Alive and well

Reid and I are back from our first cross-country tour and it was so wonderful to see family, and to spend time in Tucson. It's hard for me to quite explain what it is about Tucson, but it certainly feels like home. It's such a big part of who I am. I'm Erik's, I'm a mother, I'm Mormon, I'm female, I'm an Arnett, I'm Tucson. You know what I mean? Spending time there was just so good. From there the baby and I flew to Baltimore to see Erik before he left country. *Side note: whilst spending time with family over the past couple of weeks, I have been informed that I talk about Erik and Reid a lot. Apparently a lot of gushing about how great they are. Well, hope you can hang with that, because that is not going to change. My boys are my very favorite thing to think and talk about.* Erik took me on the most wonderful date. Do you ever have those evenings with your sweetheart where everything is just so perfect and you end up thinking, "I am going to remember this forever"? Indian food is my absolute favorite, when I eat Chicken Tikka Masala with garlic naan everything just seems right in the world. Erik found a little place and so we gave it a shot, hoping it would be good. Akbar is now my favorite Indian restaurant. It was a perfect night. Reid was awake the whole time, just smiling and hanging out on my lap. As you can see, he was completely content to sit with me and chew on my hand. That worked out well for me, it left me with the other hand to shovel the food in my face. It was so so so good. This picture shows our table after we just finished attacking our meal. We should have taken a picture before we ate it, it would have been beautiful. Oh, and the service was amazing. Indian restaurants usually have great service. The tables always have actual linens and cloth napkins. And our server would fill our water when it was not even half empty. So great. When we finished the little owner's wife came over to chat with us. She was so great, she held the baby and was, of course, smitten with him. It was a perfect night. I love this picture and after we took it I looked at it and immediately thought, "this is going to be one of those pictures that our kids will look at growing up and see Mom and Dad when they were young, and our kids will think 'look, Mom and Dad really love each other.' " Such a perfect night. I would really love to go back someday, and go to the vintage shop above it.

So I was very lazy and I haven't edited any of these photos, and obviously I didn't even go to the trouble of making the orientation right. But if you tilt your head just so, it'll work out. Don't worry.

This one's of my handsome boys at the D.C. temple. I love Erik for taking me to the temple, even if we don't have anyone to watch the little man and so we can't do a session. I just loved being there. I saw this temple about 6 years ago and I'm sure I never could have guessed that the next time I saw it I would be married with a little baby. What a lucky girl I am.

When I left Baltimore, I met up with my Mom and Dad in Oklahoma as they were driving to Ohio. This one's of Reid and his Grandpa. They were fast friends. I think Reid is trying to tell me how much he loves Grandma and Grandpa. He tells me how much he misses them all the time.

Back at home now. His hair is filling out and I think he looks like such a gentleman. That's what Erik said changed the most about him, he looks older and even cuter with all the hair he's getting.

After I got home, I got a visit from Aunt Annie and Uncle William. I loved having them here. It was incredibly kind of them to come and see us, I just loved it. We didn't do very much more than eat junk, watch old musicals, and play with the baby. Perfection. Here's Annie reading Reid a wonderful little story. She took this Aunt stuff pretty seriously, and she's darn good at it.

Reid is starting to get really into playing with toys. He focuses well and uses his hands so well. He fell asleep with them still clasped to him. So cute. I got him a little elephant toy with lots of things to look at and play with and he loves it. I love watching him play with it. He's almost always got a hand on it.

I ran to see a friend and on the way back he fell asleep in the car (he gets that from me, I have what Erik and I call "car narcolepsy" which could be shortened to "carcolepsy".) I put him in the little carseat parking space and thought it just looked so cute. So here it is.

Here's William singing Reid a song as Officer Jawalski. I love that silly puppet. We found that in a great children's store in Ft. Collins, Co. They had a few different characters, but I just loved this guy and his fuzzy mustache. We were just kind of window shopping and so after we had moved on to a few other stores I begged Erik to let me go back and buy the little guy. Isn't he so funny. I told Erik that we could teach Reid things like traffic safety and stuff with him. I don't know, I just think it's so great. I could laugh for days about this guy.

This one's cute. Annie and Reid hanging out again. The expression on Annie's face looks like, "that baby gets all the attention" or something like that. But actually I think it's, "oh, I just love that little boy. I'm going to love him forever." I know the feeling, Annie. I don't know why, but writing about this picture reminded me of a funny story. As a kid we went to Portugal to visit some family friends. The dad was serving as the Mission President there. We went to a park that had a carousel-type ride and I remember my Mom taking a picture of me as I went by and one of Annie as she went by. I guess Annie was really hamming it up for the picture and so each time she would go by my Mom would pretend to take a picture of her. I was so hurt. I remember thinking, "holy crap, Mom takes one picture of me and 20 of Annie?" I felt pretty unimportant. What a strange story, huh? Makes me think about all the good intentions that parents have and how kids read things wrong. Also about how kids remember everything. Yikes. I better be on my best behavior. Good thing I have Erik. He's put his foot in his mouth exactly 2 times in the 5 years that I've known him. Twice, people. I do it twice before lunch each day.

Reid is getting so good at playtime. He rolls back and forth (though not quite rolling over yet). He also chews on his fingers a lot. It's cute. The other day he had a pacifier in his mouth and he pushed it to one side so he could have a thumb in his mouth, too. I guess he wanted both. Fair enough.

Here's a close-up. He really goes for those hands. I bet he could fit his whole fist in there if he wanted. Maybe that will be his next trick.

He plays and plays, and then a moment later he's asleep. What an angel.

Check this out, he's finally got enough hair to do the shampoo shark. Sweet. Look at this kid, he's a tank, I love it.

Post-bath Reid is one of my favorites. Right before he plops into bed Reid is another good one. Nursing Reid is pretty cute, and just woke up Reid is a showstopper of cute, but here's post-bath Reid.

Look at that little robe. He was playing and kicking around, so some of the shots ended up being a little flasher-ish, but it's not quite his fault...it's a pretty short robe.

I love clean hair. It's so cute combed to the side like that. He looks like he should sing in a baby Barbershop Quartet. He'd actually be really good at that. His coos and jabbers are beautiful.

Again, hand in the mouth. Seriously though, look at that handsome little face with the gentleman's hairdo.

Yep, post-bath Reid is one of my favorites for sure.

Lastly, here's the view outside our bedroom window. Not a good shot, but our fall-time is just so gorgeous, albeit a little short. The leaves are all changing and falling off, and soon winter will settle in. Once it does it's not going anywhere until the end of April, so I'm enjoying the fall. Short though it may be.

2nd place ain't so bad

I have pictures yet to be uploaded as part of the Tanana Valley State Fair report, but I wanted to quickly share (for my loyal readers) that I won 5th place in my division in the Recycling category, and 2nd place in my division in the Quilting category. I was hoping for a blue ribbon, but I guess that I'll just have to try next year, wherever we are. Check back for pictures, because the Grand Champion in the Recycling category will blow your mind, not necessarily in a good way though.

Good Morning, Baltimore!

I have so many funny pictures to share and funny stories to tell about Reid enjoying time with Gramma and Grampa, but frankly I have been too busy enjoying said company myself to upload the pictures to my computer so that I can post them. But keep checking up on the blog, because soon you will be delighted with stories of my wonderfully nutty mother and how amazing she is as a grandmother and pictures of my Dad wearing suspenders. You don't want to miss it. Oh, as a tease, here's a quick story. Apparently, Reid loves Musicals. Mom, Annie, Reid and I went to see "Hairspray" the other day. I figured I'd give it a shot and if it didn't work out then I'd just hang out in the hallway with him (or actually, I'd send Annie out in the hall with him because she had already seen it.) He was a dream. The first half of the movie he just slept in my arms, the second half I nursed him and then when he was done he sat on Annie's lap and enjoyed the rest of the movie. He loved it. So, here's hoping that it'll work out just as well when Erik and I try to go see "The Bourne Ultimatum." I meet Erik in Baltimore on Wednesday (I don't think I can even express how excited I am, so I won't try to) and I've looked forward to enjoying this Bourne movie with him for a long time. We'll see if it works out.

