::Something I Did::

When Kris and I went on our trip to Rhode Island I was feeling really bad about leaving Max for so long--I've never left him for longer than a quick overnight. So I thought a lot to try to come up with something I could do that might make him (and me) feel better.
I'm posting this for two reasons. One is that I'm happy with the way it turned out, I thought it was really neat and two is that I'm thinking maybe somebody else could use this idea sometime. I think it would mean a lot more to a slightly older kid than it did to Max.
First I went and got a little 99 cent photo book from Target and filled it with photos of family--especially pictures of Max with different people. Then I decorated the outside a bit. He really liked this. We went through it together before I left and I told him he could look at it anytime he missed us or felt sad. I don't think he ended up looking at it at all, but it at least made me feel better that he had it if he needed it.


Then I wanted to make something that would help him understand how long we would be gone. I thought about how I did the advents calendar at christmas-time, and how the numbered presents helped him clue into the passing time, so I wanted to do something like that.
We were going to be gone for four nights, so I wrote up four different little notes for him.

I folded those up and numbered them one to four, and then punched holes in the corners and connected them with yarn.

I figured he could start with number four and then open one each day--then he'd have a little something for us and would be able to see how many days were still left.

I thought it turned out great. He actually didn't really care--I think he liked the notes but he was having too much fun playing with our friends' kids and he felt so at home there that he didn't need the reassurance too much I guess.
So I think that this would work great for a kid who was a little older--or something.
It was nice to feel like I made something fun! I haven't gotten to do a lot of that lately.

.:.:Double Tagged:.:.

I've been tagged twice recently (well I thought it was recently until I looked at Annie's post that she tagged me on--it's been almost a month!!) and so I thought I could get both the taggings taken care of in one fell swoop.

The first one was from Annie who is Kris's cousin Phil's wife. (It's been fun getting to know her better via the blog world)

Here we go!

10 years ago:
I was a freshman at BYU. Majoring in saxophone performance, playing in jazz bands and concert bands and saxophone quartets and combos and all sorts of fun things. I had a really fun freshman year. I was also getting ready to go on tour with the jazz band to Russia and Finland in the summer.

Snacks I enjoy:
Anything sugary. That really does just about sum it up for me. I'm not very discriminating.
But I do also like nuts. And crackers.
Yikes.

Five things on my to-do list today:
1) Pick up Max from school

2) try to clean up stuff in my house--oh where to start

3) Work with Max on coloring and reading

4) Work

5) Go to school tonight

Things I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
oh man, what kind of a question is this?

I would pay off our student loans first, obviously. Then I'd pick someplace beautiful and buy a whole bunch of houses there so all the family could live in the same place. I'd buy an old Land Rover Defender 110 (or whatever it is) for Kris and I'd get myself a whole bunch of new cameras and lenses. I'd also take some real photography and photoshop classes. Oh yeah, and I would get Kris a roof top tent for the grover. That's very important.

Is that enough? I'm sure I could think of more if I was forced...

Three of my bad habits:
1) Twiddling my hair. I like to do it in the car all the time and it drives Kris crazy

2) Leaving dishes to soak in the sink for WAY too long

3) Leaving books and magazines in the bathroom until they turn into mush because of Max's bathing (i.e. splashing) methods

Five places I have lived:
1. Provo UT

2. Orem UT

3. Vienna Austria (ok this might not count because it was just a summer. But I want it to)
4. Kansas City, MO

5. Wow. I don't have a #5. But I will in May or June when we move to RI!!

Jobs I have had:

1. Server at a Mexican restaurant

2. photo lab tech at the BYU bookstore

3. photo lab tech at Worldwide Photo in Provo

4. photo lab tech at Kenny's Photo in Orem

5. sales associate at Deseret Book in Orem (twice)

8. karaoke duplicator at Priddis Music (I can't remember where--American Fork??)

7. sales associate at Summerhays Music in both Murray and Sandy

8. Loan processor for Peak Mortgage

9. loan processor--self employed. I'm STILL doing it. Woo hoo!

Things people don't know about me:

well there might not be a lot now after being tagged before with something like this but I'll try...

