Kyle and Mommy

Kyle golfs

2009-08-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a few cute pics of Kyle from yesterday. We golfed in the front yard. It was fun!

Here's Kyle after a shot didn't go so well for him:

A round of golf just wears him out!

That's about all the news for this week. I am excited to have a fun day today. We are going to get a few things done around the house, nothing major, and then go to the Bees game tonight. I also need to find a chair and some twin sheets sets for Kyle. I ordered his new bedroom furniture and it will be delivered a week from tomorrow. I am decorating his room in a Utah Jazz theme. I will post pictures when it's done. Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

Worst Blogger Ever!

2009-08-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

I know I'm the worst blogger ever! I've kept up well with Facebook and Twitter, but my blogging frequenc leaves something to be desired. Kyle and I have been so busy with our move, Kyle's birthday, and just getting settled in that I haven't had any time to do blog stuff. I'm going to work on remedying that now.

Here are some cute pics from Kyle's birthday:

I'll try to get more pics and a poll up later this week. Bit by bit I will get caught up --- let's hope!

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

2009-05-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! We hope that you are all having a great Sunday. Yesterday was my 10k race. It was tough! The first 2.5 miles were almost completely uphill. I have run six miles lots of times, but the areas around my house where I usually run are fairly flat. This course was hilly and I'm definitely feeling it today!

My official time was 57:38. My goal was to finish in under and hour, which I did, but it was not as fast as the time I wanted, which was under 55 minutes. However, I will make it a goal to hopefully get that time for the Deseret News 10k on July 24.

I finished 3rd (out of 12) in my age group. Here is the award that I received:

Also, earlier this week, we went to dinner with my friend Darla. We had a great time. Here is a picture of Kyle being a big boy and eating buffalo wings. Darla was so surprised to see how big Kyle had gotten since the last time that she saw him a few months previously. He is getting so big now, and is very talkative and friendly.

We hope that everyone is having a great week! :)

Bar Admissions Ceremony

2009-05-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

Friday was the admissions ceremony for the Utah State Bar. I am now officially admitted in all state and federal courts in Utah. Hooray me! On the way home, we drove past the courthouse and I laughed to think that I could go in if I wanted and cover a hearing. Okay, maybe I'm the only one who thinks that's funny.

We took a few pictures...here we are, trying to get Kyle to hold still. Fail!

This is as good as it gets:

I think Jeff is trying to give one of his sexy pouts to the camera:

Best pic of us:

We hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Road Trip with Kyle

2009-05-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

This is a stock photo, but I wanted to update my blog with some of the latest goings-on for Monster and I. Kyle and I drove from SLC to LV today, and let me tell you, if you've never been on a solo road trip with a 2-year-old going across three states in 6.5 hours, I both DO and DON'T recommend it. It was honestly so fun to spend time with Kyle and just get his unique take on so many different things, whether it's farm animals in pastures zipping by, lunch food for the road, other vehicles ("Big trucks!""Big tractors""Nice car!"), and the like. On the other hand, have you ever tried making a stuffed puppy dance with one hand while making up a song sung to the tune of Digital Underground's "Humpty Dance" while the other hand holds on the steering wheel while barreling down I-15 at 80 mph? It's an experience. Hahaha!

In other news, Jeff and I went to the Keane concert last night at Kingsbury Hall. It was sooooo much fun. Before the concert, we went to dinner at The Pie pizzeria close to the university. So delicious! All the bands were great and it was just an awesome time.

Also, I have decided to switch from doing the Deseret News marathon to the 10k. I feel bad, like I'm kind of copping out, but honestly, the marathon training was a HUGE time commitment when I could least afford it. The 10k means running 6.2 miles instead of 26.2, which I could do today without any other training if I needed to.

Which brings me to my last point which I can finally announce. I have taken a new job that will start in Provo, Utah on June 15. My last day at H&S is May 29. I am both excited and terrified! I think it will be a very good change for the future...more details to follow!

New Random Kyle Pics!

2009-05-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I thought I would post a few of Kyle's latest pictures. We hope that everybody is having a great week!

Kyle on the slide at the playground last week with a little friend:

Here he is all strapped in at the grocery store. Doesn't he look sad? It's like he realizes that he can do very little damage in this current state of confinement. But, I had him just sitting in the back of the basket with the groceries, which worked fine until he started picking up the individual yogurt containers and dropping them off the side of the cart. Don't worry; he wasn't stuck in the cart for long. I had to let him out when he started screaming, "Mommy, out! Mommy, out!" I was afraid that another customer or employee of the store would get suspicious and call DCFS.

Here Kyle rides his "I See" down the sidewalk. I successfully have convinced him to wear a hat when he goes outside. I just worry about his fair skin. He is so light and gets sunburned very easily. In case you were wondering, I was following behind on the "Lightning McQueen."

Well, that is about all the exciting news that we have to report here. The week has been pretty good; very busy with work but lots of interesting projects.

I will try to update later this week with more fun Kyle pics. Have a good week, everyone!

Today's race

2009-04-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from this morning's race. I forget how to use HTML code to publish them here, so the links will have to suffice today.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30436405&l=ca41de61ad&id=1053764515

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30436404&l=14bcc4aa08&id=1053764515

My time was 26:02, which I wasn't super happy with because it was almost 10 seconds slower than my last 5k in March. However, this was a different course, and here's something that really bugged me. There was a 5k and a 1 mile "fun walk," and the "fun walk" and the 5k used the same last .5 mile, so for the last 4 minutes of the race I was literally zig-zagging between people who were walking, people who were walking slow, people who were walking even slower than the people who were walking slow, people who were stopped in the middle of the course, people with dogs, people with strollers, etc., etc. It was super annoying. I wish that I could blame my own slowness on them, but unfortunately maybe that cost me four or five seconds at the most. Well, hopefully next time I'll do better. Other than that, we are having a super weekend with Kyle's grandparents, and we are going to P.F. Chang's for dinner tonight. Mmmmmm. Have a great weekend everyone!

New pics! Hot off the press!

2009-04-19T13:40:00.001-07:00

Here are a few cute Kyle pics from earlier today.

First, Kyle starts off the day by showing these Rice Krispies who's boss. I found all kinds of Rice Krispies on the high chair, a few on the floor, and even a few that had somehow gotten in his diaper!

Later, we went outside to play and to clean out my car. Kyle took his fire engine for a spin. What this picture doesn't show is, a few minutes after this picture, I got on the fire truck and he pushed me down the street.

Now, everyone says that kids grow up too fast, but this is ridiculous!

Before nap time, Kyle took a few minutes to show off his team spirit. Go Jazz!

Kyle has a new favorite pasttime...baseball! When we were in the airport last Sunday, a Brewers game was on TV. Kyle pointed at the screen and kept saying, "Baseball, baseball!" He was so excited. Then, yesterday, we were in Walgreens to buy some Ibuprofen. He was standing next to me at the checkout counter while we were waiting to pay, and I was afraid that he would get distracted by the C-A-N-D-Y on the rack next to the register. However, he started pointing and saying, "Baseball! Baseball!" I looked, and sure enough, there was a stack of baseball cards for sale, and each package had a baseball player on the front. It is so funny what Kyle picks out with his eyes. Vehicles and sports for the most part...he is such a little boy!!!

We hope that everybody is having a great Sunday! Take care!

Random Fun Pics

2009-04-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

We hope that everyone is having a great weekend so far. I've got a ton of things to do, so I gotta keep this post short and get back to my real chores! :)

Here's a pic of Kyle scooping out the pond at my parents' house last weekend. He just loves to do chores; it's amazing. I just hope that his eagerness to do work around the house remains constant as he grows older:

This picture just cracked me up! We were driving in the not-so-nice area of Tucson and saw this sign in a strip mall not too far from the jail:

Here are my parents and Kyle in front of the fire station in Green Valley where they have their winter house:

I'll try to get some more fun pics today and tomorrow and do another post. We hope that everyone has a fantastic day! :)

Hoppy Easter!

2009-04-14T18:16:00.001-07:00

Hey! We wanted to share a few of the best Kyle pics from Easter. We had a wonderful time at my parents' house in Arizona. Kyle had his first bona fide Easter Egg hunt. I think he did really well!

In other news, I was picking up the tax form from Kyle's school (nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?) and one of the school's directors, Mr. Cameron, mentioned to me that he thinks that Kyle should be a baseball player, and that he throws the ball better than most of the other kids. Sweet! Maybe I have the next Nolan Ryan on my hands!