I have something to say

Hello. This is Reid using telekinetic powers to write this post...I'm very gifted. Just wanted to let you know what I'm up to. I am getting very good at focusing on things and then using my hands to grab them. Here you see me grabbing a toy, but I'm also quite adept at grabbing my mom's hair. She tells me that this grabbing business is one of the reasons that she has decided NOT to pierce her ears. Foremost is that she doesn't really think she's an "ears pierced" sort of gal, whatever that means. Mom's nutty, but I still like to make her feel like the luckiest person ever by giving her smiles and cuddles.
I can focus on objects really well. I follow my mom as she goes about trying to get things done. As you can see, my hair is growing out nicely. Mom tells me how handsome I am all the time. She's always kissing on me and telling me I'm handsome just like Daddy. I'm pretty crazy about Daddy, so I'm glad that I remind Mom of him. I like snuggling with Mom, and lying on her lap while she's at the computer, and giggling when she kisses my cheeks. I don't like messy diapers or when Mom eats salsa (which also leads to more messy diapers).

I am getting so strong. I when I'm on my tummy I can lift my head up 90 degrees and use my arms to push my chest off the floor. I am starting to wiggle my legs around too and Mom thinks that crawling isn't too far away. When I'm on my back I wave my legs back and forth, and pretty soon I think I'll be able to roll over. I like tummy time, but as you can see, it's exhausting! I am a good eater and a strong, healthy boy. I'm going to get my first taste of rice cereal when we see Dad, but I probably won't really start on solid foods for a couple more months. I'm getting very big and I grow out of clothes quickly. Every time Mom does laundry she has to put more clothes away in a bag of stuff that my someday baby brother will wear. I sleep about 9 hours each night and Mom calls me her little angel for that. I can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa Traynor and aunts, uncles, and cousins. But most of all, I can't wait to see DADDY! I get to see him in 2 weeks. That's all Mom talks about. Mom also tells me about all the family and friends that love and support us. She says she's so grateful and I like to see her so happy. We'll both be even happier when we get to see Dad.

p.s. Mom says to remember that "So you think you can dance" is on tonight. I think it's going to be good.

Yes, as a matter of fact, I do

I LOVE this show. It is so inspiring for me. I love watching people do something amazing, something that the ordinary person couldn't do, something they've worked for years to be able to do. When I watch this show, I feel the itch start creeping up my body. I feel like I could just stand up off the couch and dance like I just saw them do. Oftentimes the dance fever catches up to me and I waltz around the room with Reid. Thinking about his reminds me of a funny and adorable story. William, Annie, and I grew up watching "The Chipmunk Adventure." A friend made us a VHS tape of a couple cartoon movies (the Brave Little Toaster was on it, too) and we watched the chipmunk movie SO many times. To this day I bet we could still quote most of the movie. I can't wait until Reid is cartoon-watching age so that I can find this on DVD and pretend that it's for him. One time I was watching it with my niece Sarah. She was about 4, and there's this one part where the chipmunks and the chipettes are singing and dancing. It's kind of a competition, boys against girls. The song is really contagious, and as we were watching Sarah started to get a little antsy and squirmy. At one point she just couldn't take it anymore and jumped up. She started to boogie and it was the cutest thing ever. I'll always remember that.