1. I am a compulsive email checker so it's a good thing I have an iphone so I'm not stuck to the computer

2. Ginna isn't my real name (ok most of you know that but some of you probably don't!)

3. I love coordinating sweatsuits--you know, the kind that you buy both the hoodie jacket and the pants at the same time and they match? I love them for some reason. I try not to wear them out in public very much because I don't think they actually look that good, but I always like to have two or three around the house to wear in the evenings or on sunday afternoons.

4. I'm messier than I'd like to be

OK enough of that!!

The second tagging was by Karie who is my cousin Mat's wife. Also another family member that it's been nice to get to know a little better through blogs.
1. Pick up the nearest book (one of at least 124 pages)
2. open to page 124
3. find the 5th sentence
4. post the next 3 sentences

Sitting up on the back of the couch here is the book I read last weekend. It's called "The Alice Stories" and it's by Jesse Lee Kercheval. It was pretty good but it made me cry. I'm not sure I like that right now.

"I put on my suit, wrestled my hair into my cap, showered, and walked out onto the tile deck of the pool. Through the windows at the far end I could see the playground, empty and crusty with old snow. The lifeguard looked up from her clipboard and nodded."

Alright, I am going to tag a few of you out there. Feel free to pick either one of these things and do it. Whichever you fancy. And as always, if you don't do it I won't stay mad at you for long...

Lisa (hah! now you're double tagged too), Charlotte, Megan, Tiffany, Vhari, Lorri and Amanda!

(I got more than my usual share of tags because I did two at once.)

::Kris, What Happened?::

My friend Carie sent me this picture of Kris and Max she must've snapped the other day.
She's a little concerned that maybe the stress of school is getting to him.
What do you think? Does he need to cut down on the carbs?

.:.:Yipee:.:.

Yipee! I'm really excited tonight because I just found out that one of my photos got picked as a "Photo of the Day" in a classy flickr photo group. The group has about 4,500 people in it and close to 100,000 photos in it's pool.
So I'm bragging on myself a little.
If you want to check out the group click here.
And here's the photo. I was really happy with how it turned out, but it's always nice to get some serious outside validation.

::A (late) Valentines Report::

Check out all of the loot Max came home from school with on Valentine's day.

He had a great time trading valentines I think. Each of the kids decorated a lunch sack to collect the goods in. It was so cute to see all the valentines where the little kids wrote their names. I'm sure we'll get Max there someday.

I was a little bummed though because I wanted to make these adorable things for his Valentines.

Aren't they so cute? (If you want to see how to make them check out this post from Scribbit)
But of course I didn't have nearly enough time to do that, so I had to send him with Nemo/Cars/Incredibles etc. valentines from Walmart with sweet-tarts stapled to them. Not so cute, but it still took me a long time to get them ready. I didn't feel bad but I was just bummed out not to get to craft a little when there was a good excuse.

BUT I did get involved in something else fun for Valentines. It was the "Valentines Swap" which my friend Erica hosted. (By the way if you haven't checked out Erica's blog you totally should. She's very entertaining, informative and cute--a good combo.)
Those involved in the swap were assigned a partner, and then we had to get together some sort of a fun valentine's package for them. It was a lot of fun to do. My partner did a great job. It was so fun to get a big package full of exciting red and pink happy lovey kind of stuff.

Thanks so much Sarah!

Check out the valentines quilt that Kathy (Kris's mom) gave me for my birthday.

I love it! It goes so great with the wood on my table and it's so cheery. Just what we need in cold freezing freezing February.

On Valentines day I set up a festive table in the tradition of my mother--some chocolates, some cards. The essentials. (the monkey that you can see on the right hand plate was for Max from Kris's mom. He's carried it around constantly ever since he opened it)

I got Kris these really cool heart cufflinks. Very fitting for the holiday in my opinion!

I helped Max make a special valentine for Kris after school. I think he enjoyed the process, but as always with coloring/drawing he was glad when we were done.
Note the precise sticker placement.




And lastly I'll leave you with my favorite decoration out of the ones I tried to come up with this year. I think it turned out pretty cute.

.:.:What can I say (and a bonus book review):.:.

So what can I say when I come home from a long night of school and I find the small boy in bed asleep, clean and fresh smelling from a bath with clean teeth and a full stomach? Also, when I find all the clean laundry that's been sitting around because I've been sick folded and put away?
What can I say except that I have the best husband ever.

Kris does such a good job pitching in and supporting me in all I do. He's the best.

