple square lights once the entire six years I lived there. It's always nice to see the Salt Lake temple considering Brad and I got married there almost five years ago! Eeek!

And did I mention that it was supposedly "balmy," while we were there. AKA Finley and I were freezing our bums off in many layers while Brad wore one hooded sweatshirt and was fine.

This is random shot of Finley looking at her teeth in the mirror. She loves pointing to her teeth and saying "teeeeee." Yep, she has a dental school dad.

This is Finley doing her new favorite thing - smoosh face. She grabs your face and turns it to the side then smooshes her cheek against yours. Usually she does it right before bed time, I'm sure she's just trying to be extra adorable to delay bedtime by a few minutes. This also shows her Christmas pjs. They made her look like such a toddler. I can't believe she's on her way to being a two year old. Think of this - next Christmas Finley will be 2.5 and we'll have an additional 6 month old crawling around. ACK!

PS - We took the majority of the pictures with my sister's camera - and go figure I forgot to get a copy before we parted ways. So you may see a follow up post with more pictures. Get excited!

UH OH!

2012-01-04T16:01:00.000-06:00

We survived the 21 hour drive (twice).
Our bags are unpacked.
The house is "clean" (as long as you don't count laundry).
And my morning sickness is almost gone (fingers crossed).
It's time to get back to my regularly scheduled blogging.
Coming soon... just a few more hours of dilly-dallying.

*** Don't worry those are "veggie" chips. Even though they aren't that much healthier (go figure) I've convinced myself they are fine for Finley to eat by the fistful. Straight from the bag. I know, I know. Bad mom award.

15 WEEKS - BABY DOS

2011-12-13T16:32:00.001-06:00

My belly is about as big as it was at 20 weeks with Finley. But luckily I seem to be carrying a little higher so I still fit into my regular pants. Thank goodness. Maternity pants are not the best.

At my last appointment the baby's heartbeat was 155, which if you believe the old wives tale means we are having a girl. But that myth has been widely disputed. In fact it was based on Brad's heartbeat that his mother's doctor convinced her Brad was a girl until his birth. So we'll have to wait until January 12th before we can find out the baby's gender for sure. Any guesses? Brad and I are both stumped - we have zero premonitions.

And can I say how fantastic the first half have this pregnancy has been compared to Finley? Want to know the difference? DRUGS. No seriously. Anti-nausea medication was a gift from above. Now I can eat more than crackers, cheeseburgers, and Shells and Cheese. My nausea actually felt way worse this time around but at least I wasn't stuck sitting at a desk. I just felt awful after weeks of laying on the couch while I replayed Elmo's World for Finley until about 11AM when I could actually function. She was definitely getting the short end of the stick mothering wise and it wasn't fair to her. And let's face it. The thought of feeling like crap for two more months sent me into hysterics. So at my first appointment I asked for something that could help and before I could even finish the question the NP was ordering a prescription for me on her Ipad. Ever since that day I've felt close to human again! Which is delightful. I'd actually forgotten what it felt like to not want to throw up all the time. My appetite is still all messed up but at least I can eat a wide variety of non-processed foods! Hurray! As my brother-in-law once said, "There is no medal for toughing through morning sickness without drugs." Awwww. I feel like I should cross stitch that on a pillow.

CALI CALI CALI

2011-12-09T08:31:00.000-06:00

And our last and final stop on the Fall US Tour 2011 is California. Even though I was in week two of pregnancy nausea and felt like I wanted to crawl into a bathroom and die I still have very fond memories. I just wish Finley had been old enough to have some of those memories for herself. The entire reason we went to California in the first place (other than - HELLO - it's California) was because my amazing friend Jenny (younger sis of the oft sited Kristin) got married. This was hugely exciting and so fun since the reception took place on Balboa Island (also known as "Heaven").

Jenny and Taylor sitting in a tree... the almost newlyweds.

Boat ride around the harbor. I'm so happy we sat at the front of the boat with the screen - otherwise Finley would have been in that water so fast.

Brooke (older sister to Jenny and Kristin) and her daughter Lily. Finley was not so lap compliant.

Finley entertained herself with the life jackets and as usual believed she was the center of attention and tried playing peek-a-boo with everyone else.

These pictures were from the temple grounds during the wedding. The girls watching the kids outside made sure to mention afterwards that Finley is the most energetic child and didn't sit still for a second. Surprise. Surprise.

Getting some loves from Audrey - Kristin's niece. They all call Kristin "Aunt K" and we tried all week to get Finley to say it too but she was not game. I'll keep working on it though, it's so cute.

You can tell Audrey and Ryan have their own little brother at home, they were so sweet and kind to Finley.

Finley and Drue are three days a part in age. But Finley definitely has the only child syndrome. She's not what you would call "a good sharer" or good natured about rough play.

LOVE this picture. Right after this a temple worker walked out and sad, "She's on the right path, just a little early." So cute.

And here is the blushing bride! I tried my best not to be annoying to the real photographer so I didn't manage to get one with her and her husband.

One of my favorite moments from the whole experience was when Kristin's uncles played and sang a variety of songs with their guitars and ukeleles. It was so awesome and Finley was entranced.

This is just outside the house where the reception was held. Finley and Lily were constantly trying to devise an escape route.

These were my thoughts exactly. After spending a week chasing Finley whilst feeling like I had been drug through the desert by my toenails all I wanted was to hug someone and pout.

INDIANA

2011-12-07T08:01:00.000-06:00

And our tour of the United States continues... when my mom was in town we went to Indiana to visit my brother's family. He has two boys full of the type of energy that you wish you could bottle for adult consumption. They make it very obvious that there is a distinct difference between raising boys and girls. If Baby Dos (that's what we are calling the little one that's currently cookin') ends up being a boy it will definitely be a shock to the system. Anyway, we had a blast in Indiana. And since Brad wasn't with us we got to go to Cracker Barrel! Hooray! He has some strong opinion against the place - I swear if I knew that before we got married it might have a been a deal breaker. Who doesn't love rocking chairs and southern breakfast served all day?! Don't get me started. So we ate at The Barrel, did some shopping, and hung out at my brother's house. A short but sweet trip.

Here is my brother throwing Finley up in the air. One of her very favorite things that her own daddy does.

Finley enjoying the fine seating at The Barrel.

Finley and Ryan sharing a seat.

We also enjoyed a nice fall day at the park. Finley is still obsessed with slides but I'm a bit overprotective so I if they can accommodate me I usually slide down with her. It was a good thing I did because this was the Space Mountain of slides. It took me by surprise but as you can tell Finley loved every second. The little daredevil.

Finley and Iain playing high five on the swings. Finley thought it was hilarious when he would high five her face. Whatever.

Alex and Finley enjoyed some swim time at our hotel. Finley LOVES water. So she truly is my child. YES. She still tries to push away from us because I'm pretty sure she thinks she can swim. Note to self - really need to get the munchkin in swim lessons.

And that concludes our tour of the midwest. Next stop California!

