Hazel's Blog

Random 2011

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-10-11T16:47:00.001-07:00

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.

2011-08-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

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.

Paris Day 5

2011-04-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

I think this day started poorly. I seem to remember we had a really, really hard time getting out of the apartment. And there may have been bickering. Let's forget about that. We had to buy a new camera card (argh!) and Geoff had to go back to the apartment for the camera (double-argh!). Luckily, this meant Hazel got to ride another carousel.

This was a more modern one. What with the cars and the rising up and down. This seemed like a neighborhood carousel, not a tourist one.

Whatever, Hazel loved it.
Then we went to the cemetery. Along the way, a flower vendor ran out, stopped us and gave Hazel a flower (she was being a little pouty and it went a long way to cheering her up). He then practiced his English on us and said, "Obama good!" with a big, old thumps up.

And then we met an indian who wanted the flowers.
This may be one of my favorite pictures of the trip. I love the drama of the kidlet. Yep, we are still posing like statues.
The ninja wanted to see Jim Morrison's grave. She is a big fan of The Doors.
Hazel is a big fan of the Wilde name. She doesn't really know who Oscar Wilde is, other than the Selfish Giant story, but she does recognize her last name.
The flowers were removed from their stems and applied to her ponytails. They were a lifesaver.
Then we head to the science museum! Woo!
It messed with our perception. Or maybe Geoff shrunk and Hazel grew.
Silliness on the mirror.
Aliens!
Unfortunately, it closed at 6pm, like everything else, so we didn't get to spend much time science-ing. Curses!

But we did have fun playing outside. Even if one us got a little tilt-y.
Giant, mirrored globe!
We all threw our hands up in the air and danced like we just didn't care.
And then we got to ride the beloved metro again.
To Sacre Coeur!
Honestly, this was one of my least favorite places. It was the first time we were really hit with classic "tourist" mobs. And, what a mob it was. So many people, so many people trying to sell them beer, so many pickpockets, so many street vendors running from the cops.

The highlight was finding this scarf for Hazel. She loves it and still gets tons of entertainment out of it.

While we were in the area, we decided to see (from the outside only) Moulin Rouge.
Not really the best area to be taking a five-year-old after dark.
But then we found the air vent.
This giant platform that blew air. I think it was from the metro, but I really don't know. Whatever it was, it was semi-warm and there was a ton of it. She told me this was her favorite part of Paris.
And then it was time to head home to bed.
Yeah, yeah, I have more days. I will get to them. I promise!

Paris Day 4

2011-04-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

Versaille Day!

Many exciting points before we even get to the first picture.

1- We got up early(ish) and out of the house only like two hours after our planned departure time. This is the best we can hope for.

2- We got to ride the train (hooray!).

3- More musicians on the train. This time there was an old guy playing an accordion. So, you know, my dad could work in France when he retires.

4- Hazel spied a McDo and whined and whined for it. But in French.

Because we were in France. In Versaille to be precise.

Hazel was carried a lot. Not just in Versaille. Everywhere. All over Paris. Luckily, we keep her small and easy to carry. Still 35-lbs gets heavy.

Flora did not come with us to Versaille. Instead we took Sparkle-Heart-Pinkie-Pie, (who also apparently appeared at the Louvre. Ninjas are sneaky that way, and I am not that observant) or some such nonsense. Hazel is an erratic and crazy namer. And changes names based on the wind. Or something. Anyway, this ninja was there.
We played a few rounds of zombie tag. Please note: Hazel is too exhausted to walk the 3 blocks from the train station to the château but has plenty of energy to run around and play zombie tag. For hours.
I believe there was a statue in front of us that we were copying. Or maybe we are just dorks. Or both. Probably both.
Marie Antoinette's hamlet is the most adorable thing ever. If you go to Paris (and you should go to Paris), you should go visit M.A.'s hamlet. Especially if you have a young girl, or have ever read a fairytale. Actual thatched roofs. With FLOWERS growing on the top!
Hazel also loved it. Obviously.
This was the best part. These fish were giant, slimy and disgusting. There were hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe. We had a bag full of cereal and fed them handfuls of it and they swarmed (or whatever fish d0). They had giant gaping mouths and made a gross noise and pushed each other out of the way, and out of the water.

It was awesome.
We took a lot of corny family pictures.*
After the hamlet, and a visit to the farm, and some more gardens, we went to the actual chateau. It was packed with tour groups and it was hot and it is huge. Not quite Louvre huge**, but big enough. And did I mention the crowded and hot??

Luckily, there is a lot of repetitious gold decor and ummm... pictures. And chandeliers. We love chandeliers here in the Wilde Manor.

This room is called the Hall of Mirrors. It is fancy and famous and has a TON of chandeliers. Hazel's mouth literally dropped when she saw the room. We recreated it for a picture. She would like her room to look just like this. But without so many tour groups.
We were done with Versaille and the lame crowds and we headed back to the city. We rode the train into town and got off early to find some dinner. First, we happened upon the square in front of the Hotel de Ville. It was reasonably empty and slightly windy and Hazel thought this meant it was time to fly a kite. Keep in mind, she was too tired to walk from the metro station to the square (like a block) but she had the energy to run around flying a kite for about 30 minutes. (See Zombie Tag at Versaille)
We then wandered into our (temporary) neighborhood and ate falafel and shwarma from the falafel shop endorsed by Lenny Kravitz. I will now go on record as saying I will eat any falafel that Lenny Kravitz endorses, because it was delicious.

Then we stopped at a playground.

But not just any playground. This one had a UNICORN! And kids. (not pictured)
I think I already posted a picture of the elevator in our building but this one better demonstrates the teeny-tiny nature of the lift. Geoff had to smush his shoulders in to fit. At least it was tall enough to fit two people in, if you stack them.

More to come???? Yes, probably. But not today.

*Hazel says her most favorite part of all of Paris was, "Spending time with my family." Aaahhh...I love my corny kid.

** I just Googled the size of both. Versaille is 51,200 square meters, the Louvre is 652,300 square feet. So, both giant.

Paris Day 3

2011-04-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

I believe this was April 14th, but since I didn't switch the time on the camera (OH! And the two cameras had different times by about 2 hours, so they are not really in order. Anger! It is fixed now. For the future.)

We were going to wake up bright and early today but didn't. Because that is how we roll. Slowly out of bed. Eventually, we got up and ready for our day. Hazel wore some lovely French braids, or as they call them in France, "braids". This shot also demonstrates our less-than-OSHA-standards window railing. We were on the floor 4, which is equivalent to U.S. 5. I think it is something to do with metric. Or because they count the ground floor as 0 and then move up to 1, 2, etc. Anyway, do you see the railing that is two hundred years old and fragile?? That my child is leaning on?? Fancy.

When we finally left the apartment (seriously, I think it was like 2pm), we went to the Louvre. Hazel was extremely excited about this for a few reasons; (1) mummies, (2) this book,* and (3) she really had no idea what she was in for.

First up, the pyramid. Starting off on the right foot for my Egypt loving kid.
And, what's this?? Two more pyramids inside?!?! Awesome. (Have you guessed Hazel's favorite pose of the trip yet?)
We ate some (over-priced, not-that-great) lunch and finally went in to the actual museum. Of course, a huge part of the Egypt wing is closed for....something...probably renovating. Thank goodness not all of it however.

This sarcophagus is in the Louvre Up Close book (please note: we just borrow it from the library. If an actual trip to the Louvre is cheaper than the book, I am not buying the danged book). Hazel was VERY excited to find it in Real LIFE!
And, holy cow, an actual. real.live.mummy. The best thing ever! I wish her cute little face was in focus but you can still see her genuine excitement at seeing a mummy.**
This vase, also in the book. We tried to find everything in the book, including Hazel's favorite mosaic. But, have you been to the Louvre? It is huge? And we only had like 2 hours until it closed. And it.is.huge. HUGE! We found like 5 things out of the book.
And then we saw this lady. Flora thought it was an awesome picture and wanted her picture by it.
As did the Hazel. Okay, she actually didn't care for the Mona Lisa at all. She in fact questioned why all the people were there and "don't they know about the mummies?"
After the mummies, and a lot of pictures of princess and horses disguised as unicorns***, we got a little silly. With all the fabulous art, we took pictures being ridiculous. In my defense, when you visit museums with a five-year-old, and want to see much of it, you have to make it fun for everyone. Or it is fun for no one. No.One.

A terrifying sculpture of a dragon.
Hazel loved to pose like the sculptures and have us take her picture. Every single time, she would mirror it, instead of copy it. Eventually, she would get it right.
Geoff was also adequate at statue copying.
Okay, I have a lot of these. I will not post all of them. But I like this sculpture and her "whatever" pose.
Yahoo for the tripod and family pictures!
Hazel and Flora on a bridge. If I was a good blogger, I would figure out what bridge it is, but I am not. It is the one by the Louvre. On the way to the Orsay.
What up, Orsay? (which kind of sounds like "horsey")
Oh yeah, we have three of these basically identical pictures. I like the angry faces. Because, of course, they are posing by a rhino.
Elephant.
My two funny (to me) stories from the Orsay:

1- When you first walk in there is a hallway of sculptures (it used to be a railway station, so there is a huge open area, the building is fantastic), after looking at a few Hazel asked me where Grandma Anne's stuff was. I explained she didn't have any in the museum and Hazel wanted to know why not. I said she hadn't been around long enough and Hazel accepted that as a good answer.

2- We had a backpack with us for snacks and water and jackets and whatnot and they guy didn't want to let it in, until he was Hazel. He said, "No bags, but for the sake of the child you can take it in." FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILD! I love the phrasing.

All over Paris, we were cut slack because of the kid. Utah tolerates kids, because they are everywhere and a million of them. But other places seem to cherish them (perhaps not the right word), they are more of a novelty and less of a commodity. They don't really cater to kids, but they do realize that kids, and parents, need a little help and understanding. I don't want to eat at a "kid" restaurant but I do want to have smaller portions, served quickly.

Costa Rica was similar, when the cops saws Hazel in the back seat they sent us on our way posthaste, instead of (probably) sending Geoff to jail, or giving him a ticket, whatever.

Blah blah.

And then we probably ate some food and headed home. Or headed home and ate some food. And watched Nick Jr.

Day 4 to come....

*Nice that they call it a "bargain book". Ha!!!

**Next year, Egypt! Hopefully.

***Seriously, Hazel was able to spot a "unicorn" from a mile away. Most of them were just horses in armor. She also loved pictures with babies and moms.

Paris Day 2

2011-04-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

Even though we meant to wake up early and getting going with our day, we did not. The eight hour time zone difference is hard. But, we got up eventually and left the house. We might have had breakfast, I don't remember.

Today we started out with the Catacombs! When we arrived we found friends! In Paris! My friend, Amy's, sister Lisa and her family were in Paris for the week too and, amazingly, we found each other. And they were going to the Catacombs too. They were even kind enough to let us cut in line, probably saving us a good hour of waiting. It was great to see them and Hazel loved to play with the baby. It was one of her highlights of the trip.

Moving on. Flora the Ninja wanted a picture with the bones, she was very brave, but a little nervous.

Hazel also touched a skull. A shiny one.
Skulls arranged in the shape of a heart. There are a lot of bones in this place. Six million people's bones. Walking down into it was a little creepy but you quickly become immune to it and don't think of them as people. Or bones.
Geoff picked up a skull. This was presumably allowed as the guards did nothing to stop people from playing with bones. I think it is a little icky, however.
After the Catacombs we went to lunch. Hazel ate at McDo (I am ashamed) and Geoff and I ate some delicious galettes, shared somewhat with the Hazel. Then we rode the Metro. The Metro is awesome. Hazel loved the folding seats and pushing the button to open the door. Honestly, I think the Metro was probably her favorite thing in Paris. She loved every part of it.
Oh, playgrounds might be her favorite thing. We stopped at a lot of them. The cool thing about Paris playgrounds is that they are each made for the park. Each one was unique and had slightly different equipment. They were all uniformly sandy, however, the French don't do a lot of grass.
Next stop: Eiffel Tour!