Here's hoping

It seems like a dumb idea to write about this when odds are that it's not going to happen, but I am excited about it irregardless (that one's for you, Erik) and I could care less (also for you, Erik) if I end up feeling silly for mentioning it. There is a great company called American Crafts (www.americancrafts.com) that produces lots of great scrapbooking stuff. I really like all things crafty, and scrapbooking has become a superfun hobby for me. It combines so many of my favorite things: pictures of my favorite people and places, fun papers and accessories, designing, memory keeping, writing, remembering, etc. I think it makes a special picture even more fun to look at. I've debated about the value of scrapbooking and whether or not it's actually a big, fat waste of time. But again and again I come to the conclusion that looking at a scrapbook is 100% more enjoyable than looking at a photo album. And some memories are just too precious not to preserve them. Anyway, back to the point, American Crafts is adding members to their Design Team. I don't think that it is a paid position, I think that they give you boatloads of product in exchange for creating cool things out of their products. I saw the information on their blog (http://americancrafts.typepad.com/) and set a goal to apply. Erik is really amazing for me. Two years ago I would have daydreamed about applying, but now I'm finally getting better at doing more and not living in my head so much. Actually submitting a couple things to the fair was a big step for me and I hope to keep the ball rolling with this. Odds may not be very good, but I'm utilizing my strength as the most powerful transmission tower in the universe (for you "the Secret" fans out there) and thinking positively. I decided to mention it here in case this sounded fun to anyone else, you should go for it! Also it'll be a good motivator for me to actually apply if I say here on the blog that I am going to. Here's hoping! In any case, check out their website. I love their stuff. I love how it's smart, graphic, and clean. Lots of scrapbooking lately is so messy and cluttered. I love how their company's aesthetic is simple and leaves the focus on the picture, which is the point of scrapbooking anyhow.

oh, and the little jokes to Erik are things that people say that drive us nuts. Irregardless isn't a word, and if you could care less that means that you aren't at rock bottom of not caring, so it's a silly hyperbole. Here's a cool website I found about lots of common errors in everyday English. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html So interesting. I like to listen to Vince Guaraldi jazz (the Charlie Brown composer) and read these to Reid (who's laying on my lap) so that we can both get smarter.

I think I'm backwards

I have been struggling for the past couple of weeks with a particularly puzzling decision. The trouble is that I'm horribly backwards. Major life decisions are easy peasy. Cake. I knew that Erik was the one on our second date. (Although that isn't really saying much, because that decision was a no-brainer. The second date story is a good one, by the way. I'll share it sometime. If he had proposed that night, I would have said "yes", but good thing he didn't know that or there probably wouldn't have been a 3rd date. Decisiveness can sometimes look a lot like fatal attraction. I haven't seen that movie, but I think it has a dead bunny in it somewhere...scary.) But still, the biggest decision of my life was the easiest one I've ever made. So far, the hardest, might possibly be my latest internal debate: to pierce my ears or not to pierce my ears. Admittedly, I'm about 15 years late in even considering this. It's not that my parents wouldn't let me and now that I'm an "adult" I can choose for myself, they probably would have let me in 4th grade or something if I had wanted to. But I never really wanted to, I didn't get it. The same way that I don't get why people put pineapple on pizza. I just don't think it makes sense. Why don't you just have some pineapple on the side? Same with earrings. I think some are very pretty, but why do you have to put them in your ears? Doesn't really make sense. So in my 25 years of life I never wanted earrings until I saw these. The $8700.00 diamond pair from Tiffany's up top? No, this $8 pair on the left. I saw these on this great site http://www.etsy.com/ It's a little like ebay, but for handmade items. Like a huge online swap meet. So these are the earrings that started this endless internal struggle. They're just so cute. They look like tiny Golden Delicious apples, and I love apples. That was another hard decision. It took a lot of soul searching to realize that apples are my favorite fruit. I use to think it was strawberries, but nope...apples. So the struggle with whether or not to pierce is very complicated. Of course it is. I think in my head of passages in the Book of Mormon and the Bible about women and their nose jewels and the tinkling of their feet. I think about past civilizations and the traditions of adornment. Why do we feel the need to adorn our bodies. Is it to celebrate and show gratitude for the gift of a beautiful, healthy body, or is it to call attention? Where's the line between beautifying and adorning? Is one bad and the other good? This silly decision has become a big mess. Erik helps me sort out all the jumble in my head (what a brave man, that Erik) and he commented that no one is going to think I'm making a statement by piercing my ears. True, but I don't really think about what others will think, I think about what I think...why do I do the things I do? I don't think of someone else's decisions the way I think about my own. And it's not really that I'm indecisive, I'm just trying to live a thoughtful life, one that shows intent. And that's where the trouble lies, sometimes it takes a bit of thinking to figure out just what I intend. So we'll see. Maybe the next time you see me I'll be wearing earrings that look like cute little fruit. Or not. I think I've got at least another week or so of thinking to do. I've already started to think about the pros and cons of alternatives to public schooling. I need to give myself a head start if I want to make the right decision by the time Reid starts school.

"that they might have joy"

I feel like I need to express just how good life is. It amazes me to know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of us and our daily challenges and activities. I love that nothing in my life goes unnoticed, nothing is too mundane or trivial for Him. Since Erik left Sundays at church haven't gone very well. The first two Sundays were pretty difficult, and last week Reid just howled all second hour (very unlike Reid). Then on Saturday the ward had a Pioneer Day celebration and as soon as I walked into the cultural hall he started crying. An hour and a half later (he cried for 95% of that time) I figured I might as well go home and by the time I got to the car he was back to sweet and mellow Reid. It was pretty hard. Everyone kept asking me, "What's wrong? What does he need? Is everything okay? How are you two getting on with Erik gone?" It was a pretty pathetic scene...wife with husband deployed, crying baby. I didn't know what to do, other than to resolve myself that it may be hard, but every Sunday I'm going to be at church from 1-4, even if I'm holding a screaming baby in the foyer for all three hours. I prayed all morning yesterday that things would go well at church, but I didn't even really believe that it would go well, I just prayed that it would. Yesterday was a dream, Reid was his normal, perfect self all day. I fed him before we left, about halfway through sacrament meeting he was getting sleepy so I held him and rocked him to sleep, and then in the 3rd block I fed him again. He was an angel all day. Heavenly Father knew how much I needed that positive Sunday experience, and I'm so grateful He blessed me with it. I have been praying for so many little things, and I am so amazed and grateful for the blessings I'm receiving. I pray to be more productive and to accomplish more during the day and somehow Heavenly Father enables me to do it. I don't know how it happens, or why it happens, why I'm so blessed, but I feel like all my prayers are being answered. It's an amazing feeling to know that your prayers are heard and answered. Of course life is better when Erik and I are together instead of when he has to be gone, but it's incredible to see all the ways that Heavenly Father blesses us in these times. I know that Erik is doing the right thing, and that this is the right thing for our family. It puts joy in my heart to see that Heavenly Father gives us hard things to do, and then qualifies us for that hard thing. He somehow makes us equal to the task. I love that Heavenly Father makes "all things work together for our good." I can really feel that. So amazing.
To our friends and family who frequent this blog: Thank you for your love and support. We can really feel it and it makes a difference. A big difference.

Reid + thumb = BFF's

Reid has discovered that his thumb can be used as a built-in pacifier. He doesn't need a pacifier most of the time. He doesn't need one to fall asleep, and if he's fussing a pacifier doesn't really pacify him anyways. Sometimes he'll take it but keep jabbering at me all frustrated-like anyways, with the pacifier bobbing in his mouth. But he definitely needs more time suckling and so I don't have any parental objectives to a pacifier (I know some parents do, and that's okay). I've even seen him dead asleep and moving his mouth like he has a pacifier in it, but he doesn't. Lately he's been gumming his hand and getting it all slobbery...it's pretty cute. And finally, he has discovered his thumb. It's not really a comfort thing, so I'm not concerned about having a thumb-sucking kindergartner. He just needs more time suckling and his thumb seems to do the trick. Here's a cute shot of it plus some others that are just plain cute.

the Tanana Valley State Fair

"Our State Fair is a great State Fair, don't miss it, don't even be late! Our State Fair is a great State Fair, it's the best State Fair in the state!"

