jamie and morgan

a "kuk" party

2012-01-29T17:56:00.000-06:00

elliot is really into "kuks". if you saw my facebook post a few weeks ago you know that i spend more than half of my day talking about trucks. firetrucks, dump trucks, run of the mill ford trucks from the 90's. monday mornings elliot yells loudly in bed until i get him up so that he can rush to the window to see the garbage truck. i always hope the garbage truck is late so i can sleep a little longer.

a truck party simply made sense! jamie is really good at these types of creative ventures so i just follow his lead. we decided to make a road weaving through our house and accompanying cardboard buildings. just wait for the cardboard space needle coming up, the picture doesn't really do it justice.

we invited 13 kids and their parents and had only one family missing, it was definitely a party!

(elliot still doesn't quite get the party thing, but fortunately had lots of help with candles and presents from the older and wiser 3 and 4 year olds!)

"fwies"

2012-01-03T00:33:00.002-06:00

when we got home from a fantastic ten days in arizona on saturday we discovered we had some flies. not one or two or ten but lets just say that jamies death count is close to 60 and i have 20 under my belt and we aren't done yet.

we started out basic, fly swatter. jamie got more sophisticated with some fly traps that have caught a total of 6 flies to date (lame!). and then we moved on to the big guns. the vacuum cleaner. elliot decided he wanted a turn at catching "fwies" too. his newest word. charming right?

lindsay came to visit

2011-11-26T17:22:00.000-06:00

my sister lindsay came for a week and a half to visit me. well, okay, to interview for family practice residencies so that she can move here and visit me all of the time! except that she probably won't have any time but i try to not think about that.

when she wasn't interviewing we spent the majority of our free time cooking and then of course eating. sorry for the bad quality of the pictures, i have gotten into the habit of taking pics with my phone and the quality isn't great.

lindsay and i volunteered as assistants for the pie ninja class at the pantry at delancey.

at the jcrew in downtown seattle at a cancer charity event. where both eating AND clothes buying were involved. dangerous combination.

cooking up a storm for the house warming party we threw for all of our friends from our "old" ward and playgroup.

no lindsay, just our "extra" fridge on the back porch.

house warming peeps! again no lindsay, she was slaving away in the kitchen of course.

i didn't know what to do today when i started making pies for thanksgiving and lindsay wasn't here to talk to. so i called her on the phone of course and made her talk to me while i made three pies. she should probably just move here, it would be easier.

winter in seattle

2011-11-22T17:09:00.001-06:00

when the world is grey sometimes you just need a little color.

the adventures of elliot and bear

2011-11-22T17:06:00.001-06:00

read about it here!

a "roar"ing good time

2011-11-02T01:48:00.000-05:00

it was touch and go for awhile whether elliot would end up as a lion at all.

on the saturday before halloween jamie took elliot to the zoo and showed him the lions in an attempt to build some camaraderie, no such luck.

before we left home we tried again to get him to dress up by tempting him with candy. at first it seemed it was a go, everytime we asked if he wanted candy he shook his head yes. but when he realized that the costume was an obstacle in the way of the candy he decided the candy wasn't worth it. we headed to trunk or treat without much hope.

BUT! i think the craziness distracted him because soon the costume was on and with candy in hand he was a happy kid.

after dinner there were games with prizes! elliot got the hang of going to different rooms to play games and win candy pretty quickly. it was literally all we could do to keep up.

when trunk or treat started elliot was practically a pro. he ran from car to car and had no shame sticking his hand back in the bowl for a second helping.

a happy lion at the end of the night! ps. he does have an excellent roar but of course he would never roar when he was actually wearing his costume.

bike ms.

2011-09-29T21:00:00.000-05:00

jamie and his dad rode the bike ms race in mt. vernon, washington a couple of weekends ago. between the two of them they raised over $2,600 dollars (thanks to everyone who donated!!) the only thing is that the race started at 7:30 am on saturday morning and the time stamp on this picture reads, 7:34 am. once they made their leisurely way to the start it was after 8:30 am! they barely made it out before the 8:45 am cut-off but they did make it.

elliot and i made a sign and met up with them at the 2nd rest stop of the day, the sign reads, "2 generations, 1 purpose, ride for cindy! jamie's mom cindy was diagnosed with ms many years ago and has suffered through the debilitating effects of this disease so this ride was especially significant to the larsen family.

brad told us about the store grocery in anacortes so elliot and i stopped to pick up some nourishment on our way to the next rest stop. i think the muffin and elliot's head are just about the same size.

after the next rest stop elliot and i headed back to the city but brad and jamie rode on covering over 100 miles saturday and sunday. i definitely think this event is going to become a tradition in the family. what a great way to support a good cause.

our baby free weekend

2011-09-26T00:43:00.000-05:00

over labor day weekend jamie, elliot and i headed to l.a. and then jamie and i left elliot in l.a. and headed to the mountains. don't worry, we didn't just ditch him on a street corner, my mom and her husband mike watched elliot for the WHOLE weekend! awesome. even when he screamed the whole first day. not so awesome.

anyway, i planned this trip for jamie's birthday - the plan was to drop off elliot and then drive to palm springs and take the aerial tramway up to 8,000 feet where the temperature went from 120 something to 70 something. perfect. then we were going to hike down the other side of the mountain to the little town of idyllwild, hang out and do WHATEVER WE WANTED on sunday and hike back monday morning. this plan all went well for awhile.

here are pictures leaving the desert floor behind and looking up at the mountains that are rapidly approaching.

here we are at the top of the tramway before we started hiking to idyllwild, don't we look so refreshed and excited to get started?

you have to get a state park and national forest permit in order to hike anywhere in the san jacinto range because most of the trails pass back and forth on state and federal land. from the top of the tramway to the forest service office it was about .5 miles, only 10.5 miles to go.

it really was beautiful and very serene. gorgeous vistas, nice cool weather, no screaming baby who hates the baby backpack. yes, very nice. see, jamie is happy!

so we finish the long hike down the mountain to the humber park trailhead which is still a good 2 miles from the town of idyllwild. and we start walking down the road. jamie wants to hitch hike the rest of the way and i do not so we walk. and walk. and walk. and it gets dark and we are still walking. we finally make it to our hotel, exhausted. we head out for a quick dinner and then literally crash until 10 am the next morning. our plan had originally been to do whatever we wanted to do all day the next day. all of things you can't do with a baby, see a movie, eat at restaurants while remaining in your seat for the duration of the meal, etc...

after we finally got our aching bodies together enough to go out and get breakfast we started calculating how long it would take us to hike back up the mountain the next morning based on our hike the day before and as our start time got earlier and earlier we decided to change our plans. instead of our relaxing day in town we decided to hike all of the way back to the tramway. except that we didn't want to walk back up the road to humber park and the devil's slide trailhead (and in fact couldn't hike that trail anyway because permits are limited from the idyllwild side of the trail during summer weekends... who knew?) so we decided to take the longer deer springs trail, you know, 12 plus miles from start to finish. see some new scenery..

we thought we knew where the trail started and began walking up the road. although idyllwild is still in the mountains, it is at 6000 ft which means that the middle of the day is HOT. when we got our permits for the hike back the ranger told us to double whatever water we were already carrying. so we walked up the road about .5 mi and decided we must be going the wrong way so we walked all of the way back in to town only to discover we had been going the right way after all. 45 minutes wasted and we hadn't even started for the day! this time i let jamie hitch us a ride back to the trailhead. the trail was hot and it was ALL uphill but we made it. even had more excellent views.

funny enough you have to hike up and then back down. the trail starts at about 6000 ft and ends at about 8000 ft but the trail had us hiking up to almost 10000 ft. before descending to the tramway. by the time we were done it was once again dark and we were exhausted. but we had booked another night in idyllwild! so we grabbed another quick dinner and our car and headed back to the town for the night.

we really appreciated having a whole weekend sans baby but i think next time we might take a more restful approach to the weekend rather than cramming 22 plus miles into two days... still it was 22 baby free miles and being that elliot absolutely hates hiking, that made us happy.

and the winner is...

2011-09-20T01:48:00.003-05:00

most of you guessed it, the winner is number three. i am not a fan of crossing aurora everytime we want to walk to green lake but i am a fan of a bigger place than i ever imagined we would buy within walking distance to the library and the grocery store and with a yard! although what i am most excited about right now is the interest rate we locked in today, 4.25% on a 30 year fixed. seriously, i think locking in that rate was the most excited i have been during the whole process!

here are the rest of the house pics, now taking donations for the furniture fund!

house hunters

2011-09-16T16:47:00.000-05:00

we bought a house! yes! i can't believe i get to write those words and so soon after my mournful blog post of last week.

despite begging and pleading, jamie would never agree to be on house hunters so i decided to go for second best, house hunters a la blog. here is the catch, these aren't just any random houses, we actually made offers on all of these, so we obviously like them all! but only bought one... oh and no prices here (although if i talk to you for two minutes i will inevitably disclose everything) but i have ranked the houses with dollar signs designating their relative price.

house #1 - craftsman charmer with an uncharming kitchen
the basics: 3 bedrooms/2 bathrooms, 1910 sq ft. $$.

love the outside. original leaded windows, stone support beams. but... no parking. none, zero, zilch.

seriously, i can't stand it. built ins? brick fireplace? love.

kitchen needs some work though and although it is not pictured here, the main floor both has zero storage space and the two bedrooms on the main floor are tiny with tiny closets to match.

house #2 - backyard oasis with a hefty price tag

the basics: 3 bedroom/2 bathrooms, 1,580 sq ft, $$$

funny enough, in all of the pictures of this house they never show the front (which is very decent looking). so here is the back. which is awesome. this picture doesn't do it justice, it is updated in a way that makes you just want to hang out in the backyard all of the time (sorry, couldn't find high resolution pictures)

the kitchen is huge and it's remodeled!! no more explanation needed.

living room or large hallway? this is the only living space and it is on the way from the front door to the dining room. that's it. want a family room? you have to use one of the three bedrooms. which they have already kindly converted to a serious man cave (ugh).

house #3 - a steal on the other side of the tracks
the basics: 4 bedrooms/3 bathrooms, 2660 sq ft, $

this house has serious room to grow, 4 huge bedrooms with closets (just wait until i get to the master suite) and three bathrooms, one on each floor. the cute craftsman front (or what you can see of it around the giant trees) doesn't hurt either. but to get to the cute shops and restaurants and green lake you have to cross a super ugly, super busy street. just say aurora to any seattle-ite and they will cringe. still, the house is on a very nice, leafy suburban looking street.

not my style, but it was obviously someone's style back in 1926 because they windows and the fireplace are all original. the doorknobs are beautiful, crystal and brass. and the doors are all mahogany. they just don't make things like they used to.

did i mention this house has space? the entire 3rd floor is the master suite. new bathroom, teak floors and huge separate sitting area. even has a fireplace for ambiance. the basement is all new too, new bathroom, guest bedroom and family room! what you don't see is the kitchen which would definitely need some remodeling in the future.

okay, time to vote! which house should we pick? (or, ahem, did we pick?)

pie love

2011-09-07T00:51:00.004-05:00

my friend ande read my sad blog post this morning and sent me a text proposing to take care of our fridge fix by making us dinner. i told her that i would try and get my fridge to die more often once i saw this masterpiece, it should be on the cover of gourmet! which is sadly now defunct. but i will not let that get me down, i think i just need another piece of pie.

yep, happy already.

ps the cherry bread was pretty awesome too.

the fridge died.

