Random 2011

I know it is 2012 but I still had pictures from 2011. 

Feats of strengths. (not pictured: the airing of grievances) Happy Festivus, everyone!

 Geoff went to Hazel's school field trip to the zoo. She sat on the top of the rhino.

 And the top of the safety mat. Which doesn't seem that safe. But, safer than the pictures where she is standing on the top of it and waving.

 Hazel was a witch for Halloween. We went to the costumer parade and she was adorable and awesome and witchy. She has no idea about the whole Witch Hazel thing...

 I was Medusa. And terrifying.

See you later, 2011!

The house

All I wanted for Christmas was progress to be made on the house. And, lucky for me, I got what I wanted!

Earlier in the month, just after we got home from Hawaii, we had insulation sprayed on the walls. You can kind of see it on the back wall. It is the white/yellow stuff. It was sprayed on the north and south exterior walls. We also have six of the nine new windows installed.

Geoff and Duffy got also got the two bathrooms and the laundry roomed framed in! Hooray!! And part of the ceiling done (enough to get the rooms framed)

Yeah, this doesn't look like much, but trust me, this is a pretty big step.
Another view of the same thing. You can also see the south wall with windows and spray foam.

My dad also came up this last week to install a duct and heater vent for our kitchen (and Geoff moved the world's most dangerous outlet while they were down there). Combined with the draft guard I made for the back door, the kitchen is no longer tundra-cold, just arctic-cold. Still cold, but I don't have to wear a parka when I am in there.

Now, I am just hoping the momentum continues....

Happy Birthday, Hazel!

My baby girl is six! SIX! The longest, and shortest, six years of my life. I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. I adore her and I am so happy to be Hazel's mama.

Hazel originally had crazy plans for her birthday, including a sleepover for everyone and people dressing like witches. But, then she remembered how much she loves unicorns and rainbows. And the rainbow unicorn birthday party was a go!

We had rainbow fruit. And yogurt dip clouds.

Hazel and I shopped all over for all the colors of fruits.
And rainbow vegetables. This was even more difficult than the rainbow fruits. There are NO blue vegetables. Plus, we had a lot of green veggies, per Hazel, and then I kind of ran out of room. Whatev. It is still rainbow-tastic.
Rainbow waffles! With whipped cream clouds! I originally wanted to do all six rainbow colors, but sanity prevailed. Frankly, I think three was plenty. The birthday girl agreed. She preferred extra clouds, however.
Rainbow unicorn birthday cake! Thanks to our friend and neighbor who ran home to get another candle when I only had five. Doh.
We also had plenty of rainbow decorations. This lovely rainbow in the doorway, which stayed up they entire day (and will probably stay up for quite some time). Notice the secret unicorns?

Oh, and Hazel picked some rainbow flowers. And by "picked" I mean, "at the store". She loves them and they are so on theme.
Rainbow balloons in the doorway (more secret unicorns). Balloons and streams on the ceiling. Fancy!
Hazel also created this awesome game, Pin the Unicorn on the Rainbow. One of the older (nine-year-old boy) guests asked me, "what is the point of this game?" Obviously, he does not understand small girls because they loved it and played multiple times.
Another shot of the decorations. This was all Hazel. I was just there to provide height.

And now we are spending the evening playing with the loot. And eating cake and rainbow waffles.
Hazel also got this awesome card that is perfect for the theme! So cool.
The fun and chaos of the party was awesome. Hazel has a great time, I think the other guests had a good time and, well, it only comes once a year. Thank goodness, because we are all exhausted.

Yo. I suck at updating stuff.

Let's see....What did we do this year. You know, in the past SIX MONTHS.

In June, Hazel and I picked up Gloria and went to Spring City to hang out with Grandpa who was house sitting. The little girls loved riding horses and swimming in the hot tub. I loved riding my bikes in the mountains around Spring City and having my dad check out the car at the Auto Zone in Ephraim.

Before you can ride a horse, you have to learn to take care of one. This means scoopin' some poop.
Hooray! Finally time for horses!
There is a lot of napping that goes on in the Wilde Manor.
OH! And someone started Kindergarten! It has been a rough start but hopefully we are finding the groove and someone will learn to love school.
And we got a new roof!! Hooray! This would not be possible without the fabulous help of Duffy. Geoff was overly ambitious, but eventually saw the light and we paid to have the rest done. But, they did get the section over the deck framed and it is awesome!
Photographic evidence of the need for a new roof. Not shown: the leak on the front porch. It was so bad that I made Geoff look for a dead body while the roof was off. None found.

New Roof! So pretty. So weather resistant! SO shows off what we need to do. Color suggestions are currently being taken for the shakes. The trim will most like be a white. The windows are most definitely white, as they are already upstairs waiting to be installed.

There you go. We are boring. And I don't take a lot of pictures.

Best.Day.Ever.