I hate being gone to school at night, but I think it's been nice for Kris and Max to have some focused time together--especially now when Kris isn't having to do tons of studying and homework all night every night. Max adores him and thinks that he's the best thing ever.
So thanks Kris for being such a good dad and good husband and friend.



And now for the bonus book review--it's been a while since I've done one so...
Tonight we dropped by Barnes & Noble quickly and I ran across this classic from my childhood: Katy No-Pocket
Anybody else remember this story? The art is by the guy that did all the Curious George books. We brought it home and read it for our bedtime story tonight. It's definitely wordy, so probably not a good pick for extra active toddlers or for a parent with a sore throat (unfortunately for me) but it does have a great story that I think captivates young ones that are sophisticated enough to follow an involved story line. Max didn't move a muscle while I read the story to him. Turns out this book was actually published in 1944. I had no idea his stuff was so old.
I remember reading this book over and over when I was little--and the pictures are so evocative of childhood for me for some reason.
So I would recommend it, although they didn't skimp on story length or words, so reading it takes a while. Also the female protagonist is a little emotional, but she doesn't give up in her quest to find out a way to carry her baby, so I don't think she's a weak character.  Anyway it's cute. Go read it.

Kelly, Lechelle, What happened?

I just can't figure it out.  Kelly and Lechelle came over to our house for Max's birthday, but the picture I took of them looks so different than the one they posted on their blog.  What gives?  Kelly kind of looked like Michael Jackson--that's cool.  If only Kenny and Lenny could have been here with us to celebrate.  

*Happy Birthday Max*

Today is our little Max's birthday. He's four now. It's a little crazy to think he's that old, but I guess we've been out here in school for a really long time, so I guess it should make sense...
I think Max's birthday merits a look back in time, so here we go:

Here's little Mr. Max born 2/17 at 2:17PM. The face he's making in this picture is a cranky face he still uses. That cracks me up. He was a cute baby, that's for sure.

Here's Max on his first birthday. He was very upset with me for making him wear the paper crown. I haven't tried to make him wear one since. He was really fun at this age, we usually had a great time hanging out together while I worked.

Here's Max on birthday #2. He had a cold and conked out at dinner, which was unfortunate since we did go to his favorite restaurant. Luckily we like it too, and enjoyed the unexpected peace and quiet during dinner. Thanks for the b-day present Max.

Here's Max on his 3rd birthday. We drove to Denver over his birthday that year to meet up with Kris's sister Kari and her family. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them, and Kari made him a fabulous birthday cake that nobody else will ever be able to live up to. Ever. But that's another post altogether.
I have to include these next two pictures because I think they're so cute of Max and Parker (Max's cousin). It's always fun when we can get them together.



And here we are at today. Max turned four! He was amazed when I told him this morning that he was four. It made him feel really cool. We had a pretty good day today although Max and I both didn't feel well and had to stay home from church. We think Max maybe picked up strep throat from our friends he stayed with last weekend--two of their kids came down with it while he was staying there. So he and I are both going in for tests tomorrow. Yay fun.
Anyway, he still had a good day. Kris got him a little kid's digital camera which he was very excited about. It's a pretty good camera for him because it's quite tough, and he's already dropped it on the hardwood floor a good amount of times. We'll share some of his pictures here on the blog later.

He's very serious about his pictures, as you can probably see. Well, at least when he's not sitting on the camera or doing something else weird to it.

Here he is enjoying his birthday dinner.

When we asked him what he wanted to eat for his birthday he specifically requested "chicken and rice." I was cool with that because it's easy to make and it does taste good for sure. Now that I know he likes it so much I'll make it more often too.
This morning when I was getting his oatmeal ready for breakfast he looked at me very reproachfully and said "I wanted chicken and rice on my birthday!" When I explained we were having it for dinner he was pleased. Funny kid.
Lechelle made a birthday cake for Max--his special request was a chocolate "fishy" cake. She and Kelly came over this evening to eat and celebrate with us. The cake was so adorable! Take a look.



I love the eel. It reminds me of the one I had painted on the wall in Max's old room.




The little fishies are so cute!



I think Max really liked the cake although he didn't do a great job of showing it. He was acting a little wacky because he was sick--and he always acts a little crazy when everybody's attention is on him. He's doing better with that as he gets older, but he's still a little goofy at times like this.
It was so nice of Lechelle to take care of the cake for me. This was kind of a stressful week, and then on top of that I felt ill all day saturday and today, so it was a big relief for me not to have to worry about it. And I couldn't have made one that was nearly as cute.

