Sunday, June 25, 2006

Gettin' Ready for Princesses

Laura is SO excited about meeting the princesses. She counts down the days until we leave each day on her fingers. She has been trying out all sorts of new things to get ready for the trip. The first one was trying out the headphones so she can watch DVDs on the airplane. She was super lucky and got to try them out at Daddy's work. Laura would like to let you all know, "Daddy's work is super boring."Laura also made sure that she could play with Grandma before she left. She read stories and polished her tea party skills with another audience.












Our little princess has been making sure her outfit will be just right when she meets the princesses for real. This is her trying out one of the options.
Finally, I went to do My Girlfriend's Kitchen with Mom, so that we'd all have food when we came back from Florida. We were much faster this time.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

350 Visits and a Good Dog

Today we hit 350 visits to our blog since the beginning of this month. Yay! I'm sure that 347 of those visits were us coming to see how incredibly amazing and funny we are. Nevertheless, we're so thrilled that you all come to keep "in touch" in a weird sort of way and find out what's going on with our family. Let us know if any of you have blogs or websites that we can link to and keep in touch with you as well.

And on a total aside, Melinda and I went to lunch today at a little hotdog stand on BYU campus that her friend Steph recommended to us called "J Dawgs". They were absolutely fantastic and we recommend them to anyone who is feeling like a good Hot Dog for lunch.

Curly Girlies

I regularly get asked by people who don't know me that well, "Where does Laura get her curly hair?" Just an aside; isn't it gorgeous?!
Well, I got my hair cut yesterday. My wonderful Jason knew I wanted it done and made the appointment for me. I asked my stylist to give me a cut that would work with my curl. She did and I love it. I have never seen my hair this curly. Another aside; I really love the feeling of getting a good haircut. I just feel fresh and light. It's marvelous.
Here is a picture of us together. Maybe if I wear my hair down and curly instead of back in a ponytail, people won't ask where she gets it anymore.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Father's Day

The strangest thing happened this year. Both of our Dads (Fitzgerald and Breinholt) were out of town on Father's Day. So, we celebrated Father's Day with them last night.Unfortunately, Laura had lost the wonderful priming I had done for Jason's Father's Day and said "Happy Birthday" to each of them when she handed them their presents. Well, at least she said lots of spontaneous "Happy Father's Day" wishes to Jason on Sunday.I know I say it all the time that Jason is such a great Daddy, but I'm going to say it again. Jason is a GREAT Daddy. He is the perfect mix of playmate to Laura and helpmeet to me. Jason's love of children and their attraction to him is one of the things that first made me fall in love with him. That love has expanded exponentially since we have become parents. Thank you, Jason!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Churching Away

This was a big weekend Church wise. Big in that I spent ALL day Saturday doing Youth Conference, and big in that Laura made big progress in church.
Youth Conference was great. Some of the highlights were: playing and chatting with the girls; hanging out with the lovely ladies who came to Youth Conference; looking at the Manti temple; and seeing Brian (my friend Emily's husband) dressed up like Captain Moroni. I think it was a successful Youth Conference.
The other exciting event was how much Laura grew up in Church this last Sunday. She went to ALL of nursery all by herself for the first time. Hallelujah. Jason and I loved being able to attend Sunday School together and Jason got to make it Elder's Quorum. She also went up with the Primary to sing, "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home". We couldn't tell whether or not she was singing because she was so short, but she went up! She looked just like Kilroy...we could see her little hands on the edge and her head from the nose up. It was super cute.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Riding the Rides

After a hard morning's work on Friday, I decided Laura deserved some fun! Not that chasing mommy around the kitchen with the little vacuum wasn't fun, but the carnival was in town for Strawberry Days.
So, we called Daddy and he was more than happy to take his lunch hour and meet us for some rides. We got there right when the carnival opened and were able to walk right on to every ride. Laura rode the swings with both Mommy and Daddy. It was exceptionally fun to wave at the other parent on the ground. She had NO fear and thoroughly enjoyed herself on every ride.
She also rode the ducks. Completely by herself, we might add. Laura was most excited to ride the carousel which fortunately got fixed just in time for one ride with Daddy. She wanted Grandpa, but Daddy did beautifully.
The cutest part was at the end of each ride, she would run to the other parent just squealing, "Daddy/Mommy, that was SO much fun!" She also cried when we left because she didn't want it to stop. We're nervous that 6 days in Disneyworld just may not be enough for Laura.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Meeting?

