because I like making lists

Well if I was disappointed by the smooth sailing of our drive to Utah not giving me any good fodder for the blog, the ride home most definitely did not disappoint.  Let me tell it in lists.  For kicks.

 

Funniest Quotes:

"I think you would look good in a straight jacket!" ~My brother in law (as we were leaving Idaho--because it was bad before we even got in the car to leave)

"I'm SO glad I'm not a mom right now!" ~Olivia (you don't want to know)

"Thanks for all the memories!  Good and bad!  It was a great trip!" ~Buffy (she slays me!)

Phrases most often repeated:

"Zeke.   Zeke, Zeke!!!" ~anyone wanting to talk to Zeke.

"Malachi, look out the window!" ~Buffy

"Bentley called me a wienie head!" ~Malachi (He learned the hard way that if you teach a kid a dirty trick he may use it against you)

"Keep your hands to yourself!" ~ Buffy and I equally

Number of times we had to stop at the side of the interstate:

4 ~twice for someone to pee and twice to clean up vomit.

Speaking of vomit:

number of times my kids puked:  5

diarrhea: once....but it should have counted for more.

Number of movies I steadied the mini DVD player on a large stack of pillows so all kids could see:  4 ~slightly painful but SOOO worth it.

injuries:

2~Chickie has a gimpy foot.  She is walking on the side of her left foot.  She sat in the back of the van which was pushed unusually close to the seat in front of it in order to fit all of our things in the back.  She had this condition when we arrived in CO and for I think four days after.  I thought it was from something else until she got it again after our first day of driving home.  

Malachi bit his own finger and made himself cry.  I'm pretty sure it was so he could get a band-aid.

Good things that happened on the drive home:

Buffy singing.

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer ~SO GOOD!  So funny! Go read it.

Things this last bit of the trip was worse than:

labor

nine months of pregnancy

Calling 911 when Chris had a kidney stone and we thought his appendix burst

being stranded after a football game when I was 16 because my dad forgot to pick me up or maybe he was just really, really late.

I'm SO not kidding.

I wanted to die.  

And I almost cried.

Things I left:

vegetable peeler

paring knife

bentley's neenee (blanket)

cd case with all our best kids DVDs  :(

toothbrush

Things I love about being home:

Being with my kids!!! I feel like I didn't get to see them over the past three weeks they were always off with cousins.

The humidity!  Crazy I know.  But this is the first time I was actually over the desert.  

Green!

The sounds the bugs make at night. 

I love that the crazy people around town seem normal because they are crazy in a way I understand. 

Things I did today:

finished reading my book

went shopping

tidied up my itunes library

returned library books

Things I was supposed to do today but did not:

clean out the fridge

mop

do laundry

unpack

I can't wait for:

Chris to get home in a bit!  We saw him for 30 minutes before he had to leave.  He is off in MN dancing!    And he did AMAZINGLY well, again!  They got 2nd place in Rising Star this time!  And 5th in the open pro!  I almost can't believe it!  Except that I saw them and they are amazing!  

If you read this whole thing I'm sure you are thanking me for NOT including pictures.  It would not have been pretty.

In fact if you are still reading this I would like to offer you a sticker for being so good!  Something I tried with the kids.  They shared all they had very willingly for about 15 minutes until it got to hard to keep track of sticker giving, toy opening, and lunch ordering, and that's about when I made the giant pillow tower for the movies.

Can anyone guess what made Olivia say her funny quote at the top?  Because I ended up telling you anyway.

The end. I promise.

P.S.

Whew, this was very therapeutic for me.  I now have closure from the trip.  

let me brag about my man

So day 2 of our trip we got to watch Chris and Lindsey compete at the Colorado Star Ball!  I am so proud of them!  They were AMAZING!  They competed in American Smooth Professional Rising Star the first night.  Which is for new pro couples.  I don't remember the exact numbers but there were so many couples they started with two rounds for each dance.  

They kept getting called back and in the end they wound up in third place!  THIRD PLACE!  Their first time on the floor.  That's just insane!  I'm so proud.

The last three couples standing.

Happy Dance!!!

You can watch them on You Tube. Here the first night.  And here

and here the second night.  The second night they competed in the open pro category and got 6th place!  Seriously! They have only been dancing together 5 months!  Wow. I can't wait to see what they can do in a year!

OH!! THAT's why we moved here!

