Monday, June 30

happy anniversary vacation

i wasn't going to post, but i didn't want people, like kristi, thinking all we did was stay in our room :)

we took our time getting to vegas on thursday morning, and yes, it was VERY hard to leave kate at my parent's house. i was missing her when i turned around to walk out the front door.

weston prepared for the drive by loading some reminiscent tunes onto his ipod - tunes from when we first fell in love . . . starting with the likes of blink 182's cheshire cat.

our first stop was in beaver (yes kristi, we talked about you) for some mcdonald's breakfast. no joke - we waited in that drive-thru line before ordering for over 10 minutes (behind ONE car). then, we waited for another fifteen minutes at the window where you pay and get your food. no exaggerating - we checked the clock. and, they hadn't gotten my breakfast order on the ticket - so we waited again. alex, i know you'll appreciate that story :) the same kind of experience happened when we stopped for some gas and drinks outside of parowan. i guess those are the things that make a trip like this memorable.

we stopped at the outlets in st. george to do some quick shopping for weston - he was looking for a specific cut and wash of levis. no luck.

we got to vegas and went straight to the "high end" shops in north lv. no luck for weston there, either. it was SOOOO incredibly hot. unbelievable. after that shopping/walking, we grabbed some lunch at in-n-out and had to share our table with some chatty men who asked if we were in las vegas to get married. once we got some sustenance, we hit up the outlets at the other end of town. again, no luck for weston.

our hotel was amazing. once we got checked in, we relaxed for a bit and then hit the strip. we walked the half mile to ceasar's palace to do some more shopping. it was there that weston got me my sick nikes :) if there's a swoosh, it's almost a guarantee he'll buy them for me :) no luck for weston on the pants ... again. we went across the street to watch the fountains at the bellagio, courtesy of "luck be a lady" by old blue eyes. the last time i watched the show, it was set to a patriotic song and it was much better - but this was still pretty good. we then went across the street once more to urban outfitters where weston tried to find his jeans again - no luck - but i did find my sweet granny wallet. we grabbed some dinner at this little seafood spot in ceaser's and made the walk back to our hotel. i slept SO well - i was super worn out from all that walking . . . i know, i'm a wimp.

we checked out by 11am the next morning and made our way around fremont street so weston could take some pictures of old las vegas (read the previous post for what happened there). after his run-in with the las vegas parking authorities, we made our way to st. george.

our first stop was lunch - pizza factory in pineview. all i ever order at PF is the raspberry viniagrette salad - which this location does not have. however, i got a sandwich and it did not disappoint.

after lunch, we meandered around tai pan trading - one of my favorites. i didn't buy anything, as all i could think of was "we'll have to pack this next year" but my mind was filled with new ideas for how i want to decorate wherever we land next summer.

we had to make the rounds for any possible place that sold levis in st. george, but had no luck there, either. poor weston :)

after we checked into our hotel, we kicked it for a bit, relaxing in the ac room and watched some "i love the millenium" courtesy of vh1. i love those shows :) we decided to take advantage of not having kate with us and went to a movie - indiana jones and the crystal skull. say what you will (if you weren't impressed) but i loved it! it was just a fun movie and i loved the throw-back/inside jokes in reference to indy facts. i want to go see it again!

weston topped off the night with a late night jack in the box run and we went back to our hotel for the evening.

we got out by 11am the next morning (doesn't 11am checkout STINK when you're on vacation and you just want to sleep in and take your time???) we hit the road to kanab so weston could show me around the little town he grew up in (before moving to the next little town - central valley). we spent a few hours in kanab eating, driving, walking, and yes - a little shopping :) again, no luck - even at duke's who sport "the largest selection of levi's in the state of utah."