CHICAGO

2011-12-06T10:06:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I visited my friend Ashley in Chicago for the day. She lives just down the street from the shore of Lake Michigan so we took our three kids down to get as sandy as possible. I wasn't sure what Finley would do but she seemed to love it. At first she laid down on the beach towels and just rolled around. Then she discovered that copying Parker and Lincoln was a lot more fun, so she got to digging.

A moment of cooperation, but of course not looking at the camera. I think Ashley managed to get a picture of all three looking in our direction.

It was so unseasonably warm, honestly we couldn't have ordered a nicer day. There were tons of people out on the water - which even on the nicest of days is still pretty freezing.

Her second favorite thing to do was run away from me - do all children run away from their mother like Finley? I swear sometimes it's like she doesn't like me very much.

This was taken moment before she walked straight into the water and then a mini wave knocked her down. She was not too pleased but luckily it was warm enough for me to strip her down to her diaper.

This is her sandy face after I had cleaned her up - she was pretty much covered head to toe. But getting in a warm car while you are covered in sand and falling asleep on the drive back home is part of childhood, right?

You can also see Ashley's post - her's was a bit more timely than mine. Showoff.

LAST DAYS OF SUMMER

2011-12-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

I'm still catching up on all the posts I've been meaning to do... I'm the worst. These pictures were taken back in September, but they so perfectly capture the last moments of summer that I couldn't resist posting them. I always feel nostalgic for summer on December days when snow is forecast for later in the day. But in the dead of summer I'm always nostalgic for December snow days. It's funny how it switches like that, huh? We took these in my in-law's back yard right at sun set. The adults were standing around talking and the kids were running around and riding their bikes. Does it get more quintessentially suburban than that? If only we'd have the BBQ going.

THANKFUL

2011-11-28T08:59:00.001-06:00

... for family. Speaking of which. Ours will be getting about 7 pounds bigger early June 2012. Exactly two years after the last time our little family got 7.6 pounds bigger. It's going to be an adventure - to use the most optimistic word possible - between a new tiny human, graduation, and the big move (wherever that may be). Right now our mantra is "it will all work out."

Finley was not really into the whole ultrasound experience. But afterwards I thought she might be interested in looking at the picture they printed out for us. So I showed her this first picture and said in my most motherly voice, "Finley, this is your new brother or sister. He or she will be your best friend!" And the look on her face was classic. Total disgust.

This is gonna be fun.

NAUVOO

2011-11-15T11:35:00.001-06:00

Like I said a few posts ago, my mom came to visit in early October and we took a trip to Nauvoo and then to Indiana. And because I'm horrible at narrowing down pictures you get to see way too many from both places in two separate posts. Huzzah! So first up is Nauvoo. We were a bit off season so it almost felt like we had the place to ourselves. We had a great time and Finley did surprising well. She was a little difficult to contain in the old houses with priceless 200 year old antiques but that's what a strong choke hold is for. Just kidding! Mostly I took her outside once she got out of hand. The weather was amazing so I was more than happy to let her run around and wear herself out for a good nap. Girlfriend has energy, but she is usually a good sleeper. Thank goodness.

Brad convinced us to take the scenic route which was supposed to make our trip just 10 minutes longer. WRONG. It delayed us almost an hour. Country roads are all fine and good when they don't go on for two hours and you don't have an unhappy toddler. Although I begrudgingly admit it was pretty. Whatever.

We ate breakfast right across from our hotel and it was fantastic. An all you can eat buffet... but the good kind. They didn't even ration the bacon! Finley discovered that she kind of likes french toast, really likes Frosted Flakes, and LOVES taking off her clothes in inappropriate places. This trend has not stopped since the trip.

The above and below pictures show what nerdy tourists we are... but at least we embrace it!

This is Finley's "chillin" pose. Or maybe it's her "full" pose. She had just eaten three gingerbread cookies from the bakery.

I'm telling you. The weather and the leaves were gorgeous. Usually you don't think Nauvoo and beautiful weather but if I could bottle that day I would live that temperature forever. Or I could just move to southern California. Hmmm. They might be on to something over there.

Alex was the Brad stand in for this picture. As you might recall in one of my very first posts I have a picture of Brad doing this is exact some pose in the exact same spot about two months after we got married. Finley didn't really pick up on the sentimentality of it all.

One of our classic "we'll just wait outside" moments.

Another classic shot that pretty much sums up my time while we toured the homes.

Alex and I are third generation granddaughter and Finley is a fourth generation granddaughter of Brigham Young. We couldn't miss the money shot!

Alex was really helpful in helping me corral when needed. Which was often.

The second day we were there my mom and I did a session at the temple while Alex watched Finley. It was an awesome experience, and it is even more beautiful on the inside than I imagined. As we were leaving one of the temple workers offered to allow us see the baptismal font and some historical artifacts from the original temple. It was really interesting, and not the usual experience. I'm sure when the temple is really busy they don't always offer that to every attendee so we counted ourselves very lucky!

On our drive home we stopped at Carthage Jail. And again I'm glad there was plenty of room for her to run because she didn't quite seem to get the historical or spiritual significance. Go figure.

Next stop - Indiana!

TWO HALLOWEENS

2011-11-11T20:38:00.001-06:00

Only the luckiest girl in the world would get to have TWO Halloweens. One in California and one in Utah. I'm pretty sure she had no idea what was going on when we were in California. Balboa had a street party for all the kids and a few stores gave out candy and popcorn. They also had a live band where the kids could dance. I was a little weary of her getting lost in the crowd so she only did a little bit of dancing but she did manage to eat the Kit-Kat I handed her including half the wrapper. Oh well. Hopefully their won't be any long lasting affects.

If you can't tell, she was a cowgirl for Halloween. I was seriously lacking in the creativity department this year and kind of went with this idea by default. I'm crossing my fingers I still have next year to decide for her.

And this was her night of Tick-or-Treating in Utah. She didn't know what was going on at first but after she got to knock on the first door that's all the she cared about. She wasn't really even interested in the candy, she just wanted to go up to every possible door and keep knocking. At each new door she would knock and then shake with laughter and anticipation waiting for them to open the door. It was so much fun.

When we brought her back to my mom's house she was none too pleased - as you can tell.

GO COUGS

2011-11-08T14:49:00.003-06:00

We've had quite a busy life the past month. We went to Naperville for two days so Brad could take a test, then my mom came to visit and then we went to Utah to then drive to California for Jenny's wedding and then back to Utah to visit my mom again (don't worry I'll explain in the next few blog posts, it hurts my brain too). It's been a lot of traveling with a tiny person. I think I've definitely had enough of roaming the country with someone who doesn't sleep or eat well when their schedule is thrown off, oh and Finley was difficult too. Just kidding! Seriously, she stopped sleeping through the night and wouldn't eat oatmeal for breakfast. What is that about!? She's been eating oatmeal for breakfast every day for six months! Wait. Maybe THAT'S why she won't eat it anymore. Hmmm. Things to consider. Anyway, so I thought I'd post these pictures of Finley when she just happened to be wearing a BYU shirt and call this a post of about how much we love our alma mater, instead of a post about why I've been a lame blogger as of late. But it is actually true that we love BYU around these parts. If it weren't for BYU Brad and I wouldn't have met and there would be no Finners. So GO COUGS! Making families happen since 1875.

