Flashback Friday: Young and Vibrant

I feel bad for only putting goofy pictures of Dave on the blog. So, I've decided to put a complimentary one--still embarassing, but complimentary nonetheless. This is Dave when he was about 18 I think, fresh out of his last pole vaulting season. He says he took this picture so that he could prove to the generations to come that he wasn't always a flabby old man. He actually hasn't had much call for this photo in that context. He still pretty much looks exactly like this. It must be something to do with lugging all those law books around or something . . . which of course doesn't have anything to do with his stomach . . . but . . . I don't know where else he would get it. He rarely works out. Sickening, I know. Oh well.

Anyway, enough about Dave. This week's a triple flashback. The first one was to close the David chapter on a good note. The next two are just because I want to.

This picture was taken at some river in Rexburg where we used to go swimming. It was way fun . . . and usually pretty cold. This was actually one of the very first "hang outs" Dave and I had together when we first met--in fact this might have been THE first offical one. We did tons of stuff like this those first few months, which contributed (wonderfully enough) to us having a lot of the same friends, mostly his old friends from high school. We've really been so lucky to have so many of the same friends for so long. Not everyone has so many really close friends as a couple. :) Anyway, fun times.

This is of our little red-headed monkey when she was only a few weeks old or so. I can't believe she was ever this little! You gotta love that "I'm about to throw up, Mom!" look that they have most of the time when you put them on their tummies--little brows furrowed like an old man, big eyes . . . most kids have that look, right??

Pregnancy Update

This morning I had to go in for an ultrasound by order of my midwife at my last appointment yesterday. Apparently I'm measuring "small," which isn't a huge surprise since that's what happened with Audrey. I did start worrying though about what COULD go wrong--low amniotic fluid, something wrong with baby, etc., etc. I went in this morning pretty chipper, despite Audrey's rough night/morning, mostly because I was excited to see the baby again.

The ultrasound looked fine, the baby is small, but that's ok still (as I've said a hundred times before, Audrey was tiny, so they'll all probably be pretty small). They say she's about 5 lb 11 oz right now. So she'll be much bigger when the time comes, no worries. BUT I totally resent the fact that they make me worry about things that I KNOW deep down are things that I don't need to worry about. Like when we were looking at the baby, the heart was beating good and strong, we could see her breathing, but we couldn't get her to wake up and move, and it was a little nerve-wracking because the lady was making such a big deal about it. The baby moves plenty! She just wasn't then, and it worried me! Frustrating. The ultrasound lady had me meet with another midwife then because she still felt the baby was too small. The midwife said they may have me do checkups more often and do some more ultrasounds. I was like, what?! It's just a little annoying. Then she was saying things like we'd have to get the baby to come early if she didn't get any bigger. Not that that would be such a horrible thing, but it's just unnecessary I think.

Don't get me wrong. I'm happy with the midwives and the offices there. They're not as good as my last experience with Audrey, but I was pretty spoiled. It's just the attitude I'm getting with this baby. Audrey was very small and would probably freak these people out, but Dr. Lovell and his staff didn't even bat an eye, and confidently assured me that everything was great--and it was, totally great. It's just a little annoying I guess. So . . . there you go. If I bounce back and forth between nonchelance and worry about how things are going, it's because I'm getting mixed signals. :p

The Walk

This past Monday Audrey and I decided to ditch our chores and get out of the house. We were just over a little sickness, so we wanted to rejuvenate ourselves by enjoying a little sunshine--although it was still pretty cold that day. We bundled up and set out to find a playground around Hasbrouck. Audrey played for a while, then decided to go exploring. I pretty much just followed her lead. She wandered all over Hasbrouck basically. It was fun to see her explore little things like sticks, puddles, snow piles, little hills. After a little while, I decided to expand her horizons a bit and take her across the street to the path by the observatory that leads down to the water. I we hadn't been down there yet and I thought it was high time.

I'm not sure what came over me. #1--we'd just been sick, so we were probably overdoing it. #2--I'm over 8 months pregnant and all that walking and all those stairs were probably just asking for trouble. #3--Audrey is nearly impossible to contain when both she and I are tired . . . and it was a long walk that was bound to start cutting into nap time. BUT despite all of this, we went ahead. We actually had a great time for most of the trip. These are some of the cute things she did:

1. She would stop and pick up all sorts of little sticks, which she called "forks" and would practice holding them in one hand. When she'd get too many to hold in one hand, she'd drop them and start looking and collecting all over again. Every now and then she'd find a big one and use it to poke stuff for a while.