2011-09-06T01:00:00.000-05:00

in case the title wasn't a downer, don't worry, the post will be. today was just one of those days. jamie and i enjoyed our first baby free weekend hiking through the mountains of southern california this weekend (pics to come) but decided to make our weekend stressful by putting in a bid in on our third house before we left.

(in case you were confused because the above wasn't sad, don't worry, the downer part starts now...) they went through the offers this morning and since we still haven't heard back that means we didn't get it. i am so tired of this multiple offer game and i am tired of listing agents who just won't say no, you didn't get the house. they just drag it on FOREVER. i hate it. so i am already in a bad mood when we get in the car and the low tire pressure light is on AGAIN. add a new tire to the $1000 of body damage i did when i hit a parked car two weeks ago and the $500 oxygen sensor i found out we have to replace last week that has no relationship to the functioning of the car. then we get home to a hot house and i am open the mail and find that i have to pay a $75 fine for leaving my stroller in the hall even though i never knew there was a rule against that. i told them so last week but evidently they don't care. then i open the fridge to give over-tired elliot (didn't sleep well at grandma and grandpa's this weekend and had a long afternoon of flying home) only to find that the fridge is DEAD and the food is, well, yeah. enough said. this day hasn't gone so well.

but to end on a high note. our fridge, while warm, is now clean.

and i am now going to go and order these to cheer up this very bad day.

victoria b.c. - the highlights

2011-08-17T22:38:00.012-05:00

we decided very last minute to spend a few days in b.c. as a last hurrah before jamie started his new job last month. we brought our bikes along on the ferry and enjoyed lots of riding, playing on the beach and the buchart gardens. normal, unexciting vacation stuff that you really don't care to see pictures of. instead i bring you the real highlights:

jamie decided to take an overdose of anti-nausea medicine on the ferry over (aka 1/2 a pill) and slept through 1/3 of our vacation. pictured here, jamie on the front lawn of the parliament building.

while we were in victoria there was an arts festival going on and different kinds of presentations were held throughout the city. a selection of brass players from the victoria symphony performed and at the end of their mini concert they held a movie theme song contest. i kindly nominated jamie who won 4-0 although disappointingly did not know the theme to harry potter.

on one of our bike rides we discovered a petting zoo! we basically snuck in (i am pretty sure it was free anyway, but we did avoid getting pestered about giving a donation) (gees, i am an awful person to not want to donate to a petting zoo) and elliot had a blast. the highlight being the pigmy goats. it didn't take elliot long to feel rather comfortable around the goats:

but after awhile he got bored of following the goats around and decided that their climbing rocks were his climbing rocks. i swear we are raising a pigmy goat, doesn't he just blend in? maybe a red collar would help.

the best part was there was a secret event going on after the zoo closed for the day. if you were cool like us you got to stay for the highlight of the whole zoo... the running of the pigmy goats! i have never seen bulls run, but i can't imagine it gets better than this.

awesome.

sunny and 71

2011-08-06T12:58:00.001-05:00

multiple times a day i look at the insurance building from my window for an update on the temperature and it usually looks something like this (59 degrees if that is too hard to read):

but the last few days it has looked more like this:

yeah for it finally being summer! but it must have been a fluke because we are now back to this:

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family pictures

2011-08-04T17:16:00.008-05:00

we had family pictures back in june and just got the jpgs in the mail yesterday. although there were a couple of great ones (look for them in december on the christmas card!), most of the pictures went something like this:

the photographer did catch a few great ones of elliot's serious concetration faces which i adore. find them here.

the anniversary sale

2011-07-23T00:47:00.004-05:00

growing up, pam and i always hit the day after thanksgiving sales hard. no one else ever had any desire to go, at all. but we were always lined up at mervyns or target just to get the free gimmick (one year it was a hot wheels car, yes they normally cost 99 cents). We never bought much but we did lots of people watching and did our best to race around the store looking appropriately frazzled.

great luck found pam in seattle on the first day of nordstrom's annual anniversary sale last week. as i currently live within walking distance of the flagship store we decided it was fate that we should join the throngs flocking to the store for the 7 am opening in honor of the sale.

we got up at 5:45 and walked (because we were afraid it would be hard to find parking), getting to nordstrom at 6:20 and found... no one. no lines, anywhere. we checked the date and our watches and even talked to the nordstrom's baristas who confirmed the start of the sale and then laughed really hard that evidently no one else was taking it as seriously as we were. here we are at the front, middle and back of the line:

finally around 6:45 - 6:50, a few others trickled in and we joined a group of about 25 for the grand opening. at least it was rewarding, when the doors opened we were met with cheering from the employees on every floor... for all 25 of us (i swear that even though it doesn't look like it, there really were 25 people there).

looks like we'll be here awhile

2011-07-17T23:51:00.021-05:00

it's official. jamie has a job. yes!

it's been a long road. at the end of august last year we made our first trip to seattle to get the lay of the land. which means that we were thinking about moving even before then. and after trying to figure out if to move, then when to move, then moving and then not knowing if we would get to stay or if we would have to move again and finally, finally, the unknown becomes a known. mostly its just a huge relief.

and although there were other good options and i am sad to not be near my family in arizona, i absolutely love this city. and the many good friends who have made us feel like this is home in just a few short months. here is what we have been up to so far in this great city:

eating local. local bakeries, local farmers markets, in this case theo's chocolates, a local chocolatier. the food and the produce here is amazing. when 1/2 flats of beautiful raspberries picked from a local farm are just $11 you can literally eat yourself silly.

being outside. rain (or mud) doesn't seem to stop anyone here. on memorial day we headed to bainbridge island with some friends who literally spent the morning hanging out in mud. in fact most of the following pictures are outside because being outside is what you do here and i love it.

insta-friends. it helps when you don't have to go far for great friends. we love having cara and evan close (which in turn means cute carter who says elliot's name in the most adorable way possible) and lots of other friends from both of our graduate school programs and even from chicago! who have made seattle home.

new friends. people have been awesome, weekly play groups, camping, strawberry picking, girls night out, book club, tide pooling, hiking, picnics, there is literally something going on almost every day of the week.

camping. we love to camp! we almost forgot how after five years in chicago, but earlier this month we were invited to go camping with some friends in this picturesque spot by the ocean. seriously, does it get better?

wildlife. tidepooling is literally one of the coolest things i have done. sea anemones, urchins,huge star fish (see john below), clams. no need to visit an aquarium.

the great outdoors. okay, i know i am getting redundant. but our poor little city boy didn't even like grass when we moved here. but i think we have finally convinced him that water and sand and all things nature are actually pretty cool.

learning the local way. i dragged my sister to pike place when she got here so she could show me how to pick out wild copper river salmon. we poked and prodded (and wheeled and dealed, who knew that was an option?) lots of fish and eventually bought two whole fish of which i sadly don't have a picture. but i know have a favorite fish counter as well as a favorite flower counter, donut counter, chowder counter and almond croissant counter. come visit us and i promise you will gain 10 pounds. but you will also be very happy you did.

seriously the coolness doesn't seem to end. i am amazed with all of the things you can do here. below is elliot at the fish locks watching the salmon (i swear there were fish although i seem to have missed all of them in this picture). this week we missed out on an opportunity to go to story time on a tug boat and to visit a floating farmer's market. fortunately there is always next week.

family. one of the reasons we moved here was to be close to jamie's family and we have gotten to spend lots of time with them in the last few months doing everything from a fourth of july bbq to mary poppins to visiting a touring norman rockwell exhibit. pictured below is my sister-in-law jessica with a butterfly on her head at the science center.

visitors! we have had so many friends and family pop by just because they were in town for this and that, which is amazing. just this week pam and michelle came for a couple days on their way back from a boat cruise through the san juan islands (sounds pretty good, think i might have to try that out). here we are on our way back from getting amazing scones at a local, very cute bakery. in other words, eating of course.

this says it all. seattle, you are awesome.

next up. buying a house.

daily snippets part deux

2011-06-27T00:55:00.001-05:00

i really liked doing a daily snippet last week so i am doing it again. i don't want to make any long-term promises though so this could be it.

monday: watching the big kids during recess. poor elliot wants to be big so very much and he just isn't yet. but oh someday kid...

tuesday: picnic at the park. 70 degrees and sunny, sigh. it was perfection. and i think i like dressing a boy, seriously, madras shorts? i am in love (I swear they don't reach all of the way down to his ankles in real life, only most of the way).

wednesday: car seat chaos on the way to strawberry picking with cassandra and her cute boys. this is the stuff that i always wanted to go do when i had a job and no time. now, no job and lots and lots of time.

thursday: i am in love with the mormon mom cookbook, our best bites, that michelle discovered. what do you do with all of the strawberries you didn't mean to pick? make sour cream pound cake with coconut cream and fresh strawberries with a recipe from your new cookbook obviously.

friday: so so many cute things in seattle. everything about this meal from homegrown screamed cute.

saturday: excuse the gross sweatiness, i ran the rock and roll half-marathon on saturday. my 1:55:05 time doesn't get me close to qualifying for Boston but slowly and surely...

a sunday picture just didn't happen. just picture the usual craziness plus race hang over and speaking in church, you don't a picture to visualize that!

