The Sunday Evening Post, 13

Or, deep questions that sparked great conversation this week.

"Mom, do mermaids have lungs or gills?"

"Are these trash or treasure?"

Jared's parents pretty much cleaned out their garage by giving Jared all his stored boxes of stuff from growing up. I'm so happy for them. 10, 15, 20 years worth. Natalie has been his little side kick going through the "treasure boxes" and they play Trash or Treasure to determine if something is to be kept or not. As a last resort, my role as consultant is sought. Last resort because t'was I who gently, oh so gently, mandated, ahem, requested a reduction of sorts in the first place and I'll admit my totally and completely objective point of view could be softened just a bit. When he brought these "treasures" in and asked me "Trash or Treasure" I could NOT not take a photo. You have to ask? A bucked tooth sock puppet horse wearing sunglasses and rider? Treasure, honey, those are treasure.

"Why are you laughing?"

My response to Jared's when he saw my silent tears as I stared out the window at this one morning earlier in the week:

The Sunday Evening Post, issue 12

Or, Ladies and Gentlemen: the Easter Bunny has left the building.

What's wrong with this picture?

We celebrated Easter, St. Paddy's Day, and Halloween this week! Not really, but we still have an uncarved pumpkin hanging about around our house. This kids love to roll it about and sit on it. It's a nice bit of whimsy I'm not too eager to release. Any day it's sure to bust open spilling rotten guts (and then we can cry out "I hate your rotten guts!" and mean it.) We still have our Christmas tree in the backyard, too. (It's finally made an appearance after the snow melted.) We should have brought it in and ate turkey under it.

The Isaac egg.

The "me" egg.

The after math of breakfast.

He woke up around 6:30, and after such a healthy breakfast was back in bed fast asleep by 8am. We may be implimenting a "peep in the morning, peep at night" routine at our house.

Happy SPRING this week!



He's suffering from Pica. Outdoor, fresh air, sunshine pica. Alright, alright. Let's go outside already.

The kids have been spending hours a day outside. One of their favorite things to do is make stew in the empty sandbox. They collect mud, snow, rocks, balls, who knows what and stir it up into soooome treat.

A leprechaun visited our house and played all sorts of mischief. We didn't catch him, but he left us some green goodies. He also played some tricks around our house. Natalie loved that our little leprechaun liked her boots so much he wore them around while playing and got them stuck on the light. Isaac was seriously distraught to see his boots on the door hinges. Isaac was also pretty concerned about the turned over chairs and couch. He walked around the house saying, "Uh Oh!" Natalie on the other hand said maybe next year we should play a trick on him and already mess up our house. Then maybe he would clean it up instead.

Tried grilling lettuce. Looked nice, tasted awful.

Natalie picked out an artichoke at the market this week. I've never cooked artichokes before and only eaten them in dips or sauces. Now I know why I've only had them smothered in cheese and butter.

Jared was home on Friday. When we picked him up from the hospital, Natalie repeatedly asked, "Are your really coming home? Are you going to stay all night?" He built some bear dens in the basement and he and the kids had a sleepover.

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Last but certainly not least... Congrats to everyone who celebrated and to everyone who cried on Match Day this past week. You'll end up doing enough of both over the next few years you can't worry too much if you matched right. First choices become last choices and last choices turn into firsts. Try to keep your chin and make the best of it. Oh, and cushy seats will always make things better.

The Sunday Evening Post, issue 11

Book Meme---I came across this and loved these questions so much I'm going to actually do a "meme" which I normally am NOT a fan. Don't you think that often "tag" questionnaires are a form of phishing? So no one is tagged, but feel free to cut and copy and change up the questions or write one of your own.

p.s. I'm leaving this unfinished and will add to it later this week. I'm seriously spent and am heading to bed.


1. If you could host a party with 7 literary characters, who would they be and why? (This is a funny question to me because these are characters I would like to meet, but what would group dynamics look like once all assembled, hun?)
*Sunny Baudelaire from the Series of Unfortunate Events: we need someone to cook! Plus she'd be a fun one-word conversationalist
*Marion from Woman In White: how ugly can she truly be?
*Mme Rotswana from The Number One Ladies Detective Agency: clever, warm, full of great stories, she could give me advice.
*Irene from the Thief books by Megan Whalen Turner (and hopefully Gen would tag along secretly or otherwise): I just want to know her. She wouldn't bring the drinks though. Ha ha ha ha.
*O-lan from the Good Earth: if we could get her to talk... No, actually, I think she just deserves a nice dinner, don't you?
*does Anne Morrow Lindberg count as a literary character?

