Jane is a BIG GIRL

Jane is wearing BIG GIRL panties! Gammie, Uncle (Richard), Samuel, and Porter came for a visit and helped Jane learn how to "hurry, hurry" to the potty, and gave lots of praise for each success. Day 1: 15 accidents and 2 successes. Day 2: 1 accident. Day 3: 2 accidents. And Sunday was the best. She made it all through church and almost through choir practice. I have to admit that most of the accidents since that first day were because we were away from home. Pretty good, little girl.

And Audrey got her first taste of rice cereal. Yum.

A Wise Woman

Instead of throwing a tantrum about the blog books, my friend Laurie did some research and found out how to make it work. She posted the info on her blog. http://travisandlaurie.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-books-dilemas-answers.html Thanks, Laurie!

The Foolish Man Built His House....

...upon the sand. Remember that story? What happened? His house washed away. I feel like the foolish woman who built her blog upon blurb.com. That's right. I started this blog so that I wouldn't have to scrapbook. The wonderful blurb was going to print out my blog for me and I wouldn't have to worry about my family's photo history. Well "whoosh" my house is gone because they no longer download blogger. I feel a complete lack of purpose now. I mean, what is this for now? What am I spending my time doing now? Have you ever seen a dance where people run into each other and there is total mayhem on stage? That's what is happening in my mind right now. Complete lack of direction. So I guess I'll post some random things. Like Jane's cute little "bun."

Or how about the new (old) piano we got? It's an Everett from the 50's that just got new keys 3 years ago. It's so great to have music in our home again. Although, I can barely play it with Jane and Audrey both on the bench with me...

Or did anybody want to hear about how we have ladybugs every year that for some reason love the bathroom. I catch them crawling around all the time. But the worst was when I was brushing my teeth (you know where this is going...) and I felt a "popcorn kernel"--you know those concave little thingos that get stuck in your teeth--except I hadn't eaten any popcorn! So I spit it out and you know what I found but you don't know how loudly I screamed! Man that freaked me out. (I don't think I would say "freaked me out" or "thingos" if this was going to be a printed and bound scrapbook intended to stand the test of time.)

Or how about the time (today) that I rescued all these things from the vent. You can look at our remodel pictures of the back room to see the uncovered floor vents. Covering them is only complicated by their irregular size, which we can find online but I just haven't done it yet. Anyway. By sticking our camera down the opening and snapping a picture, we could tell LAST DECEMBER that this rooster toy was down there. Couldn't reach it. At least a month ago, Jack lost his ball and I was sure it must have gone down there too. A few weeks ago, Jane threw her pacifier (at the same time as throwing a tantrum) and it slipped on down. Well today I was procrastinating looking at bills and this seemed like the perfect time-consuming-but-slightly-beneficial thing to do. It worked! I rescued the said items plus a bunch of nails!
Wasn't that truly random? Hopefully I find some point and purpose to these blogging hours. sigh. Until I do, well, who knows what I'll post next. Maybe some deep thoughts?

Audrey's renaming: Sumo girl

I took Audrey to her 4 month well baby visit on the 21st last month. She was almost 16 pounds. On the 7th, we went again because I thought she had an ear infection (she did). She weighed in at 17 1/2 pounds! That means she's almost out of 9-month clothes! In her defense, I was feeding her lots and lots to keep her congestion at bay while we all had colds this week, so I'm thinking this trend will stop. I should say, I'm hoping so. Because my arms will fall off otherwise!
Other milestones, apart from the scales, are that she

• has found her toes,


• blows bubbles,


• laughs hysterically with Jane, and


• can hold her toys for longer than 2 seconds. Yay!

B Y U!

Is this brainwashing?

I was surprised she remembered this a couple weeks after me showing her! Surprised and proud.

Halloween

At the ward Halloween Party, a week before Halloween, Adam and I went as ourselves 4 years ago. (We had matching track suits from our BYU dance teams.) Lame, I know. Another lame one was Audrey's "costume." I just put her in a sleeper that had a ballerina on it and put this bow on her head and called her a dancer too. And Jane wore her ladybug costume from last year. I didn't know how lazy I was until just now seeing it in writing. Oh well. It was a fun party.

They had coloring for the kiddies where she met up with a fellow lady bug.

Jane just plopped right down and ate up her candy.

Adam caught me eating some of Jane's loot...

On the actual Halloween, Jane and I (and Adam joined us a bit later) met the Mitchells and the Hansons at the mall by our house for trick or treating. Jane's lady bug costume was half wet, so we came up with this Christmas ___? 5 minutes beforehand. I overheard a girl saying "Oh look! It's Santa Clause!" Maybe! Should have thought of a pillow for her belly.