Have you seen the musical "State Fair"? It's pretty cute. Very Rodgers and Hammerstein. Today I entered two exhibits to the Tanana Valley State Fair. I got the idea to do it earlier this week and I'm glad that I actually did it. That's Erik rubbing off on me. Somehow he's able to keep my feet on the ground just enough so that I can get something done. I daydream all day about fun things to do and come up with silly ideas, but Erik's good influence helps me make some of these daydreams reality. Hopefully soon a degree will materialize as well. I entered a small quilt that I finished earlier this summer and a children's sweater. The quilt was a project that I never quite got around to finishing and when Mom was here for the baby she encouraged me to get it done. Goodness, I seems like I need a lot of prodding, huh? The sweater was made from an old sweater of mine. I felted my sweater (basically just intentionally shrinking it), cut it into a cardigan, put ribbon binding on the edges, made toggle closures with buttons, and embellished it with scraps of wool felt. I have a felting machine that did the felting of the little floral pieces for me. I entered the sweater in the "Recycle, Reduce, Reuse" category because I figured I'd have a better chance for a blue ribbon. That's the goal...a blue ribbon. Today was the day to enter non-perishables and I think I'm going to try and enter the cake decorating competition next week. I've never really done cake decorating, nothing fancier than a regular 2-layer cake with icing. But it's worth a shot, and it'll be fun anyhow. Oh, and one last entry. There's a Baby Contest and I'm going to enter Reid. He's a blue ribbon winner for sure! I can find all sorts of silly little ways to have a good time and this week it's the fair!

What's that you say?

Reid loves bath time. I love bath time, too, because he is just heavenly after a bath. His skin just glows and his sweet baby smell is pure heaven. I bet that any mother you ask would say that heaven must smell like newly bathed babies, I can't think of anything more heavenly. He looks like an angel in hippo's clothing. This cute hippo towel is from Uncle Nick and Auntie Jan (they recently shared a picture of their Kate with a pink bunny towel, so cute!) Reid is growing into a stout little guy, so I think it's so cute to wrap him up in his cute hippo towel. What an adorable hippo!

Much less adorable is this actual hippo. We took this picture at the Denver Zoo. I'm pretty sure that I've seen a real, live hippo before, but that day at the zoo I was completely disgusted by the hippos. It's like a whale with legs. I was on the verge of losing my lunch. My mutant power is that I have a VERY keen sense of smell, and between that and the not so cuddly appearance of these animals I had just about had it. I was just so repulsed. Now, months later looking at the picture, I don't see what disgusted me so. But believe me, they were so foul. When we went to the zoo I was about 4 weeks postpartum and seeing these massively fat animals was inspiring for me to lose baby weight. Obviously I realize that the baby weight didn't make me look like this ugly thing, but I was inspired nonetheless.

Okay, back to the sweet and endearing hippo. (Now I feel bad, I'm really not an animal hater, and I'm sure that hippo's mom thinks he's pretty cute, but hippos just plain gross me out. Not as bad as ostriches, though. I can't even look at them, I get creeped out big time. Hippos are like a train wreck, fascinatingly horrible, but ostriches I avoid altogether. They weird me out, it's like they have a head on the end of a long arm. I don't like animals that have long, arm-like necks...it's creepy. Imagine if you had a head on the end of your arm...creepy, right? See what I mean? This imagination of mine coupled with my sense of smell makes me exhausted by the end of a trip to the zoo. Sensory overload.) That was a long side-track, sorry. Back to the picture...Reid and I seem to have real conversations. I'll talk to him while I change him, bath him, etc. This is a picture of him responding.

This is a picture of him listening. He's lying on the changing pad looking up at me. I love this little face. So earnest and genuinely interested in what I'm saying to him. Children are such beautiful people. He makes me feel like the most interesting and important person in the whole world. I wish that as adults we could give each other the focus and attention that children give so easily.