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Location:Seattle,United States

daily snippets

2011-06-20T01:47:00.002-05:00

thanks to my sister in law kim's idea to do a daily blog entry for a year i was inspired to at least try the same thing for a week. mid-week i rediscovered the hipstamatic camera app on my phone and then i really got hooked on snapping lots of pics of otherwise boring daily life because now my life looks artsy and well, infinitely cooler.

oh and i wasn't inspired until monday night so my apologies to sunday and monday, you were both good days but you won't be pictured here. well sunday maybe less so because i was teary-eyed at leaving my family and a wonderful week at the cabin in arizona behind but monday was much better because cupcakes and shopping were involved. you see my mom met me at the airport and flew back to seattle with e and me so we spent the first half of the week eating up seattle (no, literally. i think i gained five pounds). on to tuesday.

ice cream at molly moon's, the salted caramel with dark chocolate hot fudge = heaven. (see what i mean about the pounds? if not just note that a few short hours later we went to purple where i insisted we each have our OWN bread pudding. curse cara, for ever introducing me to such perfect blackberry, caramel perfection). oh and e is a salted caramel/hot fudge fan too.
on wednesday we took the ferry over to bainbridge island, e's favorite part was playing with the steering wheel of the video game on the boat, i can't resist the baby butt crack. and yes, ice cream was involved.
thursday was just e and me for the first time in two weeks. that was a hard transition. but we took it in stride by painting our bellies (well okay, i guess just one of us painted his belly) as part of our attempt at father's day cards.
on friday we went to the beach and played in the mud and seaweed left from the very low tide. it was awesome and so is my hipstamatic truck picture.

actually, friday gets two pictures because we were incredibly amused by jamie's interpretation of "see-food".

saturday was truly chaos. it went something like, early morning run, get ready for family pics that are then cancelled because of rain (duh right, was i really thinking i could take outdoor portrait shots in seattle??), run to airport to pick up friend, eat lunch and shop with friend, drop friend off, pick up j and e, run to swim birthday party, leave early and run home to change clothes for dinner party (by run of course I don't mean all of us on foot hauling through the city... although the mental image is quite amusing).

and today is father's day. my crowning achievement was a family bike ride. having the bike all set up and ready to go with the baby bike seat was supposed to be part of the deal. but that turned into a major fiasco that i wrangled jamie into after all and then forgot to take a picture! oh well, here is elliot covered in soup from dinner instead.

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rachel the pig

2011-05-30T00:25:00.007-05:00

thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts... i know that life has ups and downs and in the scheme of things this recent bump isn't too bad. i just hate how the unknown is just so unknown!

in other news, one of the perks of our new digs is that we are walking distance to pike place market. when we came out last august for a quick trip to check out the housing market we snapped a photo with e and rachel the pig. couldn't resist another one last week when we walked down to celebrate our five year anniversary with some of beecher's award winning mac and cheese (although truthfully dicy, yours is better).

7 month old elliot

15 month old elliot, so big!

its been kinda hard

2011-05-18T00:37:00.000-05:00

it is exciting to move to a new city. i love trying out new museums and parks, eating at new restaurants, seeing the snow topped mountains through my family room window on a sunny day and just walking up and down the hills through the neighborhood with the cherry trees in full bloom. let me reiterate that last point, there are hills here!! i am very happy.

but changes always go both ways. along with the good, i am now home all day with a little boy who is also trying to adjust to a new city. this arrangement is new for both of us and truthfully hard. i am learning all over again what patience is. and of course coming here without jobs, while daring, is also very uncertain and will be for the indefinite future. in all of the excitement of moving i forgot what it means to be new in a town and at church. i know it will get better, but for now it is just hard.

tiptoeing through the tulips

2011-05-14T23:57:00.011-05:00

we went to the tulip festival in mt. vernon a few weekends ago. the tulips were beautiful even though we went a little late in the season but admittedly one of the highlights was the giant bag of kettle corn that elliot, jamie and i managed to eat in its entirety while sitting among the tulip beds.

our stay-cation

2011-05-10T18:30:00.012-05:00

i feel a little in limbo in seattle. we are renting a furnished apartment through the middle of july hoping that by then we might have some idea of whether we are staying or moving on. we are definitely rooting to stay, we really like it here, just a little thing called jamie gets a job that has a big impact on our plans. so far, no job.

but while we are here it seems only right to make the most of it. we already have some favorite foods and have visited most of the museums, but with a 15 month old we still find ourselves spending a fair amount of time in our apartment. nicely furnished, very convenient, it is just rather... small. case in point, i think elliot gets excited to go to his music class not for the music but because he can walk more than 5 steps without having to turn a corner, bump into furniture,etc...

with the exception of the bedrooms, this is our apartment. the photos don't really do it justice because the most amazing part is that in approximately 700 sq ft there are two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen with pantry, dining area, bar area, a washer/dryer nook and lots of mirrors to give the illusion of added space. not to mention a house full of furniture (story about jamie knocking art off of the wall in the middle of the night EVERY night when he rolls over in bed to come later). as amusing as that all is, my favorite part is the alcohol related decor at every turn, the irony of course being that we don't drink. the owner, very lovely girl, must enjoy a glass of wine and/or an appletini, or both, and although i have removed the large metal martinis that adorned the bar area (some things are just not my style) "red hot" still hangs in the kitchen. and there are more wine openers than nearly all of the other kitchen utensils put together (the game, "where are the 4 wine openers?" can be played in the photo below).

leaving on a jet plane

2011-04-15T23:32:00.001-05:00

goodbye chicago. we had some good times together, more snow storms than i care to remember but so many good memories. it's hard saying goodbye.

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grandma euni

2011-03-24T23:22:00.008-05:00

i couldn't post on new zealand without a shout out to "grandma" euni at fox glacier homestay who made us homemade bread for breakfast, taught me how to miter corners when quilting and who when we called to ask if she would watch elliot while we went ice climbing said (in an awesome australian accent), "well you're here so you gotta go!". and spent a whole day (and i mean a good 10 plus hours) hanging out with elliot.

while grandma euni watched the little guy, we hiked up this...

so we could climb on this. simply awesome.

outtakes

2011-03-22T23:15:00.012-05:00

of course it makes logical since that since new zealand is the birthplace of the kiwi it should import them all, right? we never did see a kiwi actually grown in kiwi-land.

jamie accomplished something truly magnificent on this trip, well maybe magnificent is a bit strong, but he has now had coke in a bottle and a straight razor shave on all six inhabited continents. he also tried to get new zealand customs to stamp his old passport, that isn't expired but is close enough to the expiration date that he had to get a new one. they declined. he settled for a kids stamp of a kiwi bird at the national park instead.

elliot loved the mauri.

i couldn't get rid of this guy but evidently everyone else on the top of the mountain couldn't get enough of him.

yes i am kissing the end of the avalanche peak trail. it was hard and i was very happy to be at the end.

because of you mister scary flimsy cardboard national park ranger man i will definitely not venture alone onto the glaciers.

where is the wight way?

and of course the trip just wouldn't be complete without people living in a van down by the river.

all in pictures

2011-03-22T22:21:00.018-05:00

words just don't do it justice.

tongariro national park

avalanche peak, arthur's pass

pancake rocks, punakaiki

west coast

fox glacier

the remarkables, queenstown

on the milford road

milford sound

rarotonga, cook islands

drum roll please

2011-02-25T23:18:00.004-06:00

it came to my attention that i have been rather unfair, alluding to our upcoming move but being unintentionally vague.

for some time we have been thinking about leaving chicago and moving closer to family. jamie's family in the northwest or mine in the southwest. jamie's mom has been sick for a long time and we don't get to see his parents as much as we would like so we decided to make the northwest our goal and even made it out very briefly last august to meet up with jamie's parents, meet with a realtor to get an idea of house prices and introduce elliot to rachel the pig. in case you aren't familiar with rachel, she lives on the top floor of pike place market. in other words, seattle here we come.

now for some answers to some of the inevitable follow up questions:

1) we did actually quit today which means that we truly are unemployed (gulp). i am thinking i might make my unemployment situation permanent, at least for the foreseeable future, but hopefully jamie doesn't have the same goal in mind because yeah, being unemployed starts to dwindle your bank account balance.

2) we are headed out there in april and are going to give it 3 months. in other words, we are planning on finding a short-term lease for a furnished apartment just in case jamie can't find a job in seattle he likes and portland or arizona start to become better options.

3) we are thinking about hiring movers for our stuff and driving ourselves in our car but if anyone else has moved across the country and has a better/cheaper idea for moving please share.

the joys of city parking

2011-02-24T21:33:00.008-06:00

jamie and i joke that we spend half of our time driving anywhere just getting from the garage door to our parking spot. in an effort to explain that i am not exaggerating, on the way to our spot we complete 9 turns and pass approximately 135 parking spaces, all at a painfully slow 5 mph. if that doesn't paint the picture clearly let me illustrate the pain:

i should also note that the 2 level starts once you enter the garage, a deceptive manipulation tool to make you think you are well on your way to reaching your destination when in fact you have just begun.

i am incredibly thrilled to announce that on april 15th we will take our last trip through the parking garage because we have given our landlord notice and we are officially embarking on an equally painful journey, moving across the country and driving the whole way with a one year old.

because we are smart like that

2011-02-01T22:05:00.002-06:00

we think we are smart. so smart that recently we decided to take the following actions:

1) quit our jobs

2) go hang out in new zealand and the cook islands with our one year old baby

3) move at some undetermined future date

4) find a job in still undecided future location

elliot's first christmas

2011-01-09T21:09:00.000-06:00

we made a decision to not get elliot anything for christmas. so not only did we not purchase any gifts but the poor guy didn't even see a christmas tree until two days before christmas. luckily all of the grandparents came through with presents that elliot loves and he had a great time christmas morning ripping paper and wearing bows. but for posterity's sake he also gazed in wonder (at least for about 3 seconds):

a little catchup

2011-01-07T21:15:00.018-06:00

i went down to gilbert a few days before thanksgiving to spend some time with dad, michelle and the boys. elliot and i spent all of our time with family since it was july since were last in that neck of the woods.

one night elliot and i drove far far away to the new hospital where my dad is chief of staff. after driving FOREVER (okay i might not have had any idea where i was going and i might have had to take a huge detour) we met up with dad and made it to the queen creek olive mill minutes before they closed and get an excellent behind the scenes tour of the new hospital. don't worry, i still managed to purchase enough olive oil to sustain a small country.

elliot chillin in the doctors lounge at the new hospital.

elliot of course spent lots of time getting into trouble.

including "feeding" the dog

well okay, we might have helped a little with that.

bryce, adam and elliot were all somewhat willing victims of a boys photo shoot where we managed to get kind of one photo (minus the top of bryce's head) where all of them were facing the camera and didn't look miserable!

on tuesday night we headed down to tucson where mom, lindsay and i spent all day of wednesday and right up until dinner was served thursday, cooking like mad. lindsay's crowning achievement, well one of many actually, was the turkey. she and that turkey did a love dance over two days that ended in a norman rockwell beauty.

i think a shout out should go to the workout clothes in the picture below. i thought it was very impressive that we all managed to complete a thanksgiving day workout.

there were eleven people at thanksgiving dinner so of course we made six desserts: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, sweet potato cheesecake, cranberry tarts, apple pie and chocolate caramel tarts. which were in turn consumed for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next three days (and were all finished!)

and then we hiked it all off. it is amazing to eat thanksgiving dinner and then be able to hike in short sleeves. thank you arizona, you are amazing (especially as i watch snow fall outside my chicago window).

i tried to document as little as possible (some things just shouldn't be remembered) but saturday night of thanksgiving weekend was my ten year high school reunion with proof that i actually attended below.

the happenings of 2010

2011-01-01T22:55:00.002-06:00

i am spending the first day of the new year on the couch with the stomach flu, not exactly what i had in mind but at least the timing (it started in the middle of the night last night and led jamie to comment that at least i wasn't alone - since it was new years there were people throwing up everywhere! so helpful...) let us still celebrate the end of 2010 in style with the burtons and fullmers last night and jamie and i reflecting over the last year. here are some of the highlights:

- elliot being born, all 10 plus pounds of him and no external stitches!