FIRST HAIRCUT

2011-10-20T21:11:00.001-05:00

The only way we could get the chicken to stand still long enough for a few snips off the ole mullet was to give her a lotion pump so she could make a huge mess. It actually worked. And I was actually able to make her hair look decent. Now we just need the bald patches to fill in and we are in business. Yeah I just read that last bit and I see it too. Oh the vanity... with a pinch of shallowness.

URBAN

2011-10-16T22:03:00.002-05:00

We went on a walk the other day and took a different route than normal and came across an old parking lot. I couldn't resist getting my urban photo shoot on since Finley was wearing her "tough" jean jacket... please excuse the next million pictures documenting Finley kicking trash and taking names OR possibly just running away from me as fast as possible and throwing rocks. That reminds me - should I be teaching her to NOT throw rocks at this point?

Here's an action shot. But usually she drops the rock behind her before she gets any forward motion.

This is actually taken by our garage. But it's a perfect example and what 99% of my pictures look like these days. Girlfriend thinks she is too cool for school and doesn't need her picture taken anymore. Sad days for me.

QUILT

2011-10-04T14:35:00.001-05:00

I'm a little bit obsessed with going to thrift stores. I'm a browsing type of shopper so thrift stores are like the best type of challenge when it comes to spending lots of time looking through A LOT of crap. But it's so much fun when you find something amazing that costs so little. I also love thinking about the lives these things were all a part of, why did some one have this crazy sweater in their closet? Or on who's wall did this awful picture hang? I just really enjoy the entire thrifting experience.

My most recent purchase that I'm utterly in love with, that I've hunted years for is this vintage quilt. I spotted it across the store and almost couldn't contain myself from running over to make sure it wasn't a mirage.

It's king size and appears that it was originally hand quilted some time in the 60s and then machine sewn sometime after. After some internet research I've discovered that the fabrics date from the 30s to the 60s, which was hard to confirm. Turns out researching fabric is not that easy.

I love that it is truly a scrap quilt of left-over fabric. Some fabrics are repeated several times and some are only shown once. It makes me wonder what other projects were these fabrics a part of? Is someone still wearing something that one of these fabrics made?

Here are a few of my favorite pieces:

I'm actually in the middle of sewing a quilt for our bed, but now I don't feel as rushed since even Brad commented, "I really like this quilt. Good find." Totally worth the $4.00 price tag.

Sidenote - It may seem gross to buy someone else's bedding, but there are few ways you can ensure your (mental) health. I did a visual check at the store to make sure there weren't any mystery stains. Then as soon as I got home I stuck it in the washer and washed it twice on the hottest temperature possible. From here I would normally line dry a quilt but better safe than sorry, so I put the quilt in the dryer for 90 minutes. From what I've read that process would kill anything potentially harmful, and makes it all a lot less gross. The process was a little hard on the quilt but I was able to easily sew up the few seams that ripped.

CURRENTLY LISTENING

2011-09-30T10:08:00.000-05:00

These crazy kids won a cover contest on Perez Hilton's blog, aaaaaand it's incredible. Seriously. I don't like people messing with my Adele, but after hearing this I bow down. This just makes me more confused as to why some people are famous singers and other are not. The whole process is so wacky.

Warning: their emoting is a bit dorky for such a tight shot so just close your eyes.

CURSE YOU ELMO

2011-09-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

So Elmo is totally a Rock Star in the baby world, right? If Finley hears "La La La La, La La La La, Elmo's World..." She'll stop whatever she's doing and sit still. Like as in, sit of her own volition and stop moving for an entire twenty minutes. It's remarkable. I don't know what sort of voodoo witchcraft went in to developing him but he puts Finley into a trance. She'll dance and laugh, but she is totally in the Elmo zone. For the record my mom says I was never interested in Sesame Street, but oddly enough I liked Mr. Roger's, I'm not sure what that says about me. Anyway, the reason I curse Elmo's name is that his theme song gets stuck in your head like none other. It's like that scene in How I Met Your Mother when Marshall's car only plays that I Would Walk 5,000 Miles song.

And now so you can have both of these song in your head head for the rest of eternity like me, enjoy:

TEN FAVS

2011-09-27T16:01:00.001-05:00

Ever since I saw this post on Cup of Jo I really wanted to document Finley's ten favorite toys. I think it would be a fantastic thing to do yearly as another way to show progression. If I had done this post the same time last year these pictures would have been slightly different. She is just now becoming truly picky on what she'll play with, except of course if it's something Brad and I are holding. Then it doesn't matter what it is, she inevitably wants it immediately. Like it's a life or death situation and the world will end if she doesn't have it now. But other that that fun trait she does have some favorites that she goes back to every day.

1. Piglet: She has a love/hate relationship with Piglet because she knows it's bed time or nap time when I pick up Piglet for her to snuggle. She'll push him away in protest then change her mind and want him back right away for comfort.

2. B Book: This was one of my favorite books as a kid because I thought it was written for me (B is for Bridget, right?). So when I saw this at DI I couldn't say no to the 25cent price tag and it has more than paid for itself. I encourage her to pick out a book before bed and she has picked this one every night for the past week, plus today she randomly went and got it out of her room to read.

3. Tape recorder: She found this in a box in our closet last week. It's from my days as a sports reporter for the Daily Universe (that's right, I'm fancy, be impressed). She loves pushing the buttons, I guess because they are a little more of a challenge than cell phones and remotes.

4. Mrs. Tea Pot: This is the perfect trifecta of opening/closing, singing, and buttons. My favorite part is that randomly Mrs. Tea Pot sings one of the songs in a fake British accent. And I'm guessing I'm A Little Tea Pot was too expensive because she doesn't have it in her repertoire. What kind of Tea Pot are you?!

5. Candlesticks: This one is weird. But for some reason she LOVES these. It was one of those items we left on the lower shelves because they aren't breakable. You can see the paint chipping from when she has thrown them down the hall. She's not much of a thrower but for some reason these are just the right weight and size for her liking. I've just resolved to call them artfully distressed, I totally meant for them to be chipped.

6. Containers with Lids: She really enjoys taking lids off and on, and these two pose a special challenge. The Butt Paste is too big for her to unscrew and the Mouth Wash has a safety lid. Both are empty so if she ever manages to get them opened I'm not too concerned. But for now they are like baby rubik's cubes. (NOTE: Right after I wrote this I turned around and she had finally managed to open the Butt Paste for the first time. I guess there was still a tiny bit left in the bottom because it was smeared on her pants. Fun.)

7. Keys: She doesn't go for the fake kind so we let her carry the spare set around the house. We have old fashion doors where every door nob has a key hole below it and they are only about two and half feet off the ground. She loves trying to "unlock" closed doors with these keys. The other day she stood in the hallway trying to unlock the bathroom for about twenty minutes laughing the whole time. I really think she thought she had foiled our plans to keep her from playing in the toilet.

8. Shoes: One of her recent favorite games is getting one shoe at a time out of her room and bringing it to me to help her put them on. Then she'll take that shoe off and proceed to the next shoe. Once she finds a shoe she likes she wears that one shoe on the one foot around the house for the rest of the day.