I like this picture because of the obvious reason, his cute little shirt, but just as cute is that round belly. Check that out, so cute! He turned 12 weeks yesterday and when people ask how old he is and I tell them, they say, "Ohhh........wow.......12 weeks? He's big!" That's right people, Reid means business. He's listening to me talk at him in this picture as well. What a blessing. For people that don't have much to say, you may not understand how hard it is to not have someone to say it all to. I feel so grateful to have this little bundle of joy to share my days with and to talk to all day. Erik is a great listener, and we're a good match because I like to talk and he likes to be talked to. Being a good listener is another good thing that Reid got from his dad. So far all of his good traits are from Erik and his feisty streak is from me. Good thing for Erik filling in the holes in those genes.

How To: be the favorite aunt

I saw this cool paper flag banner on the Papersource website. Great stuff. Check it out at http://www.paper-source.com/ I'm going to watch Matt and Ann's children for a week at the beginning of December and I've started to put some things together for us to play with. It'll be fun when Reid is old enough to do this sort of stuff, but I can wait for it...he's growing too fast already. So, I don't know if I'm actually my nieces' and nephews' favorite, but if I am it's because I love playing with children. Children are still excited about paper and crayons, and they still know how to make-believe and dream up impossibilities. I'm so glad that I have Erik to help me survive in an adult world when I'm not really an adult at all. Long story short, I have some fun ideas of projects to do with the kids. Matt and Ann, don't spoil the surprise, and if David and Darian check out this blog (which I wouldn't be surprised if they do, they are very savvy) you may remember some of these tricks up my sleeve.

I liked the paper banner and figured, "I can do that." (my Arnett Self-assured Syndrome kicking in) I went through my scrapbooking patterned paper and was a little embarrassed at how much I would be willing to give up. Crafters are notorious for hoarding, and it's a sad sign when you've purchased so many of the DCWV stacks at JoAnn's that you are happy to get rid of some of it.

As I was going through these I kept thinking, "but these don't match each other! The colors clash, and they are totally different themes." Then I happily remembered that children don't care. I bet that all this silly paper is going to delight those little ones to no end. In the cookbook "How to be a Domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson, she has a recipe for sugar cookies and icing. When she talks about icing the cookies she states, "remember with gratitude that children have very bad taste." Man, isn't that the truth. They don't care if things match, if they mix too many colors of icing together and now it's brown, if things are well-designed or not...they don't care, they're too busy having fun. Thank goodness for the children in our lives.

I also found this little paper stack that I must have thought I had to have last summer and haven't touched since. I think I'm going to try using this paper for a banner to put in our house. I have some Chinese lanterns that I think need to be hung up, and I think a banner would be fun, too. The thing about Erik being gone is that I almost never have company over, I remember that part from last time. I'm sure Reid won't mind lanterns and banners, and by the time Erik gets home I'll probably be ready to take them down anyway.

I am also planning on making paper shadows with the children, painting rocks into people and creatures, melting crayons into stained glass art to hang on the windows, and painting on pre-stretched canvases. I think that when Matt and Ann get home we'll have an Art Show. We could make treats and they could invite their friends over. The little ones could play and look at the art and the adults could hear stories of Matt and Ann's adventures in Hawaii. That sounds pretty good. If you've got great ideas of fun things to do with children that secure your standing as the favorite, I'd love to hear them.

Welcome.

Welcome to Alpha Bravo Designs. We currently offer nothing. Hopefully soon we'll offer something, but we'll see. Maybe just some funny stories or ideas of fun things to make. Actually that sounds pretty good.