once we left kanab, we made our way home up highway 89 and weston stopped here and there to take pictures of old motel signs or interesting landmarks. he certainly has an eye for things that i do not possess. we made good time getting back to monroe and were able to pull in just as kate was waking up from her late afternoon nap. i think all three of us were pretty excited to see each other :)

this was quite the travelog - if nobody's that impressed, i stick my tongue out at you! :) weston and i had a great time enjoying each other's company, walking hand in hand, people-watching and making fun of mullets and such, talking-talking-talking, and just being the 2 of us for a moment again. hopefully it won't take another 4 years for us to get a couple of days away again!

thanks to my parents, who so generously took care of our daughter. we love you!

a few photos from our "las vegas anniversary vacation"

Erin and I went to Las Vegas for an anniversary vacation. I will let her give the run down about the trip. I just wanted to post some photos from the trip. I somehow (not surprisingly) managed to not be in a single photo the whole trip. I really need to work on that.

Here is a view from our balcony. We were in a suite on the 17th floor--the top floor. It was awesome.Erin is humoring me here by letting me take some pictures.
I bought Erin some new kicks at Nike Town.
And I bought her a new wallet. I told Erin my grandma had a wallet just like this. Indie or retired? Erin came up with that phrase. It is an offshoot of a phrase Rory came up with...
Erin is sick of me taking pictures of her.
From the balcony again. This is not a Photoshopped image. This is an actual old fashioned in-camera double exposure.
One more shot of Erin in the hotel room.

Sunday, June 29

karma

don't worry kristi - i took care of it :) wow

Saturday, June 28

mark the calendar: june

june marked birthdays for a couple of people.

june 17: jane
andrew and sarah's daughter, jane, turned 2 this year. she is such a cute little girl and i LOVE this picture of her. way to go with the cardigan, sarah! :) jane is this sweet, smart girl that you just fall in love with. we're glad you're 2! happy bday!june 22: kristi
kristi was my first real friend when i moved to utah. we were pretty goofy, but she was super fun to grow up with. kristi has the best sense of humor and can pretty much make a crack about anything on the spot. she lives in north carolina now (and hates it apparently) so i rarely get to see her. however, she'll be in utah for a month pretty soon and she better believe we're getting together! :) happy bday. oh yeah, i totally stole this senior pic :)
june 26: anniversary
weston and i celebrated our 4th anniversary this year. the past 4 years have flown by! it really feels like we've been together for a lot longer, and if you count the many, many years of dating, it's more like we've been together for 12 years (this november). insane.

needless to say, the 4 years of being married have been WAY better than those 8 years that preceeded it :) i love you, weston!

Tuesday, June 24

baby quilts

here are 2 baby quilts i have made recently.

this one is for weston's cousin, halsie. she is having a baby girl - sydney lane . . . sorry halsie, i don't know how you're spelling it!

this next one is for tracy cartwright (i'm not sure about your married last name - sorry!) my mom and i made this quilt for tracy - i pieced the quilt top and she quilted it on her rail system - another stippled quilt. tracy had a girl, emily, several weeks ago. she finally got her girl!!! :)

congratulations to both of you :)

Sunday, June 22

Rice Cereal


Kate is now eating a bit of rice cereal here and there...all over her face actually.

Strawberry Days

Saturday was Go Skateboarding Day...yes we have our own holiday. I went to work for the first half of the day and gripped about 15 skateboards. I got off at 4 and managed to get in a few hours of skateboarding at the American Fork skatepark. Some Etnies guys were in town for a signing and demo (not with Blindside) and they were killing the park. For the few of you that might care...in attendance was Mikey Taylor, Sean Malto, and Jose Rojo. Andrew has seen the AF Park--let me just say, 8 stair hand rail nollie back overcrook by Sean Malto. Sorry no photos of the skating. I was busy skating myself.
Okay, on to the real reason for this post. After the skate session, I took Erin and Kate over to Pleasant Grove for the annual Strawberry Days carnival for some delicious strawberries and cream = $1.25 cup of heaven. I just took some snapshots with Erin's camera for blogging purposes. Kate enjoyed the many flashing lights and interesting things at which to look. (Look Erin, I didn't end with a preposition, and boy does that last sentence sound awkward).
An old fashioned Americana carnival really brings out the small town in people...or brings the people out of the small towns.
If you live in Utah County, you really should check out the great food next June... Or just go to people watch.
Enjoy the pics.