With Jack and Winfield, both Anakin Skywalkers.

We ended the trick or treating at the new play place in the mall. Jane thought it was cooler than trick or treating.

Girls weekend in San Francisco (October 9-13)

Friday: Alcatraz and the Blue Angels. We happened to be there for the air show and on alcatraz while they were practicing. I was amazed/horrified/thrilled by how close they flew to each other in perfect formation. What daredevils. Alcatraz was pretty interesting, too. We took the audio tour. The only problem was the flies. Yes, that is one on my cheek. They were just swarming.

Saturday: Shopping Day. Here we are with the bags piled high around us. It was fun to get some good deals but I think the best part was getting on the trolley to get back. I don't think it was an official trolley stop but the conductor let us on anyway. We were like, "Should we get on? Yes! No! Yes!" So we grabbed all these bags (you can't even see half probably), the two babies, two strollers, and a car seat, and smashed ourselves onto the car that was already full. We got close to some very nice strangers who helped us hold some things. And bless that man's whole soul who handed Paige my dropped cell phone!!

Sunday: Church in the morning and then Paige's cousin-in-law drove us on a tour of the Golden Gate Park. It was a great tour and a gorgeous day. Marian left after the first hour of church to see her grandparents.

Eats: We had the famous Boudin clam chowder bowls, In-n-Out (twice), Ghirardellis ice cream sundaes (every night but one...), and some delicious French something-or-other (I forgot the name) where Kate and I got butternut squash ravioli that was superb!

Of course, the best part of all was the company of my wonderful mother-in-law, Neill, and the best sisters in law that I could ever imagine. I had so much fun.

Apple picking

Does it get any better than this?

I made 3 jars of apple sauce and we've made 3 pies so far. Adam makes the filling and I make the crust. Jane helps us eat it. Teamwork.

John and Ida's Wedding

The 2nd marriage this year in the Bennion family! John and Ida were married September 26, 2008 in St. George, Utah. Ida is from there and we were thrilled to be there on their beautiful day. These two make such a wonderful couple. I couldn't help staring at them all day :) Adam took a few (or something like 200) pictures, just trying out the camera. I LOVED her dress. Bennions

Everetts Aren't these faces funny? Ida was taking a rest from smiling. My dad looks great. John was probably resting his face too, but it looks like he's transitioning to husbandhood/manhood. I don't know what I'm doing. Jane wanted "in" on the boys' shot.

Christian brought his girlfriend so we took some teaser photos in front of the temple.

The family luncheon was catered Cafe Rio!!! I had all my wishes come true :) Who else thinks John and Ida are cool now?

Jane and Audrey missed out on the Cafe Rio.

Uncle Richard just got home from his mission (Mexico) just a week earlier. I was pregnant with Jane when he left, so he, Jane, and Audrey all got introduced.

The girls at the reception: dancing and socializing!

Jane coached everyone on catching the bouquet. I think Ida's sister caught it.

Fashion

Jane had rather voluminous hair after her bath. She was pleased.

Also, she has stepped into the realm of choosing what she wears. This 4th of July dress marks her fashion independence; for the first time she brought me her clothing choice for the day. She has been wearing it for two days now. Even to bed.

Kitchen's AFTER

Here's the final product! New floor, cabinets, sink, walls, and harware. Some boring FYI: we treat the counters with a protective oil every few months and use cutting boards. The benefit of using the oil rather than putting a hard shellac on is that if we do accidentally cut it or stain it we can sand that spot and reapply the oil rather than having to treat the entire shalacked countertop.
I love having more cupboards and counterspace!

These lower countertops are perfect for kneading bread and sitting down to a computer for recipes while cooking.

Housework Continued

This isn't exactly a recent makeover, but we may as well showcase the whole year on the blog while we're on topic.
Before: Our bedroom was blah. I came home to find the aforementioned coffee table finished and our bedroom painted this lovely blue that we had previously chosen for the kitchen, but decided against it because it was going to feel too dark and small. I LOVE how it turned out in our room. This picture isn't quite a true after, since we've since hung things on the walls, but I didn't feel like cleaning it this morning to take another picture :)

And here is the kitchen before we moved in. Yes, that is floral wallpaper, and a hot pink stripe on the edge of the countertop. Let's not even start on the lack of counterspace and cupboards.

We borrowed the missionaries to help mount the upper cupboards after Adam gutted the kitchen, except for the dishwasher.


All that you see, except the appliances, are from Ikea: the cupboards, countertop, and sink.

I was so thankful to go from washing dishes in the tub...

to washing dishes in my brand new kitchen sink! I get to take the credit for taking the wallpaper down and for helping to paint this time. Do you like the yellow?