Speaking of taxes, I finished mine today. I'm glad that's over! By the way, the photo on the front of the H&R Block Tax Cut software really bugs me. Tell me what's wrong with this picture:

I'll give you a hint. That guy is way too calm and serene to be doing his taxes. Look at that easy-going smile on his face, like he's never had a care in the world. That would never happen in real life. And where's all his paperwork? You can't seriously expect me believe that everything he needs to finish his return is in that wafer-thin blue folder with two pieces of paperwork under the coffee cup. C'mon, H&R Block. We need truth in advertising. Your software may make it easier to do taxes, but it's not going to make it so painless for us that we will all turn into simpering tax zombies like in this picture.

Lastly, the bar results showed up with my actual scores. However, before I go into details too much, I need to give a huge SHOUT OUT to all the people who helped me for the six weeks leading up to the exam (much like an Academy Award speech), because without you guys, this simply wouldn't have been possible:

My super-awesome boyfriend, Jeff: Thanks, baby, for being there for me every day during this crazy adventure! Thank you for helping me study, watching Kyle for me so I could focus (including one poopy diaper change!), listening to what I had to say, and just being there for me. You are my sounding board and voice of reason. You are the best! Hopefully, we'll never have to return to Obligor (hehehehehe!)

My parents: Thanks guys! You let Kyle and I stay with you and provided us meals and entertainment so that I didn't have to worry for an entire week about things like food, laundry, shopping, etc. We couldn't have done it without you!

Rick, best ex-husband ever: Thanks buddy! You volunteered to rearrange your schedule on several occasions to help me out with studying, watched Kyle for an entire week when I had to leave unexpectedly, and didn't stress when I got snappy (like that would happen. LOL!) Anyway, thank you so much for all that you do.

Kristol and Asa: These guys are awesome! They chipped in to help me out on a couple work things that I just ran out of time to do while being gone. They also went above and beyond the call of duty on overnight Kyle patrol when I had to go out of town and Rick was in California. Thank you guys! You're the best.

Etta: Best legal assistant ever! Thank you so much for taking the initiative on so many things, being there, covering, and just being your awesome self. You rock, girl!

Jim: Best boss ever!!! Thank you for letting me take the time off, being my advocate, giving me great advice, and for being you. You're the best!

Everyone else: Even if I didn't name you specifically, thank you so much for being there, whether it was spending time with me, helping me out with something, feeding us, or whatever...Kyle and I hope that we can repay the favor someday.

Okay, back to the nitty gritty on the scores. In Utah, you need 270 points to pass the bar (out of about a possible 350, give or take...the results are scaled on a curve...but no one hardly ever scores that high, anything above 300-310 is considered outstanding.) The average score is usually about 284, or about a 142 per component. I got 300.8! I got a 151.3 on the MBE and a 149.5 on the essays. I was shocked -- I thought that my MBE score would be higher, given that I spent so much time on preparing for that portion of the test and did exactly 2,000 practice questions. I was hoping to score a 160 on the MBE. My practice tests in the two weeks leading up to the exam were 144, 160, and 163. Likewise, I thought my essay score would be lower -- around 140 -- since I spent very little time prepping the state subjects (compared to all the work I did for the MBE) and was relying on all the writing experience I have in practice (i.e. winging it if necessary) to get around a 140-142. LOL. I'm still very happy though. I increased my MBE score from a 134.9 in 2004 to 151.3 today -- almost 20 points. Plus, with everything that I had going on (Kyle, work, travel, other stuff) I was pulled a million different directions. Anyway, it just goes to show you that (1) you can't ever prepare too much for those tricky-ass multiple choice questions, and (2) 10 years of BS artistry sure comes in handy for bar exams! Hehehehehehehe!

Have a good week, everyone!

Utah Bar Results Are Out!

2009-04-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

Utah bar results came out this morning. Good news! I passed. It is such a relief to have that be done. I felt good about the exam after I took it, and would have been surprised had I not passed (and not in a good way), but it's good to have that be official. I don't have my actual scores yet. I am interested to see how I actually did. I'll post more details later, when I know more. We hope that everyone is having a great weekend! :)

2009-04-06T20:37:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! It's Monday! We hope that everyone is having a great day. Here are two cute pictures of Kyle with his "I See" from yesterday:

Some background with regard to what an "I See" actually is may be needed. For Kyle's 1st birthday last July, we got him a ride-on fire truck. When you push a button on the top of the fire truck, it plays a song that goes like this:

I see a fire truck

A BIG and SHINY fire truck

I see a fire truck

Coming down the street...

And there's a SIREN WAILING on that fire truck!

(special thanks to Asa for decoding what the song actually said.)

Well, about six months ago, Kyle would start to sing the first two words of the song whenever you asked him where his fire truck was. He'd say, "I See.....I See....I See..." And so on. Now, that's all he says when you ask him, "Where's your fire truck?" or anything about a fire truck. It is too dang cute! He is the best!

Also, I had a super fun dinner with my friend Darla who was in from Dallas. She has been living there for almost two years now and I miss her so much!!

Have a great week, everyone. Don't forget to vote in my poll! :)

Nevada Law Foundation's Silver Ball

2009-04-05T16:34:00.001-07:00

Last night was the Nevada Law Foundation's Silver Ball. It was held at the Four Seasons, and our firm bought a table for 10. We had a great time! The dinner was spectacular. The first course was this salad in a baked cheese bread cup. It sounds weird but it was good. Then, we had a truffled raspberry risotto. Next up was a pear sorbet with raspberries. The main course was lobster tail and filet mignon. Dessert was an apple tart. Soooooo delicious! And, the best part was that I ran 9.5 miles in the morning, so I ate everything guilt-free! Haha!

Here are some fun pictures from the event. Here are Cami and I -- we were both date-less!:

The Four Seasons had the ballroom all decked out in silver:

All the H&S attorneys in attendance posed for the camera..Mark, Cami, me, Chris, Patty, Kristol, Asa:

Kristol, Asa, Patty's husband Ronnie:

Mark and his wife Anna...aren't they cute together?

We hope that everyone is having a great weekend! :)

Forgot to add!

2009-04-04T14:00:00.001-07:00

So I had previously posted an entry on our calendar for May 12 called "J's birthday surprise." For his birthday, I got tickets to the Keane concert at Kingsbury Hall on the University of Utah campus. We both love this band so we are very excited.

Happy Birthday, Jeff! :)

2009-04-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I (well, mostly me, because Kyle's sleeping right now) wanted to take a few moments and wish Jeff a HAPPY BIRTHDAY on the blog:

I know that this cake looks maybe a little girly, but it was the best I could do on short notice. ;P

Besides, doesn't the frosting look soooooooooo delicious? Look at all the colored roses! I love roses made out of frosting on cakes!!! When it's birthday time at the office, and whoever in charge of the party is cutting the cake, I always try to count how many roses there are on the cake, and estimate where the person's going to start cutting. Then, I position myself in the line so that I will be primed to get a piece of cake with a big fat frosting rose on it, preferably a side or an end piece. If the roses are in the middle, then I give other people "cuts" in line. People think I'm just being polite to let them get cake first, but really I have an ulterior motive! Some people may think that's cheesy, but I call it good planning! If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail...I say! I also cannot tell a lie! One time, at my office, I was alone in the kitchen just before the cakes were going to be cut. This was about three years ago. I skipped lunch before a deposition, and I got back the the office and I was super-hungry. The cakes and their frosting roses were calling out to me, like a siren song. I made sure that no one was looking, and I used a plastic knife to slice a frosting-rose off the cake and I ate it before anyone had a chance to cut it! Haha! I bet you didn't know that reading this blog was like True Confessions time. You got more than you bargained for!

This cake is so white and fluffy! I bet it would be like eating sweet fluffy clouds. I would love to have a piece of that cake with a big, delicious, 44-ounce frosty Diet Coke to wash the whole thing down with! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Kyle's been on-and-off with his naps at school. He did great early in the week, but the last few days he hasn't taken a nap. This is what happens when we pull out of the school parking lot:

This evening's big activities include (1) finishing sorting the stuff that is going to D.I. tomorrow and loading that into my truck; (2) laundry; and (3) possibly going to the library to drop off the book I finished and picking up a new one. Pretty boring but it will be nice to kick back. I finally finished "White Jazz" by James Ellroy. The going was tough through the middle, but I'm so glad I finished it. The last 50 pages was intense! I love James Ellroy! White Jazz was pretty good, but I'm still certain that American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand were better.

Also, there's a chance that Utah bar results could be posted tomorrow morning. I will keep everyone posted!

I quit!

