The moment you've all been waiting for...

I know you have all been on the edge of your seat waiting for what I would say about Bumble&Bumble Surf Spray.

Since I've spent the last 2 1/2 weeks in and out of the water I finally decided to invest in this product, because blow drying my hair takes an insane amount of time that I'd rather spend doing other things. Mostly it's a practice of futility since I'll just be in the lake or the pool within another 12 hours.

So it's not everything I've ever dreamed of. It doesn't work the best when your hair is sopping wet right out of the shower, and by the time my hair is slightly dry is incredibly frizzy. It does add a little shine, I like the way it smells. It's a small bottle (for $20) and you can't tell how much you have because it's black. I feel like I have to use a lot to get it all over (not because my hair is incredibly thick, just because I have a lot of it) and try to control the frizz. I feel like I would give it a C+ish. It make work better if your hair is straighter.

Let's talk about Summertime Andrea's look. It's no makeup except for mascara on Sundays, that's also the only day I wash and fix my hair usually, otherwise it's shorts, t-shirt and whatever. Wes prefers the low maintenance look of Summertime Andrea to Wintertime Andrea's full makeup, hair, and clothes. What Wes would really prefer is if All-year Andrea cut off all of her hair and threw away all of her makeup. So I have to wonder if Wes' beard that I hate so much is in protest to the hair...

Dylan's favorite styling product for his ever decreasing amount of hair...sunblock. The old faux-hawk used to be all natural.

I'm back (temporarily)

So, I don't have any pictures from Lake Powell yet, but here's a little Dylan update. First this is a picture of him with his cousin Staley at East Canyon.

He has 7 teeth!!! Ridiculous. He's super healthy at his 6 month check up, still 90-95th percentile on everything. As you can see he's doing well with his motor skills. The pediatrician said baby-proof now. He's telling you that he'll be into everything. How right she was. He's starting to say "mama", but he doesn't' really mean it. If you hear it enough you're bound to parrot it, right. He's weaned and starting solids. He loves to eat, and picked it up without any problems. I should say no problems with cereal. You can see his opinion of squash. We just started vegetables thanks to a generous food donation by Ruth.He's really a happy kid pretty much all the time, even when he sleeps.

Happy Birthday, Mommy

I hope that I look as fabulous as you in 30 years. I'm really glad you're my mom.

The Pork-laden Farm Bill

I read political papers while at work and this really bothered me...

Last week congress passed a $307 billion farm bill that continues traditional farm subsidies and for the first time is including fruit and vegetable growers to the cotton and grain growers...so not only are we going to continue to pay people to not grow the food that we don't have, we're going to pay more people to not grow food. These congress-folk have apparently not gone to the grocery store lately to see how much we're paying for some of the staples of life.

And just because they always throw in random crap...$10 billion to protect some woodpecker in Georgia, and a tax break to race horse owners. That's just a stupid waste of money. Way to go congress, most people are feeling the hurt when going to the grocery store and gas station. Their really representing.

I understand that Pres. Bush vetoed this bill. And you all thought he was useless.

Do you agree?

I saw this quiz on a friend's post, so I took it because I love Jane Austen. But I don't know if I agree. I've always viewed Emma as a meddler. I don't know maybe I'm a meddler. Then again I'm surprised to have any Jane Bennet at all. She's way nicer than I could ever dream to be. And Erin I'm sorry for criticizing you for having any Lady Catherine, I guess I'm a bigger jerk than you.

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=41259
Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!!
You scored as a Emma Woodhouse

Emma is possibly one of the most loyal characters of Austen, always wanting better for those around her and doing all she possibly can to make it happen. Her motives sometimes get in the way of her good intentions and her own opinions can end up ruling her actions, but she has a good heart. She loves to be social and is welcoming to most, unless they are too silly to tolerate. While she sometimes changes her behavior to make others feel comfortable, she knows who she is and is always bettering herself.

Emma Woodhouse 78%
Elizabeth Bennet 50%
Marianne Dashwood 50%
Elinor Dashwood 44%
Jane Bennet 41%
Lady Catherine 34%
Charlotte Lucas 28%

Boy or Girl?