Geoff and I did not climb this when we went a couple of years ago. The lines were crazy long, even to do the stairs, like four-five hours long and we didn't think it was worth it. But, I was determined to go to the top this time.

Happy family shot with the new tripod. (used a lot on this trip)
We did the stairs to the second level (the level right above Hazel's head in the above picture and then rode the elevator to the top). On the first level we stopped to take pictures.

And then we continued on to the second. It was 668 steps. We didn't have to count because luckily someone did it for us. Hazel did not love the stairs. She was nervous to even take this picture. It was windy and the stairs are fairly exposed. But, she was brave and we made it.
We then had to wait in a huge line to ride the elevator to the tippy-top. More pictures were taken.
Hooray for the tripod!
Flora wanted to look out the telescope.
Geoff took a lot of pictures from the top but they are all scenery shots and that is not what I am about. I can barely post pics of my kid, I cannot post all his artsy/scenic shots.

Okay, I will post just this one. But it is a family shot.
After surviving Eiffel, Hazel was rewarded with a ride on a carousel.
She loved it.
I was a little slow on photobombing my emo child.
Flora wanted the same picture as Hazel. No photobomb.

I love the Eiffel Tower.

Especially when it sparkles at night. Holy cow, I love this so much I would fly back to Paris just to watch it sparkle. I will rent an apartment overlooking the Eiffel Tower and watch it sparkle every hour (on the hour, for five minutes). Photos do not do it justice. If you have not seen this in real life, you should go. I will go with you.

We tried to take family pictures but the focus was off. I think they all kind of look like we are standing in front of a backdrop, not the actual tower.
And then it was late and we rode the Metro home.

What will tomorrow bring? Stay tuned and find out. It was awesome, trust me.

Paris Day 0 and 1

2011-04-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

Let me start at the very beginning, because I like to remember and I am better at remembering if it is written down.

Geoff had schedule this week off, ending on his birthday, a while ago. I made the deal with him that if he could get the house finished to the point that we could refinance (i.e. no visible construction), we could go on vacation. Otherwise, we needed to spend the week working on the house (boo). Well, progress was made, but not nearly enough but Geoff called the mortgage company to find out when the appraiser would come out to appraise (and see, or not see, visible construction) and due to our awesome credit scores, and our fat down payment, they can do an easy-peasy mac-and-cheesy refi, no appraisal necessary. Yahoo! 59 pages of documents later, we are on the road to refi and, thus, vacation.

Geoff wanted to go to Cancun. Boo. I don't think Mexico is super-safe right now and I was looking for something more exciting than a beach vacation. More culture, less laying around (which is not to say I don't LOVE the beach, I just wanted something different). Once I got Hazel on board with Paris, and pointed out the awesomeness of a direct flight, Geoff agreed that Paris was a great idea. Or he was worn down and wanted us to leave him alone.

We decided to rent an apartment for the week, so we would have a little more room and kitchen facilities and started looking around the internet (like a week before we left), but kept running into people changing the prices when we went to book (lame), or the apartment being rented already. Finally, the day before we left I booked an apartment and paid our deposit. Monday (aka the day we were leaving) morning I get an email saying it was good to go and to call the guy when we arrived and someone would meet us at the apartment. An hour-and-a-half later, I get an email saying they made a mistake and the apartment is gone. DOH! Luckily, they gave us another apartment for the same price and everything worked out. But, it made for a little extra anxiety as we were leaving.

Both Geoff and I worked on Monday, but Geoff was able to leave work around noon and I finished not much later (I did not make the drive to Sandy, I just worked from home). We finished our last minute packing and headed for the airport. Hooray!

Since Hazel is only 5, she is not yet allowed in Business class. We split the pain of Economy, Geoff took it on the way out and I did on the way home. I cannot wait until she is 6 and we can all enjoy the fabulous, spaciousness of Business class... Even though Hazel knew she would be sitting by dad and not mom, she still cried the first hour of the flight and then fell asleep for most of the rest of the flight. And they got bulkhead seats with plenty of legroom, so except for the food, it wasn't too bad.

The direct flight arrives in Paris at 11am. We went through passport control (I don't remember customs) and headed for our apartment.

On the RER, there was a travel musician. Some kid with a portable stereo and a microphone. There were like two other people on the train and us. He mostly just sang to Hazel, who loved it. LOVED!! If she grows up and falls in love with some doofus who sings on the street, I will blame the RER singer. I will hunt him down. On the RER.

And then we moved to the metro. At which point Hazel freaked out because it was stinky and she hated Paris and she missed Trixie and she wanted to go home. Super-fun! And the metro station we were going to switch at was closed (!!) and we had to change on the fly, with little sleep and not much knowledge of what we were doing. So, we accidentally left the metro station instead of switching trains and had to walk a bit (not too far, in theory). We knew generally where it was but the map we were using didn't show our tiny street going all the way. Thus we got lost but eventually found it.

Our apartment building even had a teeny-tiny elevator. Which Hazel loved, loved, loved. She also loved pushing the buttons to open the doors, and the light switches, and really, just about everything.
After settling in for a bit, and having a bit of a nap, we went to explore the city. With our ninja.
Hazel was still happy at this point. We grabbed some food at the market and stopped at a little playground not far from our apartment. Hazel snacked and played with kids (who spoke French!) and then we continued on. (How does a kid have enough energy to play at every single playground but then lose all of it the moment we have to walk somewhere?)
The ninja, Flora, saw pigeons in the square in front on Notre Dame. She was a bit leery.
Hazel got a wee bit emo. Plane sleep is adequate but not great. I like to switch to the new time zone ASAP, which means staying up until the new bedtime, but sometimes this is difficult if you are 5. Or 36.
We stopped to get a crepe with Nutella on our way home and Hazel fell asleep while the guy was making the crepe. Seriously, it was like 3 minutes. But she was out. O-U-T.

Of course, it was just a 15 minute power nap to get her carried most of the way home and then she was wide awake. The joys of moving time zones with a kid.

I think we had snacks, brushed teeth, read stories and went to bed. Nothing exciting.

Now it is late. More tomorrow (hopefully)

Not Paris

2011-04-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

Ha! I uploaded all our Paris photos and found some not Paris ones, so I am doing those first.

Swimming! This was at "Grandma's House" when Grandma Marilyn was down a couple weeks ago.

We also went to Farm Country.
Hazel and Gloria are lovely little cousins. Gloria is a cowgirl.
They rode on horses.
Hazel loved it.
And we fed and pet animals. Farm Country was awesome! (thanks for taking us, Bonnie!)
My dad took Hazel and Gloria one day to work on Jenni's floor. Apparently, Hazel took the camera with her.
There were a lot of pictures of Nova. Mostly odd close-ups.
St. Patrick's day parade. We went with Bonnie, Brandon, Baby Porter and Nathan. It was great fun, and not too cold. Hazel was still able to wear her green dress from a couple of years ago, but now it is a shirt.
I love this picture. It is so very Hazel.
The end.

Paris to come.

Pictures taken by the Hazel

2011-03-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

Many, many self portraits.

Most are pretty washed out, but dang, they are hilarious.

Oh, random Trixie shot.
She gets those chins from her mama.

Preparing for when the aliens attack. (I would have said zombies, but the aliens have those bright lights that wash you out)
Hopefully, when she is older she will wash her face before taking the millions of self portraits.
Good thing we have digital cameras. I think I deleted fifty shots out of the 75 that she took. That would get pricey pretty quick with film and developing.

Hawaii 2010!

2011-03-06T13:36:00.001-08:00

Yeah! We went back to Hawaii and had a lovely time. We did a whole lot of nothing and it was perfect. And we wore a lot of sunscreen (this family shot is from the end of the week).

Hazel wanted to be a mermaid.
She does not love the ocean. Which makes me sad, and Geoff really sad. But she got a couple of rides in (see the bottom of this post).
She does, however, love the indoor play land.
Ahhh...cute.
Hazel riding on Geoff's back on the boogie board.

Misc. December-February

2011-03-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

The zoo pass is back in active status! Woo! I still love the zoo, even though they are ridiculous. Watch for more zoo pictures in the future.

Christie, Shauntil, Jenni and I went on a quick trip to Lava Hot Springs for Christie's birthday. We also made a quick stop at Smith & Edwards (it was gun auction day!) and we stopped at Maddox Steak House which had crazy-delicious raspberry butter. mmmm.....raspberry butter. It was the only good food of the weekend, LHS is not really a foodie town. But, the hot springs were fantastic. (no pictures of those, however, just this one crazy shot at Smith & Edward's)
Not in order, but we celebrated mine and Michelle's birthdays at Kyoto. It was delicious and a lot of fun. Hazel took this lovely picture of me and Geoff. Man, I look tired. I probably was and still am tired.

Hazel with her Tutu and Auntie Michelle.

I wish I had more pictures of this! Hazel's monkey went on a sleepover at the library. Those animals had all kinds of adventures! They ordered pizza, rode the elevator, read a lot of books, played on the copy machine, etc. The pictures were very cute. You can tell the librarians had a lot of fun with it. We will definitely do it next year!
Another shot of the face painting (see one of my earlier today entries) PS I suck at this. I will not be quitting my day job to be a full-time blogger.
I love how angry Hazel looks. The eyebrows/antlers just add to the angry face.
The end. Two more posts to go. One on Hawaii and one of pictures that Hazel took.

Caught up.

2011-03-06T12:21:00.001-08:00

Ack! The cuteness that is my child. Mismatched clothing, sitting in a laundry basket and "reading" The Witches by Roald Dahl. While her reading has progressed by leaps and bounds, she is not quite to the this reading level yet.

Showing off her braids (like Pippi!)
I don't know if Pippi would walk like an Egyptian, but this does combine two of Hazel's current loves.
Oh, and our washer clogged. It was foul and horrible and I am so glad I was doing night laundry instead of the normal day laundry, Geoff was strong and capable and is a lot less gagging about stink water than I am.
Trixie is still a much loved part of the family. She snuggles up to Hazel every night.
The end!

Maybe now that I am not so overwhelmed with work, I can stay a little more caught up (ha!). Or, I could work on my taxes, double-ha!

Hazel's 5th Birthday Party!!

2011-03-06T12:02:00.000-08:00

Can you believe my baby is five! FIVE!!!

Hazel wanted a sledding birthday party and she wanted it at Liberty Park. And I am an indulgent mother. However, the weather was not looking good. It was bitter, bitter cold and we were not having reliable snowfall. I was getting a bit worried, but not Hazel. She was sure that we would have a perfect sledding party.

Hazel picked out all the food for the party, including hot cocoa and hot cider. We also had hand warmers and I made fleece hats as party favors. And then didn't take a picture of them. DOH! I made 32 hats. THIRTY-TWO! The hats were quick, the pompoms took forever (thanks to Jenni and Christie, they were finished late on New Year's Eve.). We also had a fire to warm ourselves. But, there was still the worry of not enough snow.

I never should have doubted the Hazel. We had a big snowstorm just before her birthday and then the big day came it was sunny and (slightly) warmer and a beautiful day for a sledding party*.

Hazel decorated these cupcakes.
And helped with these (I also played a part). The Anne and Mom cupcake are so we didn't have to celebrate the grown-up birthday separately. :)
Sledding was awesome!
We had a fairly large turnout and blue, blue skies!

Hazel pronounced it her "best birthday ever!!!"

*Our friends were at dinner with some other friends and another couple at the dinner party mentioned some crazy gringos having a party in the park, "everything cake, balloons, food, don't they know it is winter??" They were happy to report that they were part of those crazy gringos!

The rest of 2010

2011-03-06T11:41:00.000-08:00

I am very slow with updating. It has been busy.

Hazel has been busy wearing awesome outfits.
And shoveling the walks.