2009-03-31T19:08:00.001-07:00

No pictures today, sorry! I'll try to get a few cute ones of Kyle tomorrow and post those. He's in his crib right now, on his way to Sleepyland.

I have an announcement to make... I QUIT! (My garage sale, that is. Haha. What did you think I meant?) I was standing in my guest room last night looking at all the stuff piled up on the bed...books, clothes, knick-knacks, and other assorted junk. The idea of simply getting everything priced and tagged and organized in an attractive retail fashion by 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning was completely overwhelming, considering the fact that I also have to (a) take care of a young child; (b) continue my marathon training; and (c) work 9 hours a day. Plus, I'd have to sit out there all day Saturday with my junk and hope to make $100. NO THANKS. I decided to box it all up and just take it to Deseret Industries when they open at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning...and once I decided that, I felt that a HUGE weight had been lifted off of me! Besides, I'll get a good tax deduction for next year.

Fun with Cricut

2009-03-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I've spent today playing around with my Cricut machine. In case you're not too familiar with the world of scrapbooking, a Cricut is like a little computer/printer all in one. Here is what it looks like:It comes with different cartridges that are really little software programs. Each cartridge has different fonts, designs, and other things that you can select, adjust the size, and then put the paper in and the machine cuts it. It is so cool! I got one for Christmas from Jeff, and of course I've been so busy with the bar exam for the last two months that I didn't even have time to take it out of the box. Well, it's been soooo fun playing with it just today. I'm also excited to use it to catch up on many of the scrapbooking projects that I've allowed to linger for too long.

In other news, I am continuing with marathon training. I ran eight miles today and it kicked my butt. I like to say that nutrition and hydration are the keys to successful running, but I didn't follow my own advice! I simply didn't pay attention to what I ate yesterday, and dinner last night was two large Diet Cokes and a peanut butter cookie. Yum at the time, but YUCK when it comes to running for over an hour the next day. I stumbled through my front door after I was done and nearly collapsed before I shotgunned a dragonfruit Vitaminwater. Lesson learned: No junk-food-as-meals (which is too often a way of life for us busy attorneys) while marathon training.

Also, we went to go see the movie "Taken" over the weekend. This is the kidnapping movie with Liam Neeson. It's pretty good, everyone! And I don't like too many movies. This movie is basically Liam Neeson kicking bad guys' butts for two hours. Lots of fun action and bad guys getting their butts kicked. Recommended!

Other activities this weekend include getting ready for my garage sale next weekend and cleaning the house. We hope that everyone has a great week! :)

"Candy...Mmmmmmmm..."

2009-03-24T20:21:00.001-07:00

Here's a hilarious Kyle picture and story from a few weeks ago:

One Saturday afternoon, I had some pants that I bought that needed to be shortened. I took them to the tailor down the street. While I was trying the pants on so they could pin them, Kyle somehow managed to con the owner into giving him a piece of candy. I was none too pleased to come out of the dressing room to see Kyle with a bump in his cheek, like a squirrel holding a nut in his jaw. (If you look closely in the picture above, you can see the bump in his cheek.) We thanked the tailor and left to go to the car wash. As I was loading Kyle in the car, I asked him, "So, you managed to get yourself a piece of candy, didn't you? Is it good?" And he replied, "Mmmmmmmmmmm." So we started driving off down the street, and about a minute later, I heard this little voice in the back seat say, "Candy...Mmmmmmmmmmmm." I couldn't help but turn around and laugh while snapping the picture. He repeated this about every 30 seconds for the next few minutes:

"Candy...Mmmmmmmmmm."

"Candy...Mmmmmmmmmm."

You get the idea. So silly!

In other news, marathon training started today! Today's run was just three miles on the treadmill at the gym. Tomorrow's is five miles, and Saturday is the week's long run...eight miles! I'll have to plan out a good course around the neighborhood. Eight miles seems such a long way; it's much farther than I've run before. I hope I'm up to it. I stocked up on frozen pasta at Costco today. Carbo load! Carbo load!

Also, I think I'll be attending the Nevada Law Foundation's Silver Ball. This is an exciting black tie event at the Four Seasons on April 4. There are a bunch of people from my law firm going. I'm so excited!

Have a good week, everyone!

Mobile blogging!

2009-03-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to see if this would work. I'm blogging from my iPhone at the courthouse. I'm so proud of myself for figuring this out. I'll write more later, along with some new pics. Kyle was so fun this morning! I heard him say "turtle" today. He also waved to his ceramic turtle and said "hi!" he is just too dang cute!! Catch ya later.

Wednesday Update

2009-03-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! We hope that everybody is having a great week. I'm still getting caught up from not enough sleep this weekend, but I'm powering through. I'm looking forward to this weekend because we're going to dinner at Z'Tejas and then to the laser show of Pink Floyd at the Clark Planetarium! I think it will be pretty fun!

Here's a fun pic from this weekend. These are some of our friends that came to Las Vegas from SLC -- me, Jenna, Robin, and Debbie. This was taken at Diablo's at the Monte Carlo. Don't we look like cute blondes?

I also got forwarded a marathon training plan from friends. I can't believe how much running is involved. It's going to be like another bar exam! I'm questioning the wisdom of allowing myself to be caught up in this pact. But, the rule is, no whining and no quitting unless someone gets pregnant or breaks their foot! And I don't plan on falling into either of those categories!

Also, we're looking forward to finding out where Kyle's Aunt Staci and Uncle Drostan will be going for residency tomorrow. It will be Spokane or Wyoming. We are anxious to know!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

2009-03-17T18:23:00.001-07:00

We hope that everyone is having a great St. Paddy's Day. It's only Tuesday but it feels like this week should be over already!

These are a few pics of Kyle from the beginning of the month in SLC at the park. Check out his hair after going down the slide. Too funny!

Also, I allowed myself to be part of a pact with five other people to run the Deseret News marathon on July 24 -- which is, coincidentally, Kyle's birthday. How exactly this happened I do not know. But, our friends are circulating marathon training plans now. At least the marathon starts at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon and goes mostly downhill -- or so I've heard.

In other news, we're another week past the bar exam -- three weeks past, to be precise. It shouldn't be too much longer before the results come out -- maybe another week or so.

I caught a leprechaun, everyone!

2009-03-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

This morning was the "Come Catch A Leprechaun" run in Henderson. Are you ready for the big news? I finished in 25:52, which was a new personal best for me!! My old time was 27:46, which I ran on February 14. So I cut my time by almost two minutes! I feel very excited about that. I definitely pushed myself more this time than last, and I was hurting at the end, but it feels good to see improvement in such a short period of time. I also was the first-place finisher for the women in my age group (35-39).

Here's a picture of the award:

PROPS also go to Etta who was nice enough to watch Kyle while I ran. When I got back to the house, I was just chatting with her and finding out how things went, and Kyle walked over to the piano in the living room. He just boosted himself up onto the seat, opened up the cover, and starting plunking away. Do I have a potential piano virtuoso on my hands? I couldn't resist snapping a picture:

Okay, I am off to get ready while Kyle takes a nap. Then, we have tons of errands to do today. We hope that everyone has a great Saturday!

Kyle's favorite thing

2009-03-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Kyle's favorite thing:

I'm not even kidding. This kid is just obsessed with buses. He loves to see buses everywhere: on the way to day care, at the airport, just driving down the road...everywhere. We typically see about five or six buses that are taking big kids to school on our way to day care every morning. When he sees them, he points excitedly and says, "Bus! Bus!" I bet he can't wait until he's old enough to ride a school bus by himself.

In other news, I'm so glad it's Friday! It's been a long week...but a good one. Also, I'm about 2.5 weeks past the bar exam...probably only about three weeks to go to get the results. It's going fast, which is good. I just hate to be in suspense! This weekend I don't have too much going on...just my race tomorrow and chores and errands. Stage One of Mission Impossible: My Closet is over. The first stage involved cleaning up all the junk, extra shoes, and clothes that was spread all over the floor. Stage Two, which is tomorrow, is organizing the clothes that are in there and setting aside clothes for the garage sale/donation pile/trash can. I'm making progress on getting that together. I'm still shooting for March 28 to hold my garage sale.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I love my monster!!!

2009-03-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some super cute pics of Kyle from the last few days. Here's Kyle wearing a silly Swedish birthday hat at Ikea. I just love my little monster so much! He is so sweet and fun!

This is from this afternoon. Poor Kyle didn't take a nap at school today, so he fell asleep in the car during the short drive from school to the house. I guess you can say that Daylight Savings Time is getting the best of him!

This is from yesterday. We were on our way to the grocery store, and Kyle decided that he was tired of wearing his shoes. He pulled them off and started laughing. Too funny!