9. Hair bands: These are her bracelets. If she ever sees one on my wrist she wants it to be on her wrist immediately. I'm pretty sure I've lost hundreds of these out and about over the last few months.

10. Tire Gauge: I know what you're thinking. How did she even discover that she liked this as a toy. Well the problem is she LOVES pens but she can open and unclick every version of a pen. Usually she isn't fooled by imposters but this was an acceptable substitute for a pen. The gauge reading pulls out and and it has a clip - all sorts of fun! She's allowed to play with this until she starts beating the coffee table with it like a drum stick. Not only does that leave nasty marks it's really loud.

So that concludes the toy tour! She also has some favorite big toys but I didn't count those in the collection (toy shopping cart, kitchen chairs, the printer). Hopefully I remember to do this in the future. It was fun whittling down her toy collection to her favorites. I guess we have boxes of toys to get rid of now!

HOLDING OUR BREATH

2011-09-22T21:37:00.000-05:00

It has been a wee bit crazy in our house the last few months. We aren't totally out of the woods but we have crossed the biggest hurdle. We finally have all our applications in for the various residency programs that we are applying to, 23 to be exact. It was an excruciating process, they truly make it much harder than needed, but I went to work full time as Brad's executive secretary and I figured everything out. So if anyone needs to hire a personal assistant to help them apply to school I'm here for you. I'm available 11:00am - 2:00pm and in the evenings after 8:00pm (aka when Finley is asleep - let's just say that she amounted to negative work completed every time I attempted to get things accomplished while she was awake). Now comes the hard part, waiting to hear which schools would like to interview him. He already has two interviews but we are crossing our fingers for at least a few more. After the interview process is over at the end of December selections will be made around mid January. We rank our schools from least to worst and then the highest choice on our list that picks Brad will be the winner. We will be committed to that program and that is where we will be moving next summer. It's a lot to take - but we've been preparing for this for a long time. I'm more anxious than anything to just know where we will be a year from now. Each program only takes 1-3 residents so this is quite the rat race. But we feel like Brad has done everything possible to make himself a very attractive candidate. We keep saying that if we don't get in, then it just wasn't meant to be.

So if we seem a little on edge it's that our life is about to change dramatically and we aren't sure how or in what way. Isn't that what they call the "spice of life?" Either way it seems we will pretty much be holding our breath until mid-January. Yeesh!

ANATOMY OF AN OUTFIT

2011-09-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

Just another regular morning around these parts. Finley getting into everything and attempting to somehow put it on. Just be grateful I didn't post the one of her with four pairs of my underwear around her neck.

PS - I secretly think it's adorable when you see toddlers out in public clearly having won the outfit battle that day. You know, the ones wearing a swim suit, rain boots, and a feather boa. I just nod my head and think, "Rock on kid. Rock on."

BAG O TRICKS

2011-09-15T20:11:00.000-05:00

The stars aligned and Finley was in an especially cooperative mood so we grabbed the camera as quickly as possible so we could catch up on documenting all of her "tricks." We are really bad about taking video so it's amazing that she was being so agreeable.

It's a bit long, but I'm too lazy to edit it. So here are the cliff notes, watch for:

- High five

- Clapping

- Blowing a kiss

- Doing a Native American chant

- Waving

- Saying "bye" and "slide"

- Walking (she's been walking for almost 7 weeks but we hadn't documented it yet, oops)

- Doing her fake laugh

- Pointing to her teeth

- Trying to jump

- Doing her shoulder dance

- Being extra cute in just her diaper (we usually strip her down for dinner)

One last note. Focus on Finley and not me - I look a hot mess, and is that really what I sound like? Yikes.

THE HELP

2011-09-13T10:41:00.001-05:00

Girlfriend loves the broom. No complaints here! Now I can FINALLY get back to eating bon bons and watching my stories. You know, fulfilling what Brad thinks I do all day anyway.

10 YEARS

2011-09-11T16:58:00.000-05:00

Ten years ago today I made the following entry in my journal:

"They are saying that this day will live in infamy, just like Pearl Harbor. It's hard to think of it in those terms but with everything that's happened today it must be true."

(Justin Lane/Pool/AP Photo)

I was a freshman at BYU just a few months out of high school and living on my own for the first time. That morning I had Mass Communications 101 with my roommate Sage. We were walking to our 8AM class up the long hill onto campus from Helaman Halls when we started overhearing people say, "A plane hit the twin towers." And from there the comments we overheard kept getting stranger, "The White house is on fire!" We couldn't make sense of it, in fact I remember thinking that this must be some kind of prank. I was able to process the thought of a plane accidentally hitting a building, but I couldn't begin to understand a terrorist attack. Or what that would mean. We arrived at our class where our teacher tried to connect our state of the art classroom up to a television feed, but couldn't get it to work. Welcome to higher education. Wasn't this supposed to be a class on mass communication? Eventually our professor started asking everyone to volunteer the general information they had heard. She started writing each comment on the board, each more awful than the last. Most of the rumors ended up not being true. That just goes to show the confusion every was experiencing at the time. After about fifteen minutes we were dismissed to go find the closest television possible. We heard that the Wilkinson Center had televisions on but we happened to be one of the few people with a TV in our room. We thought our roommates might still be asleep so we rushed back to the dorms and started watching CNN just in time to watch the first tower fall. From there the day is a blur but it wasn't until the special devotional that President Bateman held that I first cried. I don't remember much of what he said, except that they were words of comfort, but at the end he asked everyone to sing Come Come Ye Saints. And to this day I still can't sing the phrase, "And should we die before our journey's through, Happy day! All is well!" without remembering the Marriott Center filled with all those students overcome with so many emotions.

I don't personally know anyone who died. But thinking how some one who did lose a loved one on 9/11 must feel, then multiply that by 3,000 plus all the resulting military deaths and injuries and it becomes truly overwhelming. There is no other way to express it but to say it's tragic.

One of the saddest aspects for me is that a day will come when I'll have to explain 9/11 to Finley. She'll live quite a few years before she even knows terrorism exists and then she'll learn that evil things can happen. Even in our country. I'm not looking forward to that day. It used to be hard to think that a Pearl Harbor could happen in my lifetime, but not anymore. 9/11 does live in infamy, it's a day I'll never forget.

AUGUST IS DEPRESSING

2011-09-08T07:30:00.000-05:00

So August is kind of awful, right? It's hot. Summer is winding down. Everything is brownish. Summer movies are over. School starts again (although that might be a plus for those parents). The new season of Parks and Rec STILL hasn't started. See!? It's lame. So in honor of this white-washed, no-fun time of year we did a whole lot of nothing. In fact I took basically no pictures other than the first part of the month when I was still in Utah. So in order to stop my reoccurring dream where I drown in blog posts I should be doing, I'm going to do a catch-all and recap August all in one post and pretend like this month never happened.

I don't know about your family but we traditionally water our plants in pjs. What's that you say? This looks to be about 11AM and Finley was still not dressed? Yeah yeah yeah. We were on vacation, some days it's just not worth spoiling the mood.

