Hold on to your seats, people

Watch out faithful readers. As if Reid wasn't cute enough, here are some recent photos to show that he's gotten even cuter. I take no credit for this cuteness. He looks totally Erik to me, and his disposition is just so sweet. I'm just trying my best not to ruin everything before Erik gets back. (Soon! It's getting closer!) This one is just funny because it's a daily ritual. As soon as I get down on the floor with him he starts to crawl all over me. It's funny. And if he's across the room he darts over to get me. His little legs crawling so quickly to come over to me really cracks me up.

This is at the clinic when Reid was sick. Or, rather, one of the times when Reid was sick. So far in February either one or both of us has felt like garbage. His fever got up to over 103, so this is when I took him in for that. If I didn't take his temperature I never would have known that he was that sick. He was a little less energetic than usual, but no less angelic. Here's him playing with another kid in the waiting room. Actually he just watched the bigger kid and inched closer and closer to him. Reid really likes playing with bigger children.

The doctor taking his pulse oxygen or something. They always comment on how mellow he is. Even when he gets shots. The shots hurt his feelings, but he's quick to forgive.

This is at Jiffy Lube in Faribanks. Nothing special except for the cuteness. Look at that hair!

Mealtime is so much fun. He really interacts with me. He's shown a few signs back to me also. He puts his hands together for more and waves "all done." There's a big genius brain in that big head of his.

I like this picture because he's such a little dude. The hooded sweatshirt, the beanie, jeans and sneakers.

Playing at the O'Neil's house last night at dinner.

Wait for it...

Okay, here it comes...this is going to knock your socks off. Today it was about 35 degrees...ABOVE ZERO! For me, that might as well be heaven. After weeks of -30 and colder this warmer weather makes my soul burst with happiness and relief. Seriously. Today we went to the park to play. The past week or so I've been wearing sandals just because I can't bear to put my snow boots on one more stinkin' time. But I did today to tromp through the thigh deep snow to the park behind our house. It was worth it, just look at this cute boy! He loved getting out as much as I did. The snow has melted off of all the trees and almost off of the rooftops. But at the playground there was still so much left that his feet were almost dragging in it. We are definitely going back tomorrow.

okay, I'll make your life easier

I really want everyone to read the "Dalai Mama" blog, so instead of hoping that you go there after reading the last post, I'm just going to make life easy and send you there now. She's so funny and I think she is somehow, through the powers of creative writing magic, able to communicate what it feels like to be a parent. It's amazing. She's like my writing guru. I have a lot of gurus. Here's my scrapbooking guru. I just love her. I love her perspective on life and creativity and family, and how it all goes together. Here are my photography gurus, a creative landscape one and a portrait one. Hey, the second photographer is putting together a weekend workshop in California in late August, anyone want to visit me in CA and become a better photographer? The scrapbooking guru is going to be there tooo-oo! For details about it look at this and then call me and I'll convince you.

While I'm flooding you with links to cool things, check out this:
cute dress, just in time for Valentine's Day (in my case a post-poned Valentine's sometime when Erik gets back)
wouldn't any of these be cute for an arrangement on the table, or individually on a gift?
is there anything better than a cupcake? How about an amazing cupcake blog! Or learn from the master.
makes you want to get the sewing machine out, right?
support your local corporate Stampin' Up! employee (or at least your favorite) and make your own valentines this year


...and to finish this mega blogging day on a sad note, apparently I am not intelligent enough to figure out how to post a video. I couldn't get it to upload on youtube, and now I'm bummed. Here's some consolation, one of my favorite commercials of all time.

Some thoughts

1. Bummer about the Romney campaign suspension, huh? I am, however, glad to hear McCain use the word "conservative" so often in his CPAC address. I am also glad to hear some very detailed promises of what he will and will not do. I have not been gung-ho on Romney, although I found him to be the candidate closest to my political views. (interjection - I'm listening to McCain live on cnn.com and he just said that he would support Bush tax cuts. That's good, it took him 7 years to come to that conclusion, but still good.) I hope that Romney is asked to be his running mate. That would be smart, we really need him for his economic intelligence. I don't think that McCain can compete with Clinton's aggressive socialist plans unless he has some detailed plans of his own, or those courtesy of Romney. Clinton's position on the economy really bothers me. Of course I don't want to see people out of their homes and on the streets. That's very sad. I mean, to quote what could possibly be the world's worst movie, "First Daughter" (the one with pre-Cruise Katie Holmes), in a scene where her President dad finally asks her opinion just as he's about to make a big speech, she says "I don't know what could be more important than home." In a very sacred way I agree with that very cheesy line from a very crappy movie, but it bothers me that Americans have lived beyond their means and now expect a bloated government to swoop in and rescue them. I don't think it's right. If you can't afford your mortgage payments then you bought too much house in the first place. There are always options. You can sell the house, even if it means selling it for much less than you hoped for. At that point you can get an apartment...while it's not ideal, at least you're exercising liberty and agency to take care of your own family. I guess that's what bothers me, it's the blatant disregard for and abdication of liberties that I see in the American people. Bugs me big time.