In other news, I really am enjoying the longer daylight hours at the end of the day. It's really nice! I also feel like I'm finally getting back into the swing of things since the bar exam. It's so nice to just work and take care of Kyle. No more waking up at 4 am to get to the office at 5 or late nights doing practice questions. Hooray!

Also, I booked my spa day for March 21. I am so excited! For finishing the bar exam, Jeff got me a spa package at Breathe day spa in Salt Lake City. The package has a 60 minute facial, 60 minute massage, and a 30 minute foot treatment. I am really looking forward to it! Now, I can only hope that I actually PASS the exam. But if I don't, and have to take it again, can I get another spa package, babe? LOL! Just messin' with ya! ;)

In other news, sadly, we are postponing our trip to France in May. We just felt like now wasn't a good time to travel internationally with some of the family issues that we are dealing with. We will try to go next year, though. However, I am looking forward to a trip to Disneyworld that has been tentatively booked for December 5-12. Kyle will be about two and a half, and he will have a great time. Also, my parents will be going and I hope my brother can go too.

Lastly, I have signed myself up for a 5k race on Saturday. It is called the "Come Catch A Leprechaun 5k." Originally I thought this was a funny idea for a race, but since Jeff and I have been watching the Leprechaun movies, I'm not so sure. I'm also not sure that I should admit that I voluntarily and of my own free will actually watched a horror movie called "Leprechaun." Anyway, I'm not going to spoil the movie for you in case you haven't seen it, but let's just say that a lot of misfortune befalls those who try to take the Leprechaun's gold! After watching these movies, I wouldn't want to even try to catch a Leprechaun, much less try to make a grab for the pot of gold! If you want more details, just Google "Bad Leprechaun horror movie Jennifer Aniston" (without the quotes) and see what pops up.

Have a great week, everyone!

Update: Kyle's words

2009-03-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of poor Kyle's shiner from this week. He tripped and fell at school while running and smacked his head on the linoluem floor, poor little guy! Here, he shows that he doesn't let a little bruise get in the way of a good time:

I decided to make a list of all the words that I can think of that Kyle knows. I think this is a lot of words for only 19 months! He also understands more words than this...but these are the words that he says on a fairly regular basis, and he seems to learn a new word at least every other day. He is up to about 70 words now. I've broken them down by category:

People:
Daddy
Mommy
Jeff
Kitty
Bumpy (Grandpy and/or Grammy, appears to be interchangeable)
Elmo
Baby

Meal time:
Food
Cup
Chair
Milk
Apple
Nana (Banana)
Wass (water)
Pear
Olives
Beans
Eggs
Hot
Cold
Mommy’s (Diet Coke)
Cookie
Cracker

Body parts:
Mouth
Eyes
Nose
Ears
Hair
Foot
Knee
Hands

Getting dressed:
Clothes
Shirt
Pants
Socks
Shoes
Sleeper
Zipper

Bedtime:
Bath
Books
Moon
Star
Night-night
Crib

Unmentionables:
Poo-poo
Pee-pee
Di-di (Diaper)
Potty
Eeeeewie

Animals and animal noises:
Animal
Dinosaur
Horse
Snake
Monkey
Lion
Kitty
Doggy
Pig
Fish
Giraffe
Bun (Bunny)

Sports:
Football
Ball
Bass (Basketball)
Soccer
Ggrrrrrrr! (Redskins mascot)

Going places:
Plane (a.k.a. "Kkkrrrrrrrrrrrr")
Car
Truck
Choo-choo
Seat belt
Car seat
Mo-mo (motorcycle, also a.k.a. Daddy’s)
Bus
I see (Fire truck)
Ambulance
Boat
Stroller
Keys
Beep-beep!

Miscellaneous:
Hi
Bye-bye
Snowman
Snow
Yes
No
Up
Down
Outside
Inside
More
Please
Thank you
Leaves
Tree
Bubbles

We hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Tuesday Update

2009-03-03T17:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a super-cute Kyle pic from Arizona a couple of weeks ago that I wanted post. My parents got him a Lightning McQueen ride-on that he rode all over the neighborhood with while we were there. So funny!

We hope that everyone is having a great week. I can't believe that a week ago I was taking the bar exam. So glad that's over! It's been nice to spend my non-work time just playing with Kyle, straightening up the house, and other projects that need to be done. I'm also still catching up on sleep, too!

We're looking forward to dinner with our friend Jennifer tomorrow. She's moving to Utah too in a couple of weeks. It will be nice to have built-in friends once we get there!

Also, it's not too early for me to start shopping online for Kyle's birthday party supplies. His birthday party is going to be at Monarch Meadows Park in Riverton. I already reserved the park's party pavilion, which is right next to the playground. Anyway, please vote on a theme!

Have a good week, everyone! :)

Question: What is Tanya going to do today?

2009-02-28T05:05:00.000-08:00

Answer: Whatever I feel like I want to do! Haha! Kyle and I are home today, and we're looking forward to a day of just being lazy and maybe running a few errands. No more pencils, no more bar review books. Yay! We're just going to play and hang out and perhaps go to Target later. Then, when Kyle takes a nap over the noon hour, I might sort things for my garage sale or work on my cricut machine. If we're feeling very ambitious, we might head down to Fashion Show to check out a few suits for work in the afternoon.

Here are a few cute random pics from the last few weeks that I haven't gotten a chance to post until now:

I think this is on the way to Salt Lake City a couple of weeks ago. Kyle loves being on planes! He makes his airplane noise whenever he sees one. When we pull back from the gate, he waves to the terminal and says, "Bye-bye!"

This is at the Smith's in Herriman. I had to run over there in the morning first thing to get a few things for breakfast. (That's why he's still in his jammies.) They have a little merry-go-round in the front of the store. Kyle saw it and pointed and said, "Horse!" So, I put in a quarter and let him ride.

Another plane pic. This was on the way back from Tucson last week. While I was collapsing the stroller at the end of the jetway to give it to the ground crew, there was a line of people getting on board the plane. Kyle decided to join them and board the plane. I was right behind him, but when it was time to turn right and go find a seat, he turned left and walked toward the cockpit. I said, "No, Kyle, we need to go the other way and find our seats. We can't go up there." The pilot said, "Sure, he can," and scooped Kyle up and put him in the captain's chair. Lucky kid! Doesn't he look like he's telling the co-pilot what the new flight plan will be?

We went to a Mexican restaurant last week in Arizona. I couldn't help snapping a few pics while Kyle was eating chips:

Here is the best pic! I saved it for last. We went to the Tucson Children's Museum on the way to the airport last Saturday. They had a room full of real emergency vehicles. Kyle got to sit on a real police motorcycle (that has been retired, of course) that had a real siren and lights. I think he really liked it!

That's it, everyone! We hope that everyone has a fantastic weekend. Gotta go! I can hear Kyle start to wake up!

The bar exam...it's over!

2009-02-25T15:42:00.000-08:00

The bar exam is over, everyone! I'm so happy. Now I can go back to living my normal life. I'm going to try not to stress too much while the results are processed. We are supposed to get them somewhere between six and nine weeks from now. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. The results will be posted online at the Utah State Bar website.

I feel pretty good about the test. Based solely on the pass rate, I think the results will be positive. I definitely won't sell all my bar exam books yet. Hahaha! There are too many people out there that felt just as good about their exam, only to be very rudely surprised on Bar Exam Results day. I hope I don't get any rude surprises. That would not be good.

Dateline: Salt Lake City

2009-02-24T17:37:00.000-08:00

One day of the bar exam down, one to go. Today was the essay portion. I would have to say that the level of difficulty was about what I expected. I think I did well on some of the questions and just average on others. There are 60 points possible for the essays, and 35 points is usually average. It's also enough to pass if you get an average score on the MBE. I counted up what I think my points were based on how well I answered the questions, and I think I scored between 37 and 40. Hopefully I can get an average or better-than-average score on the MBE and then this will be DONE!

They also told us today that the bar results will be posted 8-10 weeks after the exam. I overheard a girl saying that the results are always posted on a Saturday morning, and that last February they were early -- in about six weeks. I calculated out that the results will probably be posted around April 10 or 17. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I'm chilling in my room at the Little America after uploading my exam answers to the database. Jeff is bringing me dinner from Crown Burger, and I'm going to review some MBE questions later this evening.

Also, I learned today that the admission ceremony for successful applicants will be held on Friday, May 15 at noon. Let's just say that I hope I'll be there! :)

Down to the wire!