So, we of the Young Women's organization who are going to Youth Conference on Saturday, had to get together to plan games to fill up the time. Yes, the Young Men's organization is in charge of this activity. Anyway, I decided we had enough meetings and we might as well have fun while we met. So, we met while having a barbecue. Okay, maybe it was just an excuse to get some use out of the new picnic table and swing.The kids seemed to have a grand time. I know that Jason and I sure had a lot more fun at this meeting than any other church meeting I've attended recently.Has anyone else noticed that Jason always ends up as the biggest and best toy attraction for the kids?! That is one of my absolute favorite things about my honey.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Run Run Run

Laura is a tease. It's fantastic. I wanted her to pose for me by the flag so that I could post a picture of us celebrating Flag Day. Laura decided it would be much more fun to run away from me. She would go near the flag for a split second then run away from it as fast as she could. All the while she was just squealing with laughter. Jason and I just kept running around after her and we all couldn't stop laughing. Isn't it just great to run barefoot on the grass in summertime? Anyway, we finally got the picture with the flag.
Throughout that photography process, I also got a picture of the corner garden. It would appear that Miracle-Gro is a miracle. We sprayed that garden with it and also our rose trees and all of them are thriving. Hallelujah.
Finally, after all that running, Laura was just wiped out. She decided to watch a movie (she's currently on a major Winnie the Pooh kick) in the playroom and chill out. Oh, how she loves to lounge in that big red chair.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Staring Out the Window

As you can probably tell from both Jason's and my posts today, nothing exciting has happened in the past couple of days. The highlight of our day yesterday was either meeting the new neighbors, or playing out in the yard. We just couldn't help but go outside after Laura rearranged all the chairs and blinds so that she could look outside. By the way, this is my favorite of all Laura's shirts. I think she looks adorable in it.

Can You Outsmart Your Foot?

Is your foot smarter than you? Here's how you can check:
  1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it.
  2. Now while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand.
Your foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about it. I've looked like an idiot sitting at my desk trying this for the last 5 minutes. It's creepy! If anyone can do it without their foot changing direction, let me know.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Little Luxuries

Today I thought Jason and I should post our Top 5 little luxuries. These are the little indulgences that make us happy. We also got a new camera yesterday and here are two pictures we took with it. The little thing made of Legos that Laura is holding is a penguin and her name is Carrold (pronounced like Harold with a "k" sound at the beginning) which Laura makes each time we break out the Legos.

Melinda
  1. Smelling Yummy:I have piles of lotions and perfumes and it is more exciting for me to pick out my scent each day than to pick out my clothes
  2. Having long shirts: to not have to yank on my shirt each day to maintain my modesty is pure heaven
  3. Dr. Pepper: it's a true addiction and I don't think I could start my morning without one
  4. My Girlfriend's Kitchen: pulling a homemade meal out of the freezer is just the best
  5. Receiving a "Top 10": Jason sends me the top 10 reasons he loves me that day in an email almost daily. Isn't that just the most decadent thing ever?!
Jason
  1. My big, big HDTV. It makes me happy any time we watch, well, pretty much anything.
  2. Getting a "Top 10" from Melinda almost every day. I'm totally spoiled.
  3. Ice cream. We always have some on hand for me and I have some pretty much every night. What could be better?
  4. My new DVD player that I got for Father's Day that "up samples" DVDs to play in HDTV resolution. It's a beautiful thing. Give me a moment...I'm all veklempt...
  5. Free soda at work. I am truly addicted to soda and now it's free! Which is a good thing and a bad thing...

