Decorating

My office is kind of a boring place (remember...appraisers are commission based and don't have incentive to do anything but appraise), and I have never really decorated it. But, I recently commissioned some art from Cody to liven things up a bit. The pictures tell the rest. Thanks Cody! Your work is expensive, but it's a masterpiece!

Yes. I did take this picture just after I'd cleaned up my office.















For those of you wondering, the ninja is standing on flower poles, which are used to improve balance and agility. The dragon's name is Trogdor. Look at all his majesty.

You're Only One Once

Mom emailed me some pictures off her camera, so although it may steal her thunder (because she's got a spiffy new blog too) I thought I'd throw a couple up. Seriously, Danica had a great birthday.

These aren't in the right order...

We went to the Pioneer Day Parade Float Preview Party (or whatever they called it) at the Expo center before heading to the Mayan for dinner. It was really cool! You got to see all the floats, at once, in the air conditioning. And, no waiting by the curb all night. It was an excellent idea.

I'll save the videos for another time...or maybe let mom actually post some of her own pics :)

Also: if you haven't read the previous post, it has lots of fun pictures too.

Birthday, Graduation and Cheese

Danica loves cheese. She isn't fond of most meats, and vegetables are meh, but give her some shredded cheese (or any kind of fruit) and she's a happy girl.

Dani's bday was last Tuesday. I know every parent says this, but I honestly can't believe she's one. Cannot believe. When the boys turned one we pretty much had a survival party for ourselves. But Dani's birthday was bittersweet--I'm not as happy to see her growing up! She's a doll baby. I'm not loving how clingy she is, but otherwise, I totally adore everything about her.

Mom and Dad were here last week (so fun) and mom has all the Danica-birthday-pictures on her camera. All I've got is a grainy cell phone picture of her cake. But, what the heck, I'll throw it up anyway.

I got the idea for this one here, which is a fun website I haven't used before. So, I'm going to find a good one for the boys on their bday too.

Until then, I must diet. Must. Diet.

Mom and Dad got Nick and I a new camera for our combined birthdays. I've been having a blast playing with it. At some point my pictures will start to look cooler, but at the moment I'm just happy I've got some cute ones without a flash.

(This is the old camera. I just wanted to document the boys "helping" make the red velvet cake)

Loving the aforementioned cheese:

The weekend prior, Suzy came down and gave Danica the quilt she'd been making for Dani's birthday. Turns out, I haven't got a good picture of it, but its AMAZING. And it makes Dani's room, which is also AMAZING. Here's a little preview, you can see her sitting on it. I'll have actual pictures of her room soon.

We also traveled up to Rexburg for Joel's graduation. May I just say, I can't believe my little brother is all graduated now. I suppose the theme of this post really is, how-did-I-get-so-old. (btw, I'm sure to revisit this theme when P comes out to attend BYU. Because he was, you know, six when I went to BYU)

These are the pre-graduation festivities. Okay, these are my cute kids monopolizing attention at the little playground at Joel and Brittany's apartment

I love that pic

And here is Dodi all grown up. Funny story, Liana always calls Joel Dodi Head, which is how is identified on her phone. A few years ago, I adopted Liana's phone in an attempt to make it to my renewal date on my cell contract. Many of our contacts overlapped, so I just left them in my phone, then when I finally got a new one, I transfered the contacts...so Joel's been Dodi in my phone ever since. I don't even know where that nickname came from.

(note: in my happy new-camera-ness, I didn't have it set on the right thing for night pictures, and so the only sharp pictures I've got are the ones I took last...)

Oops, I got the wrong one. Sorry Dodi. This was the sharpest...someone else has a better copy of this :)

I've got more pictures. I've been a picture taking machine lately. But I'll just add these last couple. Danica is too stinking smart. She's started making a "picture" face when she sees I've got the camera out. It's a smile, her trying to say "cheese" and her wincing because of the flash to come. This is how it looks:


Haha, just kidding, I'm adding a few more. We went to my cousin's on Sunday because her son (who is going to Australia on his mission, like all the best people do) was getting ordained an Elder. She's got an amazing house, amazing yard, amazing family...and I took a few pictures:

I might have some videos to post eventually. I think this is enough for now...

Whew!

She's a Walking Girl

Danica pretty much gave up crawling last week. If I had to pin it down to a day, I'd go with last Thursday. Mostly because I know it was before Sunday, and big events seem to happen on the boring days when you don't expect anything. Babies are so great. It was like she'd just had enough, and good-bye my little crawler. I'm kind of sad to see her go. Now she's this totally new little person.

For posterity, let's just record: Danica decided to walk for her ambulatory needs on July 8, 2010. She was 11 1/2 months old.

Proof:

Took the boys to the zoo the other day, and I remembered my camera! But, I only took a few pictures because, let's face it, I was there on my own with three kids.


For some reason the pictures with Gage facing me were all blurry.

And this, dear friends, is for your happiness:

Pew you!

The boys have figured out all good "guns" make a noise like the plasma guns (? forgive my Star Wars ignorance) in Star Wars. Gage runs around and says, "I Pew you!" and shoots at you with his hands.

The other day, the boys were in the backyard and Nick was working on the lawn. Gage ran up to Nick and put his hands in front of him (sort of the action-hero version of jazz hands) and said, "I go Shoosh to you."

I'm going to add a random pics, but I haven't emptied the camera...

This is my phone wallpaper. I know I already texted it to a bunch of you, but i just love the sweetness...
Gage stole this hat from Aunt Tiff...he was a cowboy for a few hours

Oh, you're in for a treat...

So, the family reunion was fun and exhausting. It was great to see everyone, and wow, so beautiful up there. And yet...I was pretty happy to get home! Nothing like traveling with little kids. Luckily.

Danica's just decided to really experiment with walking. She's SO cute, although still convinced only mommy or daddy should ever hold her. Not my favorite. She does give exceptional snuggles though, which helps take the sting out.

She doesn't take exceptional naps, unless you mean exceptionally bad (wink). Oh well...she's asleep now, cross fingers she stays that way.

Me: Shoot! I just got a mosquito bite! Man, I haven't had one in a couple summers (due to being in Utah AND being pregnant last summer. Should we ever leave Utah I'll forever long for the relatively low bugginess)

Reid: What's that? (I explain)

a minute later...

Reid: A scumbito got me! A big one!

Admit it, you're smiling.

Gage has, lately, been reminding me of the Wonder Twins. Not because he and Reid have super powers (well, if you ask them they do) but because he will suddenly transform himself into all sorts of random things. A lot of our conversations go as follows:

Me: Gage! Come here!

Gage: I'm not Gage, I'm airplane man.

Me: whatever. Come here!

Gage: Mommy, I'm airplane man (insert bug, car, wind, clip man, dinosaur, duck...). Say 'please airplane man.'"
Me: (big sigh) Please airplane man, come here.

The "please" thing is because the boys are constantly demanding things of me and having to be reminded to say please. One wonders if they'll ever remember to say please without the reminder?

ETA: I've got a cranky baby on my lap, so I'll have to come back and label these later! More pics to come!