Bonus Question: What would you wear? jeans, a white button up shirt, big earrings, a bracelet


2. Who is your literary role model?
This is a tough question. Mostly because I'm trying to pull far away information out of my tired brain. And I'm thirsty. And because I rarely read a book and not walk away without admiring one character or another. A couple that come to mind: the PE teacher in The Tequila Worm,

3. Which literary house would you like most to live in?
Hands down for never-a-dull-moment: The Burrow from Harry Potter.
For my romantic fairy-tale side: the enchanted castle in Beauty.

4. Which literary couple would you like most for parents?
Caleb Garth and Mrs. Garth from Middlemarch.

5. Pick 3 literary characters you would like to have as siblings.
Jasper Hale


6. Who is your favorite literary villain?
Favorite because they are so awfully villianous? Characters that make my spine tingle with fear or itch from creepiness? The bully Assef in the Kite Runner (even thinking about him just, ugh, can't stand it), the Horned King from Pyridian Chronicles, Count Fosco from Woman In White,

7. Name a character that most people dislike, but that you do not. Why do you like them?


8. Which minor character deserves a book all to themselves, in your opinion?
Okay, borderline serious here, but the carefree grandma in the book Wemberly Worries by Kevin Henkes. Yup, a picture book. She's throughout the book roller skating with a cane, wearing crazy carefree clothes, doing her own thing.


9. Which character do you identify most with in literature?


10. If you could go into a novel, which one would it be and why?
I so love LM Montgomery's quaint, country settings and people so probably one of her books. If it weren't for microwaves and ibuprofen, I would go to that time and place in a heartbeat.

11. Name 3-7 books that you rarely see on people's favorite book lists, that are high on your own.
A Tangled Web.
The Wheel On The School
On Fortune's Wheel


12. Which is your least favorite book of those that are considered "classics"?
Ethan Frome and Picture of Dorian Gray.

Bonus question: What are your favorite literary names?
Swede (a young girl in Peace Like A River)
Aerin (heroine in Hero and the Crown)
Sirius Black

Sunday Evening Post, issue 10

Or, Aesthetic Found


Found: eggs. I gasped when I opened the box these eggs are so lovely. You can't see the green ones very well. The shells are even green on the inside! The brown ones are white.


Found: Tina.

The best part is these come from a woman in my ward who raises kids and chickens. I love supporting another's dream...easy to do at $1.50 a dozen. What a steal! She knows it and will probably raise her prices soon which I still think is a deal for such beauty. I keep peeking in my fridge just to stare. Tina has 40 chickens and 6 kids. And she'd rather play Settlers of Catan than do laundry and is one of the most genuine, open women around. We talked over the pew before church today right into the opening remarks (we were so rude, oops!) about gardens and all sorts of stuff. One of the first things I heard about her was from another lady in our ward who said one day in the middle of summer, she was just sitting down to eat dinner with her family when they heard a lawn mower start up in their yard. Up they all jumped only to discover Tina (her visiting teacher) mowing her lawn "just because."


Found: St. Paddy's Day ideas.

Have you visited Kristi over at EverythingIsPink? She's a gem and I can't wait to try out all her super fun St. Patrick's Day ideas---make that ideas and thoughts for anything and everything. She recently wrote this refreshing statement on her blog:

"I love sharing my ideas on my blog! I love getting cards in the mail hearing how someone implemented them in their family. If I put it on my blog than don't ever feel like you are stealing my idea - just implement it."

Rare attitude or what? Reading her blog is like opening a big box of joy and fun. And she is so stinking beautiful. You'll fall in love with her style. Go to her site. Right now. You must.


Found: guggling ( Natalese for gargling)






Maybe not a traditional use of the word aesthetic as far as tasteful, beautiful or artistic, but he is pleasing to watch! He and Natalie pretty much guggle at every meal and every drink. They KNOW they are so funny.


Found: Evan Almighty.

I wasn't really planning on writing about this movie because it also doesn't exactly fit into the traditional aesthetics... Anyway, it's rated PG and was so funny in a Steve Carrell way that I almost died! Really. I was laughing so hard I inhaled my gum and almost choked to death because I was also concentrating on not peeing my pants while trying to breathe---in other words, it did nothing for my pregnancy induced incontinence, but sure was a good hour and a half decompressing from a 100 hour work week for my exhausted husband. Sometimes you just need to do nothing but watch a funny movie. Jared and I kept looking at each other with looks of "Whaaaaat???" p.s. I just want to say what a great day yesterday was. Jared's parents called in the morning and said they wanted to drive up (they live 2 hours away) and take us to dinner. It was SOOOO good to see them. What a treat.