Max loves having "Happy Birthday" sung to him. It think it makes him feel like the President of the United States or somebody else really special. He did a good job blowing out all the candles.
Then we had him open up his gifts from Kris's parents--we had them on video chat through the computer there for a few minutes. Kris's mom made him a wonderful sock monkey quilt! It's so cute. I didn't get a picture of it today, but I will soon and I'll post it. I couldn't get Max to let go of it long enough for a picture.
If you look closely at the last picture here, you'll be able to see a little of it in the background. Anyway, it's adorable and she made a matching pillowcase too. I might steal it from him.
After that he was way too overwhelmed and when to bed after he ate some cake, leaving about 5 more presents unopened on the table. Oh well, whatever works I guess.

Thanks for sticking with me through this whole long post. I'm just so proud of my Max, he's growing up into such a good boy, and sweet. Happy Birthday Max!!

::Our Trip::

So I just wanted to give you a quick run-down of our RI trip. OK, not a quick run down, more like a long one with lots of pictures but whatever. The trip was quick though and felt like it just flew by. It was amazing we even got there in the first place--Kris almost got stuck at school until too late the morning we were leaving. It was really nice to get away from school for a couple of days, especially for Kris. School has been really high stress for him lately because he's trying to finish up all his requirements.

We stayed somewhere different every night to try to get a good overview of the area.
On friday morning we went over to the hospital where Kris will be working where I got to meet the program director and the current residents. Everbody was so nice and pleasant. It's very busy there but I think that it will be a great atmosphere for Kris to work. It seems to be very positive and happy, and everybody seemed to get along well.
The program director was so nice. I was very impressed with him because as we were standing in the hall of the hospital chatting, suddenly we heard a strange noise behind us. A young teenage boy had fallen to the ground with a seizure and his mom was trying to help him. Dr. Kane ran right over to them and got right down there and took care of things. He didn't leave them until he was sure everything was ok. He seemed like a really good caring doctor. So that's great.

We did a lot of driving around different areas to try to figure out which areas would be best for us to live in. We spent a good amount of time at Barnes & Noble on the internet too. Thank goodness for the internet or we wouldn't know anything!

We found a couple of areas we really liked, and now we're just going to watch craig's list to see if something liveable there will be available soon.
In general we really liked it out there in the Providence area. It's definitely all old and most of the houses are small but our house we live in now is small, so as long as we can get a little more room than we have now we should be fine.

On friday night we went to a get-together with all the residents. It was really fun. It seemed like they got together a good amount, and were all really comfortable with each other. They were so nice to us too. It was great for me to get a chance to get to know them a little--it makes the move a little less scary.
This party was where, unbelievably, Kris sang karaoke. Like I said before I don't think it'll ever happen again. He just didn't want to look like a party pooper in front of his new friends. Good thing I used to be in the karaoke business! I got up there and sang with him and we were coolness incarnate. Or something.

I look totally exhausted in this picture because it was after midnight. The party went on forever! It was really fun though. We were glad we got to attend.

Here's Kris in our crazy all white hotel room in downtown Providence. Everything was either bright white or chrome/stainless steel. It was weird, but pretty fun!

and here we both are--not my favorite picture, but then again no picture with me in it is my favorite! It's better than the other one...nobody's going to see that one.


We got burned out from driving around looking at places which we were too early to rent, so on saturday night we drove down to Newport and stayed there. We took the scenic ocean drive around the coast and it was soooo beautiful. Soooo cold, but so picturesque.

There was gorgeous light sunday morning so we took the drive again so I could give my camera some exercise. So fun to look at.


Can you see the cool bridge in this shot? It was amazing looking. Can you see the line of geese in the water? I wish I could've gotten a little closer shot there.









We went to sacrament meeting at the ward we're planning on going to and that was nice. Seems like there are a good amount of members in that ward and a healthy amount of kids, so that's good for us.
We flew out on sunday evening and you know the rest! We're glad to be back home even though it means we're back into the stress. Hopefully we can be strong and tough and make it through the next couple of hard months, AND find a place to live that is everything we want and need.
Wish us luck!!