Goodbye, Wyoming

It's taken me almost a year, but I am finally changing our blog address (since we no longer live in Wyoming). This will be my last entry on this blog, so make sure you bookmark my new one: www.mykidseatoffthefloor.blogspot.com. Don't forget!!

Alligade

Yep, you read that right. Alligade. Tempe's new favorite drink.

Let me describe it to you: it's usually an unnatural jewel color; marketed to athletes as a sports drink; it tastes like sweat mixed with fruit juice; and there are commercials with people sweating it.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Today at the store, we passed a display of Gatorade and Tempe got very excited and said "Mom, can you buy Daddy some alligade? And he can share it with me!"

The cupboard under the stairs

After living in apartments, I never thought I would have enough storage space to consider using a closet for anything else. But our house has a 600 square foot crawl space that's pretty much an unfinished basement (with a 4 foot ceiling)--it is insulated, cemented, and has lights--so when Tempe asked me if the closet under the stairs could be her playroom, I said yes! We had a fun week putting it together.

First, we went to Home Depot to browse their "oops" paint, and found a gallon of robin's egg blue for $5 (Hint: If you aren't picky about the color for a room, "oops" paint is a great way to get paint for a fraction of the cost. Just go every week until you find a color that you like!) 

After I painted (and that was fun--trying to paint a ceiling that slopes down to ground level), I put the wire shelving unit that had already been in the closet down at the girls' level.  Tempe helped me choose some toys to put on it: books that wouldn't fit in their rooms and the books from the basket in the living room, some flash cards they like to scatter around, a game of "Go Fish", several photo albums that Grandma Lisa has sent, the doctor's kit, a few stuffed animals, and a basket of dolls and doll accessories. 

Finally, it was time to accessorize. We went to Wal-Mart, hoping to find a body pillow on sale (I have seen them for $10 there before). We didn't find one, but we did find two really cute throw pillows for $5 each, so we got them instead. Then we went to Robert's to get wooden flower cutouts. We also got a bird and a bumblebee. I painted green flower stems along the baseboard, then hot glued velcro to the top of the stems and the back of the flowers--voila! Interactive wall art! Helena especially loves pulling the flowers off, over and over.

Even though it is a very small space--probably about 3 feet by 8 feet, but will a ceiling that slants down in the back--we got a lot in there. I'm also going to add framed family photos on the wall, and Tempe and Helena are going to help me paint a few more wooden flowers to put on the flower stems. Maybe someday I will add a roll of paper to the wall so they can use it as an easel. It's really cute, and the girls love it! They play in there while I cook (it opens off the kitchen) and enjoy having their own little space. 

Here are some pictures:

Oh, and the trapdoor to the crawlspace is at the back of this closet (under the chair and pillows), so I couldn't put, say, a kitchen there. I needed to find something light enough that I could move easily whenever I need to get down to the crawlspace. That is why I decided to make this mostly a "reading nook" sort of playroom.

Yikes!

Before we moved into our house, a girl in my old playgroup told me that her in-laws live on Jennings as well, and asked which house we bought. When I told her it was the one on the corner, she said "Oh, that crappy little house?"

I brushed it off and chalked it up to the fact that I was so in love with my first house that I managed to ignore the badly neglected exterior. Jason and I still affectionately call it our "crappy little house", but now that my neighbors lawns are emerald green and their gardens are filled with blooming flowers, I'm starting to feel a little panic when I look at our yard.

Explanation: our house was vacant for about a year, and during that time no one came by to take care of it. No one raked the leaves last fall, which means that until about a month ago when the snow melted, we had a layer of leaves under a layer of snow, leaving us with mostly dead grass. No one pruned the drastically overgrown holly bush, no one weeded the gardens, no one painted the trim. So we are slowly getting our yard in shape, and it's a little overwhelming!

Tonight I went to Lowes to buy plants for our empty gardens and man, was it hard trying to choose things! I didn't know what would look good together or how to arrange things, so I just bought some things I thought looked nice and hopefully I will figure out where to plant them.