Monday, June 12, 2006

Party Time / Productive Time

Party Time
We had a fun and busy weekend this weekend. Some of Jason's friends came over on Friday and we had a barbecue. It was great to watch Jason with his old guy friends. They have been friends so long that they are loud and comfortable. It makes me super happy!
We had prepared for the evening by hanging a baby swing on the swingset for the little munchkins who were coming, and buying an awesome picnic table to seat everyone outside. Alas, it rained. Fortunately, the girls seemed to find something else to play with other than the swingset.After playing with Jason and watching princess movies together in preparation for the trip, I think they totally bonded. Aren't they just darling?!
Productive Time
We also decided to paint our interior railing this weekend. It has been bothering me ever since we got the wood floor in. I think poor Jason finally got sick of me complaining about it, put off the other tasks he wanted to complete, and helped me paint the railng. Here it is outside ready for the paint.After 6 cans of spray paint (I didn't think it would take nearly that much) and numb fingers (from pushing the trigger) it got painted. I love how it turned out. It matches the floor much better now, in my opinion. Laura is just grateful that it's still made of metal and can be used for letter arrangements.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

Don't you just love it when your morning goes great?! My morning has been wonderful and I expect a wonderful day to follow.

I woke up sore this morning from hiking with the Young Women last night. Oh, it is so wonderful to be healthy enough to hike again! Then, I went in and awakened Laura and got little arms wrapped around my neck and a little voice singing "How Much is That Doggy in the Window". Pure heaven!

When I went downstairs, lovely roses were waiting for me. Jason brought them home to me last night. There was no particular reason for him bringing them, too. I felt incredibly loved. And when I saw them again this morning, they made me feel all loved and happy again. Aren't they beautiful?I was also told by my darling friend from my ward, Andrea Morrill, that my favorite lip stuff in the entire world, C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint, is on sale. It moisturizes, adds a hint of color and even freshens my breath. Really, it is the best! I'll be stocking up.

The last part of my fabulous morning (okay, it was really at noon) was being able to go to lunch with one of my best and oldest girlfriends, Julia. We ate marvelous crab wontons and it was heaven to be able to chat sans kids. I adore that I have friends I still see regularly who can laugh with me about High School memories and complain about the current state of real estate. I really am about as fortunate as I can get. Plus, isn't Jewels so sassy?!

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Time to Unwind

I believe our house has just been much too busy lately and we are all craving some time to unwind. And, even though the kids bathroom remodel is not finished, (our final big project for a little while) we just can't help but take that time. Laura comes home each weekday and settles in for a movie. Her current favorite is Pooh's Heffalump Movie. She makes sure everything is just as she likes it -- orange pillow, juice and a blanket -- and chills out.

Jason and I do our own unwinding to Good Eats, MythBusters or another happy TV show. Oh, how we love our DVR!

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Organized

I have been laughing lately about how much a perfectionist I am in certain areas of my life and how in others it is so easy to let things slide. The sinks MUST be clean, but a huge pile of papers in the home office is no big deal. It would appear Laura is the same...the playroom can be a disaster, but her letters on the fridge must be perfect, and all her legos must be detached from one another before they can be put away. Here she is with her recently perfected letters.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Jason's "Pure Append 3" Released

After months and months of work and a few late nights, we finally released the newest version of my product from work. It's called Pure Append 3 and it now out in our customer's hands. It's great to have this milestone reached and now life can and will be much less stressful. That's really the whole point of this post; that things at work are going to settle down and we will have much more free time. YAY!

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Coloring My Green Thumb

I seem to have gotten in over my head with gardening. My rose trees haven't leafed out and my petunias in the new corner garden seem to be dying. I'm not sure if it's because of the extremes in temperature -- from a week of 90 degrees to almost freezing -- that are occurring so quickly, or because my thumb is some color other than green. I'm crossing my fingers that the sad little petunias bounce back, but if anyone has advice on helping them along that path, I'd love it.

I wanted to catch Laura walking around and around the pavers at this corner garden as she usually does, but she's turned into a big ham and must POSE for her picture to be taken. I hope you enjoy the picture anyway.