.:.:Tennis:.:.

I've been swamped with work and school and so haven't gotten to post as often or as much as I'd like. Sad yes, but oh well.
This is important though, so I made time for it.
Max got tennis lessons for his birthday from Kris's parents. He LOVES them. He was so excited the first week of the lessons that he could hardly stand it. The court is indoor and it's set up so that parents can sit outside in a hall area and watch what's going on through some windows. It's so funny to watch the little kids in the class. The class is for 3 and 4 yr olds I think. I'll have to take some video next time to post because it's pretty much impossible to describe in words how funny it is to watch a little kid try to hit a big tennis ball of a tee, but miss it and spin himself around instead.

Max is doing really well in class. He seems to follow directions pretty well, he can throw the ball and sometimes even catch.

I think though, that the best thing he's bringing to the table is his enthusiasm. He can hardly hold it in. He's leaping and jumping in joy all over the court.
Who would've thought the guy would like tennis? It's so funny.

I think I'll try to get him into some other sports this summer. It would be funny if he ended up being a sporty kind of guy since neither Kris nor I ever were, but it would be great!

Here he is with his teacher. What a patient lady to teach a bunch of squirrely kids how to play tennis!
Kris and I are taking a class right now as well--beginning adult tennis, and it's surprisingly difficult! There are all sort of crazy hand positions and stuff like that to learn. We're enjoying it. Hopefully we can get to the point that we can play with each other a bit. And if Max could play that would only make it more fun!
We're proud of him--what a big boy!

::Calamari or Katamari??::

Here's Max eating a piece of Calamari at a restaurant this evening. I think maybe he only ate it because he thought it was Katamari.
Later when Kris and I were talking about how Calamari was spelled Max insisted that I was saying it wrong and it was KATamari.
I'm just surprised he ate it at all.

.:.:A Nest or Something:.:.

We got Sultan a bed at costco. Somehow he actually likes it.

::Wimpy::

Have you ever cried at the dentist? Well I never had....until yesterday. I have a tooth that could use a crown--I don't say that it needs a crown because it's the kind of tooth that will need a crown someday, but not necessarily right now. But Kris has a desperate need to get some crowns done now or he won't graduate. So I'm getting a crown.
There aren't many times I've cried in public. Besides like during sad movies and stuff of course. The two times I can think of are once at work--back when I worked at Summerhays Music--my boss tried to make me stay really late at work. I blame that crying on being young--and the commute from Orem to SLC.
The other time was when I was working with a personal trainer at the gym. It was leg day and he was making me use this terrible machine. He tried to kill me. Then I cried.
But I had never cried at the dentist. Until yesterday. When Kris poked me in the mouth with a bunch of needles.
It was kind of like when a kid falls down and hurts himself, he's pretty much ok until he finds his mom or dad. Then he's a crying mess, right? Or like when you have a terrible day at work, you're ok until you get home to somebody who's sympathetic, then you fall apart.
The problem was, my sympathetic person was there sticking me with needles. So I couldn't hold it in. I felt bad, because I didn't want Kris to think he was doing a bad job, or to think he was torturing me more than was necessary.
So it was just a couple of tears. But boy did I feel wimpy after that.
Kris did a good job. It was a long appointment, and there's more to come before we're done, but I was really impressed with him. His "chairside manner" is really good and I felt confident in his skills. And if I feel confident, knowing everything that goes on in that clinic, everyone else should too!
Besides, it's silly but it was nice to spend some time together. And I liked looking at his pretty green eyes while he was working on me.
I'm proud of him. It's still going to be quite the trick to get all his requirements done in time for graduation, but he's going to do it--I know he will!
And I'll have a nice big gold crown to show for it. Yipee. I'm going to try not to cry in the chair anymore. Wish me luck.

.:.:If Only:.:.

I was working on this picture tonight and it made me wish for the warm air and sunlight of summer.
I know it's coming--it's on it's way. And when it is the middle of summer I start wishing for the cold. I guess I'm just never satisfied. But tonight I'm nostalgic for warmth and sun.
Anybody else?

::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.