Finley's cousin Avery had a birthday party while we were there. So we got to join in on all the bubblicious fun. They had a kiddy size pool filled with bubble soap and I think almost every kid tasted it but only two fell in. That's pretty impressive! I didn't get any pictures of the decor but Angie had it decorated so adorable. Yummy food, good company, and fun for the kids. You can't ask for much more.

I did a lot of sewing while I was at my moms. She actually has a sewing room easily accessible while Finley took naps. As you can see I didn't get much done while the wee one was awake - she's a little too helpful.

Bath time at grandmas! My mom has a west facing window right above her bath and every night I would admire how great the lighting was. So the last night we were there I made sure to get some pictures of Finley.

And this was in the Denver Airport. I've spent my fair share of layovers there and I have to say it's one of my favorite airports. Is that sad to have a favorite airport? It's just so open and it's a breeze getting through. We had two hours to kill and found a quiet corner to watch a movie and run around without disturbing anyone.

TADA! August is so over! September, you are only slightly more awesome mainly because you are cooler (temp wise), new TV starts up, and trees start to turn all colorful. It's hard being the mediocre opening act for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

ASPEN GROVE TAKE FIVE

2011-09-07T14:00:00.001-05:00

This is my final post on AspenGrove. I swear! We had such a fun week and I would recommend this vacation toanyone. Really. I don't think a better bang for your buck exists. The following is kind of a mishmash ofleftover pictures from the end of the week:

So I totally lied about only having one family portrait from our vacation... this is the third of 3. The one from the pool is still my favorite. But I can not get over that view. I die!

Exhausted!This really sums up the week. Too much fun was had that we almost needed avacation from our vacation.

Garrett's sunglasses.

Ken'sFamily Portrait - GO COUGS!


Ilove those dark eyelashes, Cover Girl needs to bottle that!

Scott and Morgan soaking up summer.

ASPEN GROVE TAKE FOUR - THE POOL

2011-09-06T09:34:00.011-05:00

Having ready access to a pool for a week was fantastic - especially now that Finley can actually somewhat enjoy the water. Once the sun set she would turn a little blue, but before that she usually had some fun. Her favorite thing was to try and push me away from her, as if she could swim on her own. And her second favorite was having Brad throw her up in the air. She would kick her legs mid air which which made it look like she was positioning herself to do a swan dive. It's too bad here in Alton we don't have easy access to a pool otherwise I think we might have a little swim monkey on our hands.

Chris, Angie, Avery, and the new baby staying sorta afloat on a raft.

Bryn, Grandma, Finners, me.

That Avery is such a sweetheart. Look at those cheekies!

ASPEN GROVE TAKE THREE

2011-08-30T21:05:00.018-05:00

This is probably the most beautiful place to do pottery - suspended over a mountain river. It was seriously loud, but seriously beautiful. Too bad I'm THE WORST at pottery. There was plenty of Unchained Melody references (who said we were mature?) but alas I have no natural talent for pottery. I had to re-throw (Is that even the right way to say it? Whatever.) like a gazillion times and what I ended up with was perfectly described by my sister-in-law Brook, "Great. You can have that on your coffee table and put six M&Ms in it." My dreams were crushed! Just kidding, because she was right. I ended up throwing it away before I left Utah. All that remains is the following picture.

One day the adults did a hike to Stewart Falls, which was also the same day as the kids groups. On our path we passed a few of the nieces and nephews yucking it up.

It was one of the hotter days we were there, and we all had to rush back to get to our various art classes. But it was worth the trek, if would have been sad to spend a week in the mountains and not hike at all.

One of my favorite things we did was shoot air rifles. Brad even got a certificate for hitting five of his shots within the size of a quarter.

I did not receive that same certificate.

ASPEN GROVE - TAKE TWO

2011-08-21T17:33:00.023-05:00

Leave it to Brad to try and make his food LOOK gourmet at all times. What a nerd.

This is an example of the mayhem. 34 people in one cabin was quite a lot. We didn't even have room for chairs (notice them stacked up in the corner?). But it was worth it to stay in the family cabin because we honestly had the best view in the place.

One of the days they had a family fun day with a ton of game stations all over the field. This is where the competitive Carn gene came out to play. Seriously, it was out of control.

At one station we had to gather water with cups from this fire hydrant thing spewing water that was presumably pure mountain runoff because it was the coldest thing I've ever experienced. But we were determined to lose limbs if it meant filling our bucket up the most. I told you this was serious business folks.

Carson as Atlas Shrugged.

Should I even admit that at a few stations we let the kids do a fun "practice round" before the adults stepped in and performed the one that counted? Oh the shame.

This is the adults performing the relay that "counted."

In this picture you can kind of see how amazing our view was. We were up on a hill above the camp with an awesome panorama of the mountains.

Morgan and Cassidy hugging it out.

Here is the only family picture we got from the entire 3 weeks we were in Utah, and I don't even like it that much. Oh well. Doesn't it look like those mountains are fake? Yeah, that's how gorgeous it was, so amazing that it looks made up.

ASPEN GROVE

2011-08-19T08:36:00.001-05:00

During our first week in Utah we had a family reunion at Aspen Grove. For those of you that don't know what/where that is - it's awesome. It's a week long family camp up Provo Canyon and it's owned by BYU - which means 98% of everything is run by BYU students. The absolutely best part is that every age under 19 has a group that they attend all day (minus lunch) - but you still feel like you're spending plenty of time with family. The beauty of the kids groups is that the adults can then do a multitude of things or nothing. It's totally their choice. But either way they can enjoy a vacation as well. It's fantastic. Brad and I: swam, did the ropes course, pottery, hiked, water color class, pen making class, volleyball, shuffleboard, badminton, paintball, air rifle, pin pong, ate way too much creamery ice cream. The weakest part was the food but there was always something to make the meal work (hint: chicken fingers stolen from the kids bar makes for a killer chicken salad). They also had plenty of family game activities in the evening and the Carn clan even won a few awards at the end of the week (all together we are mindbogglingly competitive). All in all, it was a great week and we would do it again in a heartbeat.

One of the things we did just as the Carn family was have a talent show, which was mostly for the kids but the grandparents couldn't resist getting in on the fun.

The elder girl cousins did a rendition of "Pants on the ground." Never gets old.

Spencer tried to outdo his "Eye of the Tiger" performance from the previous year... us adults might have put a little too much pressure on him.

Three year old Ella sang a beautiful song for us.

Magician Ethan did some magic.

Logan stole some Diet Coke from his Aunt Brooke.

Cooper entertained Finley in the back of the room. He's such a ham in front of the camera... as Cooper says, "It's how the man do."

Very pregnant Angie looking beautiful.

There are going to be quite few Utah posts coming up. Hope you don't mind. Cause if you do I might have to send my niece after you. All I'm saying is that she has street cred with urban demo. Can't you tell?

DRAPER PARADE

2011-08-17T20:12:00.012-05:00

The first full day we were in Utah we woke up early and headed over to the Draper Parade where Brad's Brother lives. It was actually a decent parade and they tossed buckets of salt water taffy to the kids like it was going out of style. The best part was watching the various beauty queens from the surrounding counties/cities go by on their floats. They were within ear shot as they went by and our nephews kept throwing out one liners, to their credit the beauty queens were all surprising quick witted. It made for a very entertaining morning. My favorite exchange was when Jonah said, "Hmmm. She's maybe a 7 or an 8." Then the Beauty Queen held up ten fingers and mouthed "ten". It was fantastic.