- jamie making it through another year of work (the year end bonus was the carrot).

- going to spain and trying to remember our spanish. which jamie did a much better job of. you would think i would be a pro after taking spanish classes for the last two years but jamie was the real pro, even the cab drivers complemented him on his spanish!

- replacing jamie's "crap-berry" with a new iphone (he is in love).

- visiting family and friends (more than a fourth of our weekends)!

- eating tortas nearly every week at xoco, our favorite place to eat (and occasionally splurging on churros and chocolate). if you came to visit you've been here!

- weekends road tripping around the midwest including: gawking at the impossibly beautiful angles underneath the arch in st. louis, visiting frank lloyd wright's school in michigan and watching the opening/closing of the "wings" at the milwaukee art museum.

- watching our big little baby grow into a big little boy, most recently loving his first "trick", waving, which he does by moving his hand up and down at the wrist.

- going back to work at the job i love but being able to work part-time! after elliot was born.

- spending another year living in downtown chicago. if we ever move i will miss the vibrancy of city life, being able to walk to work and being literally minutes from amazing shopping and restaurants.

contest update

2010-12-27T23:08:00.005-06:00

remember my vow to enter contests everyday until i won? so i did really well at first, entering one contest everyday and even keeping track of my entries. then i got a little lazy and every few days i would remember and enter another contest but i entered less and less until soon i stopped entering contests all together.

well last week i got an email telling me that a contest winner had never picked up her prize so i was the second random winner chosen. here's to second!! it's no kitchen aid mixer but i did win a $35 gift certificate to csn stores where i purchased this little beauty:which of course started me on another contest entering kick...

cocktailin' for 28

2010-12-19T21:34:00.010-06:00

my company celebrated 20 years with an anniversary party at the field museum in november. my coworkers conveniently remembered that we live more or less across the street and asked if i would be up for hosting a pre-party... 10 people soon turned into 20 and by the time everyone arrived we had 28 crammed in less than 1200 square feet!

below is lauren, me, cathy and laura. when i started at my job, there was nearly no one sitting around me but now i am surrounded by these wonderful girls who i spend most of my time at work gossiping with. well, when i am not working, which i promise is what i do most of the time.

everyone!

some of my best friends in chicago, nadeem and lyn. i met both of them at my last job which would not have been nearly as tolerable without their presence. in fact we were able to drag nadeem from new york (well he was actually back in india at the time) to come work at my current company!

us! had to include this one. i think i am finally back to my pre-baby weight, in fact here is a compare of me now vs a year ago. yikes. i love elliot but my best look is not my prego look.

ode to the thermostat

2010-12-15T22:26:00.004-06:00

in haiku:

too hot then too cold

where were you all of these years?

true love at first install

fun with forest

2010-11-11T20:00:00.000-06:00

a friend of ours that jamie met in b-school (okay maybe he is more jamie's friend considering they did spend a weekend together in southern utah with a minivan. two guys and a minivan, something really bonding about that.) but anyway, i digress. forest's parents rent a vacation house in spring green, wisconsin and forest invited us to come hang out for a weekend, so last weekend we went.

jamie wasn't around to help pack up but elliot and i managed with the help of uppa baby stroller. or should i call it the uppa baby moving stuff and maybe a baby device.

forest's dad is an artist, in fact we purchased a print of his awhile back and it just so happened that the weekend we were up in spring green he was showing off his latest work. we spent saturday morning visiting the junkyard where he got his materials, which understandably sounds crazy but was awesome.

forest fit right into the antique tractor section of the junk yard.

jamie the strong man.

door creek cherry pie. something about buying it from the lady who made it and eating it while watching the sun set over the woods bundled in my jacket made it just right.

john in front of his latest work. he found a working 1940's reo speedwagon and welded/bolted on various cylinders and cubes - this picture doesn't do justice to the full work, by the time he was done the height of the truck was taller than a semi.

the open house was held at a one room school house that friends of the himmelfarbs had moved and restored next to their house in spring green. it was an amazing location for an art debut.

the party. it was a fabulous weekend.

my own contest

2010-11-07T21:08:00.004-06:00

i really want to win free stuff. this summer i made a goal to enter as many of the parenting.com's 100 days of summer giveaways as possible but nada. granted every new parent in the country gets a subscription to parenting magazine, but still.

then today when i read on facebook that my cousin brittany won a kitchen aid mixer from a blog giveaway i was rather jealous. until i had an inspiration. starting tomorrow i am going to enter one new contest everyday until i win something.

i still remember the last contest i won, a romantic dinner for two at marie callenders when i was 10 years old. here's to the revival of my lucky streak of one!

st. louis

2010-11-07T20:59:00.006-06:00

it took us three years of living in the midwest to actually see any of it but this year we finally got in the car and started driving including a weekend trip to st.louis in october. some highlights:

jamie in the small car that takes you to the top of the st.louis arch. i am always amused when i get a photograph of jamie in a place that wasn't designed for people like him.

at the top of the arch looking down.

the last weekend of cardinals baseball for the season. look how picturesque with the arch in the background. someone was thinking.

at pappy's smokehouse. sorry st. louis but smoque in chicago is still the best bbq i have ever had.

the pumpkin patch

2010-10-18T22:28:00.005-05:00

so having a kid means that although most restaurants are out, you have a reason to go and do all of the kid stuff, right? well i guess elliot isn't quite ready for the kid stuff. turns out he would be just as entertained with a bowl as with an orchard full of thousands of other people with kids (but no apples) who have the same idea. i am kinda thinking that in this instance, i would have also been just as happy with a bowl.

exhibit a:

because two pictures of a kid and a bowl just aren't enough, go here.

exhibit b:

loving the lemurs

2010-09-30T22:07:00.004-05:00

we visited pam in her hood in san jose last weekend (see more below). but this post is just for pam because no one else loved the lemurs as much as pam and i (or really at all). oh pam, i think i can sum it all up by just saying thank you... for loving the lemurs.

tasty bites

2010-09-30T21:37:00.014-05:00

i really like food, i mean really, i mean so much so that it does not do good things for my waistline, sigh. much thanks to pam for being our chauffer/san fran expert/all around good sport in our san fran food tasting adventure last weekend:

dynamo donuts: jamie is a good sport and has been somewhat willingly dragged along to various the best thing i ever ate spots around the country. some good, some okay and some really terrible. this one was awesome. we went to dynamo donuts in the mission district to try the bacon maple donut which was sold out and is evidently sold out everyday at noon. hello, then make more! so jamie opted for the rather random milk chocolate, passion fruit donut. it was wonderful.

bi-rite creamery: sam's sundae, chocolate ice cream with bergamot olive oil, maldon sea salt and whipped cream. Amazing.

boccalone: tasty salted pig parts in a cone! Random but good.

el porteno: authentic argentinian empanadas, flaky pastry, tasty filling. sigh.

mijita: decent fish tacos

acme bread co: really good bread, really cheap.

cowgirl creamery: cheese, cheese and more cheese. the fiore sardo, parmesany, sharp, really really good.

blogger's block

2010-09-28T22:23:00.003-05:00

i have had serious blogger's block for the last month. we are making some major decisions in our lives right now but i don't want to blog about them until we get further along in the process. the rest of our time is spent observing life through the eyes of an eight month old. i really like our little guy and i know everyone else would say they do too, but does the rest of the world really want to see a million pictures of daily baby life? i just can't do it and so i post nothing at all. but i have some new material so don't lose hope. in the meantime, with a little urging from my family who sadly only sees the little man in the flesh a couple of times a year, i have decided to create a blog just about him. that way i can post a million pictures that will the right audience will love and no one else will have to endure. and so i present... the adventures of the nut.

my boys

2010-08-30T22:01:00.004-05:00

i like these two alot.

elliot versus the life vest

2010-08-08T20:30:00.009-05:00

we rented a speedboat when we were at lake geneva last weekend giving elliot his first taste of the wonder of cutting through the waves with the wind in your face all while pinned in a life jacket as big as him.

without understanding that the waves and wind part was still to come, elliot definitely wasn't a fan of the life jacket at first.

once on the boat elliot was much happier with the life jacket or potentially more oblivious since i am not sure how far back his memory goes.
so maybe the wind and wave thing just isn't that awesome when you are six months old, evidently sleeping is a better option.

or looking good for the ladies. both are very important.

thanks to forest for the loan of the super hip sunglasses, pacifier optional.

elliot busy in his office

2010-07-26T21:46:00.003-05:00

okay i kinda stole this idea from smitten kitchen, couldn't resist

fun not in the sun

2010-07-18T22:14:00.001-05:00

our attempt to show cara and evan a good time was potentially thwarted when it decided to pour on us over the weekend at a considerable distance from our apartment with three babies and no car seats making public transit our only option. but hey, what's not fun about 4 adults running through a downpour with 2 strollers, 3 babies and numerous accoutrements? depending on how we would like to remember this one we took two shots:

to cleanup after our adventure all three babies shared a tub, aren't the twinsies adorable?

mountains in arizona?