Hazel declared today the best day ever, for the following reasons:

• Went to daycare early
• Stayed for a REALLY long time (I had a conference, Geoff was working on the house, so she was there all day)
• Went on a field trip at daycare
• To the 7-Eleven (!!)
• Got a Slurpee, A BLUE ONE!
• A face painter came in the afternoon*, and she got a peacock on her left arm and a black widow on her right
• She had her favorite lunch at daycare**
• I got her a new bear to replace the one that "got lost"***
• We went to the zoo
• She got to ride the train
• She got an animal drink
• Probably more stuff, but she can't remember right now

I just wanted to keep track so we can look back fondly.

*Geoff had to sign a permission slip for the face painter, which I think is a little odd, but awesome that they consider people's (mine) dislike of face painters.

** GREEN BEANS(!!), little rolls (the little is important), spaghetti and meatballs.

***I threw it away. Luckily, the same vendor was at the conference I went to today and had the same bear. Thus, "Straw Beary" is returned.

Paris Day 6

My lovely child. Aaaaahhhh....

Today we were hitting a million places. It required delicious cookies (lemon/raspberry shortbread). Hazel picked this one because it was so pretty, but ended up hating it. Lucky me, because it was delicious!
First stop, climbing the towers of Notre Dame. This was the worst line we stood in all week. Also, the only swing we saw in all of Paris, and we went to plenty of playgrounds. This is the little playground right behind Notre Dame, if you are keeping track of playground equipment in Paris.
Another lovely family shot. I think this was taken by a person, otherwise we would have kept taking them until the kid didn't cover her face.

Arm's length shot.

Okay, the pictures are all out of order, due to the two cameras not having the same time set. Instead of getting frustrated and cursing blogger, I am just going to roll with it. Wouldn't you rather have an update blog, than pictures in order? Yeah, that's what I thought. I am obviously not a pro.

Anyway, Hazel and Geoff wanted a picture pretending like they were having a serious conversation. Because they are weirdos.
Unlike Meadow who had to take a picture of the ceiling in the Rodin museum. Do you see the peeling paint?? Here is the secret to having a crappy house: Fill it with amazing art and no one will notice. Except for other people who live in crappy houses (i.e. me).

Most of the museums were fading and peeling and missing things. I felt quite at home.
Back to the top of Notre Dame: Do you see how many people are at Sacre Coeur??? It is always busy!
Don't worry Heart Sparkle Sparkleheart (according to Hazel, this is her full name) was also there, posing with the gargoyles. She was only a little bit scared.
Since Hazel hasn't even seen the Hunchback of Notre Dame, she was not as excited as I was to see the giant bell. And she may have been a bit freaked out from climbing the rickety stairs.
Moose!
Oh, look, we have magically jumped to the Arc de Triomphe. What up, Heart Sparkle?
Oh, you like the Eiffel Tower? Me too. I think it is the bomb-diggity.
Hazel, of course, loves the unicorns. The Cluny was a hit purely for the unicorn tapestries. Please note: No flash allowed. And kids are not great at holding still while the picture takes. How did olde timey photogs ever get a shot? Seriously.
Hazel took this picture. It is awesome.
Rodin museum (please see its ceiling in an above picture). Still posing like statues. Never gets old. Never.
I wish I had a better shot of this. I love this sculpture. Look how disgusted/outraged the lady looks. Love it.
Oh, Sparkle Heart is back. On top of the Arc de Triomphe. Looks a bit tired to me. Probably because we were going non-stop.
Oh, but someone still has enough energy to leap.
Whoops! Not quite.*
Remember how I love the Eiffel Tower? Because I do. And I think it looks a little fake in this photo. Like it was just plopped down amidst all those little houses.
Climbing down the forever spiral staircase at the Arc.
And we are done!
And a bit dramatic.
This was the door to our apartment.
Last story of Day 6. This was our last day in Paris and Geoff wanted a "real French meal", something he could look back on and say "that was French". It was Sunday and everything was closed early, or too $$$ and nice with a kidlet. Europe is weird with the closing early. Moving on.

We found a little bistro not too far from our apartment and it looked nice enough and accommodating to the small one. Oh, and it was open, so that was a plus. Geoff tells the guy he wants "a classic French meal" and the guy explains the entree (appetizer) and plat (main course) options. Geoff hears "pork" and figures it is all good. I hear "tripe" and figure Geoff is crazy.

First up, let's discuss meal. I ordered Salade Normande. It was delicious! Some lettuce, a couple of tomatoes, prosciutto, 1/2 a wheel of Camembert (broiled until it was super melty) and then fried potato chunks. Delicious. Also, not really a "salad". But delicious. Plus, I ate some of Hazel's onion soup and some bread.

Back to Geoff: He ordered the terrine for an entree. It wasn't bad, but not the best thing ever. Then he gets his main course. Tripe. He powered through a bunch of it and kept saying "it's pretty good, try it." Blech. I know what tripe is. I did try it, and it wasn't good. Hazel tried it and declared it "chewy". Then Geoff claimed he was full. And for the first time in his plate he was not a member of the clean-plate club. Ha!

But then he got chocolate mousse for dessert and it was delicious.

The end.

And tomorrow (in blog time), we left for home. boo hoo.

*Actually, she conked her noggin on a viewing platform. The bruise is just barely fading. eek.