there's something in the water...

It's Portia.

Queen. Enough said.

Possibly one of the best bands of all time.

Just try to listen to "Somebody to Love", or "Bohemian Rhapsody" without singing along. If you can, you have no soul. Or at least, no appreciation for creativity, harmony, passion, or talent.

Can we just talk about Freddie Mercury for a second? Behind the unitards and hair, was an awe-inspiring entertainer. I'm pretty sure that flowing through his veins was not blood, but pure talent, in liquid form. Just have a look-see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7xmH-Amt2k&feature=PlayList&p=B9A2C4773D27EEC1&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

If you are not familiar with the greatness of this band (and you should be ashamed of yourself if you aren't), please become so. You will be a much better asset to society once you can sing every word of "In Love with my Car."

Everyone knows "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions", but if you want to dig a little deeper, give a listen to "Fat Bottom Girls" or"The Show Must Go On." Incredible.

silly girl

Portia loves to play on the couch. She feels really big.

on her way to a toothy grin!

In the last week and a half, Portia has cut 2 teeth, and is in the process of cutting at least one more! She is much happier to be able to bite cookies and chew apple slices! She's a good girl!

This is what she looks like today:

worst day ever

Well, maybe not ever, but pretty bad.

Yesterday was Brandon's first day of finals, and he had a killer hard test at about 7:30 pm. He had planned to get up and head to the libray, spend all day reviewing, take his test, and come home. But apparently life had other plans. (Warning: If you don't want to read about gross things, stop here.)

At 3 am the night before, I started puking. And I ran to the toilet to throw up about once every 2 hours the rest of the night and well into the morning. The bad kind too. Like shaking and crying and sweating (Daisy, like morning sickness. I know we've had this conversation before). It was horrific. Shortly after he woke up, Brandon started feeling queasy too, and was soon hugging the other porcelain throne.

Oh, it gets worse.

Then the tornadoes started. A really bad one touched down less than a mile from our apartment, so we spent a little while hiding out in the closet. (mind you, at this point, Brandon only had 2 hours till his test.) The storms passed us finally, and Brandon headed to the school, only to have to get up and run to the bathroom halfway through, you guessed it, to upchuck.

He got home, and our wonderful friend, Dave, came over to give us blessings. That really helped! Today, we are much better, almost back to 100%! And Portia still shows no signs of sickness, so all is well now!

the day the bus driver and i had a major fight

Today, my sister Carrie reminded me of a story on her blog. I shall relay that story to whoever reads this.

When I was at BYU, I never had a car. I rode the bus everywhere, the grocery store, my job, sometimes even the short walk up to campus. In fact, I rode it so much that the bus driver learned my name and where and when I stopped. Embarrassing, I know. Now, I had never encouraged said bus driver, never waved goodbye to him, or said "see you later!" and I had certainly not learned HIS name. But, since I am a nice person, I would quietly say "thank you" as I exited the bus every day. Every day, that is, except one.

This day started out like any other, it was freezing out, as it usually is in Utah. I hopped on the bus to go home from work and the bus driver greeted me with a cheery "well if it isn't Kathleen!" I sat down and calmly waited for the 30 minutes ride to be over. As me stop neared, I pulled the stop chord, but the bus driver just kept on driving! The next stop was a block away and it was blizzarding outside! So I pulled it a few more times while saying "excuse me, that was my stop." And then the bus driver did something that changed everything. He snapped at me. He said "i KNOW" with an annoyed tone, and put his hand up as if to shush me. I was shocked. If he KNEW, why didn't he stop? And shouldn't he have stopped simply because he had memorized my schedule? (seriously, he would make remarks like "time for work huh?" when I would get on for work. he had memorized it)

I exited the bus that day, no small smile on my face, no thank-you leaving my lips. I exited the bus that day with a stone cold look of hate on my face and started the extra long walk home.

We were never the same again.

on a roll

Dang! Three posts in one day? Yeah, thats my blog! I have things to say and people to say them to!

Now for the real reason I'm here again: Lime-Coconut Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting. I'll give you a moment to savor the words.....

Ok, back yet? Good. I made these tonight, and they are INCREDIBLE!! Just enough tangly lime to tickle the taste buds, and the rich white chocolate frosting on top is heavenly. We cannot stop eating them. And we don't want to.

Here's the link: http://cuisinenie.blogspot.com/2010/01/cupcakesyum.html

sand

Today, I found a new appreciation for sand. Don't clean your glasses, you read me right. You know, grainy, rough, gets in your swimsuit and you just cant seem to get it all out. Sand. Glorious stuff.

We took Portia to the park this afternoon, where she spent about an hour playing in (you guessed it) the sand. She was mesmerized by it. She would dig her pudgy hands in and grab a handful just to watch it fall between her little fingers. She threw it, tasted it (and subsequently tried to get me to taste it; it must be delish), buried her toes and legs over and over. And I began to look at it, I mean really look at it. I was sitting on an enormous pile if minuscule stones, tiny bits of glass, and even a few small shell fragments, and yet it was warm and relaxing. And I could see why Portia was having so much fun!

I love rediscovering the world through her eyes.

inspired today

I heard a story a few minutes ago about an incredible woman. Her name is Stephanie, and I just watched this short video about her:

I feel as though I have been over-worried about silly things lately; my clothes/hair, our apartment, money, school, to name a few. I need to stop and remember the important things in my life; my husband and daughter, my abundant blessings, the Gospel of Christ. I need to slow down, take things a day at a time, and I will be happier.

Here is the link to Stephanie's blog, for those of you, like me, who want to read more:

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

the zoo!

Today we went to the zoo, it was awesome! They recently built a kid's area with petting zoo, playground, and this fun splash zone! Its a little stream that the kids can play in! Portia loved it!

Portia was so excited! We were only there for a little bit, but she wore herself out! We are definitely going to go back alot this summer!

FINALLY!

In a few weeks, we move out of our apartment to a townhome. Here is a list of a few reasons why I am excited:

1. no upstairs neighbors. at this moment, the girls upstairs are coming home from yet another drunken escapade, and they must feel that we want to know about it. we dont.

2. a bigger kitchen. i can finally use my closets for something other than storing my dishes in.

3. maintenance crews that come when something breaks. our dishwasher falls out of the wall sometimes and we told them about it 3 times. care to guess if they have come to fix it?

4. no dirt. the new apartment complex has grass outside the door, not just layers of dirt that blows into my house. imagine that!

5. more square footage. we are so tired of being crammed in here!

6. a pantry. self explanatory.

7. an actual laundry room. not just a space in the kitchen where a washer and dryer happen to fit.

8. a pool. this complex has 2, they just never opened them last summer.

9. no weird concrete box attached to the floor in the living room. whats that about?

10. last but not least, rent that wont go up $100 in a year! Jeez!

the more the merrier!

People who say they dont want kids confuse me. I can kinda understand not wanting alot of kids, or not wanting annoying kids (don't hold your breath on that one; between the ages of 7 and 13, annoyingness is bound to happen). But not wanting kids at all? I don't get it.

Maybe the reason I'm so baffled is because I've always wanted to be a mom. I remember being really young and someone asking "what do you want to be when you grow up?" and me answering that i wanted to be a mommy. Even now, my dream is to get up early every morning to make sack lunches, and to drive a mini van, and to grow tomatoes in my garden, and to play sidewalk chalk and cowboys and chinese-freeze-tag and peek-a-boo all day long. My dream is to be a stay-at-home mom of at least 4 or 5.

Or maybe the reason why I can't fathom not wanting kids is because this is what I'm looking at right now: