miss evelyn rue:: a joy at home, an absolute stink when not.

evie:

i really wish you had been your usual self when we were in utah.

you're such a peach at home, padding around while babbling to everyone, full of smiles and giggles.

but oh jeepers, were you a beast that week.

unless i was holding you-

then you were content

so let's just extend an invitation to everyone-

please come visit the beast in her natural habitat.

i promise you'll love her!

vaca recap finishes: camden's blessing day

camden samuel:

hello sweet baby boy.
our newest favorite nephew
[they're all our favorites really. we're liberal with our love-giving around here]

you're really a blessed person.
born into a wonderful family who adore you.
your sister liz is one of sweetest children i know.
and your brother harrison is so energetic and fun-loving;  you two are going to stir up so much mischief for your parents :)

your parents are two of my most favorite people.
honest, hard-working, dedicated and so very very good.
right down to their toes.
these kind of people are hard to find so i hope you appreciate them and let them sleep an entire night sometime soon.
you're going to have a lifetime of adventures and love.
it's going to be a great.

glad we could meet you little guy.
keep on growing, evie needs a chubby cousin.
someone to share a jiggly belly-laugh with.

see you soon.

 

vaca recap continues: snow day

we had the good fortune of enjoying a utah snowfall while we were in brigham city the day after brock's wedding. 

we got to have a snowball fight, build a [pint-size] snowman and go sledding. 

and by we, i mean kate and jank.

i hid behind the camera the majority of the time.

i'm just not that in love with the idea of snow shoved down my shirt.

and evelyn still wouldn't let anyone else hold her [little stinker]

so glad we could have a snow day before we went scurrying back to the desert.

 nephew brysaac rocking the missing teeth.

 jank's dad and cousin mia [these kids are californians and had never played in the snow before]

somehow this snowball fight ended up a little one-sided. uncle michael against the world

[pretty sure he won. atta boy!]

do you ever wish we could live in harry potter's world?

i do [more often than i care to admit]
but especially today.
i could really use a house-elf today.

::almost completely unrelated photo:: 

in case you couldn't tell;

these two are brothers.

our house is a disaster thanks to a combination of getting home at 1 am last night and
jank being home alone for a few days before he joined us in utah
[let's not discuss the two bottles in found laying around growing mold. grrrrr]

i would very much enjoy a little dobby scurrying around doing all my cleaning and organizing so i could take a little nap. [just a wee one. nothing major, only 2 hours or so]

i guess i should get to it then.
since house-elves don't exist.

look at me.

here i go.


but do i have to???

are we absolutely certain harry potter isn't real??

snow!

dear utah-

you sure don't disappoint.
thanks for the dumping of snow.
we had a blast playing with family in the snow.
[and stealing awesome wolf hats from cousins]

it's safe to say we are warm weather people,
but you can't deny that fluffy, white snow is beautiful.
thanks again.

my commute

City of Salt Lake:


you are a charming little place.
i like you but sometimes i have difficulty calling you downtown.
you just don't feel like you have enough hustle and bustle.
and you lack architecture and height.
any decent city needs lots and lots of skyscrapers, everyone knows this.


growing up 20 minutes from downtown St Paul was awesome.
i didn't take advantage of it much [except the science museum!!] and this is something i deeply regret.
my sister was way cooler than i and would go downtown with her friends.
i was always jealous of her and her adventures.
but i digress, this is a letter to you, SLC.


SLC- you are a magical place in the dead of winter when twinkly christmas lights are everywhere.
and the spring! oh the spring is a glorious place time to visit you.
the tulips in temple square make me smile like an idiot.
i think a visit to those tulips is in order [once the weather clears- boo hiss rainy dreary day]


mostly my interaction with your city occurs in my car.
my weekly commute in and out of the city occurs around the hours of six pm and six am.
this drive is also mostly made on the weekends.
because of the crazy hours i keep i get to see the city deserted.
and a deserted city is kind of eerie and awesome.
a couple transients, a police car or two and maybe a jogger are the only ones on the street at six am on a sunday morning.
and this allows me to stop my car in the middle of the street, get out of my car and snap this picture:

i know it's not the only pretty thing in SLC, but it is rather beautiful.

 especially when the sun is coming up over the mountains.

seeing this building at 0720 after a long [only 11 hours thanks to DST] shift makes me happy.

because after a shift full of saying things like:

'please sir pull your gown down, your penis is showing... again'

'please can you stop saying the F word?'