FRANKIE SAYS

2011-08-16T14:29:00.002-05:00

We are still recovering from our Utah vacation. Actually we are still adjusting to a routine where I have to clean and cook again. Staying with mom is nice like that, eating out and lazing about is the norm. My mom would even hang out with Finley before she went to work so I could sleep in a few precious extra minutes. But we are back and life is real again for everyone. Except for Finley who discovered upon our return that her baby carseat is her favorite seat in the house. We had it sitting in our kitchen ready to be put in the basement for storage. Guess not! We call it her throne. Her cousin Avery in Utah has one of those awesome oversize kid chairs and they fought over it nonstop, so I think this is Finley sending me the loud message, "You guys are cheap. Look how much I would love a chair my own size. I would use it all the time and everything." She's very convincing. We are currently on the lookout. Because seeing her eat veggie chips and watching Angelina Ballerina gives me mixed emotions... but add the car seat which shows exactly how much she's grown and I'm over the edge.

SO CAN DANCE - MELANIE PULLS THE UPSET

2011-08-11T13:50:00.005-05:00

Well. Not really. We all saw it coming, right? Not like the time Russell won. That still irks me, it was so rigged. I would choose to totally forget that season if it weren't for Jakob. Oh and my claim to So Can Dance fame, my BFF Ashleigh (reminder: she lived on my hall freshman year at BYU, we are in fact NOT BFF, but she was a lovely lovely person). Anyway - we are here to talk about Melanie. A totally deserving candidate. I like it when the people the producers chose to not shove in your face during auditions (cough-Sasha-cough) stand out and do well. Melanie is awesome and takes a compliment better than any contestant ever on this show. Even if she had a huge ego, you'd never know. I still think she needs to grow out the chia head just a wee bit (dang! that should have been her nickname all along, it was so obvious!).

Let's not talk about Tuesday's episode though. I'm so glad I didn't have to review it, it was terrible. Like the worst of the season, right? Except for the Madmen dance everything else was pretty awful. That was supposed to be the finale? Yikes.

And as per the usual the judges weirdly forgot a few of the best routine from the season:

:

So another season comes to a close and I have to say it went by way way too fast. I like the changes they made this year, having top 20 couples and all stars really works the best. And surprisingly I enjoyed most of the guest judges (minus: Katie Holmes and Carmen Electra).

Here's to hoping Mia and Shankman are back next season, choreographing and judging respectively.

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

2011-08-10T08:26:00.011-05:00

This is my go to recipe for every occasion. I make it about once a week and usually triple the recipe so I can freeze it (just before the cooking stage) for future meals. I've used it for countless guests so I guess I need to find a new meal to serve people because I'm guessing it won't seem as impressive when it looks like it's the only thing I cook (which is partly true). Anyway. I've had a bunch of people ask for the recipe so I'm just posting it here on the blog so everyone can start having it bi-weekly. Enjoy. PS - it's soooo delicious.

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS (originally from Southern Living)

For the Filling:
3 Cups cooked, chopped or shredded chicken
2 Cups shredded pepper jack cheese
1/2 Cups Sour Cream
1 can chopped green chillies, drained
1/3 Cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 can sliced olives

Salsa Verde Sauce:
4 oz. sour cream
4 oz. salsa verde (or green salsa)

8 (8 inch) flour tortillas

Stir filling ingredients together. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over tortillas and roll up. Arrange in a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. Coat tops lightly with vegtable cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 35-40 mins or until golden brown. Once out of the oven top with Salsa Verde sauce.

TIPS: For less heat use cheddar cheese. I love using whole wheat tortillas. If the mixture seems too dry add some more sour cream to your hearts content - everything should stick together like the consistency of chicken salad. If you won't be eating the entire pan serve the sauce on each plate, otherwise the leftovers will get soggy.

*** Obviously this post has nothing to do with So You Think You Can Dance. I'm the worst. I'll do a season recap after the Finale. I've been out of town for the last three weeks and vacation was just too stressful (read: I'm lazy) to blog. But I'm back in town and ready to watch Melanie win the whole enchilada (see how I tied those two things together - I'm so clever) but I wouldn't mind if Marko or Tadd won. So basically I'm just rooting for Sasha to NOT win. Not that she's not awesome she's just my fourth favorite... out of four.

SO CAN DANCE - TOP 8

2011-07-29T09:35:00.020-05:00

You might have noticed that I didn't find a blog sitter to guest commentate on the past few weeks. Deal with it. But I'm back in action! Enjoy.

So Lady Gaga is a bit nuts, right? With that being fully acknowledged she was actually a decent judge. Aside from the crazy getup (what's so wrong with a nude lip and brown hair?) and the extra cahrazy shoes (that she almost killed Sasha with) she seemed genuine and thoughtful.

These are my overall thoughts on the evening:

- The other guest judge (a hollywoodite who's directed a bunch of musicals) was all about spreading the love. He spent most of his time praising Gaga, the audience, the choreographers, and occasionally the contenstants. I liked him, but it seemed like he was running for office.

- I'm sad that Jess left before Ricky. I didn't think I'd be sad to see Jess go, but as annoying as he is, you have to admit that he's awesome.

- I'm not, however, sad to see Stripper McGee go. It was her time. It was her time three weeks ago. I just didn't get her at all and I'm still not sure what charm the judges saw. There's one of them every season so I should just learn to accept these things. But I can't.

Here are the numbers in order of awesomeness:

MARKO & ALLISON - CONTEMPORARY

I wasn't crying at the end of it like Gaga but this was my favorite of the night. Plus Alison is sooo good, right? Have I ever told you the story about how I saw her at Ernie's Sports Deli on State Street in Orem? That's pretty much the entire story. I didn't want to be one of the lame people bombarding her while she ate her turkey sub so I stood back all cool like I see "famous" people all the time in Orem. Anyway, Marko's mom was in the audience and she was a hoot. She came from Guam to see the show live and loved the spotlight almost as much as Mary loves to scream.

MELANIE & NEIL - CONTEMPORARY

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Neil? Like, I think he's my favorite ever. He's a lot bulkier that he was on his season which I think makes him a touch less svelt but he's still awesome. And why don't they give him more screen time? He's hilarious. Anyway, who did he dance with? Oh that's right Melanie. Love her. She can do no wrong. Mandy the choreographer, on the other hand, CAN do wrong. Actually she does wrong every week by refusing to use decent music. Don't get me wrong I love me some Celine. But I just can't take her serious dancing when it's paired with overly cheesy tunage. Come on Mandy! Live in the now!

MELANIE & SASHA - JAZZ

So this was good. Like really good. In fact I might have ranked this my favorite if Sonya hadn't already done this same choreography remixed 12 times already. But her style is so good I don't mind seeing it reimagined in every variation possible. It was dark and twisty and I loved it with two women. So cool. While we're on the Melanie subjust: I must point out though that Melanie has been the lucky recipient of the "best" choreography this season. She's pretty much done jazz or contemporary every week, right?

