Happy Birthday Wes

Since I just did a tribute to Wes' brother, perhaps I should now take the time to wish Wes a Happy Magic Birthday. It's his 31st birthday on the 31st of March, that's why it's magic. May the party never end.

For more great pictures of Wes, might I refer you to my sister's blog http://lancealaynaaz.blogspot.com/

IHEARTJACOB

The end is coming. Jacob is the 18 y/o baby of Wes' family, about to graduate high school, go to Snow for a semester then leave on a mission.

Let me take you back a few years to when I met Jacob. He was probably about 10 or 11 y/o and the most annoying chatter box I'd ever met. And I'll admit I was openly as mean to him as I would be to my own brother. All in my misguided attempt to correct what I viewed as his social backwardness. A few examples of this besides that he talked more than I do: we would play games and he wouldn't play to win, but to keep others from winning; or he would make up jokes like, "OK, so the pope, a rabbi and Pres. Hinckley all got on a plane..."; or at 12 couldn't get himself a bowl of cereal on his own and memorized the song and dance at the end of Shrek; last of all singing Lovely Ladies from Les Miserables and not knowing what he was singing about, when I told him it was about prostitutes he asked what that was.

But in the last couple years he has really come into his own, and I find myself on the way home from some family event saying, "Jacob is really turning into a cool kid that I like to hang out with." He's really smart, he's had sex ed so now we can say lewd things around him and he gets it, he plays to win, he has a job, can drive, has a plan, he's a fabulous uncle, a good-looking dating machine who is so sensitive and always thinking of others, but a disturbing dancer.

I really am going to miss having someone to tease about their prom date, and how he was almost not VL anymore, but she was a really good hugger. (Apparently she have him all the signs that would lead up to a doorway kiss, but it didn't happen.) I do love watching him blush as the whole family is trying to extract the juicy details. I'm just saying that I'm going to miss the days of having a sibling (in-law) who is almost not VL and all of the fun that that entails.

I love Jacob and I think he's turned into an amazing, smart and handsome young man (when he finishes growing into his arms, hands and feet and is taller than his brothers). And I'm looking forward to the day when he's not VL (and I have the whole story of how it happened), because that means that he met someone as cool as he is.

Who's Your Daddy?

I decided to take my own advise and repost this. Wes loves his son and really is a good dad.

It's just whenever there's a camera around everyone who doesn't live with Dylan ends up with him.

Release Me!!

I give up. I think the YW are suffering under my reign. Attendance and accountability have fallen to an all time low since I was put in as music director 4 years ago. As second counselor I just did what the president said. Now I'm the one who's supposed to know what to do. This must be that situation where the results of what I'm doing won't show up for years to come, once I'm long gone.

This comes from a situation that occurred on Sunday. I needed to get a count for the stake of how many girls planned on coming to the dinner prior to YW General Conference this Saturday. Complete silence. You could have heard the crickets chirping in the background. I was astounded that not one girl raised her hand. Where are the priorities??!! A couple of the comments I heard were "if I remember", "I've never watched Conference in my life, and I"m just fine." As far as the "if I remember" comment goes, that's laughable. There have been a couple of Saturday events this month where all of the YW conveniently forgot. Anyway, today I wrote a letter to all of the moms about what happened on Sunday to see if they could get their girls to come. But in my pessimism this is a long shot. The parents are 1/2 the problem being equally as inactive and irresponsible. And yet I've had some come to me with concerns about their girls not coming when they never come. I also sent them a copy of the activities for next month. I'm tired of being the parent. There are about 10 families in this ward who hold all of the positions of responsibility, and for the most part they are not the long time residents but the younger move ins like us. It's so frustrating. I work with amazing women with great ideas, but our guilt trips and reminders make no difference in increasing the level of responsibility in these girls. I hope our push to make them more responsible for their activities and class presidencies goes better than getting them to do the basic things their supposed to. I have my doubts.

On a happier note...look how cute my kid is on his 1st Easter Egg Hunt in his "My 1st Easter" shirt.

Happy Easter

Layna- Happy Easter. I love you and miss you so much.

Baby Update for the Fam

Dylan is over 12lbs now and has lost his neck somewhere between his cheeks and shoulders. In the last week he's started making his little baby noises like he's having a conversation with you. He's also started pushing all the way up on his hands when he's on his tummy, not just lifting his head. He has slept for 6 hours the last couple of nights. I just wish it was something like 10-4 instead of 8-2.

I also started working again last week, and it's a hard thing. Even though it's chaotic, I really do love being a physical therapist. I have an awesome job where I usually work less than a week/month. So this month I worked an equivalent of 3 days. Next month a day and a half. And I really appreciate grandparent babysitters. The thing I really don't like is the, so you're taking him and I'm picking him up, is his diaper bag packed, so we'll switch the car seat at noon.