2. She had her rubber boots on so I let her splash in all the puddles. She liked to stand and look at her reflection. She'd reach down and gingerly touch the water and explore what it did when she did that.

3. She stopped to pick up the littlest "rocks" (which were usually just hunks of salt on the path), then she'd squat down and examine it for a long time. When she had sufficiently checked it out, she'd pack it in her fist for a while until she found something else cool to look at.

4. She independently walked down AAAALL those stairs by herself. She did a good job. She'd even say hi to people passing us, and they of course thought that was very cute.

5. If any of you know Audrey, you're not surprised that she was totally fascinated with all the runners that passed us. She'd see them coming and stand and watch them the whole time as they passed. My favorite part of the trip was when we came to the bottom of the stairs where the rock bridge was (that was as far as we went). She noticed a whole herd of runners coming down the path on the other side toward us. There were about 8 or 9 of them. She gawked at them as they flew past us on the bridge. Then, as soon as the last runner passed, her little spirit was overcome with exhilieration and she took off running after them just as fast as she could. I wasn't nearly as fast as she was. She was acutally keeping up pretty dang well. It was a funny site seeing her little pink body (all bundled up and a little waddly) running as fast as she could like she was a part of that big group of runners. I felt like I had a little glimpse into her future. :) I had to run hard to catch her.

6. On our way back home, Audrey tried to pick up another "stick." It was acutally a whole tree . . . well a huge tree branch. I was looking down when she discovered it, and when I looked up, she had the end of this big branch and was packing it along like it was just another one of her little sticks. It was so funny. She got a little upset when I made her put it down.

7. After that, right before the tantrum started, Audrey found a much better stick and . . . a nice patch of mud. She stirred the stick around in the mud talking about how she was "cooking." To my utter surprise she lifted the end of the stick out of the mud, looked at the muddy end for a second, and stuck the clumpy end right in her mouth. I was a little but stunned for a second. I guess I just thought she was past eating "yucky" things off the floor. But I don't think she'd ever experimented with mud/dirt outside before. It occured to me that this was just a natural part of childhood--I guess we all have to be allowed to try it once, right? Anyway, I finally came to and helped her spit it out and wiped her mouth out. She had a little dirty face and a little bit of mud left in the corner of her mouth I noticed later when we got home. :) It was so funny. I guess I'd missed that when the tantrum had started.

I ended up having to practically pack her home through Hasbrouck because she was so grumpy and tired. This was a little traumatic for me because, as you can imagine, I had to go to the bathroom like crazy! However, we made it safely back home and we invited naptime with no problems. :)

Overall, it was so fun to get out of the house and see Audrey exploring things. I love her so much. Kids really do notice everything! It was rough at times, but I think well worth it. (Easy for me to say that now, but really. I'm glad I wasn't thinking clearly enough to stay at the little playground in our backyard.)

The Hair: The Rest of the Story

I think Dave has a thing about bangs. This is a fairly recent picture of Dave. Obviously he was just goofing off . . . but I'm noticing a trend here . . . Maybe he just has some deep-rooted aversion to having bangs touching his forehead. Period.


He SAYS that he wanted to see if his hairline was receeding and thats why he put the headband on. (but he has no explanation for why he was making the "blue-steel" face, except that he obviously felt pretty with the headband on.)

Ok. Ok. I should probably stop making fun of Dave. He doesnt always look funny in pictures.

Notice this picture of Dave with perfectly normal hair. Stay tuned for next Friday's flashback to see some serious proof of Dave's coolness--past and present. (And then I suppose it's my turn to let Dave drudge up all my embarrassing hair days . . . ) :(

The snow is shining and the sun is gone!

It's snowing as I type this post. Dave said the roads were pretty nasty and people were getting stuck on the hills all over the place. We're glad he made it home safely; he's glad he didn't have to spend the night at the law school. Anyway, when he got home he took some pictures of the snow . . . as if we haven't all seen a ton of it . . . It's acutally really pretty, so we wanted to post it for our distant family and friends so they can oooo and aaah at it too (although all of you have probably seen enough snow yourselves this winter, I'm sure).

