Something to Write About

The last week or so has been really weird. I got really overwhelmed with life for a little bit, and I think I crashed down a little. I've watched way too much TV, eaten little food besides chips and pretzels (besides Thanksgiving of course), and have just felt tired and unable to deal with life. My desire to be productive has only been because I know I should be productive, not because I really want to. And for some reason I have really wanted to blog. But since I haven't been doing anything, there really isn't anything to blog about.

So here is my Catching Fire review! Todd and I saw it today. It is fun because we dropped Lila off at my sister Anna's house so we could go out and see it, and now we are chilling here while she and her husband Will see the very same movie! Way to go for kid swaps. We clearly got the better shift though, cause the kids just want to watch a move and go to bed. When we got back the kids were still full of energy and running around crazy! Thanks so much to Anna and Will for dealing with the chillins.

Anyway, I was very impressed with the movie. Since I haven't read the books, I was really confused about how so many main characters were going to stay alive with another round of the games including so many of them. Well, I did very much enjoy the movie. I thought it moved well and showed most of the important parts of the story (since I haven't read the books I gauged this by how well I understood what was going on). I really liked Jennifer Lawrence and thought she did a great job. The makeup and costumes were really interesting too. It left me pretty excited for the next movie.

It was fun, and a nice chance to get out with Todd. I'm glad we planned this little exchange.

Thirty

Poor Todd. Hit his first big age of oldness. It's ok, as we get older we will realize that 30 is actually not that old. And I think it was a birthday to remember! Besides the fact that we spent the first 6 1/2 hours of the day at school, it was great. When we got home we opened presents with Lila. Todd got the new ipad air and a case to go with it. It was funny because I had picked out a case and ordered it for him, thinking all was well. Two days later, he told me he had found the case he wanted, and that I should get it for him. Well guess what? It was the same one! It wouldn't have arrived in time when he asked me to get it so he was pretty surprised when he opened it on his birthday.

And of course, he opened his big surprise gift from me. I took the video, and a few moments into it realized it would be much better to have the ipad landscape. So, unfortunately, most of it is sideways. I'm not smart enough to fix it so here you go.

I had gotten together several pictures and trinkets from his mission and got a shadow box made. Thanks to my sister-in-law Stephanie, I was able to get his mission tag in there. It wouldn't have been complete without it! I put it up with some other pictures and items from his mission. As Todd spent a few minutes taking everything in, he even got a little teary eyed. He was already making plans for putting some other things on the wall with it to make the whole display complete. It has been fun the past few days to watch him stop to look at everything again. I think one of his favorite things is that I set his watch to Italy time. Sometimes he looks at what time it is and says something silly like we should be in bed because it's 2 am! The whole thing turned out great.

After presents we drove up to my grandparent's house and dropped Lila off so we could go out to eat in peace. We went to our favorite place: the India Palace. Soooo good. We always love it.

Yes I know I look awkward in this picture. Oh well.

Then we picked up Lila and headed up to Anna and Will's to drop her off yet again. I know, we pretty much spent the whole day without her. But at least we spent some quality time in between places. Anyway, Todd didn't know what we were going to do. I told him on the way to the Heath's that the thing we were doing was at the Gateway, which didn't give him much. We parked and walked to the mall, and found the store. We walked in, and a nice lady asked us if we were there for the class. And the answer was yes we were! The place is called Rocky Mountain Olive Oil Co. We had a nice class full of learning about olive oil, its history, chemistry, fraud in the industry, and just basics of how it's made, etc. Todd loved it!!! I was so glad, I had been worried that he would have been upset to go to a class after a day of school. But it turned out great. At the end of the class we got to taste a bunch of olive oils and balsamic vinegars. If anyone knows me, it is not really my kind of thing to do, but I did it for the sake of the birthday boy. But he did try more than I did. We each got to pick our favorite olive oil to bring a bottle home. I picked a nice mild fruity flavor kind, and Todd picked a more intense grass flavored kind (not added flavor, just the natural flavors that come through from using different olives). It was a great night! When we got home we put Lila to bed and watched some TV together.

Happy birthday Todd!