2009-02-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

Less than 72 hours to go and I will be in the first stage of the bar exam. I feel like there is quite a bit I still need to review. I think that Sunday and Monday should be enough to take care of that though. I don't feel as strong as I would like on the UCC subjects. But I'll get there.

I'm taking off tomorrow for the driver. I'll let everyone know what happens when I can make a report! :)

Dateline: Green Valley, Arizona

2009-02-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Kyle and I are updating you from Green Valley, Arizona this week, where we've gone to focus on bar exam preparation (for Mommy) and spoiling by grandparents (for Kyle.)

Kyle's grandparents prepared for his arrival like some countries prepare for visiting heads of state. They had all kinds of toys that they had either bought or borrowed from friends all ready to go. His crib was all set up in the den with a stuffed bunny. The pantry was stocked with all his favorite foods, like Vienna sausages, canned green beans, and Spaghetti-os.

My studying is going well. My parents are AWESOME for taking on almost 100% of the daily Kyle care this week so that I can study 10 hours a day. And now that I'm off work until after the exam I only have one full time job instead of three so it's almost like I'm on vacation anyway...until a week from today, anyway, when I start stressing big time! Haha!

Here are a few cute Kyle pics from the week:

Kyle got to visit the fire station down the street with his grandparents. This is a retirement community, so apparently the firefighters were happy to get a visit from a little boy. They gave him a plastic fire hat as a memento of his stay:

Kyle got to pick an orange off the tree in the backyard:

Kyle tried to play with the backyard water fountain as well:

I'll try to post more later this week, as well as a few pictures from last week's trip to SLC that I never got around to posting.

In other news, I found out that I finished 3rd in my age group in that race on Saturday with a chip time of 27:46. That's not bad! I think I'd like to try another one in March or April...just to see if I can improve at all between now and then.

We hope that everyone is having a great week! :)

Just checking in!

2009-02-14T08:47:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! I'm just checking in to say HELLO and apologize for not having many K pics the last couple of weeks. Bar exam preparation is taking precedence over everything else, but it's going fairly well. I think I'll be ready for the test a week from Tuesday. I've got to make sure that I'm getting enough MBE practice questions done and then also review the last of my state subjects.

I did my 5k race this morning. My time on the clock was 27:55 but then when the actual computer time came back it was a 27:46. This is because our chips log when we cross over the start line and then when we cross back, and I started the race in the back and it took me 9 seconds to get to the start line. I know this isn't an extremely fast time, but it's an accomplishment for me since three months ago I could barely run 1 mile without stopping and now I'm able to average under 9 minutes per mile. They had a continental breakfast for us after, but I had to leave early to get back home to finish packing and get ready to go.

Kyle and I are off to Arizona today! Kyle's Grammy and Grampy are looking forward to some serious spoiling, and I'm looking forward to lots of study time at the library. We'll update everyone later in the week, and maybe we'll even have a few pictures!

16 days and counting!

2009-02-08T14:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Sunday, everyone. Only 16 days left until the bar exam! And, more importantly, only two working days left until I can devote myself to full-time study. It's going to get kicked off on Wednesday with my three-day class, and then on Saturday afternoon we're off to Arizona. I'm just so ready to get dialed in on everything and then to just get it done and have it over with.

We got some super cute shots of Kyle this weekend on the plane and on the swings, so I'm going to try to post them later this week. He's been a really good boy this whole week. We have had a good time.

Have a great week everyone! :)

Mid-Week Update

2009-02-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

Just checking in with everyone. The studying is going! I'm looking forward to a week from today, which is my three-day MBE class. Then, on Saturday, Kyle and I are flying to Arizona for a week with Grammy and Grampy. Kyle is looking forward to getting spoiled by his grandparents, and I am looking forward to a week off work to focus on studying. Trying to study while Kyle sleeps plus work 8-9 hours a day plus take care of Kyle and the house on my own is leaving me stretched a little thin.

In fact, I have taken the liberty of writing a list of things I'm looking forward to doing when this whole exam is over and done with. I am sure that this list will grow, but here is what I have so far:

1. Work on Kyle's baby book
2. Figure out Cricut machine that Jeff got me for Christmas that I haven't even had time to take out of the box yet.
3. Get a pedicure while reading a magazine or book solely for fun.
4. Sleep in until 6 am on a weekday morning.
5. De-junk my entire house.
6. Get a massage at Aquae Solis at the J.W. Marriott Spa.
7. Talk to Jeff for more than 30 minutes a day.
8. Put all my bar books in a giant box in the attic.
9. Read a novel for fun.
10. Go shopping for suits and clothes for work at Macy's -- all my suits are too big now!

Also, I met my running goal of 3.1 miles in less than 30 minutes -- 29:48, to be exact. I know that this isn't too impressive for serious runners, but it is for me -- two months ago, at the beginning of December, I could barely run 1.5 miles without stopping. Now I'm going to work on increasing my distance and speed.

Have a great week, everyone!

We love Saturdays!

2009-01-31T20:33:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! Kyle and I had a successful Saturday today. I studied in the early morning and then he woke up around 6. Then, we made breakfast, went to Target and to the car wash. Then, Kyle took a three-hour nap from 10 until 1, which was perfect for my bar studying. In the afternoon, we did laundry, cleaned the house, went to Costco, and then for a long walk in the stroller. Kyle and I ate dinner and then he went to bed. I then did a set of very difficult Evidence questions and scored 73%. I hope that I can continue to keep my scores in that range. I'm just excited that it's February now...it means that the exam is three weeks from Tuesday and this will all be over soon! Which is a good thing...I'm not sure how much more clutter my poor house can take!

Here are some cute pics of Kyle from this past week. The shopping pictures are from JC Penney -- they already have their spring and summer stuff out, and Kyle couldn't resist taking one of their toddler chairs for a "test drive." He also helped himself to one of their display sippy cups to find out if there was anything delicious inside (there wasn't.) You don't want to know, however, what happened after I took this picture and had to get him out of the chair. He wasn't too happy. I think I'll get him some toddler outdoor furniture in time for summer.

Wednesday Update and Garage Sale Plans

2009-01-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! We hope that you're having a great week. I'm plugging away with bar studying and looking forward to being able to take some time from work just to synthesize everything so that it will "jell" in my brain. I feel pretty good about where I'm at, but I still have a way to go, and balancing that with a munchkin and full-time employment is a full load. Let's just say that my house is in pretty bad shape. Can you say clutter! Ugh! I'm glad I only have until the 10th at work and then this whole thing will be OVER four weeks from today.

After I get done, I'm going to seriously de-junk every room in this house. Justice will be swift and brutal for the stuff that no one has seen (or used) in years that is stuffed into every closet. I'd like to try to hold a garage sale in March to see if I can make any money off some of the nicer stuff. I have a lot of books that I am sure a few people would be interested in reading. But, whatever doesn't sell is NOT coming back into the house. It's going either to the DI or to the trash. I promise!

Kyle Update

2009-01-23T13:55:00.001-08:00

I got some updated pictures of Kyle, so I thought I'd post them for everyone. Here, Kyle gets ready to show Kitty who's boss:

This is a picture that Asa sent me from the party that he and Kristol went to when they were watching Kyle. It was a friend's family birthday party. It looks like Kyle wasn't the only munchkin in attendance! Also, here's a big "shout-out" to A&K from us for watching Kyle on the fly when we had to go out of town. Thanks guys! You're the best!

Kyle gets ready to throw the b-a-l-l to his dad here:

I just love this pic...even if it is proof positive that my little baby is growing into a little boy -- doesn't he look so grown up?

What a cutie pie!

Typical for Kyle during a photo shoot -- grabbing for the camera!

"Winter in Las Vegas? Bring it on! I'm in my shorts and polo shirt!"

In other news, my class in Tucson was canceled, so I switched it to Las Vegas. So I'll be in Arizona from February 13-20 and in Las Vegas from February 11-13. And we're going up to SLC the first full weekend in February to keep Jeff company. Less than five weeks now until the bar exam! It's really getting here quickly.

Sad news

2009-01-21T08:20:00.001-08:00

We have some sad news. Jeff's mom got very sick last week and is now in the hospital in Maryland. Jeff and I came out here on Friday to stay for a week and help out. As a result, we won't be going on the cruise next week. Jeff and I are staying here until Saturday and then flying home. We will probably come back in March to help out again. I'm leaving up the information about our France trip, because we haven't canceled it yet, but we will probably end up postponing it until next year.

Thanks especially to Rick for being so willing to stay with Kyle for a week on short notice and to pick my car up from the airport on Monday so that I didn't have to incur the parking charges.

We hope that everyone is having a good week.