Oh, and anyone who can guess what movie/movie quote I'm alluding to with my title gets extra EXTRA bonus points (and no, you won't find it by Googling it, that's for sure).

Audrey Update

I'm a little embarassed to post these because it shows how incredibly messy our livingroom was that day. But these pictures and videos show a nice overview of what it's like to wake up to the whirlwind also known as Audrey. I promise, our livingroom was clean when she woke up. But after a few minutes exploration, some Cheerios, and encouragment from an adoring daddy, she's turned it into a war zone. BUT we love her and think she's cute nonetheless.

First, she makes her way down the stairs (acutally, this picture is after a few trips up and down, which she loves to do), usually carrying a toy or book she became attached to while playing while she waited for us to come get her out of her room.

In the mornings, when we first open the door, we're usually bombarded with lots of random words--probably ones she's been practicing while she waits for us. First, she ALWAYS says "hi," so sweetly. Then it's usually something like "foot!"(pointing to foot), "nose!" (honking nose), or "EEELLLMMMOOO!" (holding up Elmo). In this particular picture I think she's just chattering to Daddy about animal sounds.

As I may have mentioned before, she loves to draw pictures. Besides wanting to watch a "boovie," read a book, or eat breakfast first thing in the morning, sometimes she brings us the Magnadoodle and wants us to draw pictures with her.

This is a picture she drew the other day. She called it "Eyes." That's it. But clearly she was already starting on the face when she decided to start over. A little creepy, yes. But it is definately a good picture of eyes.

Another daily tradition I'd like to point out is making faces. Usually we save those for night-time, after bath-time when she's still bundled up in the towel--we stand in front of the bathroom mirror and just make faces like this one we like to call "eeeeee." I think she definately looks like her Aunt Jordie when she does this for some reason . . . not that Jordie has this face all the time . . . Anyway, this particular morning, maybe just for the sake of the photo shoot, she decided to show off some of her faces.

Another face: "ooooo"


And of course, what day would not be complete at the Hunt household without a "boovie." That day it was Charolette's Web (the pig "boovie"). I usually pop the movie in so she holds still while I pounce on her to get her dressed for the day. Then I try to get the house back under control while she's quietly occupied in her 'Rella chair watching a movie. And the 'Rella chair clearly provides many options as to how one can sit in it. She loves it.

Flashback Friday: The Hair

Ok. So I thought this Friday I'd so something a little crazy and pick on Dave. In order to fully appreciate this picture, I invite you all to reread the post from November 2007 entitled "Dave Tagged." This is our very own David Mitchell Hunt as an 8th grader. Notice how the front part of his hair, where his bangs (albeit ugly 80s bangs probably) SHOULD be. Yes, the kid actually shaved his bangs off. And yes, his mother allowed there to be photographic documentation of this shameless incident. Serves him right I guess. I wonder . . . if he had known that someday his wife would be posting this on their blog, would he have still done it? It's hard to say. Happy Flashback Friday! :)

My Latest Projects: Operation "Quiet in Sacrament Meeting"

So, this was my latest big project that I just finished last week. Audrey was getting so wiggly in sacrament meeting that I had to do something. And I was anxious for another project to keep myself occupied. I "laminated" the whole thing with boxing tape because it was going to cost me a fortune to have it professionally done--(only the first few are finished in the pictures) it turned out amazingly well. And the best part was the laminating and all the little accessories I needed (the velcro dots for the animal parade and family tree, the metal rings to hold it together, and the tape) all only cost me about 6 bucks. I already had all the paper and things, and I just printed the pictures off the internet. (The super glue for the mirror and clock, the brad for the clock hands so they move, the pencil bag at the back to hold the velcro pieces, and the little mirror were things I already had too.) It's not anything too fancy, but I think Audrey will appreciate it . . . if not now, someday. I also made it so it will work with other children--I put a little mirror on the "me" part of the family tree and put "my" church book instead of "Audrey's" church book. It was actually really fun to put together, and I'm very proud of it. If any of you want to try putting one together of your own, I saved basically all the clipart things I used and I could email them to you. The funny thing about this book is it's supposed to be a "quiet" book--but I made it so that she will probably be shouting shapes and animals and things out during church. :S Oh well. At least that's better than screaming her head off and us having to take her out, right?