Found: more eggs!


Natalie and Isaac have been making eggs for an Easter garland. We should put it up tomorrow. I don't want them to get burned out making a few eggs every day. Plus I think they are excited and if I draw it out too long, it's not so fun anymore.

These glitter eggs Jared and I found at a nursery-slash-home dec store here in town. A little mom and pop type place. They were three for a dollar! I should have bought them all and given them away or something. The nests were also in the clearance pile for $3 if I remember right.


I found these ornaments at a little florist shop after Easter clearance a few years ago. I think they were under $2 for five eggs and two carrots. This was Natalie's favorite thing to put up this year.

Found these huge paper-mache eggs on dowels for sticking in the ground at the same florist shop's clearance. I broke off the sticks and put them in a glass cookie jar.

I can't hardly wait for EASTER! Can you? Jared is on call... So I'm thinking I going to invited 4 or 5 women in my ward who also will be spending Easter alone and live it up! I was trying to decide who to invite I got to thinking about it, what do I really want to have happen? Good food, good conversation, and a beautifully set table. Kids and dads don't always work out to all three of those things at once like a group of women do. I'm excited and I'm a little nervous though because no one wants to be invited over because they are alone... I was going to do it today at church, but chickened out! Why am I so shy? I should just call them up and invite them. Or send out cute invitations they can't resist.

The weather has warmed up nicely. The sun shines for a few more hours a day, most of the snow has melted and spring bulbs are sending up mysterious shoots. Mysterious since I haven't lived here for a spring yet, I don't know what they are. And yeah, I know, the weather practically rules my life. I'm loving March. Looking forward to Spring like nothing else. Except maybe this new baby.

The Sunday Evening Post, issue 9

Or, you just can't keep some things secret for long!


Baby number three is fast on his way. Sometime in the middle of April he should make an appearance, although technically he's not due until the end. I'm ever hopeful on these types of things.

This is how it all went down. I was sitting though an early Saturday morning session at the temple feeling famished. Not just hungry, but more like ready-to-bust-out-the-door-and-find-the-nearest-anything-edible hungry. And the moment I got in the car, that's just what I did. Like a crazy lady I drove around until I found a Wendy's. Folks, it's was no later than 9 in the morning and I ordered this gross, cold hamburger which I could not down fast enough. It took everything in me to not go back through the drive through and order 3 more. At that point I figured I ought to stop and pick up a test kit. Sure enough, surprise, surprise. By the way can happily married people say they are surprised? Please, we do know how these things work. Jared didn't go to medical school for nothing.

Not a day goes by I don't think how nice it would be to have twins or triplets in there. Just think, one pregnancy 3 babies! Eating for four...oh, wait, I already eat for four...guilt free eating for four then.

Natalie cried for days when she found out it was a brother. It wasn't until about a month ago she came out of denial. Before, it went like this:
"Isaac is having a brother. His name is Fred. But I'm having a sister. Her name is Flower." (Fred? Flower?) She wanted a sister so bad so they could sleep in bunk beds and talk to each other at night. My heart melted when I heard that. She's progressed now to thinking about the next baby (named Rose---see what I mean, PROGRESS) and picks stuff out for her at the store. "We should get this car seat for Rose. It's so cute." Also, Rose will be here before November 1st for her "first Halloween." Right. We'll just have to see what we can squeeze in over the summer, honey. Was anyone else's kids so adamant over the next children?

Having already hinted at the fantastic naming abilities of a four year old, I don't think it's necessary tell you I need some help with names. Nor do I probably need to elaborate where she gets said abilities except that more and more she's becoming a little Jared. Here's our current list of names after everyone threw in their two cents:

Fred
Red
Ed
(it get's better)
Zit (!!!!!)
Wyatt
Jack

We do kinda like Red, actually. And Wyatt was at the top for a while. I wasn't really in love with it and neither was Jared. Thankfully a niece of ours did love the name so much she named her new puppy Wyatt. He's a cute puppy. I feel a little strange though naming my son after a dog in the family. Plus, I can already hear the jests, "Oh Wyatt, what a slobbery nose you have." Or, "Fetch Wyatt!" or "Wyatt, you have dog breath." Ha ha ha ha. So, we can cross that one off.

I was talking to Jared's mom about names and I mentioned Jack. She said her brother's name was Jack Hudson _____ (Hudson being the middle name) and I really like it. What do you think? We already have a nephew Jaxon. Do you think it's too close?

And, yeah. Abraham and Jacob are out of the running as well.

Any other suggestions?