the Alpha Bravos

While Erik is gone Reid and I are going to do quite a bit of traveling. So much so that I joke that it's like we're a band on tour. So much so that I'm now taking the joke too far. My brain is always wasting time daydreaming about something, and oftentimes I think about cool band names. I have a few favorites, one of which is Guillotine, but I figured that would definitely have to be for a very fierce rock band. It seemed a little to severe for a mother/son non-band outfit. So I went with another favorite which is a much better fit. Introducing...the Alpha Bravos. I think it's a cool name, cool words put together, and it's in pilot language (which is cool). Erik has given me permission to make it "Emily and the Alpha Bravos" once he gets home. I love band names like that. You know, like "Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band." "Emily and the Alpha Bravos." I like it. In true Emily fashion, I'm taking this daydream to strange but fun levels. Annie works with an awesome chick Kristina and I pretend that I'm friends with her. Actually, in my head we were roommates at BYU, I have a habit of daydreaming to the point where it's hard to remember what's reality. I think the call that delusional...oh, well. Back to the point, I've asked her to design a logo for the non-band and I'm going to make shirts with the logo on the front and the tour schedule on the back. I think it's pure nonsense, and that's why it's funny. There's a website (cafepress.com) where you can have shirts made, and even baby onesies. That's the cutest part. Little Reid in a non-band onesie. Cute. If you would like to purchase a shirt, I will eventually be taking orders. Oh, and I've taken the nonsense to another unhealthy level. I also daydream about my own business someday, and since right now my business is more of a non-business, I think I'm going to call it Alpha Bravo Designs. I've created a blog for my unbusy business where I plan on posting things I make. I like to make things. Eventually those things will be inventory for a real business, right now it's just blog fodder. So check out the new blog at http://alphabravodesigns.blogspot.com/ Someday it's going to be big, like David Hasselhoff in Germany kind of big. And because every post is better with a picture, here's one of the magic talking baby. He really does talk, he doesn't speak English yet, but he talks. Loudly. He's got Traynor/Arnett blood in him, for sure. If you're on the phone with me as much as Annie, then you would hear plenty of it. He jabbers all day, happily jabbers...sometimes at the top of his lungs. Cute, and loud. I definitely don't have to worry about things being too quiet around here now that Erik's gone for a while.

Family Pictures

On Thursday we had some family portraits taken at Sears. For what our options were (not many choices of places to get portraits done around here), I'm pleased with how things turned out. We got some good shots of all of us together before Erik left, and some cute ones of Reid. Here are a couple of them and if you are one of Reid's Grandmas or Grandpas, or an aunt or uncle, you've got some pictures coming your way once I get them back from Sears. Doesn't Reid look like an angel in the first one? And I love the shot of Erik and me. Oh, by the way, check out my hair. I have been struggling to find a stylist here that I like and every time I get my hair cut I end up feeling like a chump for paying so much money and not really liking the cut. So about a month ago I figured that I'd give it a go myself. It was pretty much all one length and I wanted some layers. I googled "how to cut your own hair in layers", found a few good instructions, and went to it. I think it turned out pretty well. I'm just as pleased with this as I am when I leave a salon after paying $40+, and this cut was FREE! I'm becoming very DIY, anti-establishment...very Alaskan.

Summer Love

Last Monday (the 9th), Erik and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary. We had a great weekend in Denali the few days before, so on Monday night we had dinner and watched a movie that I had been excited to see (we rented from Netflix the movie "An Unreasonable Man" about Ralph Nader. I want to learn more about him, interesting guy that Nader. I definitely recommend the movie.). This is the fancy anniversary dinner: roast, rice, broccoli, and heart-shaped cornbread. I love broccoli, and rice too for that matter. You'll notice that on my plate (the one with the cherry Kool-aid in the glass next to it) doesn't have any roast on it. Why you ask? It wasn't just any roast, it was a moose roast. Yes, you read that right, a MOOSE roast. A friend of Erik's shared his bounty with us, and Erik was excited to try it. I did taste some, and even with my VERY discerning tastebuds I wouldn't have been able to tell it wasn't beef if I didn't know. I also made Erik a berry pie that looked great going into the oven but came out as a big soupy mess. I think that the problem is that I didn't use fresh fruit. I used thawed frozen fruit. I think that makes a difference. Alas, the middle of nowhere, Alaska is not really the place for great fresh fruit. Except at the Farmer's Market...I guess I'll try that next time...which will be in March, I guess. Oh, well.

Can you find the sweetest baby ever?

Getting closer.

A little closer.

Look at that sweet little face. He's dressed up for church, happily napping with a full belly.

This is my favorite kind of shot of these two. We have quite a few, which proves how great a dad Erik is. Reid loves being snuggled up to dad, and I can attest that it's a great place to be, snuggled up to Erik.