I also got her some little plastic animals that they sell in AC Moore in little tubes. They have all different kinds. I got her the wild ones and the farm ones and dumped them all into a gallon baggie that we keep in her diaper bag. I've used them at church and in stores and she LOVES them. And it's helping her learn her animals too.

Pregnant Pictures

Metaphors

by Sylvia Plath

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.

O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!

This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.

Money's new-minted in this fat purse.

I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.

I've eaten a bag of green apples,

Boarded the train there's no getting off.

Who am I?

Audrey's verbal skills are coming along swimmingly, but . . . she's not figured out who I am. Yes, my daughter gets everyone else right except "mommy." For example, today she handed me her binkie and the little string that attaches it to her shirt and asked me to fix it by saying, "fix?" Ok. So I fixed it. Then she held out her little hand and asked, "have?" I gave it to her. Then, as I began to beam with joy at how capable verbally she was becoming, she said "Thank you . . . Gwama." So close. Despite correction, that I was Mommy, she kept calling me Grandma. Oh well. I'm sure someday she'll get it, but it is a little sad sometimes. :(

Fashion Maven in the Making

Although Audrey has always been pretty good at putting on other people's shoes, she's finally figured out how to put her own on, and tries to all the time. She won't let anyone help her unless we're really going somewhere. She's also tried putting on (and taking off) her own pants and shirts. She's careful not to forget the finishing touches though. She's been working hard on mastering the art of getting her coat on. And she loves to brush her hair and "stick" barrettes, bows, and headbands on her head. When she's dancing in the livingroom, she likes to wear daddy's hat to get her in the groove. I'm sure we'll have many more great examples of Audrey's fashion atempts soon.

Cookie Party

This is Audrey with Mia and Miles at the Carlos' house during a playgroup. It was so fun! We decorated Valentine's Day cookies and played with all of Mia's toys. Conrad and baby Grace made it too, and all the kids had a ball. And it was great for the moms to get a chance to chat. Thanks Melissa for having such a great playgroup, delicious cookies, and timely lunch break. :)

(Is it just me or does Audrey have weird 80s bangs in these pictures? . . . )

Sippy Awareness

Just now, I did a very bad-mother thing. We walked in the door from grocery shopping and I just set Audrey down and ran upstairs to go to the bathroom. While I was up there I heard her chugging on her sippy cup . . . but then I realized I'd left a sippy cup of milk in the middle of the floor from like 5:00 this morning and we'd been gone all day and I knew the milk was bad! But I was in the bathroom and couldn't stop her! I called to her to stop, but she was just soooo thirsty and just chugged and chugged the yucky milk. Finally, I hurried down and took it from her. Once it hit her what she'd just drank she gagged a lot. Luckly she didn't throw up. I smelled the milk as I cleaned out the cup and it wasn't TOO bad, but it was still definately not good to drink. Oh, I felt sooo bad!! She was afraid to take the sippy when I refilled it with good milk. :( She's ok now, but it's times like that when you reall feel like an aweful mother. So, the moral of my story is this . . . make sure you maintain strict sippy awareness to avoid feeling like a huge jerk.

Flashback Friday (a little late): Girls' Camp

This is me, Crystal, with my friends at girls' camp when I was about 16. I'd just got out of the pool obviously. I don't know how girls' camp might have been for you guys (uh, girls), but ours was cushy. We had great food, a nice pool, nice cabins and bathrooms, and tons of fun things to do. It was always a blast. This was my last year there. I think girls' camp ingrained in me that understanding that women need women. Thinking back on those years, I see those same feelings reflected in Relief Society. I'm still in contact with a lot of these girls, and I love them so much. It's been fun to see them get married, or go on missions, or have kids, all sorts of things. I'm just thankful that I have been blessed to have such close friendships with so many amazing women throughout my life--and girls' camp was really the beginning of that (as a little girl all my best friends were little boys). Anyway, thanks Natalie for this idea of Flashback Fridays. It's really refreshing! :)

If I suddenly got rich . . .