SOOOO!  I am such a nerd!  After my last post I decided that excitable blabbermouths like myself should not be allowed to have blogs!  It should be against the rules!  There should be a disclaimer on blogger or some sort of question and answer test.  Ah well, what do ya do?  That's me I guess.  

So here Chris and I are with Jonathan Roberts and his pro partner Valentina.  They are the current American Smooth Champions! They are stinking awesome.  As the champions it makes sense that they would be!  Well, they are!  

Saturday night I danced for the very first time in a show!!! I was very proud of myself just for doing it!  And I didn't fall down.  And I think I did the dance almost as well as I can.  So I was happy with it.  If (when?) we get it on video I will put in on here!  Of course me, being me....I would choose to dance for the first time ever when the current champions and four other pro couples were dancing.  This studio is so awesome!  That's why we moved here!  And I have to admit I've slacked from my normal ways of being overly grateful and I kind of lost focus as to why it was we were here.  Instead I've been pouting about how small our house is and how cold and humid it is here. And how lame it is not knowing people....etc.etc.  And then added on that the stresses of trying to figure out how to be a working mom and still fit dance time in.  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed the other day.  I had pretty much decided to stop dancing completely.  Then Chris and I worked out how we could make it more fun together.  Which basically meant really scaling back my progress as a dancer.  I was so sad it felt even worse than being tortured by having my husband as my dance teacher.  (love ya babe!)  Chris agreed he thought it was worse than being tortured by having his wife as his student!  So we went in Friday morning to practice and we had a pretty laid back but fun lesson.  Jonathan was there again and didn't have a coaching during one hour so Chris being the awesome guy that he is snagged him up and we got to have a coaching with him!  The first question Chris asked was, "How do you deal with dancing with your wife!?"  Jonathan said, "We quit!" We had a good laugh about it and I think it made Chris and I feel better. It really is hard for some reason.  You wouldn't think it would be.  But just trust me on this one.    The coaching was awesome!  It was for sure a ton of fun!  I can't wait to practice what he taught me more!  And I did get to dance with him for a teeny teeny bit as he was showing me how to drive down the floor with my legs.  SO that totally made a huge difference in my dancing and it made my day just because I'm such a nerd.

So it's time you all met Merrida:
Isn't she cute!  She's Chris's new pro partner. And I love, love her!  I got to see them dance for the first time Saturday even though they've been dancing together since before we actually moved here.  And I loved it!  They were awesome! I can't wait to see more.

So in other good news:  Saturday night I started dreaming again.  I love my dreams (except when I'm pregnant-yikes!) and I haven't had any since we moved.  So I guess something in my psyche is put to right now.  

This is so long! Holy smokes did anyone actually read it?  

I'm thankful for the numerous challenging opportunities that I have been insane enough to bring upon myself all at once.  Even though they make me cry sometimes.  Because it's worth it.

PS:  Note to self:  Next time you dance get super huge lashes like Merrida's and some lipstick might be a good idea. 

PPS:  Did I mention that everyone at DanceWorld is so awesome?  I seriously love everyone I have met.  

PPPS:  One of the other pro couples Saturday night were Jeremy Gatlin and Ana Harwood.  SO stinking fun watching them dance!  Jeremy said he would take me on as a student! Sweet!

I take it back. I totally lied.

I just danced with Jonathan Roberts! 

So excited.

Will blog later!

(guess I lied about photoshopping all my pics too.  That makes two lies.  -oh well)

Bentley just met Jonathan Roberts!!

You know, from Dancing with the Stars.  Bentley was very excited about it as you might imagine.  I was practicing with Chris at the new studio and there he was!  He is here to coach and to dance in the show Saturday night.  I am dancing in the showcase beforehand with Chris for the first time ever!  I picked an interesting time to do it didn't I?   We are dancing a Viennese Waltz to a Josh Groban song.  Although I can't remember which one.  Not from lack of hearing it.  I guess I'm busy thinking about other things.  I realized today that I'm not dancing for work or fun.  Only for torture.  I decided I don't like dancing for torture.  It's lame.  No fun in that.  So for now on I'm only going to dance for fun and I really don't care if I'm dancing in the floor or if my legs are driving.  I don't care if my head isn't out far enough either.  I don't care about being a good dancer.  I only want to dance for fun.  Maybe then I will start listening to the music.  If this restricts my dancing to crazy dancing in the kitchen, I think I'm fine with that!