And we made some really awesome turkeys for the Thanksgiving (we didn't have a lot of guests, thus only four turkeys).
Oh, and we went back to Hawaii. Hazel got to participate in the keiki hula show and now wants to take hula lessons.
And she fell asleep while we were prepping to go to the airport. (Yes, I only have TWO pictures from a week in Hawaii. There are more on the other camera that is currently MIA.)
Face painting. Hazel painted Geoff's face.
And then it was Christmas. Santa brought Hazel, Jenni and I matching Turbie Twists. Which are totally awesome.
Cute cousins.
Bonnie made us these bonnets (that transform into aprons!!) for our Little House expedition this summer.
Jenni was totally jealous (and oblivious to the horde of Wild(e) reindeer about to attack her)
Hazel got this awesome Egypt box for Christmas. It is very cool and much loved.
And there you go. I have pics from 2011 to put up shortly.

Misc. Including Halloween

2010-11-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

Family was in town last weekend, which meant lots and lots of swimming at Grandma's house (aka the hotel)*

And even more splashing. The boys had cannonball contests and I think everyone was a winner, except for the hotel.
Hazel and Geoff went to Texas a couple weeks ago for Alex's birthday. I had to work and stayed home, but asked Geoff to take pictures. This is what I got:

A picture of Geoff on the airplane, taken by Hazel.
A picture of Hazel at Alex's party. Where's Alex? Not pictured. Thanks, babe. I just needed a good picture of the cousins together.
Oh, wait I have another one. Of the sky. Because we don't have a million sky pictures.
At least they had a nice time in Texas...

So, we bought a membership to the Natural History museum, mostly because they are reciprocal with museums in other states (Exploratorium!) but also because Hazel loves dinosaurs. They had the What's in the Basement event at some point in the not so distant past so we went up with a couple of friends.
Halloween!! Hazel was little Bo Peep and Trixie was the sheep.

Oh, and we have this much done on our deck.
*The last time we went up to Wyoming, Hazel asked when we were going to "Grandma's other house, the one with the pool." Mostly we just see my mom at hotels. I can see how it would be confusing.

San Francisco!

2010-11-13T16:17:00.000-08:00

Remember when we went to San Francisco in September? Neither does Hazel. But, I have pictures to prove we were there.

We had a fantastic time. The weather was absolutely fabulous, our hotel was ideally located right on Union Square (with a cable car stop right outside), the conference I was going for was not too bad and they kept us wined and dined.

Moving on.

When we first saw the Golden Gate Bridge, Hazel shrieked, "The bridge! I see the bridge!" It cracked up our entire (standing room-only) bus. So, we did a quick detour to see the bridge. It was sunny and clear and the bridge was awesome.

Hazel says that watching the ducks was her most favorite part of San Francisco, that and staying in a hotel. The ducks were right outside the Exploratorium, which was my favorite part (and Hazel and Geoff both loved it too, I think Hazel even liked it more than the ducks).
If you have not been to the Exploratorium, you should go. Right now. Turn off the computer and go there. We got there later than we would have liked to (see: GGB) and stayed until closing time. So many awesome, science-y exhibits.

This phone told jokes and you were supposed to talk while it talked to you, it had a science aspect to it, but mostly Hazel just like to listen to the jokes.
Box of mirrors.
This was quite entertaining to the Wilde clan. The box would drop a single drop of water and then you had to time when to take a picture. The original point was to try and take a picture of the drop hitting the water, but we liked getting the crazy reflection.
They had many other things but we were busy playing and didn't take so many pictures.

Jenni put it into Hazel's mind that she should get a bear bread at the Boudin Bakery. And once something is in Hazel's mind, it does not leave. Except for the things I would like her to remember. So, of course, we stopped at Boudin and bought Hazel a bear bread.
It was delicious. We ate it over the four days we were in SF. It was a bit stale towards the end, but still edible.
Our first cable car ride was packed and it was late and we had groceries and Hazel hated it. Which was highly disappointing to me, because I love the cable cars. Luckily, we had plenty more opportunities to ride and she learned to love them. We even went to the museum.
Tacky statues in Chinatown.
Another one.
Mmmm....crepes and egg waffles and tapioca drinks. We ate constantly in SF and everything was delicious. Cheap stuff, pricey stuff, even the hotel food.
Okay, so here is my story about the room service cookies and milk:

Hazel and/or Geoff have been going to this same conference with me for years. It is a smallish one and they know most of the attendees, and all of the kids. So, we see the lady in charge of booking everything on Sunday and she is asking us how we like the hotel and SF and we have been having a fabulous day (Geoff slept in and Hazel and I went for an early breakfast and roaming around the hotel). I assume that Hazel is going to relay how much fun we are having (ha!), instead she says, "Maybe next time you can pick a nice hotel, this one doesn't even have a pool." Luckily, the lady has children and knows that they only care about pools. But, to make it up to Hazel, she sent us room service cookies and milk. Which Hazel loved, and were pretty delicious. (because, I believe everything in SF is delicious and the sun always shines)
One day (ONE!) Geoff and Hazel ventured out on their own.
And they found a fancy toilet.
And drank some orange soda.
One day we went out as a family (and with Jim) and got some ice cream at the corner of Haight and Ashbury, because we are all counter-culture like that. There was a fabulous fabric store just down the block but Hazel was getting tired, by back was hurting and we had to go back for meetings (you know, the reason my work sent me there). I will be back, I vow!
More cable car love.
We wanted to go to Alcatraz, but not enough to plan ahead. Next time. This was the ONLY time we saw fog.
And sea lions.
Unfortunately, we saw this a lot. Way more than I would prefer. Why does she have to pout? We are in San Francisco, about to get a delicious sundae, having a fabulous time, why the pout??
kids.
Love.

The end.

Pictures taken by the Hazel

2010-11-13T16:03:00.001-08:00

I like to break my posts up, when I don't update my blog for TWO MONTHS!

We grew this pumpkin, it is big.

Introducing......Trixie!

2010-09-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

So, we got a new dog. It belonged to a neighbor of my mom's but they were done with it so we got it. And it is a fabulous addition to our house. It is a tiny white toy poodle named Trixie (formerly, Cotton, but we thought that was lame).

As you can see, she got along with Hazel almost immediately.
As her name suggests, she is one tricky dog. Or, at least a tolerant one.

A few days after we got her (she came down with my mom for Labor Day weekend), it was her birthday (September 8, for those keeping track at home). We couldn't let her first birthday with our family pass without a birthday party. Hazel made hats.
And we had cupcakes. And we had guests (the aunties). And presents (bones). And a lovely song, which I should find and upload because it was awesome.
Trixie was quite pleased with the celebration.
The cupcakes were still delicious the next day.

So, there you go. New dog. She is awesome. I will never* again get a puppy. An older dog (she is four now) is the best. House broken, kennel trained, shots up-to-date, tolerant with the mauling of children. We just need to get her fixed.

We LOVE Trixie! Thanks, mom. And mom's neighbors.

*Not a guarantee.

Yellowstone

2010-09-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to go to Yellowstone with some friends and, thus, we jumped on it. Because they are fun and we like going places. This was the week before Labor Day, as opposed to now, the week after Labor Day. But, frankly, I am usually a LOT more behind on updating pictures.

Moving on.

Hazel was feeling a bit under the weather, and thus asked to be carried a lot. Plus, it was crazy cold. Luckily, I had watched the weather and packed reasonably well.

Aaaah...cute.
We also went to Yellowstone Bear World*. Hazel fed a baby deer. And we all fed baby bears. That was Hazel's most favorite part. They ate milk (sheep milk, I believe) out of a real baby's bottle. Very exciting. Channa took some pictures, I will have to get them from her. We were not allowed to take pictures during the feed. Just imagine us feeding an 80-lb bear cub. And then look at the picture of Hazel feeding a deer.
We stayed at this cabin in Island Park. The first two days we went to Yellowstone and drove and hike and drove and hike, repeat. The third day we were all tired and decided to hang out near the cabin (excellent idea, BTW). The kids ran around (and picked some flowers), we played some horseshoes, ate leftovers for lunch and generally had a relaxing, fabulous day. I love vacation.
Family picture. Wow.
Rainbow. Sadly, not a double complete rainbow.
Another family shot. If this one was lightened, it wouldn't be too bad.
I may have more pictures somewhere, but that is all I found. It was a great trip, even if I don't have a million pictures to show for it. Maybe that is why it was a great trip, more relaxing, less photographing.

*It is NO WHERE near Yellowstone, seriously. It is like 90 minutes outside Yellowstone.

The other camera

2010-09-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

Things we have done:

1- Neighborhood bike parade. Random, and fun!
2- Geoff and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. I revamped his Mongoose. And Hazel and I made signs.
3- Had a sleepover with Nova while Jenni spent an extra night in Paris.
4- Wore a hat, apparently.
5- Went Jeepin' with Kyle. (notice that Hazel has a little Cap'n in her)
6- Worked on the deck. Forever and ever.
7- Sometimes, wore goggles while working on the deck. Notice the big line of paint across the kid's face. A shingle fell on her whilst priming.
8- Helped out with the hot food. Those mitts may not work for the oven but they work for the microwave.
And we went to Yellowstone, but that will take another post.

Photo Barrage.

2010-08-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

Remember how I have a blog? Cause I don't. But, my mom does. :)

I FINALLY uploaded pictures from my little camera (which is convenient to carry around because it fits in my purse but kind of a pain to upload, because I am lazy. oh, and the computer is not always on and mostly when it is on, it is sometimes my work computer). Obviously, I have not done this in a while because, what's this? EASTER!

Easter. The holiday way back in spring. And now it is practically fall. Hazel and I went to a lovely Easter party at my friend, Heather's, house. There was delicious food, lovely company and an Easter egg hunt. Awesome.

We went to the preschool picnic. It was up the canyon and fabulous. I am going to miss the social aspect of preschool but I am glad for only having to take Hazel one spot, and no more co-oping.
More picnic.
A fantastic picture that Hazel drew. I wish that I could remember all of the parts. I know the black at the top is the smoke coming out of the chimney. The blue on the left is the upper balcony. There are stairs and a fireplace and beds, and something funny as a plant. Doh. I am going to ask her.
Preschool, drawing with her friend, Emma.
At some point we went to Mo Bettah Steaks and had a giant shave ice. We now share ONE with the whole family since they are giant. As big as Hazel's head, as you can see.
Also, we made some cookies. I believe these are magic cookie bars. Or, at least the ground up graham crackers for the crust. *
A birthday party at Gymboree.
A trip to the Discovery Gateway. Hazel loves it when somewhere is overrun with kids. I do not. She was in heaven.
Having her baby ride Nacho.
Fireworks in Baggs. It was insanely cold. We were not prepared. I had packed some warm-ish clothes for Hazel but nothing for myself. It was JULY!! And cold. Luckily, my mom was able to clothe and blanket us. So, we watched fireworks from the rodeo stands. They shot them off from the rodeo grounds, mere FEET away. It was rather intense. At one point, a firework SHOT into the stands and exploded between us and the other group in the stands. Hazel had fallen asleep (she told me, "if I fall asleep, put on my Dora jammies." and promptly fell asleep, with fireworks going off all around us!) so Jenni and I decided to bail after the near miss.
This was before we left. It was cold. Hats and gloves!
The reason we went to Wyoming is because I had FOUR (4!) days off work. My building moved from Murray to Sandy (SANDY!! ack). Once they realized we wouldn't have computers, or phones as it turned out, they gave most everyone the day off. Hazel came with me on moving day and was very helpful. She colored lots of princess and ate snacks. And was actually quite pleasant and polite. Plus, we were only there for like 1.5 hours and then went shopping.

Anyway, this is my old desk. I don't have a picture of the new one.
There was the Utah Arts Festival. An awesome dude hooked us up so we got in free which is even better. We spent most of the time in the kid section. Hazel especially loved the instruments. My prediction is that she will one day play an instrument more than adequately. This will not come from me, as I don't have a musical bone in my body. Maybe the musical gene skipped me and went straight from my mom to the Hazel. Maybe not. Maybe she will also suck at music. Whatever. I will still love her.
Nothing going on here, just my cute kid.
Lagoon with 3/4 of the Wyomans and Aunt Jenni. I also got the hook-up on this, which is awesome because Lagoon is pri-cey. But, worth the $16 we paid for parking. Hazel liked all the kid rides and Zoe was great about going with here. I think I went on like three rides and that was plenty (still love the water park, however)
Not the best photo of Jenni, but I love Hazel's little arm and her peering over the seat.
Yeah, the little girls always wanted to go with Jenni.
So much happiness.
We don't just ride the rides at Lagoon. We also ride them at the Rancho Market. (except we didn't have quarters so Hazel just sat on it)
She wanted hair like her friend, Noemi. I was happy to oblige because she looks cute and they were easy.
Last week (whoa, almost caught up), we all went down to the dino museum at Thanksgiving Point. It was $2 Tuesday and not worth the savings. It was c-r-a-z-y. And, we saw a polygamist family. Even with only one set of polyg's (that we know of...), I think we were the only family with less than four kids.
Last month (not so caught up now), I went on a quick training trip to Denver. Hazel and Geoff stayed home. Never fear, I brought back presents. Hazel loves her Zhu Zhu pet. And she invented this joke:

Hazel: Where did my hamster come from?