Birthday Pics

2009-01-15T04:32:00.000-08:00

I know that these are so overdue! I've been super busy with bar exam prep, work, Kyle Patrol, and everything else that I'm just getting around to posting them now. Plus, I couldn't find my camera connection cord for several days. I just found it in the side pocket of my study backpack, so I'm back in blogging business now. Hooray!

For my birthday, Jeff and Kyle took me to an Italian restaurant in Herriman not too far from the house. The food was actually really good. After dinner I took this picture of Kyle, ready to attack their holiday decorations:

The hostess was nice enough to take these pictures of the three of us in front of their Christmas tree:

Jeff got me these flowers for my birthday. Aren't they so pretty?

And then this is a random picture that I took of Kyle after we got home last week. I just think this boy is too dang cute, with his impish grin as he looks at the camera:

Have a good week, everyone! :)

Happy Tuesday to everyone!

2009-01-13T07:28:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone! It's Tuesday. I'm just plugging away at the office but wanted to take time out to post a very short note. I'm very excited for a hair appointment this afternoon. My hair has been wrecked for the last two weeks since I've gone too long without a cut. I haven't hair my hair cut since Disneyland, which is like 11 weeks. I normally only go about 7. I'm also going to get more blonde put in it for the cruise. I am so excited that we are going on our cruise in like 10 days!!! Which reminds me, I also need to go tanning today or tomorrow. All these important things to do when I've got bar exam studying to do. Haha!

I know I haven't posted any pics in awhile and I know I need to. The problem is that I lost my camera charger somewhere and I ordered a new one from Amazon and they sent me the wrong one. Argh. Now I have to send it back and try to get a new one before the cruise.

Have a great day, everyone!

UPDATE: I looked again at the camera charger, and then I figured out that if I turned the battery upside down, it would fit in the camera and charge. Haha. Maybe I don't need extra blonde put in my hair after all! :)

More words from Kyle

2009-01-09T11:30:00.000-08:00

I've been so lame to neglect my blog, but I've been so busy. Here's an example of my weekday this week:

4:00 a.m. -- Alarm goes off! Time to do 34 practice questions and review the answers. Hooray for Diet Coke!
6:00 a.m. -- Get ready (hair and makeup), get dressed, get Kyle up and get him ready for school.
6:30 a.m. -- Leave house, drop Kyle to school and get to work.
7:00 a.m. -- Work and bill as many hours as possible before leaving at
3:30 p.m. -- Go to gym and run 3.1 miles OR run errands (bank, drycleaning, tanning)
4:00 p.m. -- Get Kyle, get home, go through mail, do laundry, chores, make dinner
5:30 p.m. -- Dinner for me and Kyle
6:00 p.m. -- Play with toys, Kyle's bathtime and get him ready for bed time at
6:30 p.m. -- he's been going to sleep early this week, thank goodness for small miracles!
7:00 p.m. -- Talk to Jeff (who is so patient with my silly new schedule!)
8:00 p.m. -- Review outlines for a few minutes, take a shower, get ready for the next day before hitting the sack at
9:00 p.m.

I am so glad that this is only going to happen for the next 6 weeks!

I wanted to post a list of Kyle's new words. I think that these are a lot of words for only being 18 months!

Daddy
Mom/Mama
Jeff
Kitty
Elmo
Nose
Eyes
Teeth
Cup
Choo-choo! (if he sees a train)
Ball
Keys
Vrooom-vroooom! (If he sees a car or truck)
Bus (he is obsessed with buses -- anything large with wheels that is not a car, is a bus)
More
Please
Thank you
Beep-beep (when I use the keyring to lock my truck, it goes beep-beep and Kyle will repeat, "beep beep!")
Di-di (diaper)
Night-night
Fish
Grrrrrr! (when he sees the Redskins mascot)
Hi
Bye
Yes
No
Outside
Shoes
Button

I'll try to write more later. So excited that Jeff is coming this weekend to help me out by watching Kyle so I can study. I've got to really get into my Contracts and Uniform Commercial Code this weekend! We hope that everyone has a good weekend! :)

Bar Exam Study...The Going Is Slow!

2009-01-05T14:36:00.000-08:00

Anyone who played that cheesy Oregon Trail computer game in the 80s will be able to relate to my experience with bar exam study...the going is slow! I feel pretty good about where I'm at, but I still have a long ways to go. I'm doing fairly well on my practice questions, typically averaging about 60-65% right. I will be looking for this percentage to improve to around 70-75% over the next few weeks. I want to have at least 1000 questions done by the time I do my review class on February 11. I've done about 450 now...doing about 34 questions a day now on the weekdays and 100 a day on the weekends. Hopefully, my health will stay good, the weather will stay cool, and I'll keep around 1220 pounds of food....as they used to say on the Trail. I'll keep everyone posted when I get to the next landmark.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T16:49:00.000-08:00

We hope that everyone is having a great New Year's! I'm back in Las Vegas now and getting ready to go back to work AND to gear up for bar studying. Boo! But, it's best to just buckle down and get it done, because if I do it right, it will be over in 8 weeks and I won't have to worry about it again. Yay!

Yesterday, Kyle and I ventured to downtown Salt Lake. We visited Jeff and some of his friends at the police station, then took Jeff to lunch at Chili's. Kyle drank milk from a big boy cup using a straw all by himself. He also got to use the crayons that the hostess gave him to color on his kids' menu. What a big boy! Here are two cute pictures:

In other news, I just ran 2.9 miles without stopping. This is definitely the most I've ever run. I think I'll be ready for that 5k in two weeks! Tonight I am going to finish unpacking and getting ready to go back to the office. Then I'm going to review Contracts for two hours. I definitely have the feeling that the next 8 weeks are going to go FAST and I don't want to get behind on studying.

35 is the new 25!!!

2008-12-30T16:15:00.000-08:00

That's my motto of the day. Haha! This morning I worked while Kyle napped, and then we headed out to shop at The District at South Jordan. My old jeans got too big (or maybe I got too small, haha!) so I splurged on two new pairs. One is Miss Me and the other is BKE. Apparently they're all the rage these days. (Of course, when my American Express bill comes, *I'll * be all the rage when it comes time to pay it. Ha!) Jeff is at work, but he'll be back soon. Kyle's taking a quick afternoon nap now, and I'm taking a break from discovery summaries to post this update. Then, we're all going to the Italian place down the street for my birthday. Yay!

Here's a cute picture from this morning. I call it, "Kyle is a two-fisted drinker!"

We hope that everyone is having a great week, and has fun plans for New Year's Eve tomorrow!

Sledding fun!

2008-12-26T16:11:00.001-08:00

This morning, Kyle and I ventured out to Target and Sports Authority for a little after-Christmas shopping. We stocked up on wrapping paper and ornaments at Target, then ambled over to Sports Authority to stock up on winter clothes! Winter in Utah isn't too bad as long as you have the right gear. Kyle and I used the money that my parents gave me for Christmas on snowsuits for ourselves at the Sports Authority sale. Their snow gear was on sale 25-40% off, which was very nice as it made our money go ever farther.

Here's Kyle in his new snowsuit, topped off with his Nittany Lion hat:

He can't wait for his first sled ride!

Here are Kyle and I, decked out in our new winter snow gear:

"Bring me the sled, Mommy!"

The temperature was only about 19 degrees!

We took a couple of videos to show off our sledding skills:

Here are Kyle and Jeff taking their turn:

We hope that everyone is having a great Christmas and staying warm!

Adventures with Elmo

2008-12-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the cutest videos that we took yesterday. Jeff's parents got Kyle an Elmo Live for Christmas. Initially, it seems like he just didn't know what to make of the little red monster! However, after just a few minutes, he was hugging and kissing Elmo like an old friend:

I also wanted to post a super-cute pic of Kyle wearing his cute little Nittany Lion hat. My brother, who attends the graduate business program at Penn State, got Kyle this ideal cold-weather hat. Kyle didn't get any WSU Cougar or UW Husky gear this Christmas...maybe because of the dismal record of both football teams?

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

2008-12-25T15:23:00.003-08:00

I uploaded some of the best pictures from this morning. Here are the three of us, before the present-opening festivities began:

This is Kyle, as he unveiled his Cozy Coupe:

Here are Kyle and Jeff as they tore into their stockings:

I'm going to have to do the videos separately. They are taking a long time to upload! We just finished dinner. We had ham, mashed sweet potatoes, stuffing, and rolls. We're going to have a coconut cream pie later! We're off to play with Elmo Live now!

Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T21:44:00.000-08:00

Good evening, everyone! Kyle and I made it up to Salt Lake last night. We had a pretty good drive, and made the trip from Las Vegas to Herriman in a little over 6 hours. We only hit one brief snowstorm outside of Cedar and then the rest of the way, it was smooth sailing! It was so cold, though! Right outside of Levan/Yuba Lake the thermometer of my car registered -2. Brrrrrr! I saw later it was -9 in Ephraim. I honestly don't know how people can live in that. I guess a subscription to the Cabela's catalog would be in order!

Today we had a great time. We went grocery shopping and to Target, just running a few last minute errands. Kyle got to ride the outdoor merry-go-round at Smith's. We got a pizza to bake at home for dinner. It was very relaxing and low key.

Here are a few pictures from today that Jeff took with his camera:

Kyle on the merry-go-round outside Smith's:

Kyle in the grocery car at the store:

Kyle and I at the indoor playground at Chick-Fil-A:

The backyard -- so snowy!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Our Christmas Tree!

2008-12-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

We put up our Christmas tree this afternoon! I think it looks really nice. It was an eventful day. We got up and hit Target and Kohl's. I had a coupon for 30% everything at Kohl's and also a card for a $10 gift card for every $50 we spent. We ended up getting a TON of stuff -- I got three sweaters, some things for Kyle, three or four photo albums for pictures, a pair of running shoes, and some long-sleeved Nike T-shirts. I'm find that my Las Vegas wardrobe isn't working too well in these sub-freezing temperature! :) It's 19 right now! Brrrrrrr!

Here's a picture of the tree. I think it turned out well!

We also went sledding today with some new sleds that we got at Target! They were cheapie plastic sleds but we had a LOT of fun -- it was cold, so it was a good thing that we bundled up. Tomorrow we've got football watching and present wrapping, and MAYBE some bar studying. Then I'm back to Vegas tomorrow night for two days back at work, then driving up Tuesday night for Christmas vacation! I'm so excited!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

L@@K! Snow in the LV, everyone!

2008-12-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

Here's a sight that you hardly ever see:

This was the view from my office yesterday afternoon. Snow rarely falls in Las Vegas, and it was so fun to see big white chunky snowflakes falling on the palm trees! Today there is a little left on the golf course across the street. I'm glad this is a short week...I'm taking off Thursday afternoon for SLC, where I'm certain to see more fluffy white stuff! In fact, the overnight low for Friday is supposed to be 5 degrees! Brrrrrrrrr!

In other news, my bar exam prep is going well. I'm scoring 60-80% correct on my practice questions at this time. This is a vast improvement over how I was doing last time I studied for the MBE. I think when I started studying in 2004, I was only averaging 50% right at the beginning, and a week before the test I was averaging about 65-70% correct. I still have lots of studying to do, but I think I'll get where I need to be fairly quickly. Two weeks before the test, I'd like to be averaging 75-85% right on all of my subjects.

Have a good day, everyone!

Change of plans!

2008-12-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

I just hate it when I have to change my plans at the last minute...especially if it means changing them from doing something that I really wanted to do. My flight on Friday afternoon was delayed so long that I just decided to stay in Las Vegas, especially since there was no guarantee that I'd be getting to SLC at 9:30 with a cranky toddler. So I stayed in town just hanging with Kyle Monster and doing some preliminary bar exam preparation. I was pleasantly surprised to find out from my practice tests that I'm not nearly as far behind as I thought I would be. I'm hoping that assimilating this information is going to be fairly easy and that I won't have to take too much time off of work or spend a lot of time away from Kyle to get ready. And of course, I took some time out from studying to go down to the Las Vegas Outlet Centers to see if they had anything at the Coach store that I couldn't live without (they did):

I'm pleased to note that Kyle's molars are almost all the way in. He's definitely feeling better and eating a lot more. I didn't like it when my poor little Kyle wasn't happy with his teeth! Here he is today putting away orange sections. (Note: His bib is a Christmas bib that says, "Dear Santa: I've been good all year long (mostly).)

In other news, I definitely feel like I'm getting ready for the 5k on January 17. Today I ran 2.0 miles on the road without stopping. Tomorrow I'm going to try to run 2.5 miles on the treadmill at PT. At least this week is a short week! I'm planning to get further ahead on hours than I already am, and leave for SLC on Thursday afternoon (please pray for good weather!) We hope that everyone is having a good weekend!

Christmas Excitement

2008-12-12T10:02:00.000-08:00

I'm getting excited for the holidays, everyone! I still have a bit to do to get ready, but I'm getting there. I'm excited that a big project at work is done as of yesterday, so now I just have minor projects and tasks that will take me up through the 24th! Kyle and I are going to SLC tonight on the 5:45 Delta flight. So excited to possibly play in snow this weekend! I'll be sure to take lots of great pictures! Other fun plans are to go visit the fish in the aquarium at Cabela's and shop for a Christmas tree. Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

Wednesday Update

2008-12-10T07:52:00.000-08:00

We hope that everyone is having a great week so far. I wanted to post these pictures yesterday, but it was such a long day. I left the house at 6:15 for work, worked until 4, then went downtown to two meetings, and didn't get home until 9. Yuck. Those are not my favorite days! I've also got a binding arbitration set for tomorrow. Let's just say I'm looking forward to taking it easy this weekend.

On Sunday, Kyle woke up to two mean top teeth coming in. We don't like naughty teeth! They hurt our Kyle!

After some Baby Anbesol and Baby Tylenol, Kyle felt up to helping Mommy cook:

Here's a cute picture of Kyle and I, taken by my mom, this past weekend.

I finished "The Gate House" by Nelson DeMille. It was so good! Although, I'm a little sorry to say that that's probably my last novel for about 12 weeks, because bar studying starts later this month! Right now I'm in the process of sorting and organizing my materials and putting together a study schedule. Next week I plan to begin reviewing my MBE materials and take my first Simulated MBE after the first of the year. This will give me a good barometer of not just what subjects I'm weak on, but exactly how to prepare for the real MBE. I scored a 134 last time. I'd like to get at least that score this time, if not higher. The real MBE consists of 200 multiple-choice questions -- 3 hours of 100 questions on Wednesday morning, and 3 hours of 100 questions in the afternoon. The more practice questions that a person does during the study period, the more prepared they are for the real exam. I want to say I did about 1500 practice questions in 2004. I'd like to do at least that many this time. When doing practice questions under exam conditions, at 1.8 minutes per question, that's 45 hours of review time.

The MBE tests the following subjects:

Criminal Law/Procedure

Evidence (Federal Rules)

Contracts

Torts

Real Property

Constitutional Law

I'll have to write more about the essays later. In other news, my office is freezing this morning, and I gotta go to get exhibits ready for an arbitration tomorrow. Have a good day, everyone! :)

Kyle, last Christmas

2008-12-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Kyle last Christmas when my brother and I were wrapping presents...which became an "Instant Christmas Classic." I think I'll post it every year, just for posterity's sake. It's just crazy to think that he's grown so much in just a year! :)

Have a great weekend, everyone! We hope your Christmas preparations are going well! :)

New Park Pictures

2008-12-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures that Jeff took at the park last Sunday. They turned out so cute!

Kyle is getting to be such a big boy! I can't believe all the things that he can do. He's down to one nap a day most days, and can say so many words, including:

Daddy
Mom/Mama
Kitty
No
Fish
Puppy
Dog
Please
Thank you
Bye-bye
Hi
Cup
Di-di (Diaper)
Ball
Shoes

...plus a few others that I can't think of right now. He can also make a lot of sounds. If he sees a motorcycle or car, or even a picture, he will make motor sounds with his mouth (Vrooom, vroom, vrooom!) He will also growl if he sees something fierce, like a picture of a lion or a tiger, or the Redskins mascot. (Grrrrrrr!)

We hope that everyone's week is going well. My mom and dad are coming to visit tomorrow so I'ma ,, just getting the house ready and everything in order. So, I better go...I just found Kyle trying to eat Kitty's dry cat food! Yuck!

Kyle at the Airport & Adventures in Toddler Toys

2008-12-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

Today we flew from SLC to LV. We had a little extra time at the airport, so we visited the little airport playground on the A concourse. This was Kyle's first visit to the play area and he just loved it! The first thing that he did was run over to this little basketball hoop and start picking up the blocks on the floor and throwing the blocks through the hoop.

He alternated between the basketball and this little lawnmower that made popping sounds when it's pushed:

Unfortunately, we did have to leave the playground eventually to catch our flight (and to get a clean diaper on before we boarded the plane.) As you can imagine, this was not a popular decision with Kyle. If you would like to picture the look on his face when I picked him up and put him in his stroller, check out the "squareface" picture below when I took him out of the little car at Smith's!