Does anyone else feel that their child innately looks like the sex they are? Or are there people out there who think their kids look homogeneous? Kinda like they could go either way? Dylan was in the sling the other day and someone asked me "boy or girl?" And I just thought, "Isn't it obvious?"

On the other hand I took my niece out to dinner with us once and she was wearing pink pants and a flower shirt, and the server still referred to her as a boy (sorry Missy). I don't live in the world of The Office where I dress my boy up in pink because it's his favorite color. OK, but I like pink and I would put him in pink because I think that his masculinity would shine through. Now I'm just spinning circles.

I just think that my boy has looked like a boy from the beginning.

Miscellaneous Stories

AZ trip
We (my brother, Dylan and I, Wes went to CA) went to Scottsdale, AZ for Memorial Day to see our sister(s). Which was kind of a moot point because they had been up here the whole week before for our grandma's funeral. We went to a party at my cousin DeDee's house, Dylan met his cousin Kira. My 1 complaint was that it wasn't very warm, which quashed my plans of hanging out by the pool.


Horse
We picked up our loaner horse on Saturday. If you want to know more of that story take a look at Wes' blog. http://ptsoft.blogspot.com/2008/05/dealers-in-horse-flesh.html

So, initially my grandpa wanted to drive because we've never pulled his horse trailer. I was nervous about that because I've seen him hit 2 parked cars in as many minutes. Luckily, my dad talked him out of it, but in the end he still wanted to go along for the ride. She was up in Farmington and by the time we got her home she had scraped her chest up against the manger in the trailer enough to take off a bit of skin. This only added to her already ragged look. She apparently once had a long, beautiful tail, but we were told that she laid down in some water up in Idaho and didn't stand up until it had frozen. Thereby tearing off her tail up to the bone. And another horse had picked on her so she's a little beat up. She has cloudy eye and her hooves have seen better days. Hopefully she'll start looking better with a little love. Anyway, my grandma's horse Joe was really excited to have a new friend. He's a pretty good prancer for a 24 y/o with a lame leg. He gets very anxious if she goes too far from the fence that's separating them, and calls her back.

Today I went over to spend some time with Muffins (our loaner mare). I groomed her, walked and talked with her, led her around on the halter and even lunged her a little just on the lead rope to see how obedient she was. Hypothetically this horse is broke and trained and I was told I could ride her. So I saddled her up and got on. That was quite a bit of air that horse was getting between raring and bucking. Needless to say, I ended up on the ground. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about getting on her again. So I put her on the lunge line with all of her tack still on her, and we worked for probably an hour before she was even kind of listening to my commands. Even then she freaked out and got away from me twice. She let me catch her again really easy after running to the other end of the pasture. The rope burn on my hand from her getting away, hurts more than my possibly sprained elbow. I'm just glad I didn't fall on a sprinkler or in a cow pie.

Wake boarding
I'm back on it for wake boarding. We got some good water on Saturday. Smooth enough that my dad got in. My brother tells me that if I cut just a little faster I would get the wake, but otherwise I was getting big air. I'm only good for 1 crash, and I was feeling that on Sunday. Dylan took his first nap in the cubby under the steering wheel. When he woke up my dad held him while he drove. Because we got perfect pass on our boat, you don't' have to do much with the throttle. So my dad just mostly hung out with Dylan, leaning him against the steering wheel until his arms could reach it and letting him drive. Sometimes though, my dad forgot about the person he was towing and needed to be reminded to go back and get them. It was an awesome day on the lake. I wish I had pictures of so many of these things, but the batteries on my camera are dead and I haven't recharged them yet.

Dylan
Dylan recently discovered his feet (the nerdy side of me says, "Yeah, now he'll finish stretching out his hamstrings!") So I found some cute socks that he was given when he was born. One pair has duckies on them and the other are frogs with rattles. He has lots of fun. He giggles more and more each day. And he'll look at a book while he sits in his high-chair, that makes Wes and I feel like he's smart. He does a fair job sitting on his own though too. Only 1 more month until he starts eating!! I'm selfishly very excited.