Friday, June 20

rolling over

kate has learned how to roll over! she started this last weekend at my parents' house. sometimes she just rolls right over like "it ain't no thang" and sometimes she struggles. this video is kind of a happy medium

goo goo ga ga - as they say

some quick footy of kate babbling - naturally, not as much as she was doing before the big black camera made it's appearance

Tuesday, June 17

Kate's Bath

Kate had a bath. I took pictures.

Monday, June 16

possibly the scariest tag ever

okay, so you are supposed to do this tag in "real life" as they say. you aren't supposed to clean up or touch up. lucky me. i have been having a bit of a breakdown lately over the state of our house. thankfully, the other day weston could see the "need" and helped me out. here goes:

1. the laundry roomnot much to say - basic laundry room with a whole lot of laundry to be folded and put away (baskets on the floor). but the best part about our laundry room is the work lamp we use for a light. the overhead light shorts out almost every time you turn the switch on (if you remember my 100 things post, this is also due to the horrible wiring). i was going crazy not having a light in this room, as it is the darkest in our place. one night, weston and his mad jerry-rigging skills came up with this beautiful solution - thank you! thank you! thank you!
2. favorite roomi LOVE to pull our black curtains (aka - sheets) closed and shut out the light all day! only when i'm that tiredbut in all reality, we spend a lot of our time in this room, so it is also a favorite
3. what the kids are doingi can't believe she slept through me taking this picture!!! and she's still asleep!
4. favorite shoesthese are my go-to shoes if i can wear whatever i want - they are super comfy, i love the squishy soles
these are the latest pair i bought, and yes, they are jellies (i have a policy against trends that come around again - if you were alive to wear the trend the first time, you don't get to wear it again . . . i thought these were cute enough to break my policy . . . but just this once)
5. the toiletstandard bathroom that, on the surface, looks really clean . . . but, as dr. kirsi would say, [insert finnish accent] "they are lying to you!" that's for erin g and weston (he came to microbiology with me once and got the full dr. kirsi experience)
6. kitchen sinkjust a few dishes to load
7. the refrigeratorit's probably time again to downsize on the refrigerator door galleryice cream - check. soda - check. cafe rio leftovers - check. the colton family fridge must be fully stocked!
8. self portraiti can't believe i posted this. look how gargantuon (sp?) and crooked my nose is!!! but there's the trusty old snaggletooth, popping out to say hello! (and the photo is quite blurry - weston would be appalled).
9. the closetthis called for 2 pictures. we live in a 3 bdrm apartment and we are packed to the GILLS!!! i have done my best to install shelving anywhere i can possibly put it, so this is our under the stairs closet and it is PACKED - but this picture makes it look completely disorganized - it's bad, but not that badand here is our bedroom closet - for good measure
10. dirtiest roomthis item also called for 2 pictures - of the same room, however. i wanted all you readers to get the full effect that is weston's "organization." we've all heard of, or are fortunate enough to know (but how many are fortunate enough to live with one?) those people who are "organized in their disorganization." keep telling yourselves that. this room is our office/guest room. please, come stay with us, you would get to sleep here. :) i go through periods where i get in and clean this room up and organize it all, and then there are periods where i just give up and shut the door. in this state, i am in one of those periods. i cannot WAIT until we have a house with enough rooms (one day, one day, one day) that i can just say "do with it what you will." until that day . . .
11. dream vacationmy own private island. wouldn't this just be D-I-V-I-N-E? i'm getting relaxed just imagining . . . the photo came from here

i now tag:
kristi, margaret, ashley olsen, heather fa'anunu, brandi, and michelle. (i'll be checking up on you until you do it!)

quilt for shireen's baby

brett and shireen are having a baby girl VERY soon! here is the quilt i made for baby sariah. you can't really see the quilting, but i stippled the quilt on my mom's rail system - very cute. we love you guys and can't wait to hear of her arrival!!! until then, stay in bed, shireen!