We had another first today. Dylan went on his 1st motorcycle ride. The really scary part of all of this is: 1st Evan went into 4th gear; and 2nd the faster he went, the bigger he smiled. I'm in trouble when he gets older. Fear not, I'm not too irresponsible. I won't take him water skiing or probably knee boarding 1st, until next year.

Anyway, his smiles crack me up. For those who haven't put it together yet, his initials are DVS. And he has a very devious smile that lifts one side 1st. It can even break through Wes' hardened exterior. He does it most often when you're feeding him, and it means he probably won't finish eating and will be hungry again in an hour and a half. It's tough to decide whether it's funny or frustrating. I guess that would depend on when you asked me.

Last thing is Wes was joking that he's a genius baby because he could sit up. Truthfully, it's falling with style.

Hair

I am a vain person and I love my hair. That's not the only thing I love about me, so it's rare for me to look at someone else and think "I wish I had their___." Well actually long legs comes to mind. I do wish I had longer legs, but I digress. I spend a junk load of money on my hair and consequently hair products. Wes I think pretends that I don't because he just wants me to cut it all off. Anyway, I'd like to do a little hair products review, because I've recently found some pretty great stuff.

Top of the list is BioSilk. I put this on after I blow dry but before I flat iron when I do flat iron. It makes your hair smell like you just stepped out of the salon, and it's so touchably soft I can't keep my hands out of my own hair. Also helps a lot with the smooth and shiny aspect. I used to use Chi before I flat ironed and it made my hair very shiny, but crunchier and I don't love the way it smelled. Chi is still a very good product though.

Next, Dikson shampoo. This stuff is great. If you are a Pureology fan you would like this and it's $11/bottle instead of $25. It still smells good and does a great job, especially if you have really dry hair like mine. I also found out that you shouldn't buy the big bottle because it has protein in it and it can go bad over time. This was important for me to know because it takes me months to finish a bottle of shampoo, because I only wash my hair 1-2x's/week. I do still use a Pureology serum of some type as a heat protector before I blow dry my hair. I used to use this stuff called Phyto, but it is packaged ridiculously and it doesn't smell all that great even though it does a good job. At this point I would call it pretentious shampoo.

As far as conditioners go, I do still have some Phyto left and it's decent. Again it doesn't smell great. What I like more is this Herblean Pack it's green and has that clear your nostrils smell to it. I love that. It's also super moisturizing, my hair just soaks it up. I'll be looking for something to replace the Phyto soon, so let me know if you have any suggestions. Otherwise, I leave myself to those wonderful girls at GotBeauty for their recommendations. I'm such a sucker and I buy anything they say, but I'm usually happy that I did.

To finish on a product note, I already mentioned my Pureology serum. When I let my hair curl (aka I'm too lazy to blow dry it) some Curls Rock by Catwalk works really well. It keeps the frizz to a minimum. Occasionally, I'll help it out with a little Bed Head Manipulator. That hearkens back to my short hair days when Manipulator ruled my world. What I'm looking forward to trying out this summer is Bumble and Bumble's Surf Spray. It should really help when I'm water skiing all the time so I don't have to style my hair. It's supposed to give you the ocean hair look, which will hopefully work with my curl. I'll let you know about that one later. I think I have a sickness that I love hair products so much.

Boycotts

Since I married Wes I have joined his world of boycotts, as though the stores we're on the outs with will miss our business. I guess it becomes more effective when we share our problems with the evil conglomerates with the rest of the world.

1st Blockbuster: this one is really Wes'. Something about unreasonable late fees. But I am grateful for Redbox. After years of not renting movies, we're back in the game.

2nd Motherhood Maternity: these people are truly evil. And the lady that works at the Fashion Place location is very snippy. So first of all they don't carry all sizes. This is my main complaint. The snippy lady said it's because people wanted to return them because they grew out of them. Well for their information, I never grew into their smalls even 9 months pregnant. So what about the little people?! Doesn't anybody care?! Secondly, I don't know who designs their clothes, but have they looked into modern fashion? I know they've come a long way from the tents that our moms wore, but does everything have to have a bow that ties around your back. Sometimes they would have a bow in front and it tied in the back. Now that's just silly. Anyway, their lack of smaller sizes and ridiculous bows really limited my maternity wardrobe. Old Navy was my life saver. Also, I went back there to buy a nursing bra and again they don't carry smaller sizes. I may think I'm large from what I used to be, but I'm no 46H. Any small chested nursing mothers should check out this store on 9400 S and 700 E. lots of sizes and very helpful.