Me: Denver

Hazel: No, Hamsterdam!

Yeah! Her first real joke. Also, she wore the baby hat on her head, I use it to keep the GPS safe, except not anymore.

My company's summer party at Hogle Zoo. Hazel rode the carousel five times, once with McKenna. (my VP's daughter, and a summer worker, she is adorable, nice, and smart, Hazel adores her)
AND! we went bowling with our friends, Mark, Kelli and Elektra, for Kelli's birthday. It was tons of fun. Both little girls had a bit of a pity party abut being bad bowlers but they got over it and we had a grand old time.
The end. I have another camera that I could upload but that shall wait for another day.

*FYI: We made key lime bars today and Hazel crushed up Bischoff cookies for the crust. She is wicked awesome at the crushing of things. And, we have a lot of cookies from flying. They may not be so delicious for eating but they are awesome for key lime bar crust.

The deck! Woot!

2010-06-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Side view. This is not the most flattering of shots. I hate the stupid phone line, and we have a lot of construction debris around. See that triangle part? And the dormer? We need to paint them some color. The trim board that is currently peeling white will be painted white. But not peeling.

Back of the house. See the TWO floors of deck?!?! Awesome. Lack of railings make them a wee bit sketchy but still awesome.
Full on back view. The stairs will have white risers. They will be lovely, oh and safer once the boards are screwed down.
The second story balcony. Bigger than I was thinking (I am not great at envisioning sizes) but in a good way. Plus, the views from up high are fabulous!
So, there you go. We are making progress.

Tossing the kid in the air

2010-06-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

Hilarious.

I promise, I have pictures of the deck.

What we have been doing

2010-06-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

Baking!

Canoeing!
More canoeing!
Still more canoeing! (really, this was all in one fabulous day on Salem Pond)
Being silly!
Earrings! (My work is moving to a new building and office supplies are going cheap (free). Hazel has enjoyed the loot, and uses it in awesome ways)
Posing! This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.
Dressing up!
Balancing!
Falling down!

Oh yeah, and working on the house. That is the next post.

Mustache May, Now in June!

2010-06-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

We have obviously been too busy to update the blog. This mustaches aren't growing themselves!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

A post dedicated to moms.

First up, the best shot (of many bad ones) of the kid holding a sign. Since I was late ordering a gift, and the mailman only checks one of our mailboxes (what do think that flag is for, Mailman Steve??), my mother will not be getting anything physical today. Sorry, mom. I still love you. Hope you can forgive my (few and far-between*) foibles.

So, this is mom related because (a) I am a mom and helped Hazel and (b) my mom taught me how to sew and now I am teaching my kid.

Hazel is loving sewing right now. I wish I had more shots, because the whole process is awesome. First, she drew some pictures of what she wanted the dresses to look like. Then she measured the unicorn (the bunny we just eyeballed). Then she had me cut out a square. I thread the needles and knot the end and Hazel sews. Sometimes I have to work out tangles and I tie it off at the end, but for the most part it is Hazel's handiwork.
The finished product. Could she be any prouder? I think not. The bunny has two arm holes, but the unicorn is rocking the one-shoulder look. They both have tail holes. I think the key to sewing with a preschooler is using easy fabric. Stretchy, forgiving and something that doesn't fray (no hemming!)

And we saw a mama and baby duck.

*ha!

Catching up, kind of

2010-04-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we have done a bunch of stuff but mostly regular old everyday stuff, so I didn't take pictures. Which is really too bad, because everyday stuff is what happens most often and also what is the easiest to forget. Blah blah, here are some pictures.

We have been cooking. Hazel is an excellent helper. She especially likes to lick the bowl and spoon. She really likes to eat flour. Straight flour. It seems icky but she likes it.
There has been a LOT of dressing up and/or dancing. Hazel has plenty of dress-up clothes but she also likes to create her own (see the leg things below). Thank goodness we have laundry facilities.
Hazel has this friend, E. they met at Story Time at the Library. I really like her parents and Hazel likes E. so it is a great combination. They had a princess play date and made some (disgusting) Easy Bake cakes. Those mixes are gross. We are going to stick with making our own. But the girls had a great time.
Hazel also got her own video game. It is a Leapster and she loves it. It has age-appropriate games (hooray!) and she can do it all by herself. Way different from other game systems we may have at the house. Plus, it should prove helpful on long trips.
Concentrating.
Apparently, I think the kid is cute playing her game. Notice the tongue, helping the concentration.
A couple of different expressions in her heart pajamas.
I see this face way too often. This child is oh, so defiant.
Hazel has a LOT of art projects. We are overrun in art. Hazel decided to have an Art Show and sell some of her art. It went well until a furry, black-and-white critic pooped on some art. Still, we got rid of a bunch of paper.*
Hazel just finished another round of swim lessons. We do them at Westminster and love them. The teachers are students, the classes are cheap (like me!) and Hazel loves getting to swim every week. She is still cannot swim on her own but she is getting more confident in her swimming ability and is learning to love the water. Swimming at Tutu's should be awesome this summer.
It was also Easter. We dyed eggs with Jenni, Christie, Shauntil, Tayvia and Ashton. It was good times. The kids barreled through the eggs, but I did make a fancy rainbow one and Shauntil made some using the Cricut and vinyl.
The next day we made deviled eggs for Heather's Easter party. Notice the fancy picks. I apparently love my Cricut (and Shauntil's cartridges).
Hazel has also spent a bunch of time with her Auntie Michelle. She does not pack lightly. It has been great having Michelle in the basement. Hazel and Michelle spend a lot of quality time together.

And we have been working on various house projects. One day, our house will be even better. Currently, it is somewhat worse. :)

*Okay, so I can't/won't/don't keep all of her art projects. There is way too much! I try and take digital pictures of them and eventually I will make a book compiling them (or not) but I just can't keep all of that paper. Not to mention the 3D art.

This blog has moved

2010-03-17T19:31:00.001-07:00

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January = not so many pictures :(

2010-01-31T18:45:00.000-08:00

This pretty much represents all of the pictures I took in January. Pathetic. First up, I was stressed out and busy at Hazel's party and didn't take a single picture. Luckily, Ross stepped in a took a few. But, birthday #4 is going to be poorly represented. *sigh*

AND THEN!! the Sunday after Hazel's birthday (January 3, the day that will live in infamy), I woke up with a bum back/leg. Come to find out, I herniated my L5 disc. Awesome. Thus, I spent most of January trying to lie down. Except that it didn't always work because (a) I have a kid and (b) January is the busiest time of the year at work. I sucked it up enough to go to work and that was about it. I knew I was in trouble when Hazel clapped because "mommy is getting up". Little did she know, I was just getting up to pee. 2010 will be the year of the bad mommy*.

I had an epidural cortisone shot on Friday. The dye they shot into my back was apparently made of battery acid and snake venom but the cortisone was fine. Or I was still in pain numbness from the dye. Anyway, I can take my pain killers and anti-inflammatory meds again so I am doing better (or at least adequate) and tired of being a gimp. My right foot is regaining some feeling and movement but still trips me up. A lot.

Moving on. I have a few pictures.

Hazel's birthday party. I did not get a cake made but Costco came through and we decorated it with Playmobil mermaids.

Hazel loved everything she got for her birthday (half of which we stashed away for later)
Wig from my work white elephant party. Our maintenance guy ended up with it and did not want it (shocking) and was kind enough to let me have it. As expected, Hazel loves it.
She made a snowman at the library story time. We love the library. Dang, I should have taken a picture of Hazel and her new library card.
Swimming lessons are not going well.
Unicorn horn. She is obsessed with unicorns and made herself a horn from Play-doh.
Happiness at going to a tea party with Auntie Michelle (who was kind enough to take the Hazel while Geoff took me to the hospital to have a giant needle stabbed in my back.
And that is it for January. I vow to not let pain nor numbness slow me down in February. You hear that sciatica!! I am done with you and your lameness (ha!)

*Currently, she is not feeling great, with a vicious cough and has been throwing up from the coughing. I am tired of changing her, washing her and her clothes and whatever she spits up/barfs on so I am back her cough into a garbage can. It has been working great because I can just rinse it out. Still, I feel bad. But, she seems happy with the arrangement.

December (really, December)

2010-01-24T12:18:00.000-08:00

I used up most of my sitting tolerance uploading pictures so there won't be a lot of writing. I tried to type on my beloved iPhone, but couldn't figure it out. So, I will just be quick.

We had fancy brunch at the Little America for Christmas. Hazel was extra fancy and wore her Cinderella dress.

Tayvia went regular fancy, not princess fancy.
The Santa was horrible. He had a weird look about him and wasn't very good with kids. Bad job, Little America.
Ha! My kid is a pill.
They had an awesome gingerbread house in the lobby.
Sometimes my kid is less of a pill.
Driving to my dad's on Christmas Eve. Hazel was exhausted and fell asleep. Being an awesome mom, I took a picture instead of removing the tiara. Also, I think I am currently driving on the freeway while taking this picture.
Jenni read Hazel a story.
Both Gloria and Hazel had crowns.
Cookies we made (from scratch!) for Santa.
Our stockings
Nova and Jenni spent the night too. Nova pondering eating the overbearing child.
Santa left us moustaches in our stockings.
Yeah! More food for Hazel's kitchen.
This is from a massive snowstorm we had on 12/30/09. Hazel went outside and played for at least an hour-and-a-half while I was working. A good break for both of us.
Cute!
My next goal is to get January's pictures uploaded. Including all the birthday pictures. Not today, however.

Maui Part 4: The "other" camera

2009-12-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

We only have a few beach shots, as our waterproof camera broke. Gah!! It doesn't recognize the door as shut. I say we override the sensor but Geoff wants to send it in to be fixed. Pshaw.

Anyway, the beach. The beach is great. The weather was perfect. It was really a fabulous week. I cannot thank Geoff's aunt Susan enough for the use of her condo. The location was great and it was nice to have the full kitchen to cook.

We built many a sand castle.

They were necessarily pretty but they were big.
And we made a mermaid tail for the little mermaid child.
She was blissfully happy about it. Later, she had us dig a moat around it and then "fill it in". As if you can fill in a moat with a tiny sand bucket running back and forth to the ocean. Have I mentioned the sciatica?!?! Luckily, she was fairly happy with the just mermaid tail, as long as we kept her somewhat damp.
And here is where Geoff broke the camera. Or it spontaneously broke itself. Grr. At least he got a couple of nice fish shots.

Maui Part 3: There are a lot more pics on the card without 200 pictures of waves

2009-12-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

Continued from the previous post, I loves me some jelly fish. And even more than that, I love this creepy shot with Geoff being reflected in the glass. And even MORE than that, I love the Geoff.
Okay, this is a less creepy shot.
Hazel played tour guide.

This is a shark.
That is a sting ray.
Moving on from the aquarium.

We went to Lahaina (and had a crazy delish shave ice from ummm.... random shave ice stand. Look for it!) And we saw the banyan tree. Oh, I am sorry I meant THE Banyan Tree. Blah blah blah banyan blah blah.
Awesome family shot with the time.
So, I like family shots. I like to see all of us and to have proof of our happy-family-ness. The last time we went to Hawaii was in 2006 (ack! so long) and we took this shot in Hosmer's Grove.

2006:
And a similar shot in the redwood forest in 2009.