Here are some before pictures.... after pictures will follow in a few weeks!

Mean Mommy

Yesterday we went to Robert's to pick up some things for the girls' new playroom (more about that later!) and as soon as we walked in the door, Tempe saw the helium balloons. She immediately started in with the "Mommy, can I have a balloon? Please can I have one? Please will you buy me one?"

I kept saying "No, you have a balloon at home... No, you don't need a balloon." But I guess the cashier heard us, because when she was ringing me up, she asked if Tempe wanted a balloon. Tempe's face lit up and she chose a pink balloon. As we were walking out to the car, she was babbling happily to herself and she said "And Mommy say, (in gruff, snarly voice) 'No you can't have a balloon!' and the nice lady say, (in happy princess voice) 'Yes, you can have one!'"

I couldn't help but laugh at how evil I come off when I deny a balloon.

Catching some Zzzzz's

Helena is a busy one-year-old. She has a lot she has to do every day: pull all the DVD's off the shelf, climb up the stairs, empty the basket of books in the living room, scatter the children's dishes across the kitchen floor, and, of course, get into big sister Tempe's things. With all that to keep her busy, no wonder she has to catch a few Zzzz's whenever she gets a chance (like in between  bites of graham crackers)!

Helena was finishing her lunch today while I was making my grocery list, and when I glanced over at the high chair, this is what I found! I quietly took this picture, and she woke up bleary-eyed, took another bite of graham cracker, and then rolled her head to the side and went back to sleep. She alternated sleeping and eating for about 15 minutes, and screamed bloody murder every time I tried to take her tray away and clean her up for a real nap. Finally, she finished all of her graham crackers and let me take her up to her crib.

I miss my old friends, too

Moving to a new area is hard, and I know it, but I always forget until I'm doing it again. I know that it takes about a year to really feel at home and make friends, but that year is so hard! I have only lived in our new house for two months, but it feels like forever, and I am just having the hardest time making friends. Our neighborhood doesn't have a lot of little children or stay-at-home-moms, like I thought it would. Our ward was really friendly at first, but there are never any activities or opportunities to get to know anyone better. 

I really miss my old friends in Laramie. A lot. I miss my old neighborhood. I miss going for walks with Denise. I miss going to playgroup (SO MUCH). I miss playing at the neighborhood park with the Smiths (both Smiths), the Meads, and the Faulkners. I miss going to the library and seeing people I know there. I miss knowing I would have someone to sit with in Relief Society every week. I miss not being nervous about going to Enrichment activities. 

I keep telling myself that I need to give myself more time and not worry, and remember--it takes a year. I tell myself that if I still feel this way in the fall, then I can worry. But it's still hard!

Doesn't anyone from Laramie want to move into my neighborhood? There are two houses for sale!

I miss my old camera

I really miss my old camera. It was a Canon. I can't remember what kind, but it was the best camera EVER! It took the best pictures with minimal effort on my part, which is what I want. It died in November, and I decided to go with something different. A Sony Cybershot. Yuck. I hate it. It takes awful pictures! They are either washed out from the flash, or grainy because I turn it off. I have done ALL the troubleshooting, basic and advanced, and I just can't get it to take good pictures. I know that the ISO affects the "noisiness" of the pictures, so I set it at 100. But the pictures still end up grainy, blurry, or washed out. It's really frustrating because I used to take really good pictures!

Anyway, I am trying to sell it. Not that any of you will want to buy it after this post, but it is listed on KSL and Craigslist. Hopefully someone will take it off my hands so I can buy another Canon.

Here's one of the pictures from my old Canon. Man, I miss it.

"Grandma Lisa, you gonna stay at our own home?"