And Chris is dancing with his new professional partner Merrida for the first time as well!  I'm very excited to see them dance together!    

That's it for now.  I think I'm going to watch a movie and have a laundry folding party now.  Because that's the closest thing to fun I can think of to do.

a fun day for Chickie, I fess up

Heather told me that she wanted to spoil my kids so that they wouldn't want to leave.  I'm pretty sure it's working.  Last Friday Bentley was crying when he had to leave her and come back with me.  Today was Chickie's turn.
What little girl doesn't want to be a twin?  
Get her nails done?
And her hair?  Chickie and Riley were in total girlie girl heaven.
Aren't they cute!? (I took this pic above--the rest are compliments of Heather!  Thanks!  They turned out great!)  Hmm, luckily for us most of Heather's family lives in Nashville.  Unfortunately I was packing during most of this time.  The packing itself is going as well as can be expected.  I'm pretty much a moving expert at this point.  

I guess it seems like a total shock on my blog.  We have actually been working towards Nashville since summer of 07.  We've just been pretty tight lipped about it for once, an amazing feat in itself.  I just wanted to make sure that we got ALL of the details perfectly right because I am SO over moving.  And I'm pretty sure everyone who has ever met us is sick and tired of hearing us talk about where we might like to live.  Believe me, we explored every option.   I have also been studying a book my (very intelligent--you have to be smart to be married to an actual rocket scientist, don't you?) Great Aunt Jean recommended to help in the decision making process.  Lately, it has only been a matter of  when.   Meanwhile, Chris has been out of town for 2-4 days a week for the last month or so.  And even though he misses us, he is in dancing heaven over at DanceWorld.  And he should be, they are oozing with talent and professionalism over there.  We were holding out for this house to sell, but with the market like it is we finally gave up on waiting for that.  Even then I  have been dragging my heels because I didn't want Chickie to have to change schools during her very first year.  Into that mix, add my vague freak out moment and a lot of praying... and there you have it!  Intellectually it all adds up, and prayers about it bring me a feeling of peace.  Chris finally gets the go ahead from me.   Chris is happier than he's been in a long time.  Nothing is guaranteed.  But you know us, we're willing to take the risk!  

Yay! I'm tagged...

I actually think I've been tagged before, but usually too lazy to do it.  This one is pretty short.

3Joys:

-Conference issues of the Ensign (me and conference are BFF)

-My marriage

-Life

3Fears:

-Having fears

-Not doing the things that really scare me

-I'll think of something later I'm sure....

3 Current Goals:

-Getting my fabric design portfolio ready by the end of Oct!!!

-Mastering 4 open American Smooth routines (Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango Viennese Waltz) to compete again soon in a more challenging category.

-Upping my photography skills.

3 Current Obsessions:

-Patricia Ahn (Rose always introduces me to the best music--so inspiring!)

-Food Allergy Detective Work!

-Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

3 Random Facts about myself:

-I like to draw on tracing paper.

-My most used kitchen utensil is the vegetable peeler.

-When I'm running I like to leap if nobody is around....although, I leaped while running on the beach and there were a bunch of onlookers.  I didn't notice them until all of the heads turned. I reenacted it later for Lindsay to capture my embarrassing moment for posterity.

I tag everyone who reads this!  And when you post it leave a comment so we can read yours, too.

breakthrough

Isn't this little plant the poster child for breakthroughs?  I had a couple myself over the past couple of days.  That's right.   Breakthroughs, not breakdowns! yay!   Well, I did almost have a breakdown over my allergy detective work.  I managed for 5 1/2 whole days on the fruit, veggie, and a little meat diet.  In the mean time my eczema completely cleared up.  And I was completely miserable.  I got several, "Are you OK?"s.  I pretended like I was but I wasn't fooling anyone.   On the fifth day I decided I would rather have food in all it's glory than be eczema  free, but at the same time I was still wanting to pinpoint the culprit.  To make a long, very boring story short. I didn't make it through the sixth day.  I was feeling light headed by the end of the day.  I guess I'm just too active to eat like that.  Logically, it doesn't make that much sense to me because I had quadrupled the normal quantity of foods that I eat.  I wasn't satisfied, but I didn't expect to become dizzy.  I did dance for an hour and a half with Chris and I had my first night of a jazz class that night.  Anyway, at least I know it is a food allergy.  There is always acupuncture.
That brings me to my second breakthrough.  Chris told me that I had one in my dancing!  And he also said that he is getting really excited about my progress.  That is such a huge deal to me.  Maybe it shouldn't be, but he tells it like it is when it comes to dance, and he has very high standards.  So for him to say that is---well, it's a first.  Just as a back ground Chris and I had the best summer ever swing dancing together, we started dating that summer.  It was magical.  Dancing, falling love.  Perfect.  Chris went on to become a well trained ballroom dancer, and I finished up my art degree and had our babies.  I miss the time when we were equally yoked in the dancing department.  Playing catch up has been no fun at times.  Painful at times, wishing for the fun days of the past.  I've had to really suck up my pride and deal with it.  I'm so glad it's finally starting to feel worth it. Yay!   Slowly, but surely, kind of like the progress on my chairs.  When you look at what I started with, it's so difficult to see the possibility of beauty in pile of trash.  Now that some of the sanding is done, it's starting to seem more realistic.

