Just a Little Bit Famous

A few months ago I volunteered to participate in a photography project with the Utah Breastfeeding Coalition.  Timbra (Landslide Photography) was hired to photograph women nursing their children in various locations in Utah that have committed to supporting breastfeeding. I was originally assigned to meet her at a dark office building, but because of scheduling problems we had to (got to) change our location to a french bakery--much more my cup of tea. She did several fabulous posters (you can see more of them by visiting www.utahbreastfeeding.org and looking at the Posters under the heading "Utah Opens Its Doors To Breastfeeding) and Sophia and I were on the one below! I love it when she reaches up and holds my hand while she nurses, so it was fun to have that captured.

One of her photos ended up as part of the "Call To Action To Support Breastfeeding" that the U.S. Surgeon General put out last week, and I was in it! If you 'd like to read the whole "Call To Action" you can visit the Surgeon General's website, but the page that Sophia and I are on is below. I realize that most people will never, ever see this, but still, it IS a national publication--from the Surgeon General of the United States!

Feeling just a little bit famous.

Puzzling Thoughts

Thanks to Grandma Jan's large puzzle library, I think we've found ourselves a new hobby.

Coleman waxed poetic last Sunday while he was putting the puzzle together with Ryan.  He said, "Puzzles are kind of like life. You have struggles in life and you have struggles to put the puzzle together. You have to figure out how to work it out."

Ryan of course recognized the profundity of his words and called me down so that Coleman could share his wisdom with me.

I wanted to know a little more, so I asked Coleman what some of his struggles in life were. As soon as the words left my lips I knew I was in trouble.

His response: "I don't know, like when you yell at me and stuff."

Awesome.

Ten Months

Sophia is ten months old today!

We spent some time trying to capture a photo of her with her ball... as you can see, she didn't want to stay still or pose in any way. She is always on the move and has started to roll the ball away from her. She loves playing with toys and anything she can get her hands (or mouth) on.

She likes to eat! Her favorites include: homemade chicken noodle soup, beef stew, homemade pizza, sweet potatoes, and baked apples with cinnamon. She loves to drink out of a sippy cup too.

She is sporting a new tooth--which makes two on the top. We still haven't seen any evidence of those bottom teeth coming in yet (unless you count a perpetual runny nose).

Here is a better view of those teeth...

Our friend Isabel made her a darling pink hat with a flower on it. She lets us put things in her hair (or I should say on her head since she doesn't have a whole lot of hair still) and will leave them there for anywhere between 2 seconds and a couple of hours. If she happens to touch her head and realizes there is something there, it comes out immediately. She goes visiting teaching with Isabel and I.  This last month I think she consumed part of the message.  Lovely.

She loves to play with the remote (and on one occasion set the DVR to record all new episodes of "Days of our Lives" with her random button pushing) and phone and anything that is shiny or has lights.

She LOVES her sister and brother so much and would usually rather be with one of them than with me.

Sophia has started to play peek-a-boo and has a laugh that brings a smile to my face. She likes to pull herself up to a kneeling or standing position, will take steps (but only if both of her hands are being held), and she recently surprised us all with her ability to scurry up the stairs with no training at all.

We are so grateful to have this baby in our family!

Happy Birthday Jan!

Today is Ryan's Grandma Jan's birthday! We were so excited to go and celebrate with her a few days ago. She has just completed two of her six chemo treatments for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, so she is currently without hair, but is looking great with her scarf. We thought we'd show a little solidarity and pull out some of our silly hats (we have a goofy tradition of silly hat dinners every once in awhile). We had a great visit!

 Here are Ryan and Kristen with all the kiddos (We missed Tim, Laura, and Faith who were home sick).

 Our family with Grandma...

 Scott's family with Grandma...

...and the star of the show, the decadent chocolate cake from Costco (Ryan's not bad either :) ).  Chemo has made Jan lose her sense of taste (only temporarily, thank goodness) so we were hopeful that she would be able to taste some of this chocolately goodness... she could!  We also brought her some fire hot Cheetos which were way too hot for the rest of us, but just right for her.



I love the way the kids add their own little flair to the birthday song. Happy birthday Jan!

Student of the Day

Olivia was the student of the day last week!!! Her teacher wrote that she received the award for "consistently working for excellence in academics and service" which describes our Liv very well. She got to choose a free meal from a local restaurant and had the honor of having her name announced over the school intercom!

I had to include a close-up of the certificate... I am a very big proponent of public education, really, I am. I have to say though that nothing gets under my skin more than grammar and spelling mistakes coming from teachers or school administrators. I say that knowing full well that I am guilty of grammar and spelling errors on a regular basis--so really, I have nothing to gripe about.  That being said, Ryan and I got a good laugh out of the way "Excellence" is spelled on the Cafe Rio certificate.

Way to go Olivia!!!

Our Family History

There are definite perks to having Ryan be both computer savvy AND employed by a publishing company--and of course the fact that he is generous with his time and talents helps as well. My Mother's Day gift (volume I) is a reality...

We designed the cover of the book to look like our blog background

I'm so excited to have this in print. As I've read histories on many of my ancestors I am amazed that their lives can be summarized into a few pages. I wish I had more detailed accounts of their day to day activities, their joys, and their sorrows. I know that our blog is sometimes silly, but I am so grateful to be able to reflect on the things we have done and the things we have learned. We joke about how our blogs are our "journal" but at this point in my life, it's the best family record we have.

**How do you record your family history?

I Highly Recommend....

...going to the BYU Museum of Art exhibit Carl Bloch The Master's Hand.

It is open through May 7, 2011 and is amazing. He is a Danish artist who painted many works on the life of Christ. Some have been used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will be very recognizable. Others are not well known, but are equally beautiful. If you click on the link above you can get information about getting (free) tickets for a reservation. They have iPads to rent for a guided tour (only $3) which we didn't do, but I'd love to return and find out more about the artist and his works.

In our family home evenings we have been talking about talents... a few days ago Ryan asked us to sketch something in the room (trying to discover if any of us have fabulous talents like Carl Bloch?). These are our originals, posted here for when we are famous artists.

"Lamp" by Olivia

"Coffee Table" by Lisa

"Lamp" by Ryan

"Coffee Table" by Coleman


We probably have a long road ahead of us if we want to improve our talents with sketching, but at least our items are recognizable, no?

**What are your talents?
**Have you been (or do you plan to go) to this exhibit?

A Christmas Carol

How have I gone through so many Christmas seasons without reading this wonderful book? I have watched many screen adaptations but it has stayed on my mental list of books to read for years. Our good friends gifted us a copy this year and there were no excuses! I tried and tried to read it with my family before Christmas, but it didn't happen. I decided that I would read it on my own anyway, and I am so glad I did.

I loved so much about this book. There were so many good insights about humankind. In particular, I loved what Jacob Marley's ghost said to Scrooge about what our business (as human beings) needs to be:

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business! The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

I hope that with the new year I will be better about concerning myself with the common welfare, charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence. 


**Have you read this book?
**What is your favorite quote (or idea) from the book?