I don't know why people muse on this, but you have to admit, it is fun to muse on. If I suddenly received a large sum of money, what would I do with it? A lot of people give the same answers. "I'd buy a new car." "I'd buy a new house." "I'd donate to charity." "I'd buy my friends and family gifts." "I'd travel." "I'd get a jet, a yacht, a maid." "I'd buy a new wardrobe." But what would you REALLY do with it? This is what I think I would do (after paying tithing):

#1. I'd go out with Dave on a really great date. I'd buy a reall great new outfit for the night. We'd have dinner at a really good classy restaurant (classy yet somewhere we wouldn't feel out of place wearing jeans). After dinner we'd go to a concert--front row seats, some one really fun like Michael Jackson. We'd take lots of pictures, save our ticket stubs, get souvenire t-shirts, and just make a really great memory.

#2. We'd give our children a memory too. We'd probably take them on a trip to Disneyland and take TONS of pictures, take a week or so, help them meet all the characters, take it easy so we don't all get worn out, and get them a really great souvenire to remember it. (This one might have to happen later in their lives so they can thoroughly enjoy it.) OR we'd do something like rent a cabin or condo on some lake for a week or two and fish and swim and hike and play games and just have some really great family time (that one actually sounds more fun than Disneyland now that I mention it). And then we might buy them a fun new toy like a swingset or something.

#3. We'd ask each of our family members to name one thing they'd really love to have (within reason, no yachts) and take everyone on a big family cruise and present everyone with their gifts afterwards at a big, fun family dinner. When I say family I mean our immediate families and spouses (that's still a lot of people). We'd take tons of pictures again of course and just enjoy each others' company. Lucky for us we don't have issues with any of our family members, and we completely enjoy spending time with them all. We'd love nothing more than to see them all having a great time and taking a break from all of their busy lives. They all work so hard and have been so wonderful to us that they definately deserve to be pampered.

#4. Pay off debts, buy a new car, buy a new house, save for college and mission funds, invest and save for retirement, and be grateful for our good fortune. This is the part that everyone probably intends to do. It's the part that basically means setting yourself up for future security and happiness.

I'm curious to hear what you would all do. This was just a fun little writing excercise I wanted to do; I have a whole big list of journaling ideas that I'm dying to try out--so if you see a lot more posts about random things like this, that's why. :)

A New Post, Finally

I'm writing this because a) I'm bored, b) I haven't posted in a while, c) there's stuff to write about, and d) I can't sleep, which you could probably categorize with "I'm bored." So, right now David is in Phoenix in the warm, sunny sunshine. Yes, I know it's Valentine's Day. No, I'm not upset. Last night Dave, Audrey, and I went out to dinner and had a great time. And today I went shopping and treated myself to a Gertrude Hawk chocolate bar and a new pink bag despite the fact that I'm on bag buying parole. Oh well. It was a great day. This morning was playgroup (as many of you know). Oh wait, I have to back up. This morning at 5 am (which comes very early when you go to bed at 2:30) Audrey and I drove Dave to the airport. It was snowing a lot. I bumped fenders with someone in the parking lot when I was backing out (yes, I'm confessing this online) though no harm was done. We made it there and back in safety. Audrey was a good girl. We got home and both of us finally fell asleep at about 6:30. We slept in until about 10:30, barely put ourselves together (we looked like a couple of hoodlums), and made it to playgroup by 11:30. We had lots of fun. Then we went shopping with Dana and Devon! Yay! Then we hung out, I finished the little quiet book I've been working on for Audrey, and cleaned my house. That's about all.

So, here are some of the funny things Audrey's done today. She was reading The Monster at the End of this Book, the one with Grover, and every time she turned a page she'd yell "OH! PAGE!" Like Mommy and Daddy do when we read it to her. :) It was hilarious. And then she sang the whole Winnie the Pooh song while she read the Winnie the Pooh book. Well, it sounded a little like the Winnie the Pooh song, but I could only decipher a few words like "Pooh," "Eyeore," "honey" (which isn't actually in the song), and "Owl." I thought she did well. :) Then we webcamed with Grammie and Granpie in Missouri. That was fun. She did cute things and talked on the phone with them. That's about all.