VENEERS & IVAN - HIP HOP

During Ivan's season he wasn't great at much other than hip hop, so it's good to see him come back this way. Remember when everyone though that Ivan and Allison who really in love, like in real life? And they were totally getting married? Yeah, that didn't happen. But it was good for ratings while it lasted. Yeah, this totally reminded me of stuff Allison and Ivan used to do which makes me nostaglic and makes me like it.

LAUREN & TADD - JAZZ

Lauren isn't my favorite winner ever. In fact I think last season of So Can Dance was my least favorite. But Tadd is just so cool. Pair that with some Freddie Mercury and all of sudden we've got ourselves a show!

MARKO & RICKY - HIP HOP

So sue me. I loved this. Gaga can go fly a plane because it made me angry that she was dissin on Tabitha and Napoleon. This should totally be used in the musical, Zoolander!, if such a thing existed. And it should. And Ricky would totally be cast in that stage production.

TADD & VENEERS (still can't remember her name) - BALLROOM

This was all sorts of adorable. Loved the choreography, the music, the costumes. And the dancers delivered. It just all worked... and who wouldn't dance amazingly in that fun dress? My 5 year old self just got all envious of her twirly skirt. And how cute is that Tadd? I just want to carry him around in my purse.

JESS & LAUREN - HIP HOP

Wow. Jess was actually pretty good at hip hop. That little braodway man can dayynce. And he wasn't making those ridiculous faces for the first time ever. Thank goodness. It only took him until his last week on the show to get it right. Dang.

PASHA & SASHA - QUICKSTEP

I just realized their names rhyme. How adorable. I was a bit confused about the costume, but I thought this was cute and fun. But a bit forgetable. It was nice to see Sasha seem a feminine and not so angular and edgy. And it's ALWAYS good to see Pasha in any form.

STRIPPER MCGEE & ADE - JAZZ

Hasn't the "naughty" dancing been a bit overplayed this season for our Stripper friend here? When this was over I didn't remember a single second of it because all of ther "naughty" dancing just melds together.

JESS & STRIPPER MCGEE - BALLROOM

This might not have been their fault, it was probably the choreography. But I don't care to think about it too much. This was their swan song, which is unfortunate because it wasn't that great. Zero chemistry. And that dress was terrible.

RICKY & ANYA - JIVE

I thought they both looked pretty out of sync, and that awful lift in the middle? Oy vey.

TOP FOUR PREDICTION: Marko, Melanie, Sasha, Tadd. I think it's a toss up on the winner... but I'm guessing it'll be Melanie.

What are your thoughts? See you next week!

BREAKIN

2011-07-26T16:11:00.003-05:00

Yo... so... there has been a tiny break here at the ole blog. We are taking some down time to enjoy summer.

So Can Dance will be back up this week. Have you guys been watching? No one has been commenting on those posts so I don't know how everyone else feels. But I'm loving Melanie and Marko. Both are my favorites right now. Oh, and Tadd.

See you in a few days.

FAVORITES

2011-07-12T14:48:00.002-05:00

Favorite foods:
- Mulligatawny (curry soup)
- Otter pops
- Peanut Butter and Nutella sandwich
- Peas
- Corn
- Spinach lasagna

Favorite way to sit in her high chair:
- One leg up on the tray, preferably with a messy Nutella face (and foot)

Favorite way to enjoy bubbles:
- Eating them

(I just realized that this photo totally sold me out. I swear Brad was at the lab late that night and I needed something awesome to watch. Errr. I mean mediocre to watch. FINE it's true. I can't deny it. That Bieber is amazing. And Never Say Never was actually good. I'm so ashamed.)

Favorite way to wait for mom while she loads the stroller:
- Sitting patiently in the trunk

Favorite way to be a rascal:
- Make five point safety harnesses useless by escaping through the top straps

Favorite way to be a rascal, Part II:
- Climbing up on our tall bed (don't worry I was close enough to catch her, and she was promptly removed after this photo)

Favorite activities:
- Dancing
- Climbing
- Going on walks
- Moving chairs all over the house
- Taking all the dirty laundry out of the basket
- Watching Baby Einstein, Curious George, and Sesame Street
- Going to the library
- Snuggling with dad
- Getting attention from strangers
- Looking out the window and laughing at people walking by
- Taking all the books off the bookshelves

Favorite new tricks:

- She has started consistently taking a few steps wherever she goes, I think her record is eight steps, but I think more impressively she has finally started to chose walking over crawling
- She has started making an assortment of expressive faces, it's like she finally discovered her face muscles and likes to make exaggerated faces that are mostly an inappropriate reaction to the situation at hand, example: whenever something unexpectedly touches her she opens her mouth wide and furrows her brow as if to say, "how dare you!"

WHAT'S NEXT? EVEREST?

2011-07-11T06:47:00.000-05:00

Finley LOOOOVES her new spot. It's an Ikea chair I bought years ago that sits next to our bed. Her favorite thing to do is have me pile it with pillows and then she pulls them all off and pulls herself on to the chair laughing the entire time. She then proceeds to stand on the arm rest and pull herself on to our bed. Which is so scary! We have our bed on risers so it pretty much comes up to my chin. The little chicken burrito is so fast and loves to climb everything. She doesn't walk more than a few steps at a time but somehow manages to scale herself onto anything and everything that she can. Needless to say, in addition to the bathroom, we now have to keep our bedroom door closed at all times. At least in the living room she can get herself on and off the couch safely. I really don't know how I'm going to keep up with her.

Yes, she is holding our remote. And yes she pretends to turn on the TV. A low point in parenting is when you realize your 1 year old copies something you swear you do rarely. Apparently we need to turn off the TV and talk to her more... she's still not saying much outside of her alien Finley language. Oh well.

PS. "Baby proofing" is total crap. That level of nirvana does not realistically exist. Babies get in to things and climb up things you would never imagine. You can never possibly stay ahead of the curve. For instance, what is the appeal of taking my spices and throwing them in the trash? That really doesn't seem that fun to me.

SO CAN DANCE - TOP 14

2011-07-08T16:14:00.019-05:00

Yeah I don't remember what week this is... but we are getting down to the nitty gritty. Just two weeks until we hit the top 10 and the dancers start pairing with the all stars. Speaking of which, rumor on the street is that the all stars will be: Benji Schwimmer (S2), Sabra Johnson (S3), Caitlin Kinney (S5), Mollee Gray (S6), Evan Kasprzak (S5), Randi Evans (S5), Ellenore Scott (S6), Legacy Perez (S6), Brandon Bryant (S5) and Kupono Aweau (S5).

I actually think this collection of dancers is bit strange. But I'm REALLY excited to see Benji and Evan. I really hope Evan and Little Jazz pair up for an amazing Broadway number. Chills! Okay now I'm officially cheering for Little Jazz to do well.

Kat: I little Asian persuasion this week, mmm just okay.

Guest judge: How awful was Carmen Electra?! Worst judge ever.