2010-07-16T22:26:00.000-05:00

i don't think that people in chicago really believe that mountains exist and telling everyone that we were going to the desert only to go up to the mountains was entirely too much to handle. but indeed we did go up to the mountains which was wonderful after arriving in phoenix to 100 plus temperatures. and with lots of hands willing to take elliot it was a true vacation.

adam reading to elliot on the car trip up to my parents new cabin in pinetop.

elliot and aunt lindsay.

doing anything to make elliot laugh. although awkward dancing is definitely up there, bryce sweeping pine cones off of the porch with a broom was the real gut buster (not sure i truly understood that one but who knows what goes through the mind of a 5 month old)

jamie and dad back from their motorcycle ride, jamie's first, in the forest.

we miss you mountains, it is entirely too flat here. we will definitely be back to see you again.

watch out chicago

2010-07-12T22:00:00.005-05:00

we definitely take chicago by force when we go out for mommy group. we are deft at manuevering large numbers of strollers through the dense tourist throngs. what can i say? the few, the proud, the SAHM's. (does part-time count?)

da cubs

2010-06-27T14:01:00.004-05:00

somehow wherever we go, this guy shows up:

sadly we lost this one... or maybe we won, considering we are really southsiders we probably should have been rooting for the white sox rather than the cubs. but really red and blue are much more my colors than black and white, isn't that the point?

after all of the buildup

2010-06-18T22:25:00.022-05:00

i know this spain post has been highly anticipated and i am afraid it just may not live up to the hype, but so i can move on to the super cute pic of elliot in his too large cubs hat from the game last week, without further ado... i give you spain.

elliot wasn't the only extra "lap child" on the trip, flat adam also joined us for the adventure. we attached a photo of my brother's head to an expertly crayon drawn body by jamie and voila! flat adam honestly got more press than we did and adam really enjoyed having a friend smaller than him (not that that is difficult mind you). so i was reading about my friend anna's trip to seattle and liked her nitty gritty details. anna, i hope you don't mind the blatant plagarism! here are our own nitty gritty details.

the trip: we left on sunday and arrive monday morning with lots of pep talk on the way about pushing through and starting our adventure immediately upon landing. we were obviously all talk because the three of us crashed upon seeing the hotel bed in barcelona. we spend two nights in barcelona, the bullet train to madrid, two nights in madrid, the train to toledo with one quick night there, the bullet to sevilla where we had a relaxing three nights and then a flight back to barcelona where we spent our final night and had the most amazing pizza since grimaldi's under the brooklyn bridge before flying home on wednesday.

observations: i can actually eat prawns with their heads on. i have been known to play with my food before, especially food with all limbs (is that what you refer to prawn appendages?) attached, but i was on my best behavior when we met up with our friend gerardo in madrid, which i thought was very mature of myself.

spanish grannies love chubby babies. elliot was definitely the center of lots of attention, although the spanish speaking husband was a hit with the cabbies. lets just say that i was along for the ride.

realizations: in case you didn't read my facebook posting, taking a baby to a bullfight really is a bad idea.

mcdonalds which is not okay in the states, is definitely okay when you are in spain and you have had more shrimps with heads on than you would care to count. unless someone tries to pick pocket your husband when you are walking out of said mcdonalds, then mcdonalds becomes not such a good idea.

renting an apartment because it is more spacious than a hotel room is not a good idea if it is on the fourth floor of a walkup.

lots and lots of manchego cheese is a good idea.

fact: we spent more on 10 days in spain than 4 weeks in africa. granted that there were two big flights in those 10 days but still... babies = convenience = $$$$

favorite: spending all day everyday all together

least favorite: almost being pickpocketed, see above.

the pics and some details for posterity: elliot and i refreshed from our first spanish siesta (although it was more like at noon than at three) at the large market in barcelona off of la rambla.

jamie and i are kinda obsessed with headphone tours. it is a given that if there are headphones we will rent them. we are starting elliot early.

jamie was obsessed, for the record i did not share this obsession, with getting a family picture in front of every church we visited. also for the record, elliot wasn't a very willing participant either. needless to say for everyone else's benefit, i have left out the remainder of the family in front a church pictures. but the sagrada familia is pretty much awesome and had to be included.

stairs, hills, nothing stopped us. jamie in the lovely gaudi designed park guell in barcelona, pushing elliot up another mountain.

i really don't know how parents sleep with their children in the same bed, much less the same room. koodos to them i suppose, in our case elliot got relegated to the bathroom.

its elliot! even the head size is about right. just kidding, little guy, you have a very proportionate head to go along with the rest of you, which is also 95% percentile.

in madrid with our friend gerardo who we actually met on a tour of the pyramids in egypt, long story but fun to see him again!

jamie and elliot enjoying some sports on tv. some things don't seem to change no matter the country.

churros and chocolate at the chocolateria san gines. the churros needed a little cinnamon and sugar to be honest but the chocolate was divine.

toledo is a beautiful walled city a short train ride from madrid. stunning view from the breakfast room of our hotel.

the baby bjorn was our best friend on the trip, elliot enjoyed (most of the time) the attention he received from the grandmas when he was in the bjorn. and i got my daily workout.

the stunning alcazar in sevilla.

on the flight back to barcelona from sevilla we took a local airline which required that elliot be strapped into his own seatbelt which was hooked to mine. um, yeah.

spain...yawn

2010-06-14T22:21:00.004-05:00

we read a few more children's books in our house now than before, i think it has something to do with this guy:

anyway, while i like to think that reading is for his development, yada yada, lets be honest, at least for now, it is definitely for my enjoyment and in case you haven't become a parent yet, there are a TON of really bad children's books out there, i mean bad. for example the bunny book, pat the bunny. i'm not sure why that book has longevity, that is a very poorly drawn bunny, like a squiggle with a tail, it creeps me out, not really sure why.

but the pigeon books were clearly written for parent enjoyment, there is one part where the pigeon doesn't want to go to bed but can't help yawning, that is how i am right now, except i want to go to bed so i guess i am not like that at all (but spain wasn't really boring, i was just explaining why i included yawn in the title) anyway, if i don't post on spain right now, i never will. so with that long introduction here is literally a whirlwind through spain... except i just heard a happy voice (at 10:30?? i don't think so) so after writing all of that intro, time when i could have been recording precious trip details for posterity, i think spain be posted another day.

so cute

2010-06-08T09:03:00.003-05:00

i have good intentions to make a real post on our spain trip but in the interim i couldn't resist posting this picture of elliot my friend ami took on mother's day. he wasn't awake when i left for work this morning and i was sad to not see his chubby little face but i had this picture at work and couldn't resist sharing the cuteness.

elliot in spain

2010-05-31T13:52:00.005-05:00

in barcelona at the casa batllo:

in madrid at the prado art museum:
in toledo at the plaza zocodover:

in sevilla at the alcazar:

he told me he really thought the whole experience was quite memorable, i think he used the term dreamy?

like father like son

2010-05-10T22:03:00.006-05:00

jamie has a habit of hanging his pants on the mirror instead of in the closet which drives me crazy, documentation of which i have included below. not that it was hard to come by considering there is at least one pair of pants, usually more, hanging there everyday:so a couple of weeks ago after church, jamie changed elliot out of his church clothes and left this for me to find:aaaggghhhh!

the everyday: the rest of the week

2010-05-01T19:20:00.009-05:00

um, yeah. so now it is a month plus since my "every week" and i can't even remember the details. so here is thursday - sunday, the highlights.

thursday, am: packing up for our adventure to california and arizona. i tell elliot that everything is an adventure, that includes trips to the grocery store and trips across the country. i mean what i say though, now that there is a baby involved, everything literally is "an adventure".

thursday, pm: we have gotten alot of mileage out of the claim at gate ticket on elliot's car seat. no, i never take it off in between flights because i am a little lazy and yes elliot stays with the car seat, sits in cargo, and is claimed at the gate.

i should also note that he is a pro flyer at this point. he has 8 flights under his belt and is going international in two weeks when we head to spain! oh please tell me we aren't completely crazy to take a 3 month old baby on an international trip... hmm, actually i can answer that one, yes, yes we are completely crazy.

friday, am: the cat at my mom's apartment in l.a. was very puzzled by the new addition to her household. and really thought that the baby was just a large toy, evidenced by the constant swips she took at his kicking feet. friday, pm: elliot and i chilled at mom's apartment while she worked in the morning and mike rode the train in from phoenix. once we had everyone in one place we hit griffith park for a little hike. elliot enjoyed the hike, or at least enjoyed chewing on the baby bjorn the entire time.

saturday, am: we hit the farmer's market and maybe just a little shopping on the side. saturday, pm: down to santa monica for a walk along the pier and proof that yes i can take pictures of people other than the baby.

sunday:... i evidently didn't take any photos at all, but it was lovely, and sunny and fully of spirituality, i promise.

the everyday: wednesday

2010-04-15T11:41:00.009-05:00

okay, so i am not exactly getting my "everyday" posted everyday... but i will complete what i started at some point!! so in the spirit of stick-with-id-ness, on to wednesday:

wednesday 7:30 am: jamie hanging out with elliot before he reluctantly heads off to work. i complain about less sleep because elliot wants to eat more often during the night than i want to wake up. jamie on the other hand willingly gets less sleep just to hang out with the little guy. wednesday 11:30 am: baby mayhem.

wednesday 3 pm: while letting the babies run wild, the ladies were creating these succulent looking cupcakes. and yes, that is over three hours between this pictue and the last, martha stewart cupcakes = TOO MUCH WORK! (But that didn't stop us from trying another recipe this week. wednesday 6:30 pm: elliot with a tail. thanks to daddy who often watches elliot on wednesday nights while i goes to spanish class (although last night they were mad that they haven't seen him in a month). of course when you blog about your week several weeks after it happened you realize you have absolutely no idea why in the world you took the picture in the first place. (cute tail though).

the everyday: tuesday

2010-04-08T18:11:00.009-05:00

tuesday 8 am: yeah, so elliot is pretty much huge. after receiving the news that he was in 95% percentile for weight (13 lbs 15 ozs) and 90% for height (23.75'') at his doctor's appt on monday, not that this was a news flash, hello, have you seen his daddy? i decided to break out the 3-6 month clothes. okay, i might also have considered breaking them out because he was busting buttons in his 0-3 month clothes, but sometimes you need someone with a dr. in front of their name telling you that your child is huge before you act on it, you know? or not.

tuesday 10 am: its not a bad gig to leave your house for an hour and a half and come back to it clean. see how clean? too bad it is because i hire someone to do it and am not awesome mom who watches her child, cleans the house and makes a 5 course dinner all at the same time, maybe someday. or maybe i will just hire someone to make dinner too.tuesday 12 pm: mmmm, chocolate peanut butter bars from sarah's candies. if you have seen one of a previous post of elliot covered in chocolate, he may or may not have been enjoying a chocolate peanut butter bar from this lovely establishment. made all the exercise to get there worth it.

tuesday 6:30 pm: yeah, so somehow the rest of the day went by without another picture but for mutual tuesday night we attended the relief society birthday celebration. since elliot was going out with all the ladies he needed to look stylin'. i should note that the ladies were smitten with him and he was very engaging (clearly indicated by his facial expression).

the everyday: monday

2010-04-05T19:39:00.011-05:00

i was reading the march issue of real simple and someone had the idea to scrapbook one week of their life. monday to sunday. i decided to give it a try, so drum roll please... here is our everyday:

monday 7 am: elliot gets up like clockwork. some days i am greatful for 7 am, some days i wonder why it can't be 8, just once? our routine is pretty much the same that early in the morning, eat, hang out and if i am feeling motivated (generally only 3-4 times a week) a bath. elliot loves the bath - or at least that is how i interpret the constant kicking legs and feet.

monday 9:30 am: at the gym still working off the post-prego muffin top while elliot takes his morning nap. i understand that three hour naps disappear rather quickly, nooooo! i am a big fan of the three hour nap.monday 12 pm: interactive play. elliot seems rather oblivious but it does sooth my worry of being the one mother who isn't stimulating higher brain power at 8 weeks old. i figure some day he will respond, right?

monday 2 pm: elliot at the doctor's office, completely oblivious to the fact that the 2 month appointments means shots, poor guy. he was really interested in the baby in the mirror though so at least that took away some of the pain. thanks to the remarkably similar looking baby for keeping the little guy entertained!

monday 4 pm: at the park with my friend lisa and cute son alex. completely forgot to take a picture (you will notice this theme throughout the week...) elliot didn't last too long because he wasn't very happy from the shots.

monday 5 pm: post shots, 'nuff said.

monday 9 pm: daddy is finally home from work and is able to comfort the little guy who tells him all about the mean mom whom made him get poked 3 times and drink something awful. oh please. so cute though.