Ask, But Ye Shall Not Receive

Todd's birthday is coming up. I have been thinking about what to do for it for quite a while now. Birthdays are very big to him, he is a big believer in really celebrating holidays (the ones he deems to be important). It is also important to him to celebrate on the actual day. So I have been trying to figure out what to do. We have a history of planning all out jam-packed birthdays for each other with wonderful food and activities. It hasn't been quite as extravagant since Lila came along, but I still wanted to make this year great for Todd's big three-oh.

I ended up doing a gift instead of a whole day of activities. I have been really excited for it. Last week I finally burst and started telling everyone I know because it is just so exciting! With this extra excitement I also have a little worry that Todd won't think it is as great as I think it is but... I try not to think about that.

So I wanted to wrap it in a fun way to tempt Todd and pique his interest. My friend Christina helped me out last night. Here it is:

In case you are now interested as well, here are some of the things Todd has asked me about it:

Q: Will it stay on the wall after I open it?
A: No comment.

Q: Is it a dead body?
A. No!

Q: Was it very expensive?
A: No comment.

Q: Have you ever mentioned it to me before?
A: Nope! I have been very good about this secret.

Q: Do I know anything about it?
A: I got the idea from something you said a while ago.

Q: How long ago?
A: No comment.

Q: Who helped you with it?
A: No comment.

I think of it now as my caterpillar just waiting for its grand entrance into the world as a beautiful butterfly on Todd's birthday. Can you guess what it is? (And fyi, Todd does read this so if you know you better not give me away!)

Lila Says

People still occasionally ask me if Lila can speak in full sentences. So for a little while I thought I would document a few of the things she says. I wish this print could convey the adorable inflections of her voice as she speaks. However, you will just have to use your imagination. And for your pleasure, I have included a video at the end demonstrating her conversation skills.

Lila: "You need get me to the temple-- I get married!"
Me: You should go tell daddy that, he will be so happy!"
Lila: "Daddy, I getting married!"
Todd raises his eyebrows.
Me: "Tell him where"
Lila: "In the temple!"
Todd: "Oh, good!"

Lila: "Shhh! Don't wake up daddy, momma. We need a stay shhhh."

Lila: "s-eight momma! Check it out!"

Todd: "Lila, should I put Grandma in time out?"
Lila: "No! She don't wanna be naughty, daddy!"

Me: "Lila, how should we do your hair today?"
Lila: "Mom, Dad. I want some curlies!"

At church Lila laid down with her head on my lap, so I started scratching her back.
Lila: "Why you scratching my dress mommy, because you love me?"
Me: nods
Lila: "I love you too mommy."

While changing into jammies:

Lila: "I am naked!" starts marching in place with a grunt. "I'm a giant!" After her shirt and pull up are on, "I'm not a giant anymore."

Lila: "I wanna eat some food. How bout cheesa pasta. We don't have any cheesa pasta in the fridge. Please make some?"

Here is the video. This conversation had already been going on for about 10 minutes, but you don't really miss anything by missing the beginning. It was a very cyclical conversation. We had driven to Todd's work to pick up his pay stubs. Whenever we talk about why daddy is at work I tell her it is to get money for us. So she was pretty excited to finally see the fruit of his labors.

A few minutes later, she showed me where she had put our money.

The Purple Witch Strikes Again

This was a pretty great Halloween. Lila got all dressed up again, and we went to visit Grandma Lila. They ended up going trick-or-treating together. I felt a little guilty about being the primary president and not handing out candy to the kids in my own ward that probably expected to see me, but in the end it was worth it. It was so fun to see how proud my grandma looked when people recognized that Lila was named after her. I sure love these two ladies.

Don't mind me...

This dog is the reason the previous picture didn't turn out so well.

After we left my grandparent's, we went down to my parent's house for some KFC! My favorite Halloween tradition. I don't know why. It is just fun to have a tradition I guess. And I simply LOVE their gravy. Mmmmmm. We watched a short movie with my dad called "Mummy Daddy." My dad loves it and watches it every year. It is a pretty silly show, it made me laugh a few times. Then we went to our friends Alex and Christina's house for a little Halloween party. We ate mummy hot dogs, visited, and played a game. There was one other couple there (total of 6 adults) and we are the only one with a kid. So she got some screen time in the corner as we played our game. Don't judge. And I sometimes love the ipad.