 I'm not giving up...  just like that little plant.  Starting to see the sun!

I'm grateful for slowly but surely.  Progress. Breakthroughs. Hope!

this post may self destruct...

So, back in November, I swore off TV.  This has been really great and we have really enjoyed having less of all that in our home.  I always get a lot more done when we swear off TV. However, on Super Tuesday, Chris brought these lovely bunny ears home...oh, right... rabbit ears.  Anyway,  I busted them out again to watch the Oscars.  And now, we've been using them for Saturday Morning cartoons, too.  That's pretty much a kids right of passage, don't you think?  Turns out Chickie is really susceptible to advertising.  She really wants those globes that water your plants for you.  And the bag organizer, and that thing that helps you lift a dryer by yourself. She NEEDS all of those things.

 I did watch one or two episodes of Dancing with the Stars.  But let's be serious nothing compares to So You Think You Can Dance.  And if the bunny ears alone aren't bad enough, I tried hooking up the VCR to record SYTYCD.  And I couldn't figure out how to do it!  Sad, I know.  At our house we are usually pretty technologically savvy.  It's Chris's doing.  And we have a Tivo, from when we used to watch TV, but we don't have service, anymore.  So it doesn't do much good.  And I've enjoyed not having TV so much, that I'm really afraid to even go there.

 As I was digging through old tapes looking for one to record on I found my old music videos.  Yup, that's right. I said music videos. No, I wasn't a pop star in Japan or anything.  I was 22 or 23 at the time.  Chris got us a video camera.  And well, I thought...what in the world do you do with a video camera.  The first thought that came to my mind was, "Make a music video!"  So I made some.  Just three at first.  There were more later, but the first one was the best.  

It was to Fleming and John's song Ugly Girl.  I was wearing red leather pants.  And a furry red collar thing.  

And as long as we are kicking it old school, technologically speaking, I took a picture of the screen.  I had super short hair then.  And it tempts me to cut my hair again.  
Just ignore the curling iron/microphone.  What do you think of my hair?  Don't worry.  I won't try to cut it myself!  I promise to leave it to the professionals.  It's SO hot right now that it's really tempting. But I don't know... I think I promised myself a while ago that I would never have short hair again.  

Back to SYTYCD. Have you been watching?  Doesn't it make you want to be stronger?  Do you stretch the whole time you are watching it?  Chris and I worked on a really fun Foxtrot yesterday! And we have been putting together a pretty great Tango routine.  But I was all about the foxtrot, because it's so peppy.  I love to dance! Especially now that I'm gaining enough control to be...uh, in control.  

So, questions, comments, concerns, about:

1. SYTYCD

2. the virtues or evils of TV and how that effects you ability to get stuff done

3.  most importantly, my hair!

All about the dancing

Besides all the dancing a big part of the fun is all the vendors.  There are shoes and dresses galore to try on.  We both tried on shoes and we each got a new pair.  Chris got Latin shoes and I got Standard/Smooth shoes.  We were both really excited for new shoes.  We looked at a million pictures, both of ones taken of us and Chris with his other students, Debbie and Linda.  We ordered some, so I'll have to show those when we get them of us in action.  Then I worked my way to almost every dress vendor I estimated that I tried on approximately $100,000 worth of dresses that day! So fun, and so exhausting. Some of those dresses are really hard to get into.  One of the dresses I tried on had these fabric bangles that were studded and the lady said she thought they were," a giggle."  I think that's the cutest thing I've ever heard.  They were a giggle. It was really fun trying on all the different styles and fun figuring out which ones look good on me.  