2. You know, "First Daughter" was really dumb (I know I just said it was crappy, which it is, but I have been encouraged by my mother not to say crappy so often. It's a good and needed suggestion, but it really is one of my favorite words. It's just so funny). But I think the movie "Forces of Nature" with Sandra Bullock was probably worse. That movie made me angry. It was just so, so, so bad. How do these movies make it to the production stages? Hey, Erik and I get a kick out of how all the bad romantic comedies have a point where the female lead says to the male lead, "you lied to me!" Seriously. All of them. Keep an eye out for it, it's hilarious. And to save yourself the trouble of watching crappy movies, eh...I mean dumb movies, you will probably hear that telltale sign-of-a-bad-movie line in the previews at the movie theater. I have one exception, though. The other week I saw "27 Dresses" and I loved that movie. I'm talking, LOVED it. Maybe it's because I got a sitter for Reid and saw it with a friend, making it my first night out without a baby on my hip in a long, long time. Ennnnie hoooo...there is a point in the movie when she says to him, "you lied to me!" Man, I wished Erik had been there with me in the worst way. We would have been able to laugh about that for the rest of the night.

3. I have an addiction. And it's serious. My family has unsuccesfully tried to intervene for years, but I persisted. I thought I had control over my appetite for it. I thought, I can enjoy a little now and then, I'm not a big user. But then the addiction grew. Martha Stewart Living was my gateway drug to an addiction to any home magazine I could get my hands on. I mean, it's a sickness. While I only currently have a subscription to Domino (a crazy cool magazine), I periodically purchase these favorites: Martha Stewart Living (and any MSLO publications: Blueprint - may you rest in peace, Weddings - yes I know I'm already married but I really like weddings...okay?, Good things for kids - a moment of silence please for Martha Stewart Kids and Martha Stewart Baby, Body and Soul, and Everyday Food), Cottage Living (I also like Country Living although not as much as Cottage Living...apparently I'm more "cottage" than "country"), Dwell, Metropolitan Homes, Elle Decor, Better Homes and Gardens, Sunset, Architechtural Digest, and many, many more. That's just the beginning. I also love an assortment of other types of magazines. I currently receive LDS Living (cute story about that one, check item #4), and love these as well: Hallmark magazine, Parents, Parenting, Wondertime (look online to read a weekly blog by one of my favorite writers...look for the "Dalai Mama" blog), Creating Keepsakes, BHG Scrapbooks Etc., the Mary Engelbriet one, any magazine with home plan blueprints, I like Erik's Outside and National Geographic's Adventure, the Economist, InStyle, and I'm sure I'm forgetting more. Here's where things get really scary. I also LOVE catalogs. I love them! I love getting them, partly because I love mail and partly because it's almost like a free magazine. Of course my favorites are Anthropologie and Pottery Barn (even though I can't get myself to pay that kind of money for clothes and furniture), but I even like getting weird ones like Plow and Hearth...just to see what's for sale. It's an illness, people. And I need help. Serious help. So here's the plan. I can't get myself to get rid of all of the magazines that I've accumulated. I mean, to me they're like gold. Emily gold. But I can just stop buying. Stop consuming! So that's the plan. When we move to California I'm going to pick one magazine that I can subscribe to, and then that's it. Other than that I'm going to utilize the magic of the internet for creative inspiration, or...to get my "fix."

4. Okay, here's the cute Erik story. I know, I know...I realize that I gush about him a lot, but that's just how it is. He's the best. (1,000 points to anyone who said "He's the best" in a Nacho Libre voice after reading it just then. Anybody? You know, the part when he's talking about Ramses? Just call and say "He's the best" to me in your Nacho Libre voice to claim your 1,000 points.) Back to the cute story. In '06 when Erik was in the desert, he subscribed to LDS Living for me. One day I got it in our mailbox and when I asked him about it he said that he remembered me looking at it a few months earlier when we were at a Deseret Book in Denver. So he thought I might like it. Perfect gift. I loved that he thought to get me something, that he knows that I'm in love with magazines, and that he remembered a insignificant thing like me purusing an LDS Living months prior to when he bought it for me. He is so considerate, that Erik. He gets 1,000 points just because he's sweet.

5. I tried to upload a video. We'll see how it works. I'm very blog-illiterate, but Reid is even cuter in video than he is in pictures...if you can believe it. I took this when we were at Grandma and Grandpa Olsen's in Denver for Christmas. Check out Reid's sweet pants. Grandman Olsen gave those to him and they have padded knees for little crawlers. I also love the ties in the back of the knees that help keep his pants from getting caught underneath him as he crawls. These are some of the very few pants that he doesn't crawl right out of.