2009:
Holy cow, we have all changed so much. Of course, the kids is 4x older so she has changed the most but still.

We also went to Santa's photo-opportunity-land in the Queen K's Mall. Alas, Santa was sick. But, we took a picture anyway. A prior day we saw another Santa at the Maui Mall and we was creeeeeepy. We have a picture. But a physical picture, not digital. Come to my house and I will show you. Technically, it is at my work, but I will bring it home for you.
Oh, this is at the redwood forest, I should move it. Not gonna.
We also went to Iao Valley to hike around (which is awesome when (a) I gots the sciatica and (b) we are facing a 5.5 hour plane ride and thus my sciatica will be even worse if I inflame it by walking around. Also, I am old.)

Moving on. We saw a cat that looked like Rufus.
And we played in the houses.

And Geoff carried Hazel on his shoulders. That is the Iao needle in the background.
And, of course, we made Hazel keep up on her studies since she missed so many days of preschool.

I have a couple more shots from the little camera. But I am trying to boost my post count. Mwa hahahahaha

Maui Part 2: The kid (not just waves)

2009-12-17T17:47:00.000-08:00

Hookipa overlook.

I made this awesome dress for Hazel. I wish I had a full body shot of it, because it is truly adorable. Hopefully, it will still fit her in the summer and she can wear it again.

We also went to the aquarium.
Where Hazel learned to shoot water out of her fingertips.
And we saw the jelly fish. I love the jelly fish. There is a big tube of them in a dark room and they are awesome. It is my favorite part, hands down.
Hazel liked the sharks, and the aquarium tube.
Shaka.
But still plenty of attitude.
Okay, I have more, but I am uploading now.

Maui Vacation Post #1

2009-12-16T16:30:00.001-08:00

So the story starts out while I am unloading a plane. I notice a bunch of well protected equipment going to LAX that will be connecting to my flight to Maui later that day. At first I thought it was a band, but it looked more like filming equipment.

Several hours later, I find myself heading on a plane bound for Maui, and luck would have it that I am sitting across the aisle from guys talking about some sort of film project. I ask them if the equipment I saw earlier was theirs (it was) and asked them about their project. They told me that some of their crew left France earlier that day so they could be there to shoot Jaws. The biggest swell in 40 years was supposed to be hitting, so film crews and professional big wave surfers were making the voyage to Maui to surf Jaws.

I knew where we were going the next morning. Yep that's right - Supercuts to get the whole family new do's....... No no no! That was a test to see if you were really paying attention. We were off to Jaws! Not an easy trek. Its about a 2 mile hike through cane fields if you don't have 4 wheel drive. We parked and started to walk in and someone offered us a lift. We were not so lucky on the way out. Anyway you are here to see the pics, so without further ado, behold the awesome power of nature! (click on each pick for a larger image)

I love the spray on this one!

Another one of my favorite shots.

A behind the scenes look. Multiple jet ski / surfer pairs, 3 helicopters, supply and filming boats.

Say cheese!

Perhaps one day I will see the footage this guy took of me.

Two surfers, a helicopter, and a monster wave!

They were doing this for 3 days. I took pictures for 45 minutes. I doubt I filmed the biggest wave, but it was still amazing to watch, hear, and feel these rare waves in person. Jaws only breaks during the winter season, and only under the right conditions. I am doubtful that I will ever witness this again.

Picture overload-Part 1

2009-11-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hazel's first day of preschool.

And then we went to Orlando.
Oops, this is on the airport tram and is before we met the pink princess statue, but whatever.
At the water park, which was truly a highlight of Orlando. They had all ranges of slides, from itty-bitty for Hazel to crazy tall for Geoff. Videos in the next post.
It was a chore to get Hazel to try the tube ride but once she did it she was hooked (again, video in the next post).
And then she progressed to the even bigger slide.
Family shot.
As we were going through pictures, Hazel said, "Remember when you stuck my hand in Fritos and made me go to sleep?" Yeah, that is what happened. Really, she was tuckered out from the water park. My conference gave us sack lunches at the end and it was perfect for eating after the park, on our way to Tampa.

Fireworks on the cruise.
Disney's island with Captain Jack Sparrow.
Family with Donald Duck. Hazel said, "He is the captain of the yacht." Yacht?!?! How does she even know what a yacht is??
Geoff snorkeling.
He took this picture himself. You can barely see Minnie Mouse.
Family shot in the ocean. We only got one shot and then the batteries died. Doh.
This was at the REI, Hazel was exhausted and fell asleep in the cart. I think she wasn't feeling good.
More to come. But now I must go and enjoy the beautiful fall day.

GFA, Part Three

2009-10-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

Remember how I was going to bed? Me neither...

But, since I am parked at the computer, I decided to continue uploading pictures from Florida (but also keep reading past Florida to see the doll dress Hazel made).

These are from September 18, Day two of our cruise. Over a month ago. Man, I am a procrastinator.

We woke up bright and early Friday morning to see The Princesses. Backing up a bit, let me tell you about Disneyland. We went to Disneyland in June and waited in line approximately 14 hours to see princesses, and that was after cutting in line with Zoe and April... Herein lies the beauty of the Disney cruise. It may be $$$ but, no lines. Or, really, minimal lines. We probably took 30-45 minutes to see all four princesses (one line for all of them) and that included plenty of talking to each of them.

First up, Snow White.

Hugs for everyone.
Then we saw Belle (or "the yellow one" as we like to call her). She was oddly tan. I know she works on a cruise ship but, come on. She needs a little sunscreen.
I don't know if Belle got a hug. Maybe Hazel was afraid of the tan...
Pink princess. She was nuts. Do you see the massive quantities of make-up? Of course you do because, holy cow, that lady had a heavy hand with the eye shadow and lips and everything. Hazel didn't mind.
Next up, the blue one, Cinderella. Hazel repeatedly told her that she had the same dress at home.
Cinderella was cute and nice. And even though her dress is not pink, Hazel loved her best. And will be her for Halloween, if she can have a headband and necklace. Easy-peasy.
And, then we were in the Bahamas. Yee-haw.
Hazel was not a fan. We went through the Straw Market (meh) and bought some random-y souvenirs and then we went back to the ship and hung out at the pool. Much better...
Huh, this should be sooner because this is right after we got off the boat. Alas, I am not rearranging, just explaining. I love this shot of the two of them. And it is a nice shot of our boat. Look, that's our room!
It was Pirate's In the Caribbean night and we dressed like pirates. Barely.
And we got to meet Jack Sparrow. Hazel and Jack did not care for one another.
And then Hazel went to kid-land and dressed up. Because that is what she does.
Whilst at Kidlandia she obtained booty in the form of pirate head scarfs. Matey. Oh, and we won a pirate trivia game and got medals. Because we are winners. We win.
It is a big production, pirate night. They have dancing pirates and singing pirates and then Mickey Mouse comes in to save the day and then fireworks. (I have pictures of the fireworks on the mysterious "other camera" that I claim to own but never upload from. Because I am lame.)
I wish I had a better shot of the three of us. But Hazel was more impressed with all the characters and music and dancing and whatnot.

I promise to update with Part Four (I believe the final part) at some point in the near-ish future.

Not a part of GFA

2009-10-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

Remember how we went on vacation forever ago and I was blogging about that? Yeah, me neither.

Moving on.

Hazel and I made cookies the other day. And by "made" I mean I bought some dough and we rolled it, cut it and drowned it in sugar crystals. Good times.
Check the blue one. It had close to an inch of blue sugar on it. We got some of it but the rest just melted into a jack-o-lantern face. Awesome.
(I only had six pictures on my camera but I had to upload for the following shots)

Hazel got the American Girl catalog in the mail the other day (and Fisher Price today, grr) and she is in love. She wants everything but mostly the baby and the clothes. Oh, the clothes. I do not spend that much for clothes for my kid, I am (probably) not going to spend that much on clothes for a doll.

In a surprisingly successful attempt to distract her, we made doll clothes. And it was good. Way better than the cookies.

This was all Hazel.
As you can tell, the mermaid was pleased. I attached the sleeves to the dress but everything else was Hazel. She picked the fabric, cut it and then sewed everything together. Oh, I threaded the needles. We got a couple books on sewing doll clothes at the library tonight so we may have another round tomorrow.

The Grand Floridian Adventure Part 2

2009-09-28T20:49:00.001-07:00

As you may remember, when I last left off on the Grand Floridian Adventure it was September 13th (on the GFA, not posting). Now we are jumping ahead to September 17, because I have ZERO pictures from those between days. We did stuff but either (a) I don't have pictures or (b) they are on the other camera. Anyway, quick summary:

Monday, September 14: Meadow went to meetings all day, Geoff and Hazel swam in the pool and played with ponies. I think they also rode the bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to see animals. But that could have been Tuesday (I think there are pictures of this on the other camera). Monday night we went out to dinner at the fancy-schmancy restaurant in the hotel, it was a conference thing. Hazel did not have a great time. Then we went swimming afterward and to the boardwalk. Or maybe that was Sunday. Man, my days are confused. Probably both days. We swam a lot. Oh, we also walked around Downtown Disney this day too. And had an extremely mediocre lunch at some restaurant that really should have been more delicious.

Tuesday, September 15: Meadow=meetings. Geoff and Hazel=stuff. We had dinner with the conference this night too and then we all went to Cirque du Soleil. It was pretty good, but I am glad I didn't have to pay for the tickets. The 7 bucks for popcorn was plenty and I got reimbursed for that.* Geoff and I went to the show that came through Utah at the E Center, but this was Hazel's first time. I think enjoyed watching her more than the show.**

Wednesday, September 16: Meetings and packing in the morning. Then a lady gave us tickets to the water park and we went in the afternoon. It was awesome and a lot of fun. I would have even paid. I KNOW! Paid! They had a great kid zone that had a multitude of slides in vary degrees of scariness and Hazel increased her bravery bit by bit. I know we have pictures of this on the other camera, cause it is waterproof. And then we drove to Tampa. Which was a long drive but totally worth it to see Geoff's cousin and her family. We went to dinner, and spent the night with them on Wednesday which brings us to Thursday and I have pictures.

Whew.

They live on this great pond with a bird.

And an alligator. Possibly a stick, except it really is an alligator and we saw it swim and yawn. They also have a swimming pool at their house. Lucky.
And, Hazel favorite part. A BABY! Yeah, for baby Aysia! Hazel was in baby heaven. She got to hold the baby and feed the baby and pat (burp) the baby. She wanted to sleep in the baby's room so she could "help her in the night" we put the kibosh on that. It was great seeing them and we would love to go visit them for more than a quick overnight trip.

And then we made the trek to Cape Canaveral. Unbeknown to me, Geoff had the GPS set to avoid toll roads. Which made for a very, very, very long drive across Florida. He claimed it was "scenic" but Hazel and I just watched cartoons in the backseat and waited to see our boat. Or ship. Whatever.

When we finally spied it, we were very excited.
Very, very excited.
Even Geoff got in on the excitement action.
And then Hazel lost it for a bit. She absolutely did not want her backpack to be tagged and sent to our room. Because, she is nuts. Does she not realize that it is better to have someone else take care of the luggage?!? Obviously not. So, Geoff went to park the car and Hazel and I went in to the terminal to start the check-in process and just as we were finishing who should show up but THE mouse herself. NOTE: In our house, the only mouse that matters in Minnie. See that mouse silhouette on the ship model in the background? Minnie. The pasta she would get at dinner? Minnie. The ice cream bars? Minnie. You get it. Everything is Minnie. Mickey is not even discussed. Hazel was very excited and perked right up at seeing Minnie and kept up the pleasantness for the rest of the cruise. (or at least that is how I am going to remember it. I cannot think of any other freak outs so I am going to remember the awesomeness of our cruise. It is my cruise. And my blog. I can do what I want.)
Geoff showed up just in time to get a family shot.***
We toured the kid land and it was awesome. I could do an entire post on the awesomeness that is kid land. But, I am not going to. Let me just add it in here: Awesome.