I took a ton of cheesy pictures like this of us together.  This one was Friday night we got dressed up to go to the Pro competitions.  Which were so inspiring!
I got a few pictures in before they gave a friendly reminder to put cameras away.  This one is the Standard dancing. Which had my heart pounding. I think I almost cried once, too.  It's so beautiful when they are all on the floor racing around in gorgeous gowns and crazy hair.  Especially Quickstep.  I was on the edge of my seat wondering will they or won't they run into each other. And if they do what will happen?  It was better than any thriller movie! 
I loved this chic's hair.  It was bright pink and it came to a long point in the back. A super cool cone head hair do. Loved it!  I finally really understand the difference between American and International styles. Chris always seemed so annoyed when I would ask. Now that I've seen it I understand how obvious it is.  I've been to other comps but I was actually paying attention this time.  It makes a lot more sense the more dancing you do yourself. I guess.  But it's kind of hard to understand when you just talk about it because several of the dances have the same name. But the steps can be totally different from each other.  They are all so amazing I don't know how to choose which dances to do myself.  I loved watching Standard it's so insanely elegant and dramatic with the head laid out like that.  And the crispness of it all.  But American Smooth(which is what I did this time) is probably more fun to do.  You open instead of staying in frame and get to be really expressive with your arms and body.  I love both of those. And then there is Latin vs. Rhythm.  I definitely like Latin better. I think it's classier and it includes Jive and Samba which are the most fun dances in my opinion.  Rhythm is really fun to watch but I don't think I'd want to do it competitively.  It's costumes are definitely the closest to naked and the best dancers are like wild animals on the floor. Neither of those things make me very comfortable. But Standard and Latin go together and Smooth and Rhythm go together.  You can just do one style or you can do 10 or 9 dance respectively.  I think I'd be more fun to do both.  None of this makes any sense. But, I'm excited. We both are. And yesterday we did some Standard basics, so that was fun. I'm looking forward to keeping up the dancing. 

The crazy thing about it is the whole performance sport aspect. What other sport has people dress up to the point that they are totally unrecognizable and are basically acting while competing. It's wild. And oddly addictive. I remember the first comp I went to. I was seriously afraid. I kept thinking, "THIS is what my husband does for a living!"  Now I'm hooked.  I think it's the dancing itself you fall in love with and then the competing just makes us goal oriented people work harder. (Just look at me with my sticky plastic gold medals.) And if you get to sparkle and have really crunchy hair once in a while, well, what's not to love!

It's fun just having fun.

I took these pictures out of the window from our room.  My photography does not do it justice. It was really breathtaking.  The red roof part is the original hotel.  Two wings were added the Vanderbilt wing and the Summons wing (maybe).  The dancing was in the Vanderbilt wing, which is what you sing in the first picture. So we had to walk through our wing down through the middle and then all the way through the Vanderbilt wing.  It was quite the hike in heels.
This glass topped area is the spa and pool.  We never even went down there. Next year we really will have to make a point of remembering our swimming suits.  I think we forgot last time we stayed here, too.

Chris loves sushi.  This was eel and it was cooked. He told me that it tasted like Bar-b-q chicken. So I tried a bite. It SO did not taste like chicken.  At all.  But now I can say I've eaten eel.  Not that it matters.
On Saturday morning we went to a cute local bakery and the food looked so good I think we got it all.  Of course Chris had to check out the local real estate. And we both drank a lot of hot chocolate this weekend. It was COLD in Asheville. brrr
The reason we went to the bakery for breakfast was so I could go to this fun fabric shop.  I got some killer buttons, a rockin new thimble, and a fun book that shows how to make flower corsages and the like.  They had a bunch of them made up in the store and they were very pretty.  But the book was cheaper than even one of the pins, plus it was written by a local woman. So that was fun.  

As we were coming back to the hotel Chris said, "It's fun just having fun."  I said, "It's REALLY fun. Just having fun!"  So that became out motto for the rest of the day.
We sat by this huge fire in the main part of the hotel and had more hot chocolate.  At this point in the day we were winding down after trying on a ba-zillion different dance costumes.  
It was this guys job to go into the fire pit and throw more logs on the fire. Isn't it insanely big?