6. So I am officially last in the running competition so far. It's been -40 for about a week now, so I haven't been able to get to the gym. Also, Reid is very pleasantly (that's not sarcasm, he's really been a sweet little guy) going through a flu of some sort. He's had a fever for 3 days now and today it's been about 103. Obviously I haven't taken him outside in the past few days, and so that means I've been stranded inside too. Erik said that when he gets back (only a few more weeks!) that we can make a fort in the house with blankets and watch movies and we'll all just hang out. That sounds really fun. I'm looking forward to having my best friend back so that we can do fun things like that again. Oh, and I bet we'll play Boggle too! I love Boggle. Mostly because it's one of the few games that I can beat Erik in. He is 100% more patient than I am, and so he usually wins when we play games. Except of course for the ones where "slow and steady" is a disadvantage...like Boggle. Or Cranium, I'm awesome at Cranium. I miss the Sturgills. They had an entire closet full of games. They were a TV-less family and so when we hung out with them we would play games. It was so much fun. Plus, they are the most competitive people I've ever met. Yeah, games are fun. Way more fun than TV. Seriously, is there anything good on lately?

7. As I've mentioned before, Erik's birthday is coming up, and I love daydreaming about parties. I keep thinking about themes, decorations, making a fancy cake, party games, costumes, etc. I'm glad that I have Erik to rope me in, because even though I don't spend money foolishly (except for the obvious, see #3), I have a feeling that I'm only a few steps away from the crazies that go into debt from their children's birthday parties. I saw a family on Oprah (when Suze Orman was on, I LOVE her!) that was in crazy debt. The mom was recounting parties that they've had and for one they rented a petting zoo, and for another they bought snow! Snow!, so that the kids could go sledding in California! Crazy, huh? Sadly, I don't think I'm that far from it.

8. Do you know what I'm looking forward to when we move to California? Besides the obvious: sunlight, warmth, Mexican food, sandals instead of wool-lined boots, a beach, taking Reid for a walk everyday if I wanted, etc...I'm really looking forward to yard sales. I love them. It is the embodiment of the enigmatic perfect blend of my granola-ness and Martha Stewart-ness. If I can find some good thrift stores/yard sales/flea markets then I can have my collection of antique cup and saucer sets, and feel good about recycling too! Bonus!

9. I don't think this video is going to work. How do you all out there in blogworld get your videos to work? Oh, right...I have to upload it to youtube first and then onto blogger, right? That's a lot of work.

10. Lastly, could this be any cuter? (although not a new and novel green idea..."the lunch box" is still a great idea. In fact, even just a homemade lunch is still a great idea.) I am steadily becoming more and more granola. I mean, come on, accepting and trying to rehabilitate myself from my magazine addiction is a big step. Matt has joked that I'm about as granola as you can get from growing up in Tanque Verde Ward, for those of you who know what I'm talking about. So, I'm starting to adopt other ways of doing things. Trying to drastically reduce use of things like paper towels, ziploc bags, anything disposable. It's tricky, and definitely not convenient. But I think it's important. It's almost a game now. I try and see how little garbage I can take to the dumpster each week and see how much I can recycle. Of course, recycling is great, but it's still not enough. I'm trying to do things like...say when I make chili, instead of buying cans of beans and then recycling the cans, I buy a bag of beans, cook them and then recycle the bag. Much less waste product for the same thing. Just less convenient. It'll get trickier when we get to CA and water is a premium, but the thing is that even though it takes water to wash Reid's diapers, it also takes water to manufacture disposables. I don't know the numbers on things, but I still think it's better to use a mop that has to be rinsed off than to use a swiffer that has to be manufactured and then thrown away. That's something else I think about, the idea of "away." Away to where? Just because it's out of my sight doesn't mean that it's disappeared. It has to go somewhere. I'm trying to put less of my crap into the cosmic void of "away", and in that case I think the word crap is appropriate.

My life, as told through pictures of my little guy

1. Here's Reid causing trouble while we're waiting to meet with an academic advisor. He is non-stop motion and he ran into a chair leg, causing the redness on his cheek. I'm making very slow and not-so-steady progress towards a degree. A master's? Nope. A bachelor? Nuh-uh. An...associate? YES! Bingo! The goal is to finish an associate before we leave Alaska. I feel like with school that I've been making backwards progress. The school I go to next will be my 5th, yes you read that right...5th institution of higher education. It's time to just get it done. Actually, that was like 4 years ago. Good thing Erik is the world's most supportive and encouraging husband. I think he's the secret ingredient that I've been needing to finish this school thing. Actually, I don't know if I'll ever be finished. I've been daydreaming a lot lately about getting a master's in library science (obviously after the associate and bachelor). I have this romantic idea of working from like 12-4 and my gaggle of kids would come to the library after school. They'll bug me saying, "mom, I'm bored" and I'll tell them to go find a book to read. Then I'll see my little gaggle all lined up in the library's comfy chairs, reading books. When it's time to go home I'll gather them all together and we'll talk about what they're reading while we walk home (yes, my daydream includes living within walking distance of a library, schools, grocery store, etc. Actually, I live within walking distance of a library now, but Reid and I don't really go out for walks at -40. Oh, how I wish it was walking weather.)