Kouing-Aman

2010-03-15T10:29:00.007-05:00

after all my talk about being baby-centric this post has no babies in it! well maybe i will have to post one elliot picture just to re-assure everyone that i am still baby obsessed, don't get concerned, i definitely am. but this post is primarily about my other obsession. food. more specifically it is currently the koung-aman at les madeleines in salt lake city.

i was watching the food network a couple of weeks ago and the neeleys raved about the pastry on the best thing i ever ate. so... when we were in salt lake for jamie's brother's wedding i dragged him (and the rest of the family) to the cafe where we waited an hour for the pastries to come hot out of the oven. (they were out when we arrived having already sold 200 hundred that morning). soooo wonderful. getting a fresh hot one is amazing, two fresh hot ones is seriously what heaven must be like.

and for the elliot picture of the day/week/month... okay, i know i am really bad at blogging... elliot proudly covered in chocolate. yes, i was eating a chocolate peanut butter crunch bar while feeding him and yes he somehow managed to get it on his hands and then wipe it all over his outfit. he looks rather proud of himself doesn't he? he doesn't know that the best part about a peanut butter crunch bar is not wearing it but eating it. so much to learn.

babycentric

2010-02-21T12:00:00.008-06:00

yes we have become those parents whose posts are entirely about their children. i guess it takes one to know one? i am only three weeks into this whole parenthood thing and while i am always a little doubtful that becoming a parent was a good idea between the hours of 12 am and 7 am, the rest of the time i am just amazed by our little boy, awed by his little noises and facial expressions and completely and utterly in love. and so i am posting way more pictures than anyone else wants to see but what can i say? we are new parents and very sure that we have the most beautiful baby in the world and i think we are right because he is ours and we have the right to say so.

all photos were taken by amy tripple of amy tripple photography.

elliot sports a pocket square

2010-02-08T22:30:00.003-06:00

i mean when there is a pocket in your onesie what exactly are you supposed to store in there? too small for pocket protectors and protractors... thanks to jamie for ingenous idea of making a hankie out of construction paper. not only is elliot ready to impress all of the ladies, his pocket has a purpose, phew!

announcing the arrival of elliot bradley larsen!

2010-02-04T21:36:00.003-06:00

we are thrilled to announce the newest addition to the family. evidently there was a reason I felt like I was walking around carrying a football player, nfl here we come!

elliot bradley larsen

10 lbs 5 ozs

22 inches

born friday january 29, 2010 at 11:36 pm

40 weeks and still counting...

2010-01-24T21:59:00.001-06:00

animal crackers and cocoa drink

2010-01-17T15:34:00.006-06:00

i was a little worried that junior would come before the shower that dicy threw for me last saturday but he obediently stayed put (although now that i am begging him to come he is still staying put so maybe he isn't that obedient). although dicy and my grand idea for a shower business was short lived dicy took on one last bash, and this one in my honor. the food was delicious, the decor simple and beautiful and dicy even takes pictures that properly show off the event (so i of course stole all of hers for this post).

our friend carol not only flew in from seattle for the weekend and managed to fit the shower into her long list of things she needed to get done in chicago, but also cooked and arranged flowers. if lawyering doesn't work out, i think flower arranging might be a good substitute business! ginger also flew in from nashville but sadly i somehow missed getting her on camera, probably because she was constantly herding children, she somehow managed to bring two kids under three with her for the weekend while leaving her husband behind in nashville. maybe that sounds like a breeze to pro-moms, to me it sounds terrifying.

homemade hot chocolate, whipped cream and even marshmallows were served to go along with the theme, "animal crackers and cocoa drink, that is the finest of suppers i think..." and yes the animal crackers were homemade too.me and my incredibly talented friend dicy. (i should get talent credit just for being friends with her).

unfortunately i didn't think of grabbing a group picture until most of the group was gone! here are the few i caught a few on camera.

nursery pics

2010-01-09T10:21:00.005-06:00

these have been long promised, its slowly all coming together, yikes! PS The pics in the frames on the second picture are from the flash cards from my phoenix shower. they worked really well in the "vintage" theme.

hospital bag help

2009-12-27T21:59:00.005-06:00

i am attempting to pack my hospital bag tonight and realized that besides the obvious toothbrush and camera i have no idea what else to take, and having no prior experience in this department, i need help! any ideas any one has are very much appreciated.

gingerbread houses are hard work

2009-12-20T22:35:00.007-06:00

when i set out to make my first "adult" gingerbread house, all i could remember were the graham cracker versions i made when i was a kid. you know, the kind where you eat so much candy while you are working on the house that you get sick and the house never really gets finished because you really just started the project to eat all of that candy anyway, so basically the best kind!

i had no idea how much work an actual gingerbread house can be. thankfully dicy has much experience in this area and provided very specific instructions, the end of which produced a very cute house (no big surprise there considering dicy was involved!)

here is the house in action... well the first wall anyway. I am a little out of it considering our gingerbread decorating was all done around 9 PM at night! (maybe that is why dicy refused to be photographed all together, smart.)

the walls are up! mine would be the basic a-frame on the right, dicy actually did a minature version of the townhouse they currently live in, the end product is incredible but of course I somehow didn't get a picture of it. Or maybe i intentionally didn't get a picture of it because then mine looks better! all done! one of the secrets to success i learned from dicy is to buy this book, very much recommended if you have any intention of starting on this crazy project yourself! of course by next year i will have forgotten about all of the work and want to do it again...

phoenix baby shower

2009-12-20T22:10:00.013-06:00

i am a little behind but i couldn't resist posting a few pics from the darling shower michelle and lindsay hosted for me in gilbert in november. the first picture is of the buffet table. the shower theme was really cute: snips and snails and puppy dog tails!

the weather in arizona (unlike chicago) works perfectly for an indoor/outdoor shower.

lindsay found a bunch of funky vintage soda pops.
baby pics as decor, including (of course) a cute naked jamie baby pic.

the centerpieces on the outdoor tables, i loved the grass, combined with the old books, so clever. it helps having two little brothers in the house, all stuffed animals and cars were courtesy of them!
the dessert table, including bite sized caramel apples.
the shower in action, look at the weather, so wonderful!

really cute "doggy" bags as thank you gifts.

thank you!! it was absolutely perfect!

jamie decorates the gingerbread men

2009-12-13T22:49:00.010-06:00

and why shouldn't a gingerbread man be iced to look like flavor flav? (and yes that is michael jordan to his right).

i think the one on the front row, second in, knows what's coming

the traveling pregnant woman

2009-11-28T21:42:00.010-06:00

i have been trying the last few months to get all of the traveling out of my system before junior makes his debut, but now that i am 32 weeks and grounded i must say i am not sad to be done traveling! here is a quick review of the last few months:

while having jamie working in denver the whole time i have been prego hasn't been ideal, there have been a couple of perks. jamie and i took a weekend jaunt to new york in august, with free flights and a free stay at the w times square because of the free stays jamie accumulated in denver. this is a sweaty version of us inside the crown of the status of liberty.

we spent labor day in south carolina for jacob's baptism (jamie's nephew). we also met kim, at the time josh's girlfriend, now his fiance (far right)!

a few weeks later found us in aspen, with another free weekend stay at the st. regis aspen and lots of hiking in the fall colors.

a gsb reunion in park city in early october at the goldberg's fabulous digs. maybe one day we will live somewhere larger than a two bedroom apartment in the city, for now i will just have house envy, specifically goldberg house envy.we rendezvoused to san jose at the end of october to visit pam and michelle. why do we live where it snows? the weather was incredible and my feet enjoyed flip flops for the first time in weeks. not to mention the rest of me enjoyed good food and a lovely baby shower brunch where junior was pretty much was outfitted for the first 24 months of his little life (picture of super cute tiny bomber jacket to come).off to phoenix at the beginning of november for my family shower (a couple of good friends too!) more pics to come of the incredible cuteness that was the shower... and once again, flip flops!

sewing is hard work

2009-11-28T20:36:00.005-06:00

i learned how to sew back in high school. my stepmom michelle taught my sister and i how to make awesome pajama pants for church summer camp (awesome is an appropriate adjective because mine had dancing cows on them and you just cant beat that). shortly after i got married i decided i wanted to expand my efforts at domesticity and i asked for a sewing machine for christmas from my mom.

for the next three years the sewing machine gathered dust and jamie teased me about it constantly. i realized that when it was just me and the sewing machine, with no michelle for hundreds of miles, i was actually afraid of it!

junior's eminent arrival, the lack of curtains in his room and the price of curtains to fit giant floor to ceiling and wall to wall windows changed all of that. it was a little painful and there was some grumbling and maybe tears involved but juniors room now has curtains! actual pics of the finished project to come later but here is me pretending to enjoy the creative experience... a record for all posterity that i finally conquered the sewing machine!

smitten kitchen

2009-11-05T10:23:00.005-06:00

link to molasses-spice cookie recipe

okay, i usually don't post on other websites, actually i never post on other websites because really, if you wanted to go to other websites you probably wouldn't be reading my blog, you would just go there! but seriously, smittenkitchen.com has become my new go-to recipe site. just reading her blog is well, delicious. and the recipies i have tried so far are easily restaurant worthy.

gees why am i sharing this, i should save all of the praise for my new-found cooking expertise for myself! i guess i am in a giving holiday mood. i recently tried her molasses-ginger cookies which are pretty much out of this world. a batch will make your house smell instantly like fall, enjoy!

PS There are several cookie recipies in the link, scroll down for the molasses-spice ones

prego pic

2009-10-23T13:49:00.002-05:00

i stole this picture from one my family took when they were out last week, its not the best shot, but it does show my changing shape (and jamie's cooking skills in action!)

prego observations

2009-10-21T21:44:00.002-05:00

some thoughts on my changing state (in no certain order) :

1. prego clothes are not one size fits all. i don't know if the fact that i married someone who is 6'6'' has anything to do with it but i am not ready to have this baby yet and some of my tops are already on the small side!