I'm really thankful for a weekend of pure fun! It was a-mazing. And the kids did great. They didn't miss us at all.  Heather is a ton of fun and they had a blast all weekend.  In fact, on Sunday we met them at church and I was a little worried that we would cause a scene.  I had it all pictured in my mind. We walk in, the kids see us from across the room, they yell out, "MOMMY!" and come running.  In reality, not even close.  The looked at us like, "Oh, you again. Hello."  Which is good.  We all had a great time and honestly didn't miss each other.  But were very happy to be with each other again. It won't be another 5 years before I leave my kids again. 

We cleaned house! (but not like you think)

I actually look like a real ballroom dancer don't I?!! And look how handsome Chris looks!   I went to great effort for that to happen.   No, not for Chris to look good, for me to.  I got my hair done.  Which I loved and it was hard as a rock. I think I had to wash my hair four times to get whatever it was they put in it out.
I got my makeup done.  And when they handed me the mirror I almost jumped. I know I scared several other people that day as well.  But I guess they know what they are doing because I think it looked pretty good under all the bright lights.   I was very tempted to scrub some of it off, but I'm glad I didn't try because when I was done dancing and went first thing to wash my face I couldn't get my lipstick off at all with my face wash or eye-makeup remover. I had to literally scrub it off!
Come on admit it. I scared you didn't I?  

Well as far as the dancing went I did great! I was very happy with how I did. I won all of my entries. I only danced 8 times. I was competing in the preliminary silver and intermediate silver in my age category in waltz, tango, foxtrot, and Viennese waltz.  The kind of disappointing thing was that I only was dancing against one other person.  When you sign up there is no way of knowing how many other people will be in your age category and in the level of dancing you pick to compete in.  But I did get to watch the girl I won against and I thought she was a great dancer.  So that made me feel good.  And she won the scholarship dance. When you do regular heats like I did you win gold plastic sticky-backed metals.  When you dance in the scholarship dance you win money and a big fat trophy.  I didn't enter those for two reasons. One, when we signed up for this competition I didn't even know Viennese waltz, and secondly Chris had another student already entered to dance in the scholarship in my age category.  She ended up not being able to come and we didn't think to enter late. So lame because the one girl I beat won the scholarship dance. At least it made me feel really good about how I did, even though I only danced against one person.

I'm so thankful that I have THE best teacher ever!

Is there any felicity in the world superior to this?

That is to quote Sense and Sensibility the movie. I believe.

Did you ever have a day that reminded you why life was even worth living? Ahh, that was my day! It was fabuloso that's Spanish for fabulous (hehehe) from beginning to end!  

We danced! Finally after really truly emerging from said black hole and entering into the world of people again! And it went really well.  Which was a huge relief, because the last practice before the flu was HORRIBLE.  Then, after a lovely day of drawing and cleaning and playing I went to a school meeting for Chickie.  I almost started to cry, but I didn't.  That said, I'm SO excited for her to go to school.  It's kind of rough having a Nov. birthday and having to wait around so long to start school.  And then the glorious part.  I got THE dress!  

I tried to take a picture that would express the fun of wearing such an awesome thing.  Tried and failed really.  Here's a picture of me running down the stairs.  Luckily, I didn't trip on the ball.  But after several trips up and down I couldn't quite capture it's beauty in motion.
SO then I tried twirling.  That was fun, but I'm feeling a little dizzy now!  I am so so excited for Thursday!  I met my friend Papi at book club tonight and that is where the "transaction"  took place.  I called for a moment of silence before we got the dress out. SO So exciting!  And it was fun talking about Emily of New Moon and her passion for writing.  Someone asked me if I had anything like that, something that I absolutely could not keep myself from doing. My short answer would have to be no.  But I have realized that for me dancing and creating art of some sort have been the two themes my whole life that have really brought me joy.  They are the things that really add the flavor to life.  The past five years I have only had them in very small doses, because that's how I adjusted to motherhood. I really had a hard time trying to fit creativity into my life in as large a dose as I really need.  

I realized that this was a problem when I was spending more time watching dancing shows on TV than actually dancing. I knew that I should be doing the exact opposite.  So, we got rid of TV when we moved here in November. It has been really great.  I get so much more done of what I want to be doing.  And now I am spending more time dancing than watching other people do it.  I'm actually living my life the way I want it right now and that is such an amazing feeling!  Although, Chris bought bunny ears to watch the polls on Super Tuesday and I watched the Oscars Sunday night. The whole thing from beginning to end. And it was the highlight of my week I think.  But that's not hard considering it was the week of flu-y death.  