'coworker! don't throw my patient's clean needles away! what if my heroin addict patient needs them later?!' [because i know i'm not going to stop them from using and everyone is entitled to a clean needle]

after all that- seeing the temple really calms my soul.




ps. did i really just use temple and penis in the same paragraph? oh my


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a post where i lose my cool

to the elves at my work:


i don't know who you are but thank you so much for your kindness.
you put 2 movie passes in my box at work.
i heart you.

going to the movies ranks in my top 5 favorite things to do.
thankfully i married a man who shares my passion.
it's awesome that he races to get to the theater so we don't miss the previews.
AND he never thinks popcorn and soda are a waste of money (which they totally are)

we used your movie passes last saturday night.
we weren't planning on using them but we sure were glad to have them.
it's a long story but one i will want to remember so indulge me.....

our Christmas tree. amazingly katers hasn't ripped it to shreds.

we were supposed to go to the Christmas concert put on by the MoTab choir.
we've gone the last couple of years and always have a good time.
(jank still insists that sissel was the best and i must agree)
so we donned our gay apparel, rounded up a babysitter and headed to the city.

our first problem was parking.
as usual the public lots were packed.
but we weren't fussed- we planned ahead and arrived nice and early.
we circled the lot until we saw someone loading up their car.
i surveyed the scene to make sure no one else had already called dibs on the spot.
we didn't see anyone so i put my blinker on and politely waited.

as i was pulling into the spot there appeared a lady in a white coat standing right next to our spot.
the lady said "this is our spot so you're going to need to leave"
i'm pretty sure i just stared at her for a moment with a dumbfounded look on my face.
i thought she was kidding.
she was sooooo not kidding.

lady- "you need to leave. we were here first"
me- "no you weren't. i checked"
lady- "you need to leave. it's our spot"
me- "no"

(can i just add that jank is sitting in the passenger seat looking a little frightened- he hates unpredictable people. especially when i'm being stubborn with them)

lady- "we have a kid in the car so you'll have to move"
me- "um, i'm already parked with my keys out of the ignition so i don't think i'll be leaving but thanks"
me-  "jank, get out now. we're leaving"
lady- "are you going to the Christmas concert? are you LDS? that's bulls**t"
me- no response. we took the high ground and just walked away dumbfounded. and so incredibly irritated. i really contemplated smacking her. (i still get all steamed up just thinking about her)

as we walked we wondered if she would key our car.
(she didn't)
but at least it gave us something interesting to discuss while we waited in the cold for an hour.
seriously the line for the concert was absurd.
everyone had to be screened and the people doing the screening were all over the age of 75 and moving like molasses.
augh. my patience was wearing thin at this point.

i wasn't concerned about getting in.
we had tickets and we were there with time to spare.
but some genius decided to over ticket the concert by about 500.
no joke.
when we were 2 people away from getting in,
they turned us all away without barely an apology.
party foul.

i was irate.
i demanded hot chocolate and to speak to someone.
i got neither.
so off we went.

i was so disappointed.
a babysitter.
all dressed up.
Christmas concert.
date night ruined....

until i remembered the free movie passes!
we headed to the theater and picked out 'the tourist'
we had some time to kill so we wandered around anthropologie.
i wanted everything, as usual.
but bought nothing- aren't i disciplined?!
then jank bought me an ice cream cone for the movie
and for 2 hours i didn't think about that stupid lady and her stupid comment or the concert.

so thank you thank you thank you, whoever you are.
you saved date night and made me realize not all utahns are ridiculous.


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