2. This is Reid eating some little puffs while I'm buying a new pair of shoes. No, not men's work boots, but new running shoes. I'm in a running competition with Matt, William, Erik's brother Zach, his wife Natalie, and some of Natalie's friends. This came about from some goals that Natalie and I set, and then it grew into a very cool and very detailed competition. We're all using the nike+ iPod system so even though we're all so far apart we can still keep tabs on each other, encourage each other, etc. So far I'm in dead last. There's a girl in the ward that comes over every morning to watch Reid before school so I can go to the gym to run. Her dad brings her in when he brings her older brother to early morning seminary. The problem is that they don't have early morning seminary when it's -30 or colder, so since the competition started (Feb 1st-May 31st) I've been out of luck. I've got a lot of catching up to do. Natalie and I set a goal to run a half-marathon this year and we're working towards the Provo half in August. We also both want babies, so we'll see which goal takes priority. We're pretty jazzed about doing the half down the Provo Canyon though, if we're not too great with child. Hey all you BYUers, did a date ever take you to Bridal Veil falls? (or, if you're male, did you ever do such a thing?) Very, very BYU. I dated a guy that took me there for a walk, the same one that also took me for a walk around the Mount Timpanogas temple...on our first date. Yikes. Super nice guy though, just not the one for me. I liked Erik's dates: rides on his motorcycle, Indian food, art galleries...he knows just how to make me melt.

3. Reid got a new coat. It's a little big. I think that's what he's trying to say in this picture, "mama, my coat is too big!" It's 18 mos. because I just couldn't see spending the money on a 12 mos. coat that will fit him for another month or two. Maybe he'll get some use out of this one next year too. Right now he just looks like Boo in "Monsters Inc." when she's in the monster costume. "Mike Wazowski!"

4. I'm in the kitchen doing dishes, and Reid is on the outside making cute faces at me through the baby gate. He just kills me. I love that he wants to be right where I am, so if I'm in the kitchen, he's waiting outside the gate.

5. This is the face that I get when I wash the goop off of his cute little mouth after he eats. Man, he hates it. He protests and gives me a scowl like this. Too funny. A moment later when I give him a kiss he's back to my little angel. Wouldn't it be great if we were as quick to forgive and forget as little children? Look at his eyes, they are still such an amazing color. They are blue-ish/green-ish/gray-ish. They're gorgeous.

6. We're waiting for the doctor at his check-up the other day. He's playing with this great "baby mp3 player" that my cousin Lara gave to him for Christmas. He loves that toy. I love that little belly.

7. You can just barely see my reflection in the window (I'm wearing an orange coat). I'm in the frozen air, filling up at the gas station, while Reid is wondering what the heck mom is doing out in the cold. He outgrew his infant seat and is now in a convertible car seat. He loves the extra room and comfort, but he sure gets tired of me buckling him in and out all the time.

8. I'm so thrilled to know that I have more readers than my lovely mother on this silly little blog of mine. Thank you for your comments, everybody. I love it. I love being able to share some of our life with you. Alaska feels like a million miles away sometimes, and I am so grateful for any way to feel more connected to the people in my life.

9. Elana, I am now desparate to catch an episode of ANTM (I can't believe I just used the acronym, I'm such a nerd). I can't wait to see what you're talking about with all the blinking. Too funny.

10. I don't know how Sarah does it. I have a hard time coming up with 10 interesting things to say (besides the fact that I have to write in shifts because I don't have enough time in one chunk to write all of this nonsense), which explains why I haven't done Annie's challenge yet. I was tagged like 3 months ago to post 7 interesting facts about myself, and I've been putting it off because...come on, interesting things? I don't know about that. Crazy? (thinking I can run a half-marathon when the most I think I've ever run at one time is probably 5 miles or so) I can do that. Pathetic? (trying to finish an associate when I've been out of high school for almost 8 years) Check. What is she thinking? (living in -40 weather and loving it...for the most part) Got it. Shameless gushing about my wonderful husband and adorable baby? Yes, much to my family's shagrin, I do a LOT of that. But interesting? I'm not so sure. For now I think the best I can offer is sporadic posts about the little things that make up our days. Soon I'll have a lot more exclamation points, things like "Erik is back!" or "I am so happy that Erik is finally home!" That'll be nice.

Only a few more weeks! Uh-oh, it's starting already.