Sophie's Orchestra Concert and Warm Fuzzies

Another catch up post. We went went to Sophie's first viola concert and it was awesome! She was one of only 3 violas and since she was front and center it was easy to hear her. Of course it was very much a beginners sort of concert, but they worked hard and Sophie is progressing well. She said she really liked performing and that made me happy since she is usually very nervous about piano recitals.

After the concert we went to Village Inn for some pie. Oh so good pie! We have been filling up a "warm fuzzies" jar since conference when President Monson mentioned that primary children have been filling up similar jars with pom poms representing acts of service. Once the jar was filled we promised the kids a "warm fuzzies party" with hot chocolate, so we thought the night of Sophie's concert was the perfect night for pie and hot chocolate all around. I gotta say that it was a great experience to fill that warm fuzzies jar. We met together as family before bedtime and talked about acts of service everyone did that day. Sophie mentioned eating lunch or playing at recess with someone who needed a friend. Ben would mention how he shared toys with Nina or let Nina have a first turn with something. Nina's were some of the funniest with mentions of "playing nice", giving hugs, and even pooping on the potty (hey that totally counts!, but sorry for the grossness). Adrian would talk about helping co-workers with programming problems, and I would mention beds made and dinners cooked. We love those good ideas from conference and this one has certainly helped our family to focus on service more.

Naughty Blogger and Thanksgiving

I am such a bad blogger. I'm feeling blogging guilt even though I've told myself so many times, "there's no guilt in blogging". But alas there is guilt, because I've been reading everyones blogs, but not commenting. Sorry. I think I'm getting all the craziness back on track though. I'm done with the Christmas shopping (yay!) and I got over to the post office and mailed everything I needed to so that's 2 huge things off my list. Whew. And I finished making all my freezer meals for my freezer meal swap this Friday. Whew again. I just need to start all the Christmas baking and hopefully I'll get all the treats for friends and neighbors out this weekend. Here's hoping.

Because I've been such a bad blogger I haven't posted about Thanksgiving so here a little catch up. We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home. Yes, we actually ate at home - there are no Medieval Times in Colorado! But it was fun. We played Monopoly as a family and then ate our fill of all the traditional Thanksgiving foods (we ordered a Thanksgiving dinner package from Safeway complete with turkey and all the sides). Adrian got to carve a turkey for the first time! After stuffing ourselves we went to our traditional Thanksgiving movie, this year it was The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I thought was hilarious and wonderfully quirky. (Definitely want to get that one on DVD!) We ended the day with pumpkin pie before bed. It was a great, relaxy, kind of Thanksgiving. Nice.
Just to clarify - that's sparkling cider we're drinking. :)

Thankful Nina

Nina brought home this adorable "Tree of Thanks" from preschool today and I just had to record what my sweet little 3 year old is thankful for this year.

• My Daddy
• My Birthday
• Grandma and Grandpa
• Babysitter Taylor
• My 2 Princess Blankets
• Sophie and Ben
• Meatballs
• My Teddy Bear Blanket

Are those not heartwarming little pieces of thankfulness! Yes, I noticed that all the members of our family and babysitter Taylor made it on the list and I didn't, but I'm okay with that. I hope I'm a "given" if you know what I mean.:) It's the meatballs that cracked me up! Oh Nina you are precious!

SO happy about this!!

I haven't even done my New Moon post yet - I went and it was all kinds of awesome (LOVED the cracking face part with the Volturi - uber cool!) - but guess what now I am so excited for Eclipse coming out on June 30th!!! When I think about it I get all flustered by how far away it is! And this is why: PETER MURPHY IS GOING TO BE IN ECLIPSE!!! Can you believe that?? Forget Cedric Diggory and Shark Boy! Peter Murphy!!! If you go to this link you will see the screen writer of the Twilight movies talking about his cameo role. Oh it's so amazing! Peter Murphy as a vampire on the big screen!! What are these people doing to me?? I have to stop now and breathe... I know by "cameo" they probably mean a teesny little role, but still I can't take how excited I am to see him as a vampire. So if you don't know who Peter Murphy is all you need to know is that he's awesome, but I'll tell you more anyway. He was originally the lead singer of Bauhaus, but went on to have an amazing solo career and the guy is still touring. Someday I will see you live Peter! I have been in love with his voice since I was a teenager. It makes my heart hurt to think of choosing just one favorite Peter Murphy song - like picking a favorite child - but Cuts You Up and Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem and Let Me Love You and Keep Me From Harm and Crystal Wrists.... dang it more and more keep popping into my brain and I can't stop. They are all so great. In high school my folders were littered with Peter Murphy/Bauhaus lyrics because they were always running through my head. I still cannot listen to a Peter Murphy song without feeling soothed. His voice! For me listening to his music is like putting on my favorite old wool sweater. I instantly connect with his voice and feel like all is right in the world for that moment.