2. the bus is always awkward. inevidably at some point on the bus ride to work someone notices i am pregnant and standing and announces loudly to the bus that someone should really give up their seat for me. which is nice and all - but oh the awkwardness of the poor person who finally gets up.

3. going for a run. still going strong at 27 weeks but gotta love the stares!

4. conversations with random strangers. suddenly people feel bonded to you. no more askward silences in the elevator, your belly is an invitation for conversation.

5. standing on chairs. okay, maybe this isn't the best idea, junior probably wouldn't like it if i fell, but if i am all alone (even worse idea) you better believe i am changing lightbulbs and putting things away in high shelves, dont tattle please!

6. too much information. literally, i have just given up reading anything at all, it is exhausting how much i need to read to have a baby.

7. too much stuff. never mind the information, i just printed out a baby checklist, and gulp, its long. never mind that for each item there are about a billion choices which everyone has a different opinion on.

8. trips to the dr. i definitely understand that the dr goes through this whole thing all day every day, and the receptionists and nurses too, but seriously, this is time number one for me... and my brain seems to work slower in pregnancy mood. needless to say asking 10 times what a form is for didn't go over so well, now i just sign.

9. indigestion. i honestly didn't think i was old enough, but tums and i are now good friends.

10. i am having a baby. that part of this whole thing still catches me off-guard sometimes.

"see-more"

2009-09-27T20:49:00.007-05:00

i mean i could post on our fun weekend in park city hanging out with all of our friends from jamie's days at university of chicago. it was a blast. but since i realize that is not exactly thrilling blog material (as wonderful as the weekend was) i am instead going to share with you jamie's talent for drawing, especially as it comes to barf bags. although due credit goes to heather and karl for the awesome idea, jamie was the creater of symore (or "see-more" depending on how literal you would like to take the barf bag's name) and cynthia in the name of creating entertainment for our friends' 18 month year old henry, but lets be real... barfbag puppets are just awesome whatever age you are.
jamie really does have a talent don't you think?

michigan peaches

2009-09-10T22:55:00.005-05:00

my mom came to visit a couple of weekends ago. we packed the weekend full of a whirlwind of activities: my work hosted a cocktail hour at the new modern art wing of the art institute, we went to a taping of oprah (thanks jamie!), lots of yummy fattening food, the harry potter exhibit at the museum of science and industry, of course a litle shopping... but the one thing i promised my mom was that we could go to michigan.

she has been trying to knock off all 50 states for awhile, and she is down to 6. even though michigan isn't more than an hour drive i have denied her everytime she has come to chicago over the last three years. this time i gave in. she was content just driving past the "welcome to michigan" sign but with some coaxing we ventured out in the chilly august weather to pick peaches.

one more state down, only five to go! the peaches weren't a bad addition either.

bundle of...

2009-09-01T09:19:00.008-05:00

the ultrasound yesterday confirmed it. i am now twenty weeks along and baby larsen is due january 22nd. we are thrilled and i personally am petrified. yesterday it all suddenly felt much more real, i am really going to be responsible for the day to day welfare of a little person, gulp. hopefully the little guy isn't confused since i thought he was a girl the whole time, off to the store to return all of the pink!

mysteries of the universe

2009-08-16T22:45:00.005-05:00

living on the 28th floor of a building has its advantages, especially when it comes to bugs. it's been 3 years and i have not seen a single cockroach or really any other of the creepy, crawly bugs (or other creatures) that seem to wander in from the great out of doors in arizona.

the one bug that does seem to like spending its life 28 stories above the ground is the spider. i really don't get it but every summer, without fail, the spiders arrive. huge webs string from window to window and out on the porch which makes me a little squemish. but before i can get out the broom and full fledge attack the 8 legged creatures a big wind or thunderstorm comes along and they are all gone.... for awhile. soon they are back at it

(actual picture below taken from my bedroom window, very greatful for the two panes of safety glass between us - i still jumped a little when i was trying to focus the camera and the spider moved) i have to admit they have me a little curious. how do they get up so high? what's so bad about floors 1 - 10, is there spider overcrowding and that is why they keep moving up? how far up do they go, i thought the 28th floor was way up there, but a friend that lives on the 36th floor has more spiders than i do.does that mean that the spiders on the sears tower climb all of the way to the 104th floor? and is every building in chicago just covered in spiders in the summer? (that last question makes me shiver a little bit, kinda creepy). most important, where i am going to get the answers to these mysteries? jamie was patient and presented me with some theories, but i know that he is just making it up to appease me and i really want to know!

blueberries are delicious

2009-08-04T22:49:00.005-05:00

there is a farmers market that takes over the square across the street from the building where i work every tuesday during the summer.

sometimes the only time i step outside during the day on a tuesday is when i make my weekly pilgrimage to get fresh flowers for my desk and to pick up a pint of blueberries. i even have a favorite stand.

i ignore all of the other stands and always get my blueberries from the stand in the back, where the price isn't quite as bad and the blueberries come in a quaint wooden container. and then i go back to work and literally eat myself silly.

today however i was good. maybe it was because of the half pint of golden raspberries that i also picked up at the market and ate all of back at work... but i saved all of my blueberries for a blueberry crisp that i baked tonight and even though i had no one to share it with (or maybe because i had no one to share it with and could keep sneaking back for seconds) it was delicious.

our himmelfarb

2009-07-12T22:54:00.007-05:00

i posted a status update on facebook about the new artwork we purchased and there were a couple of requests to see the purchase that made me think of myself as both sophisticated and broke!

the father of a friend of ours is an artist who happens to have his studio in chicago. we really like his work, which according to one art director is "based on a curious amalgam of post-war expressionism and surrealism". the fact that i have to quote someone else is an indication of my ignorance of art! but john didn't mind my endless questions when we went to visit him in his southside studio yesterday.

we spent a couple of hours discussing and viewing his art. we definitely couldn't afford the paintings, but ended up purchasing a screenprint called juggler on stage (the price of which still made me gulp ever so slightly). now we are proud owners (well currently borrowers as we haven't paid for it yet) of our very own himmelfarb:

lake powell

2009-07-12T22:34:00.009-05:00

jamie and i have taken alot of fun vacations since we have been married, but there is always that element of responsibility that comes with being a grown up, even on vacation. you have to pay for things yourself and manage your time, make sure you are prepared for various situations. its great and all but sometimes it would just be nice to be a kid again.

well last week we were. dad and michelle rented a houseboat for the week on lake powell. not only did they plan and pay for everything, but wait, that's just it, they planned and paid for everything! we showed up on friday morning and food for 40 was on board (there were 13 of us!), meals planned and even enough sunscreen, it was heaven.

lindsay and i on the wakeboard boat for the trip out.

jamie driving the boat.
my dad going down the slide on the back of the houseboat, complete with swim mask and flippers.
the waterpolo crew, with our official sponge bob ball given the place of honor.

my dad got an extra large tube before the trip (good for us big people aka anyone over the age of 12) making it possible to tow seven people behind the boat at once.

it was awesome, thanks dad and michelle!! ps. michelle, where are you in all of my pictures? just like easter you escaped again!! it won't happen next time.

youth conference (is over!!!!)

2009-06-30T22:32:00.004-05:00

jamie and i were recruited to help out with our stake youth conference this year. the kids got to the church at 9 am on friday morning and it was our job to entertain them until 10 pm the following night including a sleepover at various families homes (yes that included ours!).

it was exhausting but we survived. unfortunately i didn't capture jamie's expertise at the cotton candy machine on saturday night but i did capture the kids mulching 150 trees at a southside park (notice that i said the kids, i was too busy with the camera of course)

bye bye jamie... hello cat?

2009-06-15T20:55:00.003-05:00

jamie got assigned to a case in denver for six months so he is now there every monday thru thursday instead of here. not fair. i told him today that i was lonely and he texted me back, said he was sorry and then asked me if i wanted to get a cat. hmm, yes, a cat, i think that might definitely help.

fun with fondant

2009-06-07T10:30:00.009-05:00

courtney is one of the most artistically talented people i know. whether it is figures made out of clay or fondant, she is incredibly creative and makes stuff up as she goes along which impresses me to no end. last weekend she agreed to show demonstrate the nuances of fondant and gum paste and royal icing to erin and i. it was awesome (and exhausting).

Here we are rolling out fondant. rather than buy the nasty, overpriced commercial fondant, courtney makes her own (of course). here we are in action, mixing and kneading our fondant.

heather came over later in the afternoon to observe the action and help courtney's husband eric with erin's baby andrew but we immediately put her to work on the cake making, no rest for the pregnant.
heather and i spent a couple of hours making a virtual gum paste flower garden.

the final product, if you look closely, okay maybe you don't even have to look that closely, the cake is bumpy under the fondant. i think a little more buttercream and a little more practice on rolling out fondant would do the trick, notes for next time (as soon as i forget all of the pain associated with this time i might consider a next time).
ta da!
courtney and erin's cakes were even more awesome but i left before all of the action was finished. thanks courtney!

thank goodness...

2009-05-26T23:10:00.003-05:00

we just got back from oaxaca, mexico where very few people are wearing masks anymore to protect against swine flu but we did notice that bronze statues are adequately protected from the dangers of the virus.

free fifty free

2009-05-17T21:43:00.003-05:00

so the other day i was at bed bath and beyond and they had a promotion where if you purchased $300 of calphalon pots and pans you would get a $50 gift certificate. i came into the store to buy a set of pots and pans for a wedding gift that my mom and sister and i were all going in on so i was $200 closer to the $300 mark with the wedding purchase. i have been collecting my pots and pans piece-meal since we got married, whenever i have a coupon or a gift certificate or there is a sale (or best of all, all of the above) i purchase another pan. there is one pan though that has been holding out on me, it is never on sale and for some unknown reason costs $200 (way more than all of the other ones). just ridiculous. but that day at bed bath and beyond i figured well it never goes on sale, but i can use a 20% off coupon and i get a gift card, and i will never buy that much calphalon again so why not!

when i left tucson that weekend, i was headed to l.a. and didn't have room for a large saucepan so i left it behind since i was coming back to tucson 2 weeks later.

it was during that two weeks that macys had their friends and family sale and i was able to purchase a very similiar pan from there for $50.

so here is the kicker... (if you have read this far i am already impressed). when i got back to tucson i went to return the pan and reluctantly mentioned that i had received a gift card with my last purchase. the sales clerk looked at me, looked at my receipt, and told me to keep the gift card.

so one $50 pan from macy's + one $50 bed bath and beyond gift card = free! (wish more of the world operated like that).

we did it!!