This is Audrey's picture of Jesus . . . notice the beard.
So, I've had a few things on my mind lately. Dun, dun, dun. First of all, why do I only talk about myself when I'm with my friends?? That and how tall Audrey is. Who cares how tall she is? We can all see she's tall! I feel like I've lost my gift for questioning. I enjoyed conversations much more when I could just listen and add input ONLY when it was completely relevant and when I was asked--I'd much rather hear about other people. Instead, I sound like a broken record all the time it seems. So, if you're one of those friends whose thought, "geez, won't she just talk about something else?!" I'm sorry. I'll do better next time.
Another thing I've been thinking about is being decisive. I used to be that too. And now I hem and haw like tomorrow isn't coming and I've got the time to kill! Probably makes people want to shoot themselves in the foot! For crying out loud! If you don't want to do something, say it! If you want to, do it! It's simple as that, but I can't seem to grasp that concept lately. Then again, I sorta have on a personal level. I've taken the bull by the horns in lots of goals I've set for myself, as I've mentioned before--finishing Audrey's church book in time for this Sunday being one of them. Not buying anymore purses not being one of them. :) Anyway, I'm very frustrating to myself lately, as you can see.
I think my little plan worked, because now I'm getting tired. I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day. :)

La Biblioteca

We FINALLY went to the Ithaca library this past week. And it's awesome. I just love libraries. I love books. I've been really frustrated with my reading experiences lately, so for the first time in my entire life, I'm actually a little bit leery of reading. Ah, but that library is such a wonderful, magical place! And books are so inviting and cozy and special to me that I can't resist. So, I'll just read like Audrey and rush from book to book to book reading the first page, and if I don't LOVE it, I'll toss it aside and go for the next one . . . because there are SO MANY BOOKS. And I'm sure to stumble upon the right book for the right mood at the right time. Good thing I don't mind all that extra time spent at such a great library. :) (Ok, maybe it's because I've always lived in small towns that I'm so gaga over this bigger, fancier library.) Anyway, let this be my plug to check out your friendly neighborhood library today. :D

How to make it feel like summer

I hope this little list helps anyone who might be really getting tired of this dreary Ithaca winter. I know it helps me. I'll admit, I haven't done everything on this little list, but I've done a lot of these things--and on those really rough days, doing them all at once is a sure cure. :)

#1. Cut green onions. Where I'm from (rural Missouri) in the summertime, the outside smells like freshly chopped green onions bascially all the time. It's wonderful. Try adding green onions on burritos instead of regular onions, or chop them to throw into a soup.

#2. Make Kool-Aid. What kid didn't grow up with a permanent red mustache? Ok, well, some kids didn't. But the smell of chilled strawberry kool-aid reminds me every time of cooling off on a hot summer day. Personally, I don't really like how sweet kool-aid is, so kiwi-strawberry Crystal Light works just as well for me.

#3. Cook up some burgers. I don't know why, but a lot of people just don't think to cook these classic summer-backyard-BBQ specialties in the wintertime. Nothing beats a homecooked cheese burger with all the trimming to remind you of a 4th of July picnic feast. To add to the effect, throw in potato salad, potato chips, baked beans, jello, and all those other things you always see at the picnic table--then invite some friends and you're set.

#4. Put on some sunscreen. The smell of sunscreen is one of my favorites. I think it's that Banana Boat coconut smell that I like so much. Since there is sometimes sun in the winter and sunscreen probably doesn't cause cancer, it won't hurt to throw a bit on your nose in the wintertime.

#5. Use a beach towel. Replace those boring, regular bathroom towels for a few bright and sunny beach towels. Besides reminding you of summers spent by the pool, they're usually bigger than regular towels and much easier to use.

#6. Listen to The Beach Boys. You're probably not going to be doing a lot of surfing in Ithaca, and a trip to Kokomo is pretty pricy nowadays, but listening to these guys definately can make you feel like it's a bright sunny day, the waves are perfect, your board is waxed and ready to go, and you've got nothing better to do but work on your tan.

#7. Plan a dream beach vacation. Dave and I have been wanting to go on a beach vacation, so we really have been planning . . . but I can certainly vouch for the fact that after looking at so many resorts and beaches and warm-weather touristy things, you really feel like you're there. In fact, when we were doing our most intense planning, I went to bed each night dreaming about strolling on sandy white beaches despite the fact that Ithaca was in the middle of a snow storm.