3rd Eddie Bauer: This one goes back to a few years ago when I was looking for a jean skirt. I don't normally shop at Eddie Bauer, but I thought "What the hey, maybe they'll have something." Again they don't carry anything smaller than a 4. How rude is that?!! I'm tired of size discrimination. So they made my boycott list meaning anything that says Eddie Bauer on it is forbidden. This includes all their baby gear. So eat it Eddie Bauer! I found a skirt at Express on sale for $6 because they make sizes for everyone.

As far as our celebrity boycotts, Wes is stingier than I am. He avoids Adam Sandler and Chris Farley types and I think their hilarious. We agree on Ben Affleck, because he's been retarded since JLo. Who believes he can save the planet. The only good thing he's ever done is Armageddon and it's mostly Bruce Willis who saves that one. Sheryl Crow is out since she used an award show to state her political beliefs and she ruined Lance Armstrong. I think that if you have that much money, call a press conference and tell the world what you think. Don't try to slip it in while you're supposed to be reading who's up for best ____. Cameron Diaz is just annoying, and not so attractive as most people think. I would avoid Nicolas Cage like the plague if I could get away with it. But sometimes if I want to go out with my husband I have to deal with his lack of personality. He just looks and talks like the elevator doesn't go all the way to the top. We listen to country music and the Dixie Chicks apparently forgot what gun-toting-red-white-and blue genre they're in. So I was forced to walk out of their concert. Those are all I can think of right now. Really it's the stores that fire me up.

Fears

My brother-in-law has crazy fears, such as being sucked to the bottom of the ocean so fast that everything implodes due to the pressure before you pass out. Really what are the chances of this happening? I went parasailing with him last year and we had to have an emergency plan of escape should we actually touch the water.

I have a fear of cliff jumping. This is something that I used to do frequently, from insane heights when I was immortal. Now I'm afraid that as I get to the edge of the rock to push off, my wet foot is going to slip, I'll hit my head on the rock, then fall unconscious to the water and break my spine.

I'm also afraid of aspen groves at night. I love to go camping, but I can't look into the trees once the sun goes down because my imagination is out of control. I can see people coming toward me, slinking from tree to tree. Like some urban legend ax murder. It freaks me out pretty bad.

Tomorrow, I'll talk to an adult and expose my oddities to the world less.

Rock'n'Roll Lifestyle

I saw a music video the other day with Lenny Kravitz, and I thought now there's a rock star. He has the guitar, the look, and the sound. Few people can actually make nose rings look hot. That's his look. Weezer on the other hand they have the thick, black glasses. That's their look. The Chili Peppers don't wear clothes, Bono always wears sunglasses, and so on. David Bowie found his alter-ego in Ziggy Stardust. I'm working on my alter-ego.

My mom bought Rock Band for the family for Christmas. My brother, Wes and I have made it to the world tour. A couple weeks ago, I felt the need to bust out of the roll of mild-mannered-mommy(some people may feel I haven't begun to fill this roll). I went through my brother's closet (he has more clothes than I do), and came across a robe that he never wore on his mission (because he didn't take it with him). I decided that with this robe I would let loose the inner rock star. I don't have David Bowie's tailor, so my brother's robe it is.

I'm still undecided about naming my alter-ego. As I pointed out, lots of people have a hook without actually naming it. I thing that Robe-Girl isn't quite edgy enough. When really I think it's just my natural persona, pre-baby. Pregnancy has just kept me subdued for too long.

Rock on Driftwood!!! (that's the name of our band)

Gettin' Antsy

Every day the sun shines I want to water ski. I hope this makes the rest of my family want to cry as much as it does me. Remember how it feels, Dad, to ski on that glass, to cut as far as your own strength will let you? Red rocks, blue sky, smooth, warm water, and beautiful sunsets. We should know because we're always out until the sun goes down.

If this video is too slow, check it out on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/andyjill19

Dylan's Blessing/I'm camera illiterate

Well the blessing was really great. I don't know what else to say. Wes bore my testimony for me, so that was convenient. Laura made his cute little outfit and my mom make the blanket. Good party, lots of food left over. Come over to my house all this week for sandwiches. And I'm noticing in these pictures, that Dylan's faux-hawk is a little off center.

Evan (my brother) and I have been getting a little anxious for water skiing. We realize that it just snowed a couple days ago, but we're starting to talk pretty seriously about investing in a dry suit. Evan was also having fun playing dress up with Dylan yesterday and wanted to try his life jacket on him...just to get him prepared for boating. We've also been discussing his first motorcycle ride, which is getting even more tempting as it's getting warmer.

So if you noticed that some of these pictures are a little blurry, you should know that these are the best of the dozens that I took. I can't hold still enough to take a really clear picture. But I'm resolved to practice so that my pictures are clearer in the future. Some of the pictures I like to think are just artistic without a clear edge.