LITTLE JAZZ HANDS & CLARICE - CONTEMPORARY

Okay. Jazz and Clarice are totally growing on me. He's not quite so annoying anymore... or Jazzy's mom has started slipping the editors a few Hamiltons each week. Either way, they are the dark horse for me at this point. I LOVED this dance. Can I hear three cheers for finally a storyline that wasn't forced in some sappy Lifetime movie kind of way? The choreographers are getting a little over the top in that department, right? Overall this was the one at the end of the night that I wanted to go back and watch again.

TINY HEAD & VENEERS - CONTEMPORARY

I love me some violin solos and I love me some Celine. Don't even tell me you don't get caught up in the dramatic pause in the middle. I wasn't as excited about this as the judges were but I imagine a piece like this is much better in person. There were some crazy sweet lifts in the middle.

BOY HAIR & MARKO - JAZZ

I could have done without her weird flamenco/moulin rouge dress, it was a bit distracting. I feel like they want to keep dressing her SUPER girly because of her short hair. It's weird though because I'm pretty sure you can look girly without looking like a prostitute. I've decided to embrace the short hair much like Felicty in season 2. She started rockin the headbands and after a while it was super cute. I think America has grown since then. I think they are ready for pixie on tv. Wait. Is this a recap about dancing? Oooooh. I forgot why I was here for a second. This one was good. That Marko is just so dang likeable - I wouldn't even know if they danced like sewage.

RYAN & JEGGINGS! - JAZZ

I was totally feeling the Zoolander vibe. Which is a good thing. This had fun choreo, good dancing, and the costumes worked well. I love a good 3 out of 3.

PS - I really think Ryan looks like Nancy Travis from So I Married and Axe Murderer. Right? Anyway. Just saying.

STRIPPER & TADD - WALTZ

For a dance about a crazy mermaid taking your soul, this was decent. Although, was it just me or was this barely a waltz? It seemed way more contemporary than waltzy. I'm still loving Tadd and I guess Stripper is kind of growing on me after she seemed genuine about thanking her family.

RICO & SISTER - HIP HOP

This wasn't nearly as awful as the judges let on. Sure he doesn't do hip hop but give him so cred. The problem is that he looked more feminine than her. They should have switch roles. It cracks me up that Mary was criticizing Rico for "no swag," wow apparently those who can't do - critique.

PART DEUX & ASHLEY BANKS - SALSA

Can I just say that Ashley is really pretty? But you’re, like, really pretty. So you agree? You think you’re really pretty? I feel like Paula saying that but honestly a lot all the poses Ash did throughout the dance were amazing. She looked soooo pretty. Unfortunately everything in between and everything to do with Part Deux was a bit awful. I never thought either of these dancers would make it to the top 10, it was only a matter of time.

GROUP DANCES

I thought the guys routine was one of the better group numbers of the entire season. If you didn't catch it - go watch it here.

WHO GOT KICKED?

No big shocker on who they sent home: it was only a matter of time. Plus they had to send home Legacy Part Deux before the top ten because it looks like Legacy Part Uno is coming back as an all star. And the world might implode. OR my theory is correct and they are one in the same person. Which in that case I guess dry your tears because he'll be back on in a few weeks. As for Ashleybanks - no such luck. Although how adorable did she look while dancing for her life?

Your Top 12!

* I won't be able to do So Can Dance commentary the next two weeks. But I may have a special guest star fill in... but I make no promises. It's not like anyone reads these recaps anyway.

"MELT LIKE A POPSICLE ON THE FORF OF JULY"

2011-07-06T15:04:00.013-05:00

We had some visitors for the 4th this year. Brad's parents came down for the entire holiday weekend. Which was tons of fun - lots of games and way way way too much good food. We taught them how to play Settlers of Catan and Diane's inner land grabber came out in full force. I think they really enjoyed playing. Of course my (not so) inner competitiveness came out as I lost three miserable games in a row. That game is so agonizing when you can't build anything! If you've never played sorry for the shop talk but also - shame on you. Go and learn now.

Anyway I digress - the one time it wasn't a billion degrees or raining we managed to go fishing at a nearby pond. We all caught something but they were tiny so we didn't keep anything. We didn't even keep Ross's biggest catch of the day. A ten pound snapping turtle! I'm so glad Brad didn't get any fingers snapped off trying to unhook him. Those bad boys should be insured at this point!

SO CAN DANCE - WK 3 - TOP 16

2011-07-01T09:16:00.004-05:00

Kat's Dress: I don't have a picture this week - which is a shame because it was very sassy. Very gatsby-esque.

Guest Judge: Kristin Chenoweth is adorable. I don't know why she refuses to be best friends with me.

Here are the routines in order of awesomeness (was it just me or was there more kissing in this episode than most??):

1. Boy Hair & Mowgli - Hip Hop

After their kiss-a-licious routine THIS was burned into my soul... gross. If I have to see so do you.

2. Jeggings! & Lil Nepotiz - Contemporary

3. Nepoleon & Silence of the Lambs - some ballroom

4. Woo Guy & Curly Sue - Broadway

5. Sister/Sister & Rico Suave - Contemporary

6. Veneers & Tiny Head - latin Ballroom of some sort

7. Crazy Eyes & Stipper Pants - Hip Hop

8. Ashleybanks & Part Deux - Jazz

In The Bottom
. Curly Sue & Woo Guy
. Ashleybanks & Part Deux
. Veneers & Tiny Head

Who Got Kicked? Curly Sue and Woo Guy. I did not agree with the decision at all. I think they should have kicked off Veneers and Tiny Head, they are good dancers but I always forget that they exist. No more wooing? I'm a little upset.

SHARK BAIT OOH HA HA

2011-06-27T10:00:00.001-05:00

Brad officially has the fishing bug. We've gone three times in the last month and Brad has gone at least six other times on top of that. It works out perfectly with Finley's bedtime because the best time to fish is right at dusk which is right before she gets cranky and sleepy. We haven't really caught much that we can eat but Brad is determined to have a meal out of our hard work. Brad also learned to fly fish this past week from his friend Rowland so now he's excited to expand our pole supply. It really is never ending. It was nice to go fishing this past week with friends so Finley could have someone to play with - she's not quite old enough for her own pole yet. Isn't that Reid a cutie?

This picture would be a whole lot more believable if my pole was bending at all. Yeah, I wasn't quite reeling in the catch of my life but I'm all set for when that happens.

SWIM DAY

2011-06-26T08:40:00.010-05:00

Finley is still a little uneasy about water in general. Which makes me sad because swimming is one of my very favorite things - especially now that I don't have to do laps for three hours every time I'm at a pool. I was going to enroll us in a waterbabies class but none of them work with our schedule. So I'm determined to go to the pool as much as possible so she can learn to love the water - my parenting philosophy is to force your children to love the things you love. That works, right?

Our weather has been a little cold and rainy this week but on Friday it warmed up just enough that I thought it would be okay. Oops. I forgot to account for the fact that it needs to be a bit above "warm" so that the water can get heated too. It was a little chilly but after a few minutes she got comfortable enough to not cling to me for dear sweet life. She splashed and laughed a little but I think a few more visits are in order. I know, I have a hard life.