Sunday, June 15

the stinkeye

kate has a stinkeye - it happens when she smiles and one of her eyes is smaller than the other and it looks like she's giving you . . . well, the stinkeye. unfortunately, we don't really have any great pictures that capture the phenomenon. here's another closer, slightly better, examplewe were in monroe for about 24 hours this weekend over father's day and i was looking through some old photo albums of myself. kate looked nothing like me when she was born and she still mainly resembles all that weston has to offer. HOWEVER - as i was flipping through the pages of pictures, i came across my very own stinkeye :)
so, i decided that, after all, my daughter may share at least ONE common trait with me! even if it is the stinkeye :)

Thursday, June 12

i should be busy at work . . .

but clearly i'm not busy.
100 things about me
(here goes, i'm thinking i'll have to come back to this later, but i'll see how far i can get)

1. i don't have a middle name - i always loved playing that game "guess my middle name" and i loved being able to say no to every name people would throw out there as possible middles
2. i love short names - i have a policy about naming my children - no names longer than 2 syllables
3. i was born in an army hospital in monterrey, CA
4. i have a good friend, erin gordon, who was also born in the SAME army hospital, on the SAME day (just 2 years later). did you catch that her name is also erin? oooooohhh! scary!!! :)
5. i made a mess of my grandma's house when i was a tyke (w/ my brother alex): we made eggs on her kitchen floor (carpet with eggs and milk mashed in, then we tried to clean it up with toothpaste, lipstick on the carpet in the bathroom and all over the walls, etc.)
6. i have lived in 4 states (CA, UT, CO, ME)
7. i love cats
8. i had a dog once (my friend jill gave me a puppy for my bday in 8th grade, but he got parvo and died - tear).
9. i have always had crushes on my brother, alex's, friends
10. i love to type, in fact that was my "video game" of choice growing up (go mavis beacon!) :)
11. i took piano lessons for probably 3-4 years (was it even that long?)
12. i also play the flute
13. i tried to learn to play guitar, but i was never very good - or confident
14. my favorite color is blue
15. my favorite food is ... all food? i love pork salads from cafe rio and i love pineapple pizza from papa john's
16. i love dressing kate in pink - if you know me, this is a total surprise
17. my favorite number has always been 7 - i have no clue why
18. i had a crush on weston about 2 years before we started hanging out (i forgot about him until we "re-met" at the end of my junior year in HS)
19. i once threw a billiard ball at my brother alex (although he says i threw 4)
20. we (brothers alex, andrew, and myself) used to watch my older siblings (johanna and travis) fight (crazy fighting) and throw each other down the stairs
21. i grew up in a very loving family :) it's true
22. my dad was gone for what seemed like most of my childhood (he was always on long deployments as a navy pilot)
23. i lived in san diego for 9 years and thought that would always be "home"
24. i danced on the high school drill team for 4 years and loved every second
25. when i went to the drill team tryouts at the end of 8th grade, i didn't know what a drill team was, nor had i ever danced in my life
26. kristi's dad used to call me "urine kettle" (erin cottle)
27. i love coffee ice cream with oreos smashed in, a la cold stone
28. the only thing i learned in high school chemistry was this: C
6H12O6
29. consequently i took chemistry 101 twice
30. then i majored in biology
31. i have been the YW camp director for the past 2 years (my YW leaders laughed when i got this calling - i was not the best camper or sport in those days)
32. i had a c-section and recovery was better than getting my wisdom teeth out
33. i got my wisdom teeth pulled with local anasthetic - no gas for me
34. i got my first speeding ticket about 2 months after i got my license - i did 80 in a 40 (just wanted to double the speed and then i would slow down . . . yeah, DUMB)