Oh, you want more? Okay, so Hazel is 3 which means she was in with the 3- to 4-year-olds. See how that is only a two year span? Awesome#1. Every single one of the counselors that I met was perky and friendly beyond belief. Awesome#2. The kid land was huge. They had a playground-thing with stuff to climb on and a little slide and then a little TV area with shell chairs. Then there was a huge open space and a stage. They had tables where they served them meals and snacks (They fed them, I could have completely neglected my child all cruise. Awesome#4. (because I am still working on #3)) and then a GIANT tree house thing with a steering wheel (see below) and a slide and other such awesomeness. Plus, a computer room and dress-up area. Awesome#3 And, Hazel favorite part of all, tiny toilets. Awesome#5. Seriously, the kid loves tiny toilets. She wants a tiny toilet in her new bathroom. Except by the time we get done with bathrooms she will be like 15 and who wants a tiny toilet then?!? Moving on. The best part of all: We had late seating for dinner (8:15pm) and our server would take the kids' orders (we were seated with another couple who had a 4-year-old girl) and then rush their food out and then, magically, at 9pm the kid land folks would show up at the restaurant and whisk the kids away to kid land. Awesome#6-10. Disney is a giant marketing machine and I feel guilty about buying Hazel the Disney-crap but I will tell you what. They know how to take care of kids, and more so the parents. The end.

At lunch we met the captain and the first mate. Hazel was very happy with "the dog what walks on two legs".
Our cruise ship had a big old sports area. We played some soccer.
Later, we met Minnie Mouse again. (1) I don't know what is up with the kid and her crazy hands. I assume she is pledging a gang****
We also got Hazel to lay in the windows. She wasn't really amused.
But, dang, look how cute she is in her little mouse ears and adorable dress!

I promise to finish updating the remaining parts at some point in the future.

*I am a cheapskate.

**I am also a sucker for my kid.

*** How short are the people in the costumes?!?! because we are taller than Minnie and her head is H-U-G-E!

****Do you pledge gangs? How does that work? When will she stop with the weird hands?

The Grand Floridian Adventure Part 1

2009-09-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

We recently returned from 8 days in, or around, Florida. Meadow had a conference at Disney World for 4 nights, then we spent a lovely night with Geoff's cousins in Tampa and then 3 nights on a Disney cruise. It was great but, holy cow, Florida is h-o-t. And muggy. Oh, the muggy, muggy Florida air.

Anyway, we had a great time and here is my story.

Geoff ordered a snorkeling outfit from his Delta points. I am not really sure how this program works, I just know he got free snorkeling stuff. And Hazel modeled them. In a princess dress.
Remember how I have two cameras? Well, I can apparently only update with one of them at a time. So, this post is from the big camera. My point? None.

Disney World is enormous. I guessed about 600 square miles. But, turns out is is like 36 square miles or 25,000 acres (which sounds far more impressive). My point is this: They are a powerful marketing machine. This was the coolest thing I saw on the compound. Minnie (everything in our world is Minnie, not Mickey) Mouse electrical poles. Awesome.

We stayed at the Swan. It was nice but not as nice as some of the other hotels the conference has been held at. But, on the other hand, nicer than where I would stay if I had to pay. Hmm... this is kind of a crappy picture of it. But, all I could find.
More proof that everything is Minnie Mouse. Hazel was uber-cute in this dress. She told someone, "My mom made the dress but we had to borrow the sash." As if borrowing something was the worst thing ever. I am proud of this dress. I think it looks great and even though I deviated from the pattern and had to do a few things repeatedly (see collar and sleeves) it turned out great. The marketing ladies from my conference found Hazel adorable and bought her matching Minnie ears which she LOVES and wore everywhere.
We went to a character breakfast our first morning in WDW and had a great time. I think Hazel ate about 2 bites but she loved the characters. This picture does not show the true amount of love she had for Donald. I think he was the first character and she was still a bit nervous at this point. By the end of the meal she had warmed up to everyone.
Loved Goofy.
Loved, loved, loved Minnie Mouse. HOWEVER! Not once did we see Minnie in the "traditional" i.e. matching dress. Bummer.
And she got earrings. So, all around Florida was a win for Hazel.
They are clip-on earrings (which had never occurred to me before) and she loves them. She has wanted earrings for quite some time now and I think this is filling the need. They are pink butterflies and, surprisingly, they both made it home.
We made a trip to Downtown Disney before my meetings on Sunday and it was awesome. They have My Little Pony thing where you get a pony and all the outfits you can stuff in a box for $20. Best 20 bucks we spent on the trip. We were able to get all of the outfits (princesses and Minnie) plus extra shoes and other fiddly things. Hazel loves it and it ate up plenty of hours and kept her entertained at dinners.
Daisy. Angry Hazel. Angry Donald. Angry Geoff.
We have quite a few photos with Hazel on or near something.
She was fascinated with the "stick" Tigger is sitting on and was convinced it was poop. From our angle, it kind of did look like poop.
Not a fan.
I had to go to meetings (you know, the reason my work shells out the cash for me to go places). Geoff and Hazel headed back to the room. Hazel put on her princess dress and fell asleep. (Long aside: We were looking for another princess dress for Hazel. She got a blue one at Disneyland and wears it constantly. She sold Popsicles on the 24th of July to buy a dress and I told her she could have another one in Florida. She really wanted the mermaid outfit but it looked cheap (but, was NOT cheap) but she would settle for the mermaid ball gown. And then they were out of her size. And so we tried Snow White. Same story, not in her size. So, we had the guy call around and NONE in her size. We tried quite a few princesses before they found ONE in her size. The blue one. Ack. We went to the princess factory (or so it seemed) and they rummaged around and same story, nothing in her size. WTH!?!?! Come on Disney! 3-year-olds need princess dresses. Finally, they found ONE pink one in her size and Hazel proclaimed it was "her favorite". Fabulous, because that is the only one they have. End) It is a cute dress, however, and off the shoulder like she loves.

Then we went to the cocktail reception (Geoff and Hazel came to and Hazel was fabulous and well behaved and cute and everyone fawned over her) and swimming and THEN to the ESPN Zone for food. Hazel zonked out at the ESPN Zone even though it was incredibly loud and loud and sporty and loud. It was a long day.

And then I have no pictures (on this camera) until September 17th.

More tomorrow, or another day.

First Day of Preschool

2009-09-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hazel started preschool a couple of weeks ago (09/09/09, to be precise) and she is loving. The first day was show-and-tell except we were running late and I forgot to remind her and thus no show-and-tell. When we got to school she remembered and it was too late. I tried to hand her stuff from the car, "How about the first aid kit? What about this book?" She was not impressed and said, "Mom, that is pretty stupid. I am just going to have no show-and-tell." Bah. I tried.

Anyway, she loves preschool and hopefully we will remember to take something tomorrow.

Outfit was entirely chosen by Hazel.
She is stuck on the princess pose thing. Lame.

Camping!

2009-09-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, first off, if it was for the Awesome Bonnie we never would have gone camping. And that would be a shame because we had a great time. We went up American Fork canyon for the night and while it was chock-a-block with people it was still fun. We had a fire and roasted marshmallows, hunted for bears (none found, however), hunted for moose (Geoff "saw" one), hiked and ummm... camping stuff.

Second, remember how I despise some things about blogger? One of them is the crappy way it moves pictures. I have complained about this before but haven't taken the initative to move to a different site. Just deal with the odd order of pictures because it is a pain to move them without losing the big picture (literally, the BIG picture which I like to keep a copy of at work.)

Moving on.

We hiked/walked around Casade Springs. Hazel took this lovely picture of me and Geoff.
And she took this nice picture of herself.
And then Bonnie took this shot.
And a better one. Hazel got a piece of candy for behaving.* I haven't been up to Cascade Springs since I was a kid. Geoff had never been. You can no longer play in the springs, you have to stay on the path. Still, it was a lovely time and a perfect hike/walk length.
Hazel climbed the rock across from our campsite. There was also one in our campsite that she climbed and almost fell off of. Luckily, I have reflexes like a cat** and was able to grab her before she toppled off backwards, head first.
Hazel and Geoff chilling by the fire. It was hard to get a good fire shot without using the flash and keeping the ambiance. But, I think you get what I was going for. We also told ghost stories and they were awesome. Hazel's was about 30 seconds and incoherent. Nathan's (Bonnie's son) was about 30 minutes and incoherent. In his defense, he was constantly interrupted. Still, it was good times.

Hazel really liked playing in our tent. Not her tiny tent that she insisted on us bringing, only the "whole family tent". She was reading stories to her babies. Except that I notice now that one baby is smashed under her back.
She wanted to take my picture with her dog book. "Look happy!"
Behold the power of static electricity.
Playing frisbee with Geoff. She was not great at catching.
But not too bad at throwing.
Look at that follow through! It is as if the heaven's are shining down upon her and bestowing the power of frisbeeing. Or something.
After being fed (because we are super lame and no one is feeling really great so we didn't even pack breakfast) and packing up camp we headed down to hike Stewart Falls. Except everyone in the UC was up the canyon and traffic was horrible and parking was worse and Hazel was tired and just wanted to visit Grandma and Grandpa. So, we bid adieu to our friends and headed to my dad and Anne's house. We hung out and chatted and then decided to go to the Festivale Magnifico!*** We ate some tacos and Hazel won a toothbrush and really, Really, REALLY wanted to go on a ride except (a) I don't trust carnies, (b) I don't trust those rides and (c) I didn't want to pay the outrageous prices for the lame-o rides. Lucky for Hazel, she found two tickets on the ground and that was just enough to go on the train. So, I still don't trust carnies or the rides but I didn't have to pay and the train didn't go in the air or very fast so I agreed.

She had a fabulous time.
As we were leaving we saw this poster and Hazel was quite concerned about the missing cat. Except it is not missing.
The sign actually says "Have you seen this cat? Because it is Awesome." Oh, Provo, you are so high-larious.

All in all, we had a great weekend. Michelle moved into the basement, and watched Nacho for us while we were gone. We also went to the zoo on Saturday with cousins Tiffany and Ginger and saw the baby tigers and, my goodness, they were cute. And....I think that is about it. We are all suffering from various degrees of allergies and Geoff tore his bicep at work.

The end.

*Yes, I realize I am a horrible parent. My kid watches TV, eats candy, gets bribed by her parents and throws tantrums. I predict she will be thrown out of preschool in less than a month.

**aahahahahahaha aahahahaha I normally have horrible reflexes but I did save her this one time.

***Probably not the real name.

Random, random pictures

2009-09-07T17:40:00.001-07:00

So, I haven't upload pictures from the little camera since July-ish. I finally got around to it today and here are a bunch of random shots. Tomorrow I will post the awesomeness that was our weekend.

This is me "hiking" the Mormon/California Trail. In reality, I only hike like 10 feet between roads but whatever, I still got to take a picture.

Geoff and Brandon at Affleck park. Geoff was umm...not happy? I don't know. I don't know if I chose to upload this picture or if I mistyped. But, it is here now for all my readers. All 12 of you.
Hazel at swimming lessons. She was the smallest and only girl. Which reminds me, I need to see about signing her up for the next session.
On the mermaid statue at the International Peace Gardens. I am sure this was allowed behavior.
And the lions at the same park.
Oh, this is a shot of the door I was stripping. Technically, it is sitting on my front porch and thus is still being stripped. Did you know that ammonia takes off shellac? No!?!? Well, now you do. Thanks, internet.
Hazel and I at the 24th of July children's parade. Except it is really on the Saturday before the 24th. We are pink.
Hazel waiting to get her first haircut. Oh, she is such a brave little driver.
Hazel and I at the Bee's game with the mascot. I believe is name is Bumble. Actually, I have no idea. Again, we are pink. This is at my work's summer party. It was very meh.
Hazel (pre-haircut) with Nacho. Poor, poor Nacho.

Warheads Candy

2009-08-28T19:42:00.001-07:00

Hazel went to a friend's birthday party and hit the mother-load with the pinata. There was a lot of Tootsie Rolls and suckers but there were also a few Warheads (ULTRA sour candies, for those who may not know the "joy" that is Warheads). I told her she wouldn't like them but she would not listen. So, then I asked her to just wait until I had the camera. Hilarity ensued.