So, I pose the question to you..Do you have something you absolutely have to do. There really is no choice. You just have to do it?

Updates about this and that

I took my friend Heather to visit the chickens last week and we had some good laughs.  We got to see for ourselves how those pesky chickens (and I say that with affection) escaped.   Because the black and white one tried it again.  Several times actually.  So Heather went to catch it for me.  Very funny.  I kind of feel bad for not knowing the chickens names.  But here is Addison with the black and white one.  After Heather caught one, everyone wanted to hold them.  Including, Add who had been previously afraid of them.  So, good job bud!


Here is Riley with another chicken.  I think this one is particularly pretty.  As is Riley. 

Kind of strange timing, but this week we randomly got a flyer in the mail for ordering chickens.  


Now, Chris is obsessed.  He wants to get chickens and a pair of teacup pigs.  Apparently you have to buy them in pairs so they can snuggle.  He's a mess!


Friday we went here for dinner. It was Heather's birthday and that is their tradition.  They used to have to go to Nashville. But lucky us.  I did not know food could taste that good!  So yummy and so fun!

what else, what else...in other blog worthy updates.  Today was the first day of the ab diet.  Which was fine until I made one of the suggested recipes for dinner. It was sweet potatoes with goat cheese, cottage cheese, and ricotta cheese.  We unanimously agreed that it tasted like vomit.  We threw it out and ate left over pizza from Saturday night.  So, if anyone is interested in dieting along, don't eat the sweet potatoes unless you are a fan of goat cheese.  

The diet is from Oxygen magazine.  I'm going to do waist measurements and we shall see if it works.  Or if I can stick with it.  Less than one month until Heritage.

Today I am really, really thankful for my awesome new desk that Chris made for me.  I was looking for a good one from Ikea.  I found one I liked and it was only $150.  But shipping was about the same amount.  So Mandee told me how fun Ikea is and that it would be worth a drive down.  But we both agreed not with kids. So then there was discussion as to whether it would still be less than shipping to pay for us to drive down and pay for a babysitter for the day.  Then my mom suggested we could just drive down and visit her and she could watch our kids and we could drive the 3 hours to the nearest Ikea.  Good idea, if it didn't take 9 hours to get to my moms.   In the end I decided it would be best just to get Chris to make it for me.  It has a built in light table and everything.  Thanks, babe! Hmm, I guess I should have tidied up a bit before taking a picture.  But the good thing now is that I have a place and a time (nap time) dedicated to drawing! Yay!

I need a diet buddy!

I'm needing motivation to go on a diet to look good in a dress for this.  But I really don't want to. I need someone to do it with me.  Any takers?

The good news about the dress situation is that my friend is letting me borrow her dress.  I was with her when she got it.  It was designed by the guy that does Dancing With The Stars.  Kind of cool. Right. I'm excited.  It saves me from making one. Which could be very very scary.

I guess the reason I'm not motivated is that I'm perfectly satisfied with how I look already.  This dress isn't skimpy like some.  But it's no sweater, either.  

I would love to wear this dress!

So seriously. Any body want to do a 30 day ab diet with me? I have a good one I think.  Or does anybody have a really good alternative?

Glorious Wednesday

Wow! Can you guys believe it's Saturday already?! I hope you all have had productive weeks. I had one day that was superbly ideal. In the morning I finally learned Viennese Waltz. So fun! Chickie got to play with a friend and have her come over also. In the afternoon I got to paint and then that evening we had dinner with a friend. I loved that day. It felt like a glimpse into my perfect life. Every day filled with dancing, art, happy children, and good company. Which made me think of an audio book I listened to recently. Have any of you listened to or read The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes? I found it to be interesting and a lot of it seemed very truthful to me.They talk about the law of attraction and how it is the Law of Love. That makes a lot of sense to me, because in my own life I've seen the power of love work miracles. And it falls in line with my beliefs spiritually. But other things such as eating and losing weight. Some of it made sense, but she said, and I paraphrase that, "Food won't make you fat. Only if you think food will make you fat, then it will." But that thought seems to defy another law of nature. I think more likely the way you think about food will change the way you eat food. Has anyone else read it? What do you think?