35. i've been in one accident (icy road, coming off a freeway exit ramp)
36. i am stubborn
37. i love dawson's creek
38. i LOVE the o.c.
39. i probably watch too much tv
40. i have a treadmill that i am currently using to hold the last quilt top i pieced
41. i love to make baby quilts
42. i kissed weston for the first time in november of 96
43. i have THE worst luck with printers. weston and i have had 4 in the 4 years we've been married
44. i can be shy
45. i love interior decorating - i'm not great at it, but i still love it
46. i like to sew
47. the first thing i made (sewing) was a pair of pants with a zipper - my mom couldn't believe that's what i started with
48. since my freshman year of college, i have lived in 10 places
49. our current apartment has old wiring and we have to replace lightbulbs just about every couple of weeks
50. but our current apartment is a 3 bedroom for $500 a month, so we deal with the lightbulbs
51. today at work i called Blue Stakes ("call before you dig!") for the first time and made a fool of myself for not knowing the answer to ANY of her questions
52. i know how to process a home loan
53. i like secretarial work/busy work
54. i like lists - i'm always writing them and checking things off
55. i love chapstick
56. and extra polar ice gum
57. i've lost 5 pounds so far this month
58. i get a cold every year in may
59. i get these tiny bumps on my fingers (underneath, usually by the joint of finger and palm) when the seasons change
60. i love jackets
61. and purses
62. and shoes
63. i don't wear jewelry except for my wedding ring and a small pair of earrings (but i never take them out - i kept my last pair in for probably about 3 years . . . only taking them off to clean them - GROSS i know)
64. i have to put the toilet paper roll on so it comes off the TOP of the roll
65. i currently have a turquoise toothbrush
66. i only shave my legs once a week - on saturday usually so i don't have to wake up any earlier on sunday (just to shave them)
67. i knew i would fall in love with weston during our first dance (at a sadie hawkins dance - but he wasn't my date)
68. i went to sunset hills elementary school and our mascot was the seagull
69. i ran cross country in 6th grade and lost (DEAD LAST) every meet i attended
70. i wanted to be a gymnast when i was little
71. my first car was an 86 chevy nova - i still love that car
72. i cook about twice a month . . . i REALLY need to change that
73. weston and i have one pair of matching shoes (nike sb dunks - vapors - and i wanted them first)
74. i don't care for fruity candy
75. i bite my hangnails
76. i have to sleep on a down pillow
77. there are TWO down comforters on our bed
78. 4 out of 6 rooms in our apartment are decorated with red
79. i wish i knew spanish better (kind of at all at this point)
80. i got teased when i was little for having "chinese eyes"
81. my 7th grade homeroom teacher gave each of us nicknames - mine was "fire eyes"
82. i love boogie boarding
83. i love swimming
84. i don't love the swimming suit
85. i don't take long showers
86. i love a good pedicure
87. my mama is my best friend
88. i love the movie apocolypto
89. i love wrapping the first 5-6 christmas presents, then i'm over it
90. i have a fake christmas tree
91. i have decorated for christmas as early as october 30th
92. my favorite band is stars
93. my "sign" is whatever i choose - i was born on the cusp between virgo and libra
94. i have only been out of the country to canada (once when i was little enough to only remember a few things) and to mexico (several times)
95. i have heartburn - i would even venture to say acid reflux disease, it's with me 24/7
96. my feet are always cold, even in the summer on a 100 degree day
97. i love to look at something in a store/catalog and get that "i can totally make that" feeling
98. i love love love the brownies you get from costco with the hershey's chunks in them
99. i love rollercoasters
100. i'm obsessed with even numbers - good thing this wasn't 101 things about me!

holy crap - i never thought i'd make it!

give it a shot, all of you! :)