2009-05-11T22:47:00.003-05:00

thanks to everyone who contributed to our fundraising efforts for the multiple sclerosis society, not only did jamie and i both meet our goals, we beat them! here is jamie, mackenzie and me supporting the cause last weekend at the walk:

walk for the cure

2009-04-25T10:52:00.005-05:00

next weekend i am going to be walking to to support programs, services and research into the cause and cure of multiple sclerosis. multiple sclerosis has affected both my cousin and my mother-in-law and the debilitating nature of the disease also impacts my family and friends who spend years supporting the physical and emotional needs of those infected. i want to do something to help. i have set a fundraising goal as part of the walk and any amount of support will go towards treating and hopefully curing multiple sclerosis.

i have created a personal page where you can read more about the disease, the walk, and donate towards the fundraising goal i have committed to as part of the walk. please help!

80 degrees and sunny

2009-04-17T22:57:00.016-05:00

i went down to arizona for easter and had a wonderful time with my family. Dad and Michelle carry on a tradition in michelle's family of an annual easter picnic. the easter picnic has historically been at the family ranch in eastern arizona, but it has been a couple of years since our branch of the family has made it out there. instead they started a gilbert easter picnic much closer to home, in fact.. at home! part of the easter picnic is a great big easter egg hunt outside which tends to expand every year as michelle picks up a few more plastic eggs. the backyard is huge and as such a perfect location to hide (and lose) easter eggs. this year however there was a rather large downpour so the hunt was relegated to the back porch and the living room/kitchen.

there haven't been easter baskets at my house for years and the egg hunt is typically on saturday rather than easter sunday. i very much like the separation of the two, an egg hunt to celebrate the new spring season separate from the celebration on sunday of the Savior's resurrection. it makes easter sunday feel more like it should, a celebration of the Savior rather than of jolly rancher jelly beans (which are rather good by the way). i think that is one family tradition (of many) that we will continue to carry on.

Cousin Amanda left early but Ashley stayed for the hunt. Here is the giant basket of eggs (the picture doesn't do it justice) that lindsay, boyd (in the background) and i were tasked to hide:

bryce, adam and cousin collin waiting in anticipation - we didn't have any the cute little kids who pick up one egg and then abandon the search all together. these guys were seasoned egg hunters.
the mad dash begins....

i had to laugh when i saw this ingenious hiding spot on the kitchen table. it was so in theme that it took several kids passing right by the kitchen table for anyone to notice!

the kids and the loot. the fact that all of those plastic eggs that i showed in my basket earlier filled up four individual baskets is a testament to just how many eggs were hidden.

after the huge rainstorm on saturday, we were treated to beautiful blue skies and 80 degree weather on sunday and monday. dad and i used this perfect opportunity to go hiking in the lost dutchman state park. although we got a bit of a late start, and i ended up with a bit of a sunburn, it was great fun. unfortunately, the only pictures i took were of a cactus flower. dad was much better about documenting the occasion.
after burning off all of those calories, dad and i treated ourselves to a late lunch at joe's farm grill which is part of the agritopia neighborhood (may i please one day return to arizona and live in agritopia, not fair yamamotos!!) and of course we had to indulge in their version of a hot fudge sundae, encased in a cream puff. Here is the before:
and the after... we did pretty good don't you think?jamie will attest to the fact that i was not too happy to be back in cold, rainy chicago or to travel to cold, snowy utah a few days later. it's not that i don't love both of these places, but come on, its april! at least arizona has realized that. it was wonderful to see family and friends, although there were lots i didn't see, next time!! and michelle you somehow escaped getting a picture, it won't happen again! maybe next time i won't hog arizona all to myself and jamie can come with me :)

life as you once knew it

2009-04-01T22:03:00.003-05:00

i came home last night from work and was greeted with... the finish-line! the last three months of work have been well miserable but march 31st marked the end of the long nights and weekends. i was more than happy to cross into "life as you once knew it". thanks to jamie for putting my recent work experience so eloquently...

when will it end???

2009-03-27T01:44:00.003-05:00

it is 2 am and i am sitting at work right now waiting for stuff to come back from the printers. i am so tired i can't even do any work, please let march 31st come very soon. by the way, i thought this clock was rather amusing, it tells time in years, not minutes or hours, that is exactly how much time i am spending here right now... years.

cross-country skiing in the city

2009-03-01T22:23:00.008-06:00

cross country skiing in chicago? yes! A couple of years ago mayor daley decided to tear up the small airfield on northerly island (which is right on the lake next to soldier field for the non-chicagoans) because he thought it was easy access for terrorists (or so the rumors go). he was getting some opposition to his plan so he went and tore up the airstrip in the middle of the night! now the chicago park district occupies the former airport and the airstrip is a grassy field in the summer and a field of snow in the winter. the chicago park district purchased a bunch of cross-country skis and snow shoes and every weekend during the winter that there is snow on the ground, anyone can come and borrow the equipment to use out on northerly island for as long as they want. jamie and i were cross-country skiing virgins and i think the first picture at least might just demonstrate that...

you can see soldier field and the rest of chicago in the background of this picture making the grassy field seem even more random.

falling rodents

2009-02-12T17:23:00.003-06:00

I mean I know that we have falling ice, but who knew that rodents falling from the sky were a problem? Good thing there are signs out there providing ample warning.

fondue night... and fun with heavy objects

2009-02-02T20:37:00.005-06:00

last weekend we hosted fondue night and evidently our conversation was incredibly stimulating because it somehow led to how much our tv weighs. not that i can blame the conversation for going that way because seriously our tv weighs 100 lbs. anyway, we offered to give the tv to anyone who could carry it out of the condo on their own. karl made an incredible effort... look at those biceps go! but even karl with his incredible strength couldn't make it budge (I did get a shot of Karl's behind out of it so I guess it was all worth it).

elizabeth anne designs

2009-01-11T19:55:00.004-06:00

i have been posting on elizabeth anne design's living blog for the last couple of months. my posts usually go up on wednesdays but there are lots of fun posts and links on the site everyday, enjoy!

around the country...

2009-01-04T15:15:00.011-06:00

we spent the last week and a half criss-crossing the country for christmas and new years, here are some of the highlights:

christmas eve we celebrated at justin and jessica's (jamie's brother and sister-in-law). it has been a tradition in our family for some years to open poppers on christmas eve. the poppers generally contain a paper crown, some sort of terrible joke and a present! this year the larsens continued the tradition but while i received a lame miniature note pad. jamie received this really cool plastic balls shooting out of his stomach made in china robot guy. he really did entertain us for hours:

on christmas day we woke up to... snow!! I have never built a true snowman (and a tiny snowman from a dust covering in Arizona definitely doesn't count) so Jamie and I set out to create a true snowman, and we did, over 6 feet high! We didn't exactly have snow gear but Brad, Jamie's dad, was kind enough to lend me his boots and gloves, hence my lovely over-sized hands and feet. Sadly our snowman skills didn't lend themselves to longevity, our snowman fell over a couple of hours later.

After lots of over-eating and not enough physical activity in washington i left jamie behind and flew to atlanta for ami's vow renewal on new years eve. i was a blackjack champ at the tables during cocktail hour. unfortunately it was all play money, otherwise i would be rich right now!
a picture of ami and i, the vow renewal was beautiful! after a year and a half of planning it was crazy to see it all finally happen.
on new years day i met up with jamie in salt lake city for todd's wedding. i shipped a wii to washington for jamie for christmas and had to laugh when i saw him walking through the terminal with his lap top bag on one arm and the wii in the other. i waited for his baggage while he went to pick up the rental car. he kept making references to the wee one in the back but it took me awhile to realize he literally meant the wii one in the back...
on friday morning we went out with the limon's for lunch at cafe rio. here is jamie with the littlest limon, jamison!
on saturday was todd's wedding and reception. we got a photo of the54th ward guys who came, even bishop wright was there for the festivities, but sadly he left before i could grab him for a photo. unbelievably four of the guys are still single! anyone know any cute single girls?

in an attempt to make todd pay for his previous wedding shenanigans (including hiding in the back of our car on the way to our honeymoon!) the arizona boys attempted to follow todd and lisa to their hotel. unfortunately, no one was actually paying attention when they left! we drove around in hopes that we would randomly spot their car but were about to give up when we were stopped at a light and i noticed them in front of us. jamie and derek followed them into the hotel and when todd gave an alias at check-in, explaining to the receptionist that he used an alias in order to thwart his friends' attempts to find out where he was staying, jamie stepped up to check-in. needless to say they were a little surprised but good-naturedly posed for a photo.

we fly back to chicago tomorrow morning and sadly go straight to work, but while it is 18 degrees in salt lake right now it is upper 30's in chicago so at least we are returning to "nice" weather!

girls weekend!!

2008-12-26T19:00:00.007-06:00

my sister lindsay and i somehow convinced mom that december was a good month for our semi-annual girl's weekend. of course this year, we had the worst weather in december i have ever seen. but bundled up in winter coats we shopped til we dropped and ate our way through the windy city. here's to another girls weekend, but this time in the warmth!

we decided to have a blind-folded egg nog contest and full-fat dean's won hands down. what is the point of light egg nog anyway? it's seasonal! you might as well have the good stuff.

mom posing on the bus on the way to another shopping adventure.purusing the annual macy's window disply downtown.
i can't wait for the next one!

our new digs

2008-12-25T21:59:00.004-06:00

well... not that new considering we have been here since September, and it isn't the true tour because its just the living room/kitchen (the only two rooms i can seem to keep clean!) but there have been a few requests so here it is. it still needs seem decorating help, but painting walls in an apartment has never been high on my list of activities to spend time on so i think that in terms of decorating, some things may never improve.

here is the living room with our new couches! We are excited to have space for more than 3 people in the living room:

i love the cabinets our landlord chose but i was sad to go from gas to electric appliances, sigh. oh well, no complaints being the first occupants ever in the unit, i am definitely breaking everything in:

our view of downtown from the window. you do have to walk all of the way to the window to see it, but it is pretty cool (literally!):

gobble gobble

2008-11-30T21:13:00.008-06:00

for thanksgiving we went to gilbert, az to spend time with some of my family. it has been several years since we were at a dahl family thanksgiving. the dahl's don't take thanksgiving lightly. thanksgiving dinners at my grandma's house are one of my vivid childhood memories. since grandma passed away, my family took over the tradition and now at least 50 cousins, aunts, uncles and even my 96 year old grandfather gather at our house for thanksgiving. as proof to the number of people attending, just check out the dessert table:

see those empty dessert plates? lindsay, michelle and i working on expanding out waistlines (well at least i am)! boys being boys... wii style.
i definitely did not proportionately eat and exercise. my weekend much more centered on the eating! that is the problem with being around lots of delicious leftovers all weekend. you are really just performing a service when consuming them right? we did finally get out in the beautiful east valley mountains for a little hike. even adam (with much theatricized panting) made it to the top.

it was wonderful to be home and in the beautiful weather, even wearing shorts! i am not too happy about donning my big winter coat on tuesday for the trip back to chicago.