This chain of pictures makes me convulse in laughter. Especially the pirate face. I cannot even think about it without chuckling.

Also, see the sneak preview of the adorable dress I made her for the grand Disney adventure. Hint: It is not a Mickey Mouse dress.... I have said too much.

Whew, just in time.

2009-08-17T19:47:00.001-07:00

Not quite a month between updates. Almost, but not quite. Geoff uploaded pictures today and if I don't do something with them they will get lost in the blackhole that is our hard drive.

While browsing the photos I found this lovely one, apparently this is the day our hard drive crashed. Also, I live in chaos.

A visit from the twins resulted in a Hazel sandwich. Notice that Grace has a new shirt. hee hee.Another lovely shot.
And Hazel admiring one of the kittens (gah!!!) we found under the porch. That darn cat has become those darn cats.

The hair.

2009-07-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

Remember how Hazel had long, luscious, locks? Well, they are gone.

She wanted "hair like the boy with the bear." Who turned out to be Mowgli. They didn't do a great job the first time, so I took her back when I got home from work and someone else tidied it up. Overall, not impressed with the kid salon.

Anyway, here is her new haircut. She does look adorable, and it is SO much easier to deal with.

Side view with sword.
And a reminder of the surfer girl hair. (and the kitchen paint color)

Meltdown of a princess

2009-06-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

This is just a teaser post while I work on the giant post of pictures from California.

After lunch on Friday (our second day at Disneyland), Hazel wanted to ride King Triton's Carousel. Something set her off (I don't recall exactly what it was) and the following took place. Within about 45 seconds.

This one is my favorite with the overly dramatic hand to the mouth.
And then the ride started and all was forgotten.

California Über Alles

2009-06-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

We went to California on Wednesday and came back (incredibly early) on Saturday morning.* It was a fabulous time and while I am exhausted (not quite as exhausted as Hazel and Geoff who both fell asleep a couple of hours ago) I am glad we went and hope to be back to full power by tomorrow when I have to be at work. :(

This is Hazel's standard airplane pose. She loves reading the safety guide almost as much as she loves picking her nose. It was not a bad flight and my mom, Bernie and Jenni were just a couple rows ahead so Hazel could go visit them.

Anyway, when we got to California on Wednesday we drove around crazily, hit the Trader Joe's, got some lunch**, and then went to La Brea Tar Pits. It was pretty cool. Hazel was very concerned about the daddy elephant that got stuck in the tar and was terrified of the moving mammoth.

I was only scared of the skeleton.
Ben and Zoe and clan were there and the cousins (mostly) played nice.

And then we went to the beach. I cannot even begin to quantify how much my child loves the beach. We could have spent four days at the beach and she would have been happy. Note to self: Must go to Hawaii this winter.Then we went to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles (per Snoop Dogg's suggestion) and it was delicious. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend RC&W. We went to the Long Beach location. Hazel had a drumstick.
The family at Disneyland. Look how non-plussed my kid is. Does she not know this is the happiest place on Earth? HAPPIEST!
These were the first characters she met. I am thinking this could be our family group costume this year...
The first ride we took Hazel on was the Pirates of the Caribbean. In case you don't remember this ride, it is dark, loud and has a couple of drops right at the beginning. She had a death-grip on my arm the entire time. Based on this (and the fact that we are dopes) we took her on the Haunted Mansion next***. She was on sensory overload.
We then wised up and took her on Winnie the Pooh's kid-friendly ride. She got off and said that she loved it and "none scary parts."

She also enjoyed Buzz Lightyear's shoot-em up ride (how could she not love a ride with guns?).
And we got to ride in the front of the monorail. She would have happily ridden this all day.
We also met more characters.
She loved this phone and had to be physically dragged away from it. Someone talked on it, Mickey or something, I don't know. But she loved it. I love her casual stance.
Of course we met Mickey Mouse. I think the Mickey line is the best of the bunch. You wander through his house (which is really part of the "line") and then you get to watch movies while you wait and it went really fast.****
All day she asked for the Dumbo ride, but the lines were crazy and so we kept putting it off. Finally, the line was down to about 30 minutes and we went on it. She had a great time and again, "none scary parts." Apparently a three-year-old likes the little kid rides. Who knew.
At some point during the day we tried to have naps (ha!) and then stayed up late to watch the fireworks and Fantasmic. Geoff was far more tired than Hazel was.
But, after Fantasmic (and a quick trip to the Tiki Room), she passed out and was gone for the night.
We got up super-early the Friday (or so it felt after being up past midnight on Thursday) so we could ride Nemo's submarine ride.
Then we went on the Jungle Cruise. Obviously, we planned a little better on Friday with regards to kid-friendly rides.
And then we saw the princesses. They were great. Three princesses rotate throughout the day and you wait in one (giant) line for them. They spent time with each little girl (and boys, probably) and made each one feel special. I was glad we did it. But, I wish there was a fastpass.

Mulan and Hazel showed off their muscles.
Sleeping Beauty was Hazel's favorite, because of the pink, I think.
Snow White tried to get the kids to pose "like a princess".
This is my favorite picture.
Princess hands again.
And then, Hazel needed her own princess dress.
It leaves glitter everywhere. It makes everything "fancy". Me, Geoff, the stroller, the car seat, everything she touches. Seriously, it is glitterific.
And even more awesome with bug glasses.
We rode the bumper cars and then the ride broke or something so we just had to sit there forever.
And we went on the Bug's Life caterpillar's chew-chew train. Jenni was terrified. This was, by far, the lamest ride ever. It is like 20 feet of ride. I think Hazel has more train track in her box o' trains. Seriously, it was short.
Hazel swore she didn't need a nap and wouldn't take one but, man, she needed one. I think we wore the toes out of her shoes dragging her around.
Outside the Monsters Inc ride.
On the Monsters Inc ride. This was the only ride that Hazel wanted to go on again. We got off and she wanted to immediately get back on it. We distracted her with the photo op stuff outside the ride (see above, there was also a cab you could play in).
We watched a lot of parades. Hazel got to play the drum head in this one.
I like that Jenni, Hazel and the Mad Hatter are all staring at something. The Mad Hatter looks horrified.
We also stayed for the Electric Light Parade. It started at 8:45pm, but on the opposite end of the park. Hazel was wide awake, but that crazy, manic, awake and running around and licking and causing all sorts of mayhem. And then the parade started. She lasted like two floats and then was out. If only she would have had a nap.
As we were leaving California Adventures, the fireworks at Disneyland were going off. This was cool but caused a crazy traffic jam at the exits.
Saturday morning we got up bright and early, drove to the OC and flew home. All in all, it was a great trip. But, I am glad to be home. And glad to be sleeping in my own bed.
*So, we fly standby which is free, but we are at the mercy of the airlines. So, when I checked flights on Friday night after a full day at the D-land I discovered out preferred noon-ish flight was dangerously full so we went for the 6:45am flight. Which meant leaving our hotel at like 5:15am. Which sucked. But, you know, free flights.

**Genetically, the women in the family do not do well without food. This includes me, my sister, my mom and my kid. I am just saying, we MUST be fed. Logic fails, emotions run wild.

***In our defense, she loves ghosts and doesn't scare easily.

****The princesses, on the other hand, were horrible. We cut in line with April and Zoe (who had been in line for 45 minutes) and still waited for an hour-and-a-half. And it was boring, no movie, nothing. But, the princesses did a great job with each and every girl.

Third post of the night.

2009-06-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

Or the first, depending on how you read them. I am cleaning the cards off both cameras before we go on vacation Wednesday. Because, apparently, that is my top-priority?? What about making sure clothes are washed, everything is packed, the basement is ready for paint and the house is clean? Nah. Might as well play around on my computer.

Anyway, here is another (or the first?) shot of my kid with a gun.

Ack! This one slays me. Could she be any tougher? I think not.
A fabulous shot of my friends Candi and Amy that Hazel took. Hazel portraits are easy to tell as (a) there is normally a finger and (b) they are pointed up.
Oh! This one does not follow the rules and points down. But, Cedric is a baby AND there is still a finger in the shot.
I know I posted pictures last time of the sprinkler playing, but I have more. You know, two cameras.
I like this running away one.
Okay, first up. All my pictures are in random-y backwards order but this is because it is a pain in the butt to reorder them. I am trying to not let it make me crazy.

Anyway, we went to the zoo a couple weekends ago with my friend from work and her little boy. Hazel lost it because she wanted to ride on the wolf but another kid was on it and HORRORS! she had to ride on something else, I think a baby polar bear. Anyway, she lost it. Like shrieking and trying to leap off the carousel. And then the next go round she got the wolf and it was as if the crazy was forgotten. Except by me.
Hazel and her friend Kade. He really did like her and would like to go to the zoo again with Hazel but "not with her mom or my mom." Dating so young? I think not.
Hazel wanted to take a picture of my bubble. I think it is a nice picture.
And I took this picture of her. In my hat. Because it isn't enough that she owns like 10 hats, now she has to wear mine too.
Look at the foot. She is truly my kid.
Oh, here are some pictures of our crap-tastic sidewalk. We had some crazy rain (about 2 inches in less than an hour) and it flooded our front yard. That pond should be sidewalk.
Randomly: Hazel in a dust mask.
Back to the flooding. Can you see the water shooting into the stairwell?!?!? Bah! This should not happen again.
Last, but not least, a family portrait. Good thing we have Geoff to look at the camera. :)
The end. Now I am ready for California and I promise I will post pictures in a month or less. Or more....

The house.

2009-06-22T21:17:00.001-07:00

We are making some progress in our house. It is slow but not at all steady. Stuff gets done in spurts but some of the spurts have been enough that one room is painted. (okay, so it still needs something done with the "closet" and another coat but, come on!!)Another shot of the mostly finished room.
The main room is almost done being mudded (I am ready to call it done.) and the kitchen has been cleaned.
Doh.We had to pull this out because of mold and/or mildew. Yuck.
We now have Hazel in on the work. She is rolling thinned out mud on the walls.
She was awesome.
We also had a new sidewalked put in. I can't find a picture of what it looked like before but, trust me, it was horrible. It was cracked and uneven and everything was sloped towards the house (argh!). The guys that did it were awesome, if you need concrete work, we have a man.
Gratuitious concrete shot.
I don't have a shot of the finished sidewalk except for this picture outline that I drew of Hazel and the picture of Nacho that she drew. But, notice how awesome our sidewalk is. So smooth. So sloping away from the house.

One update, which should be a bunch.

2009-06-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

I made this awesome Strawberry Shortcake dress and Hazel hated it. But now she is tolerating it. Probably because of the mad twirling.

I won, or more precisely, Hazel won, a fabulous dress from the Sew Mama Sew day giveaway at Bluebirds and Cherries. It is lovely and she looks great in it. She has actually taken to layering it with a multitude of outfits and it is adorable.

Ben and Zoe came to visit for a couple of days and one of the nights we had a cookout. It was good times and everyone ate a lot of marshmallows, hot dogs and char. Hazel was a bit worried when her marshmallow caught on fire.
But the cookie smores were delicious.
The worried eyebrows return. How can she be this concerned over toasted marshmallow and fudge-striped cookies?!?!
Here Hazel is demonstrating her guns. She needed them to help carry everything back in the house.
The kids, they are crazy.
Oh, so we had a bunch of leftover drywall and Geoff decided the best option would be to take it upstairs. Hazel was a good helper. This looks to me like a totally posed pictures but I just caught her in mid-stride.
Geoff fits in the tiny tent.
Hazel modeling her West Valley hair. Really, the entire scene is awesome. The ratty hair*, the belly, the naked baby. Perfect.
Geoff busted out laser tag. Hazel loves it. I believe this will soon be on the toddler issue of "Guns n' Lasers".

Unfortunately, or fortunately, she is not very good.
*Hazel had been wearing a hood all day, which is why her hair is so ratty. Normally, I like to keep it brushed.

