Grand-girl #2

The R family is slowly but surely increasing the estrogen levels in its ranks:

Sydney Marie

was born to

Joe & Lexi

(& Talan)

on March 24th

She is sweet with delicate little features including dimples and a pretty little mouth.

Dad & Daughter

Mia trying to determine how she feels about it all

Thank you for producing a girl cousin for Mia!

Happy Birthday, Mom

My mom...

1. always has her toenails perfectly painted red (and has never paid for a pedicure)
2. finds downhill skiing exhilarating
3. maintains a flawless coif 16 hours of the day
4. made me paper-bag lunches every day until I was 17
5. wakes up before dawn to go running
6. has had some really hard things
7. has had some really hard things that would debilitate most people
8. keeps going despite those hard things
9. like Eliza Doolittle, belongs in a garden
10. was caught singing a lullaby to my rabbit when I was 11 despite her former claim to not like animals
11. wants a dog, but talks herself out of it each time she hears about Izzy & Winston's daily ventures
12. was born and raised on a tropical island
13. willingly chose to move to southern Idaho from that tropical island
14. has had four c-sections
15. has really nice legs... legs that 18 year-olds might envy
16. has sewn 75% of my church clothes throughout my entire life
17. has sewn 75% of the window treatments, comforters, table linens, decorative pillows, etc. for her house
18. has children who crave her cooking
19. is always the favorite employee wherever she works
20. has a brother whose childhood torments toward his five sisters makes for funny stories
21. gets down to business
22. spends all of her vacation time camping
23. is the most organized camper you'll ever meet
24. has a son who swears she has her own personal hole in the ozone layer because of her extensive stash of aerosol hairspray
25. can be really shy
26. used to ask me "would you like me to break her nose?" when I have reported mean girl situations
27. never gossips (even when I want her to)
28. has a serious weakness for cookies
29. is one tough cookie
30. throughout my childhood, always thought trampolines were too dangerous to own
31. when I was just about to leave for college, she changed her mind about trampolines
32. can identify nearly any plant (domestic or not) in a most non-chalant manner
33. chops and hauls her own firewood each year
34. has instilled musical talent into each of her kids through years of lessons and "reminding"(and is still at it)
35. makes desserts to-die-for
36. is faithful to Clinque
37. is way overqualified for every job she has had in the last ten years
38. thinks the scent of plumeria blossoms is heaven
39. has to be outside for a big chunk of time in order to have a successful weekend
40. adores her granddaughter and isn't afraid to show it
41. 's pillow smells like Nexxus Humectress, as does her mom's
42. is really smart even though she doesn't think so
43. passed her frequent need for a nice bath to her oldest child
44. forgave me for losing some of her most sentimental jewelry and lots of other things
45. is a really good primary teacher
46. believes that if one is going to do something, one should do it right
47. is loved and appreciated more than she knows

Burley, Baby!

We love our new purchase!

Neuf

There were a lot of movies in 2009 with the number nine in their titles. Sorry, but here is another nine making it's debut!


Mia continues to revel in bath-time. I usually try to get in a good hair session because I can actually comb it while it's wet and lathered in conditioner, and Mia can be distracted by her rubber duck.
Our weekly post-church photo (note- whatever is on her feet before we leave rarely makes it home in place):

Mia is beginning to look at books on her own now. I am amazed that this increasingly mobile chick can still sit through books as long as "One Fish, Two Fish..." (it really goes on forever!).

I now have good reason to vacuum and mop daily. At her angle, Mia finds things that are invisible to the naked adult eye. Yesterday, she found this cricket (we get lots of visitors where we live) and thought it was so funny to try and catch it as it hopped away. This morning, she put a stink bug in her mouth before I could grab it out of her hand. It sprayed its juices (is that what it does?) and Mia cried. I wasn't sure whether to call poison control, or laugh. She spit it out and drank lots of apple juice to wash the stink down. Yum!
Crawling in dresses & pantyhose on hardwood floors is like having a built-in treadmill.

Mia keeps giving this smirk lately. I like to assume it is a look of contentment. Great Aunt Kathy thinks it's actually a fake smile that she flashes when she's being annoyed. Who knows?

55 Years

My paternal grandma & grandpa were married in the Manti temple 55 years ago and have since accomplished quite a bit! They had six biological children, two + adopted children, at least thirty grandchildren (biological/adopted) and a gizilion great grandchildren. It is overwhelming to think of the influence these two people have on so many. I am everso grateful for their examples of righteousness, life-long learning (their brains and talents are always engaged/growing), and their great big hearts. My grandma would adopt the whole world if she could. They are currently serving their third full-time mission in Salt Lake (Wisconsin & Ireland were the previous missions in addition to lots of temple and local missionary service). I have a lot to live up to!

March

Not the month.I am usually very skeptical about any sequals or "inspired by the classic..." type novels to those which have established themselves as cannon- especially when it is done posthumously. I hope these contemporary and daring authors feel haunted by their muses' souls for the exploiting of infintely copyrighted characters. I know that there is a huge female population going crazy over Mr. Darcy's Daughters or An Assembly Such as This (Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters is a different thing entirely), but I would rather not taint a good thing, thank you. It's like anti-mormon lit. Just don't go there. You will only come away with an exercised gag reflex after witnessing the violation of something that is (or seems) sacred.

That being stated, I was everso tempted by this "Little Women EXPOSED" approach. As Geraldine Brooks (its author) was told by her grandma: "Nobody in real life is such a goody-goody as that Marme." And I'm sure I knew all along that Mr. March, the elusive father with his cookie-cutter sentiments, must have actually been witnessing some juicy stuff during his year-long sabattical from home life.

It was a fascinating read and is making my current re-reading of Little Women much more interesting. I must say that the slavery issue, with which this book dealt closely, has always been horrific and nauseating but has never felt so intimate. It left me feeling incredibly vulnerable. I will need to brace myself as such issues can no longer be studied objectively.

It was good. Besides, it won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

mo. no. 8.5

Amelia is becoming a person. I will catch glimpses of her when she looks far more like a little girl than a baby. We feel such mixed emotions while watching her grow.

Here she is perched on a favorite look-out:
Helping with morning food preparations:

Post-nap hair-do:

Gaining transportation speed:

Applauding her most avid performer (the lady with the camera):