So great, I've just started my New Moon mania and now I have to feel all nutso over Eclipse too. Geeze, my obsessive personality gives me problems sometimes. Here's a linkie dink to a Peter Murphy song if you'd like a listen.

Oh, and here's a picture of me and Jenny at our pre-New Moon party at our friend Tracy's house (of course we all went to the midnight show!). Tracy is a Twi-hard of the first degree - more of a Twi-hard than me! - and she had a life size Edward and Jacob at the party for us all to oogle. I tried to hang out near Edward the whole party - he had a rather tortured expression all night and I thought I'd try to cheer him up.:)

Carpe Diem... or Carpe Coat...em

I've been known to say that little girls are more fun to dress than boys. Having 2 girls and 1 boy I feel like I can justifiably say this. Cute little dresses, bows, ginormous flower clips, little pink hoodie sweaters. Cute and very fun. BUT. I have discovered one area in which boys are so much funner and that is outer wear. When I saw this adorable coat 1/2 off last week at Old Navy I had to buy it for Ben. I don't think I've ever felt that way about a coat/jacket before.

Oh my goodness every time he wears it, which has been often lately (we got quite a bit of snow over the weekend) I want to squeeze him. Or get him to say "Oh captain my captain"!! Does he not look just like (sans the spikey hair) a smaller version of the boys in Dead Poets Society?? Oh it's so fun!! That movie came out in a particularly poignant time in my teen years. I loved it. I think it honestly affected my love of literature. Geeze, Robin Williams used to play great roles didn't he?? Honestly Ben is quite lucky he's not named Knox. I seriously wanted to name my first male child Knox from the time I saw that movie! (I think that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt just named a child Knox, didn't they? They must have loved that movie too!) Well then I started messing around with the possibility of having a little Bram from a beloved book by someone with the last name of Stoker... Let's just say that I'm lucky and Ben is lucky that my stable husband entered into my life and we ended up agreeing on a much less teaseable name for our baby boy. Whew, that was a tangent. Anywho. I am so very happy to have a little boy to dress up. Oh and the lining of the hood of the coat is like a skinned teddy bear - wow was that gross, sorry, but really this coat is just TOO CUTE!

Family Pictures 2009

A few weeks ago we had family pictures taken by my friend Michelle and I think she did an awesome job! We had to fight with Colorado winds and a very bright sun so we did have some flying hair and squinting going on (Sophie inherited Adrian's very sensitive eyes - get me to show you our wedding pictures sometime!), but I love how they turned out and how Colorado-y they are. We had to reschedule the photo shoot twice due to rain and snow so for me the wind and sun was a small price to pay for having the pictures taken outdoors in this beautiful location near our house. I know grandparents are anxiously awaiting the pics of the grandkiddos especially so without further ado here ya go:

"You're the meaning in my life. You're the inspiration..."

That's not exactly what I said to THE PIONEER WOMAN!! last night, but I could have. Nor did I tell her she is the "wind beneath my wings" and I'm really glad I didn't let that one slip because it did run through my mind and heaven knows it was late and I was completely awe struck when I actually met her and then if I would have said it I probably would have gone on some crazy fan list kept by her publishers and also of course been embarrassed. Forever. Let me start at the beginning. Last night Jenny and I went to Ree Drummond's (aka The Pioneer Woman from Pioneer Woman Cooks - my very favorite recipe blog!!!) book signing in Denver for her new cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. We waited in a crazy long line of happy and semi-disgruntled fans for about 4 hours before getting to meet her. Can you feel the devotion??!! At the beginning she answered some questions and it was so weird to hear her talk! She's a real person. Who makes the most incredibly delicious food!! I know it's totally weird that I'm such a fan of some woman who cooks on a ranch in Oklahoma, but seeing her in person was like meeting Paula Deen or Ina Garten for me. I probably cook more Pioneer Woman recipes than any other celebrity chef and she is a stay-at-home-mom that started food blogging 3 years ago. It's crazy how the blogosphere has produced so many celebrities in such a short period of time.

Well anywho, Jenny and I waited and waited and chatted as we did which was awesome and then we finally got to the front of the line and my mind went blank. I told her that I loved her chicken spaghetti and BBQ meatballs and we went on to have a short conversation about her BBQ meatballs were she said, "They really are good aren't they, like little meatloaf balls," to which I said, "in a special sauce!!", which she laughed at and agreed that it was a special sauce. So in short I kind of made an idiot of myself. But at least I didn't start quoting cheesy 80's songs to her because honestly I was just that tickled to meet her. And she signed my cookbook. Oh I am SO happy! Thanks Jenny for another fun adventure together!!


Ree and I talking about meatballs.