separation anxiety

I'm proud to report that since this post I have really improved my dancing.  I have been getting two to three lessons a week, versus my previous zero.  And to put even more of an urgency to my learning, it looks like I'm now going to be competing in my second competition.  My first was in Nashville about 5 years ago.  And I competed in pro-am bronze Latin, I think. Chris being the professional, me being the amateur.   This time will be silver smooth, also pro-am.   And the really exciting part...I get to learn Viennese waltz.  It is such a gorgeous dance and Chris has never taught me.  His response is always, "You're not ready."  So, I'm just doing a few rounds and it's really not a big deal.  The only thing that makes it a big deal is that it gives you a reason to practice and perfect things.  So the scary part is not any of that.  The scary part is leaving the kids!  We have never gone out of town and left the kids before.  I always thought, "Poor me, in the past __ years I've never gone out and done_____ the way that ____has."  Well.  I guess the real reason I haven't done this is that I really just didn't want to leave my kids and I've never had to.  So, when Chris first proposed the idea of me going to this comp with him and his other students it seemed fine.  We've gone before, but I usually just bring a babysitter.  Its worked out fine, but there really isn't much for kids to do.  This time however, Chris called my friend Heather and arranged the whole thing and then called me to tell me.  My first reaction; I felt like throwing up.  But it does seem exciting.  We would be able to go and enjoy just being with each other and watch a whole lot of dancing.  Plus it's at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC.  Which is very nice.  They have a spa, which would be fun.  I know my kids will have a blast with Heather and they are used to her.  I don't even worry about Chickie at this point, although, I'm sure she'd miss us.  But I do wonder about Bentley.  If it's too soon to leave him.  He will be almost 17 months by the time it comes along.  I just wonder if he will be able to understand that we are coming back.  It looks like we will be gone 3 nights, but only 2 days.  We just have to get there early in the morning to compete.

So what do you think?  Help me find some sanity regarding this issue.  Or just back out of it, well, it's too late for that but I could bring along a babysitter.

And don't my children look great in blue!!

dancing days

This weekend has been really fun for a lot of reasons. One being it's jam-packed-ness with dancing! I know jam-packed-ness isn't a word...but it should be! Saturday we went to a dance Christmas party where Chris performed with three of his students. They were just so stinking awesome. I kept thinking, "Man! I have got to get some lessons with that guy!"

Sunday, I taught Relief Society and I used dancing as my object lesson. My point being if anyone in town should be an awesome dancer it should be me because I'm married to Chris who is the best dancer in town (blatant bragging is always fun!). I had a bunch of other reasons that I related to corresponding things that we are blessed to have in church such as our prophet, scriptures, and etc. So today I had a dance lesson with Chris and I think it's the best one I've ever had. I really improved because I nailed into my head yesterday that I have no excuses and I am pathetic if I accept to be anything less than a stinking awesome dancer. Enough of making my husband look bad at parties! I think I've finally been able to mentally change my thought process from: "My husband is telling me what to do--bossing me around, really! I won't stand for it!!" to: "I'm going to listen to this professional and do exactly as he says because he knows what he's doing." Yay for mental breakthroughs!

Plus I got cute new hair and a really awesome crochet dress. I used to have some killer crochet pants but they got ruined at the dry cleaner. I remember calling my friend who's husband is a lawyer freaking out about my pants. SO FUNNY. (how's that for dramatic for you Mindy--hehehe)

Today I'm thankful for an amazing husband, and that someone in our household thinks that doing laundry is fun!

Thanks, Dolly!

OK, I'm just now getting to Wednesday's Dancing with the Stars. And I have to say...I love Dolly Parton. And it wasn't from growing up in her old stomping grounds either. I think it was actually from college road trips with my friend Martha. We would go to Vegas to visit her family and we listened to Jolene over and over again to memorize the words. SO FUNNY! and SO FUN! I miss Martha, she was something else! Actually, now that I think of it I did the same thing with another Dolly song and my friend Cameron. And I love Dolly's new song. So inspiring. I need to take her advice. I feel so lazy lately and I need to get it in gear. Being in Mommy land for so long I forget what it's like to really push myself. Not that being a mom isn't difficult and non stop it's also really fun and vacation like. Going to parks, reading stories, playdates, hanging out with friends granted all the while dealing with the kids. But I am going to have to start working in some way or another but I can't leave my kids....so this should be interesting to say the least. I'm thankful for a really tough challenge!