Good Morning!

If this doesn't brighten your day, I don't know what will.

Flower Girls

Our friends Jess and Jon had their beautiful baby girl, Olivia Jasmine. She and Lily are about a month apart. They got to meet for the first time this week. Unfortunately by the time I got the camera out, poor Olivia was not making her happiest face.

"Don't cry, friend!"


"You're so funny, Olivia!"

Tim keeps saying...

"I'd nurse her, but I'm still waiting for my milk to come in."

Tim's delirium

If you want to have some fun with my husband some time, get him talking right as he's falling asleep but trying really hard to pretend he's not asleep. Crazy things will come out of his mouth. Tim, his sister Ashleigh, and his mom (not sure if any of the other sibs or Greg do this?) all do this thing where, if you wake them up, then ask if they were sleeping, they will lie and say they weren't. It's not like they're liars (well, Tim kind of is), it's just this knee jerk reaction.

One of my favorite conversations with Tim happened one night when we were getting ready to go to sleep. I thought he was still awake and asked him if he would read scriptures with me (we try to do this every night). Here's what unfolded:

Me: Will you read tonight?

Tim: Jinx.

Me: (Pause) I don't understand how that's a jinx.

Tim: Double jinx.

Me: How did you jinx me, I don't get it. Are you awake right now?

Tim: Oh, I thought I just jinxed you really good.

Just in case you didn't know, a "jinx" is when you and someone else say the same thing at the same time - then the first person to say jinx has to say your name five times before you can talk again, or something like that.

Last night I thought he was reading and said something to him, I can't remember what, but he responded with, "Don't make me eat organic food." Um, ok I won't, but where do you come up with this stuff?

When we were first married and living in Utah we had these neighbors whose stupid ridiculously loud car alarm would go off at all hours of the night. It woke me one night and I said, "I am going to call the police." Tim's solution? "I'm calling a saber toothed tiger."

Just give me one good reason...

Lately our dog, Dirk, has been making me a little crazy. Everyone keeps asking how Dirk is with the baby - he's actually great with the baby. Aside from the fact that he wants to lick her in the face a little too much, he's very gentle with her and gets very concerned when he hears her cry. I will let you imagine how annoying it is to hear the dog whining combined with Lily crying. In a word: ANNOYING. Anyway, I need one more reason why we should keep him. I figure I should at least have five good ones so that when Tim comes home with offers for potential new homes for Dirk I can hold out.

1. Pride. I decided when we first started acquiring animals that we would not get animals only to get rid of them when they became inconvenient. I don't have anything against people that have done this, in fact, I completely understand why someone might want to give up their hyperactive Weimeraner. I just promised myself that I wouldn't do it.

2. Protection. Dirk barks at the neighbors across the street when they close the gate to their backyard. Sometimes he barks at passing cars. Sometimes I swear he barks at nothing just to piss me off and wake up the baby (hard to tell). BUT, Dirk barks, and he has a big tough bark that sounds like he's going to eat rather than lick your face off. This makes me feel safe, especially when our neighborhood does not seem to always be the safest.

3. Love. Ok, I do love my dog. The other day I took him to the park with Lily, my friend, and her little boy. We were the only ones in the park so I let him off leash, and he grabbed the biggest stick he could find and pranced around to his heart's content like some idiotic oversized deer...and it made me laugh. I don't know if you can fully appreciate that if you haven't seen Dirk prance.

4. He's a really nice dog. Even the five vet techs that have to muzzle Dirk and wrestle him to the ground in order to clip his stupid nails agree...he's a sweetheart. He's just very big, and very, very dumb. Heart of gold, though.

5. I need your help, friends, to come up with number 5. Yes, Chelsea, even you.

This is Dirk with his "party ears" on, as Tim calls them.


Dirk guarding my mom and Lily.


"Why did you have a baby? Wasn't I enough work for you?"

"You can't tell me what to do, you're not even my real mom!"

Forfeiting my shower time to bring you these

This one cracks me up. I'm pretty sure I make this face.


So very mad that my finger was on the flash when I took this picture, because her smile just kills me in this one. Every baby needs a kimono, right Auntie Alison?

I got this blog post done all in one take!

I don't know if this really happens, but you know how in the movies they show the movie director with the little black chalkboard or whatever it is naming the scene they are filming and then saying, "Take one!"? Well, I would like someone following me around during my day and doing that. For example, we quite often have, "Changing diaper, take one!", only to be followed by "Changing diaper, take two!" as she squelches into the fresh diaper I just put on her. This is not as bad as a "Changing diaper, take one!" followed by a "Oh no, she's still pooping now that the diaper is off, take one!". We often have many takes of "Trying to leave the house", which may include takes where we change a diaper again (after I just buckled her into her car seat) or curse the dog who has pushed past me out of the house and is now refusing to get back in the house because he thinks he is coming with us. The most frustrating takes are when we have "I finally got her asleep and down for her nap and am just beginning to eat breakfast, brush my teeth, go to the bathroom, and shower at 11 am" and then she is awake 10 minutes later. Then it's "Down for a nap" takes 2, 3, 4...

It makes me really grateful that I get to stay at home with this little one and that I don't have a husband who comes home and says, "Seriously, what have you done today", as I'm in the midst of "Catch up on sleep, take five!".