Still on Blogger

2009-05-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so in my last post I implied that I would be leaving Blogger. Well, as it turns out, I am lazy. And possibly a dope. Thus, I am still with Blogger. And still annoyed with it for a few things (why don't my freaking archives work?? how come Chrome doesn't uploade pictures??), but I am moving on. Or staying put. Whatever. If Geoff wasn't madly trying to finish up house projects I would ask for his help. But, frankly, I would rather have a renter.

Moving on.

Hazel loves this bunny costume from her friend Tayvia. It is kind of too small but she still wears in constantly. She can no longer really get the hand nor feet things on but she manages. Also, she tried to escape.
I still maintain everything is cuter when done in a bunny costume.

Even if it is just bunny ears. FYI: Geoff was not thrilled with me taking a picture of him in the bunny ears. But the two of them were so cute that I just had to do it. Besides, there are boy bunnies. I don't know why he was such a complainer.

Hazel and her friends Jack and Serenity had a fabulous sprinkler day last Saturday. Serenity has this AWESOME octopus sprinkler and the three kids had a great time playing in it. Jack's dad (in the upper right corner) doesn't look like he was having such a great time. Seriously, the kids played in in forever. Hazel was freezing but still wouldn't quit.

Eventually I convinced her to take a break and dry off on her beach towel. Notice our lovely roses in the background. (Tangent) I am not a fan of roses. I think they are poky and lame. I have good memories of my grandfather having them but I still didn't want them in our yard. And then they bloomed. We have five (5!) different colors of roses in our yard and they are beautiful. There are two shades of pink (light and dark-which is behind Hazel), a fantastic reddish-pinkish-orangey (hands down, my favorite) , yellow (also behind Hazel) and an orange one. They are awesome and we have been making great bouquets out of them.

Hazel looked adorable one day and so I asked her if I could take a picture and if she would put her hat back on. This was what I got. Hil-ar-i-ous.

We read stories before bed and the other night Hazel wanted me to read this dorky Mad book (as in the magazine). My eyes were killing me so I took my contacts out and put my glasses on so I could see. Hazel followed suit.Peace out.

Post #100

2009-05-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

100 numbered lines about 100 posts. *

I actually have posted more, but not on Blogger.
In the olden days I coded by hand. BY HAND!!
This actually worked better than Blogger.
Blogger sucks.
I suck.
My blog sucks.
My new washer and dryer, however, is AWESOME! Behold the awesomeness.

Notice the venting Geoff installed. He just cut a hole in our window and ran the vent pipe through it.
Our window is made out of plexiglass.
I realize the ghetto-ness of this. But let me bask in the glory of my fancy (and, more importantly, functional) appliances.
We also had a new main water line installed.

It is not as pretty as our washer/dryer combo but our old line was far less functional than our old washer/dryer.
A broken washer/dryer does not cost as much in sheer waste as a broken water main.
I have no idea what that giant pipe near the hole is for.
Whatever it is, I am glad IT didn't break.
I am also glad the City is going to split the difference on the gobs of water we used last month.
Hazel played outside with Nacho on Sunday while we were in the basement working. I took pictures with the telephoto lens.

Nacho has become a far more tolerant dog since we had the kid.
Our neighbor, Thomas, has baby kittens.

They are adorable.

Hazel loves to play with the kittens.
I hope she doesn't turn them evil.
It makes me happy that my kid loves books.

She does not, however, love to have her picture taken.

If I was given a choice, I would take the books.
Blogger totally sucks.
It makes me bonkers that I can't just copy and paste a picture without losing the big picture.
The actual BIG picture, not some metaphorically crap.
My next 100 posts may be brought to you by something else.
Like the letter "M".
For Meadow.
Now with added cheez.
Hazel decided it would be a good idea to stick her hand in the jar of nacho cheese and FLING IT.

It was not a good idea.
In fact it was a very, very bad idea.
Never have I seen so much cheez.

I made her clean it up (mostly) and then scrubbed her off in the shower and sent her to bed.

This was over a week ago.

I am still stumbling upon cheez.

100 things is a lot.

And I am trying to finish before my inaugural load of laundry finishes.

Okay, I am giving up at 42. Hazel wants me to play hide-and-go-seek and I would rather do that.

*Not changing the title. Live with it.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-12T16:46:00.000-07:00

My bad mothering is apparently as bad as my daughtering, as I didn't get a mother's day present nor did I get my mom a present (delivered, but she will come down and I will give it to her). Anyway, I told my mom I would post pictures of Hazel on her cutie-cute bike and here they are. Two days late.

First, the other day (I think last Friday) I painted Hazel's fingers and toes. And then I forgot to put away the nail polish. Because I am an idiot and forgot a three-year-old lives in my house. She found the nail polish and proceed to paint (a) her face, (b) her body, (c) the computer chair, (d) the rug and (e) the floor. I hate the computer chair so it didn't get cleaned, the floor will be refinished (eventually) but we were able to get the rug and the kid cleaned. Doh. Also, notice how her gut is hanging out? She gets that from me. Poor thing.
But look how cute she is on her bike! We rode to the store. Which was WAY too far. But, Hazel was a trooper.

Ack! The cuteness is killing me!*
Remember this shirt from baby fights in 2006? Well, it still fits. Hazel also ups the tough-factor by 3 by adding a headlamp.

Geoff and Hazel went hiking today with the neighbors, Emi and Jack. Hazel loves having a hiking stick. Plus, she is finally big enough for her Camelbak to start to fit her.

Hat? Oh, it seems to be missing. I am hoping Geoff at least remembered the sunscreen. Oh, turns out he did.

The end.

Mom: Hope this counts for something. I really do have a present for you. Love you lots. Thanks for helping me become the mom I am today.

*Okay, so not to take away from the cuteness I am moving this story to the bottom. While we were coming home from the store, we were on 9th south in front of the bike store and there is the slightest incline ever and Hazel got going a little fast and crashed into a lady (girl? I don't know she was probably about 20). Everyone was okay but Hazel got nervous, I was nervous (because, come on, my kid hit someone!) and it bad for a long trip home. But, she is getting over it and willing to ride again. Plus, she has been practicing her braking. A lot.

The "other" camera

2009-05-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

First up, we all went to the dentist* today and no cavities for anyone! Hooray! This was the most official visit yet for Hazel and she did AWESOME. The dentist even remarked at what a great job she did and wondered what we did to prepare her for it. Sadly, we did nothing. We get no good parent points today. Except for the whole good dental hygiene thing. Plus, I love how relaxed she looks in the chair. Okay, everything else is in random date order from the last month-and-a-half or so.

Girls' brunch out at Porcupine. Mmmm....Porcupine. For Shauntil's birthday. I believe this was the day after we got back from Vegas (don't worry, Vegas pictures are coming up).

Swimming while my mom was in town. Her hotel's pool was broken and then cold and so they sent us all to Dimple Dell which was still kind of cold but not broken, plus it was giant way more giant than the hotel pool. We had a great time. Plus, this is the first picture where I can totally see Hazel got my smile. Poor thing, she will never have an upper lip...

The AF Omans were swimming too. This was the best picture I have of Hazel and Gloria. The rest of them make it look as if Hazel is drowning Gloria. But I promise she was just hugging her!

Hazel at her favorite store. If you look at the big picture you can see that I am reflected in one lens and Geoff is reflected in the other. I would also like to point out that we almost never let her take toys into stores so it was a special treat for her to take the Care Bear.

Remember yesterday when I said that the Oman girls take odd pictures? See:

And then this:

Okay, so we went to Vegas in March. Me, Anne, Jesse and Jenni. My step-brother John was a dancer at the Tropicana (the show closed and so now he will be dancing on a cruise ship, and I will visit him there!!). So, we went to see his show before it closed. We also did a little sightseeing. While we were at the Bellagio we saw these girls taking pictures whilst leaning over their cameras to get their heads in the picture with the ceiling. I was enamored with this:
I took a ton of pictures whilst leaning over my camera. And then Jenni stuck her head in one. If you flip through the whole sequence of pictures it is hilarious. Especially on the impossibly long drive home from Vegas.**

These are the best group shots I have. After John's show, in front of the showroom.
And then at the Bellagio gardens. Man, I am a slob. Why am I wearing a t-shirt? I rarely wear t-shirts, outside of manual labor and sleeping. Blah to being a slob.

Finally, any ideas of what I should get my mom for Mother's Day? Apparently, it is THIS weekend!! I should have figured this out earlier and got her a present while she was in town last week. Worst. Daughter. Ever.

*Okay, new dentist update. He was pretty nice. I liked him. We used to go to another doctor but he moved to Oregon, which is kind of far to go for dental work. So, this dentist bought the practice and since we are lazy and already had appointments we stuck with this guy. He did a great job explaining things to watch and took care of the kid. I will be back in six months.

** I realize I am spoiled. I flew down and only had to ride in the car on the way back.

April? I hardly knew you...

2009-05-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Man, April flew by. I can't believe we are already well into May. And by "well" I mean, "tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo." I would lament that I have been busy and thus haven't had time to update but the truth is this, I have never been very good at keeping up on the updates. I get busy, it stays light at night and, frankly, I need to watch me some TV. I am lucky if I even TAKE pictures, much less upload them to the computer.

Hazel is still cute. And now will only do weird poses when I take her picture. I don't know what is up with that. It must be genetic, as my step-dad Bernie thinks the Oman girls cannot take a normal picture. Luckily, Hazel has not progressed as far as Jenni and I have. It is probably only a matter of time. Poor kid.

My mom was in town last weekend to get a new dog. (Roscoe, and he is adorable) The AF Omans came up to visit and the kids took a moment to torment the cat. I believe Gloria was chanting, "Brains.....braaaaaaiiiinnnnnsss" but I can't prove that. Also, I don't think she is as obsessed with zombies as my little blonde child.
They did not spend all evening messing with the cat, they also played on the swingset.

Hazel likes to play with her chalk. A lot. I like to keep the chalk on a hook in the coat closet while it is not being supervised. A high hook. I am sure I was not the one who got the chalk down this time. Hazel was surprised at how chalky her face was. I don't know what her arm is doing in the picture. She must have been posing. Because that is what you do when you are COVERED IN CHALK!!

Geoff has had like a week off. Of course. Because he gets a lot of days off and I have to go to work. And it is extremely unfair. One day last week he decided the best use of his time would be to copy the little picture from Hazel's puzzle onto the Magnadoodle. Immediately after he was done, Hazel erased it. Luckily, I took a picture so Geoff can remember the good times...

Oh, so one day Hazel was in going to the bathroom. It is great that she can finally go to the bathroom by herself (I just installed low toilet paper holders that she can reach, now we have two per bathroom, awesome). HOWEVER, this does not mean she should be left in the bathroom for long periods of time by herself. By the time Geoff went back there the sink was overflowing because she had shoved toilet paper in the sink drain (and we are old school without an overflow drain thing at the top) because "the fish needed to swim." Geoff helped her dig the toilet paper out and I took a picture. We both have our roles. Look how Hazel almost looks like she feels guilty for flooding the bathroom.

Finally, Hazel got earrings. She is VERY proud.

Other things we have done this month:

Played with the neighbor, Jack, a lot. Hazel loves Jack and Jack loves Hazel. They play together very nicely and it is awesome to have a kid Hazel's age (he turns three this week) to play with.
Walked to the dog park, a lot. Nacho is missing Triscuit, and likes to play with the other dogs at the park. But only if we are in the park too, she freaks out if we put her in there and try and play on the playground.
Today Hazel and I went to the Utah Museum of Natural History (free day!) and Hazel got to be one of the volunteers for pulling the tablecloth off the table. She was very good and so proud about doing a good job.
Hazel is starting to read. Good and bad because it is getting trickier to spell things around her.
Trips to the zoo. The bird show is back after the Winter hiatus and the elephant is due in July!
Worked on the basement. It is getting closer, I promise! We used all 30 (!) sheets of sheetrock and still need more. We have, of course, had a bit of scope-creep but we are almost done with the re-framing and then can finish the sheetrock. It is getting there.
Geoff's cousins, Corey and Ryan, were in town for a week or so. They were great fun and Hazel adores them. She wants to go visit them in Hawaii next. I am supporting her in this.
Probably some other stuff too but it is getting late and Hazel is sitting on my lap waiting for me to read her stories.