My parents and brother and sister left today, after staying with us for the past 5 days. We had a great visit, and we were able to do a lot in such a short amount of time, including skiing (for some of us), the zoo, BYU, Temple Square, lots of walks, and a day full of yard work. My dad loves doing anything home improvement, and so (along with the majority of the yard work) he also hung a swing in a tree in our backyard, fixed the door to our shed, tightened some loose faucets, and (biggest project) hung bi-fold doors in our laundry closet. Yay! Now people don't have to walk past my laundry to get to our only guest bathroom.

But it was sad saying goodbye. I used to have a very hard time when it came time for a visit to end, but I've realized that for living 1200 miles apart, we actually see each other pretty often. And with cell phones and the internet, it's much easier to keep in touch than it was for my mom when she got married and moved 2000 miles away from her family. The hardest part about this afternoon was when Tempe realized that we were saying goodbye to her beloved Grandma Lisa and Grandpa K. She got a sort of worried expression on her face and said "Grandma Lisa, you gonna stay at our own home?" 

Following is a hodge-podge of pictures from our visit.

Jeff, Tempe, Kelsey and Grandma Lisa sitting on the "bench" in our backyard.

Me and my girls enjoying the swing that Grandpa K put up for us!

Tempe thinks the swing is just as much hers as it is Helena's (who actually got it for her birthday)

Helena on the swing's maiden... swing.

Tempe loved standing at this window at the LDS Conference Center and looking through the waterfall when we were there to see the international art competition. 

Dad going crazy with the clippers.

Tempe and a BYU racecar--two of her favorite things!

Spring has sprung...

...And Helena is one! We had her "Springtime" birthday party last night. It was quite a party! We had about 30 people attend, all family, including my parents and brothers Tyler and Jeff and sister Kelsey, who are visiting from Tennessee this week (more about them later). 

For Lena's party, Tempe helped me dye frosting all the colors of the rainbow for Lena's rainbow cupcakes. Margaret has some great pictures of the party on her blog. The problem with having a talented photographer in the family is that I no longer bother taking pictures at family events. So you'll have to check them out on her site instead! 

Today we have been very, very busy getting our neglected yard back in shape. My dad thrives on yard work, so he had a great day doing all kinds of stuff. We got so much done! I can't believe how beautiful it looks from just a few hours of work. We are so grateful that my family was so willing to help us in the yard on their vacation!

This last picture is the results of all our hard work: tree branches, grass clippings, even a dead tree that we took out of our planter area. It's pretty gratifying to see how much we got done!

It's April, so....

The summit just east of Laramie:
And here is a picture of Sinclair, outside of Rawlins. All of the trucks and cars you see lined up here are waiting for the interstate to reopen. It's been closed for 24 hours.

Oh, Wyoming. There's nothing like you (thankfully). It's weekends like this that make me so glad not to live there anymore!

*I don't want my Wyoming readers to be offended... I mean... seriously, the weather in Wyoming is ridiculous! But I do miss a lot of things about Laramie: the small town feel, all of my great friends, the way the wind howled so cozily outside my bedroom window...

Mainstream appeal? No, thank you.

I have always wanted to be part of a cult following. The best definition I could find of this elusive state is not really a good definition at all: "A cult following is a group of fans devoted to a specific area of pop culture. These dedicated followings are usually relatively small, and often pertain to items that don't have broadmainstream appeal" (from Wikipedia). How can something be part of pop culture if it doesn't have mainstream appeal? 

Anyway, after much contemplation, I have determined that I am part of a cult following. I cult-follow (?) "Arrested Development", Fox's short-lived, underrated comedy about the most horrible people in America, the Bluth family. Jason and I came to the conclusion that I can count "Arrested Development" as something I cult-follow last weekend after a conversation about whether or not it's fan base is small enough. My argument was that too many people like it; it seems like most of my friends and family think it's hilarious. But Jason pointed out that most of my friends and family have the same taste as me, and that they are not an accurate sample of the population. So... yay! I am part of a cult following after all! And I did it before my 30th birthday! (I should add it to my list)

ps I also wish that I was part of a secret society.