I haven't gotten a chance to download the pictures off my camera yet but I'll try to do that tonight or tomorrow. I took some cute shots of Jeff and I putting together the Police Patrol Car Cozy Coupe. Or, I should say, attempting to put together the Police Patrol Car. The people at Little Tikes have a sick sense of humor. Apparently, they think it's funny to make the hard molded plastic pieces impossible to fit together....as if parenting a toddler wasn't enough to drive one insane at times to begin with. Anyway, I'm glad we didn't wait until the night before Christmas to attempt this. It wouldn't have been pretty. I mean, I can understand if I, a 125-pound weakling, couldn't put together a toy car. But Jeff had as difficult a time as I did, and he's someone who lifts weights, runs six miles for fun, and often arrests people who do not wish to be arrested. He's tough! We spent over an hour dinking around with the Cozy Coupe, getting more and more frustrated with the inflexible parts and incomprehensible directions that were printed in six languages and probably didn't make sense in any of them. I think we're contemplating just getting Kyle a real police car being sold at auction since it already comes pre-assembled. Come on, Little Tikes. Give us parents a break!

Here's what the ad SHOULD say:

Little Tikes Police Patrol Car! Hours of fun for your kids!*

(*Parents not pictured; they're currently in mental lockdown)

So, I'm off now to Google "Assembly Secrets Little Tikes Cozy Coupe." Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving weekend!

2008-11-29T09:17:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone! We hope that everyone is having a great weekend and had a super Turkey Day. I wanted to post two pictures of Kyle from Thanksgiving morning that still have me giggling. I've got more pictures on my regular camera, but those will have to wait until they can be downloaded back in LV.

Early on Thanksgiving morning, Kyle and I ventured out to the grocery store so that we could stock up on some extra Turkey Day supplies. When Kyle goes grocery shopping with me, he gets easily bored and after about 10 or 15 minutes, begins trying to climb out of the cart. My mom had a good idea -- to get one of the grocery carts that have the little car in the front and let him sit in that while I do my shopping. The idea is that he'll be so preoccupied with the little car that he wouldn't try to climb out. This turned out to be a great solution to the climbing-out-of-the-cart problem. However, now I have another problem...formulating an exit strategy for getting Kyle out of the little car and into the adult car to go home!

Here's Kyle as I unloaded the groceries in the parking lot:

And here he is about 30 seconds later, when I took him out of the little car and put him in his car seat:

Too funny! Well, we are having a great weekend -- thinking about hitting the Golden Corral for breakfast, then grocery shopping and football-watching. If we get VERY ambitious, we may go for a run. I'm a little apprehensive about going running in high altitude. We went to the Jazz game last night which was very fun. I'm trying to talk Jeff into going again tonight if we can find some cheap tickets. We'll see what happens! Have a great weekend, everyone! Don't forget to vote in the new poll!

P.S. I was able to get in to see Alexis early, and the Great Hair Disaster has been remedied. Whew! That's a relief. I will try to post new pics later! :)

Christmas Shopping

2008-11-24T18:25:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I managed to get quite a bit of Christmas shopping done. The mall wasn't busy at all, and there are already so many discounts at most of the major retailers due to the economy that you can stretch your money a long way. I'm already over halfway done. And while I won't be telling any secrets about what presents I bought for anyone (except maybe Kyle), I thought I would share with you some of the things on MY Christmas list this year...some serious and some silly. I'll leave it up to YOU to decide which is which:

Automatic sushi maker. Jeff says there's no such thing as an automatic sushi maker, and he's soooooo wrong:

Old-time popcorn popper (duh):

Furry boots, for those cold Herriman nights:

Black purse to replace the one that got stolen out of my car last month. I was going to put Gucci or Dior, but in this economy, it's more fashionable to pinch pennies. Therefore, I sensibly and frugally chose a Coach:

Redskins snack helmet...note different compartments for chips and dip:

Personal, in-home, Diet Coke fountain machine:

A new Mommymobile:

Baby brother or sister for Kyle:

My own helicopter to cut down travel time between SLC and LV:

Little cottage for weekend getaways (really more for Jeff than me, he says he's always wanted a cabin):

Happy shopping, everyone! ;P

Oh my gosh...love it, love it, love it!!

2008-11-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

I can't attest to the veracity of this story, but it popped up on the FB site of a friend of mine from law school:

Redistributing the wealth 9:38pm

Here's a story I came across in the WSJ. It's from a letter to the editor recently published in the Chicago Tribune. Folks with big brass ones like A. Hart make me proud to be an American. Keep it in mind when you vote. Here's the story:

Redistributing wealth

On my way to lunch recently, I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama; I need the money." I laughed. In a restaurant my server had on an "Obama 08" tie. Again I laughed. Just imagine the coincidence. When the bill came, I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Barack-Obama-redistribution-of-wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need—the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight. I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful. At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment, I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more. I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.—A. Hart, Forest Park

OK -- end of political commentary, back to our regularly-scheduled programming. ;P

Apple Cup Agony

2008-11-23T06:27:00.000-08:00

So I woke up this morning to the very rude sight of this picture, which a "friend" of mine from law school who went to WSU put on the Facebook site of everyone that he knows who went to Washington. He is a butthead for doing this...even though I have to admit that it was a pretty funny trick:

However, I have to be honest. The Huskies played terribly, and simply did not deserve to win that game. It was a consolation that Utah finished the season at 12-0 and will be going to a BCS bowl game. We watched the game over at the home of a friend of ours who has several children older than Kyle. His youngest son is in kindergarten. During halftime, the kids went out to play on the basketball court, and Kyle got inside this little car. He really seemed to like it. I think it means he'll like his police car when he gets that for Christmas:

Have a great Sunday, everyone! :)

New Kyle pics and video

2008-11-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, and Happy Thursday. There's less than a week to go before Thanksgiving. Gobble gobble! Don't forget to vote in the poll (to the right.)

I uploaded a bunch of new Kyle pics. Some have asked where all the Kyle pics went. Here's the problem: he's too dang fast now for me to take pictures of him! He either runs away from the camera or toward the camera to try to grab it away from me. Most of the pictures are blurry...just a fuzzy munchkin in action, such as below:

I think I'm going to have to invest in a digital SLR and some photography classes. There have been a few that turned out. Here they are.

Kyle has learned to push his fire truck up against the TV to try to change the channels when he can't find the remote:

Here he is before we took our walk yesterday. He just loves his stroller!

Occasionally, Kyle doesn't get his way. He likes to try to take knives out of the dishwasher and play with them. He also likes to pick up pens and try to write on the walls and furniture. When I see this, I take the knives/pens away. This is what happens:

Here's a fun video of Kyle. He knows how to touch his head and ears if you ask him. He can also clap his hands and touch his shoulders too. So cute!

In other news, I had a good appointment with my knee doctor yesterday. I'm going to do six more weeks of physical therapy and then I am discharged to a home exercise program. I'm looking forward to doing that. I definitely feel so much better than 8 weeks ago when I started. I remember being in a lot of pain in Cabo and in Maryland in September and having to limit a lot of my activites this whole year. Now, pretty much nothing. I can walk as long as I want to, and I've even started running part of the way on my walks. I'd like to build up to run about three miles at a time while pushing Kyle in the stroller. I am back to my law school fighting weight from 10 years ago! Yay! I will be turning 35 next month (or as I like to call it, twenty-fifteen) but I feel like I'm 25, physically anyway. It is a good feeling to not have constant pain anymore.

I also finished Heat Lightning. It was such a good book. I just started The Brass Verdict. We have some fun plans for the weekend, too. Kyle and I are going to do some Christmas shopping on Saturday, clean out the refrigerator and get things done ahead of time since we'll be out of town for Thanksgiving weekend.

Have a great rest of the week, everyone! :)

2008-11-16T13:48:00.001-08:00

So these are the two dresses that I chose for the cruise in January. Unfortunately, the tropical dress that everyone loved was in stock, but not in my size. So, I opted for a satiny red tea-length dress and another one that is black and floor-length. You can't really tell from the picture, but the black dress has a wrap across the front that has this glittery but understated accent. I'm very excited. These pictures weren't taken in the greatest light, but you get the general idea. Also, I know that I just had my hair done a couple of weeks ago, but I'm already ready to go back and have more blonde put in. I always get these great ideas once a year or so about adding in brown, and then when I do, I always regret it. Next time I need you guys to talk me out of it, okay? :)

We're having a very fun time this weekend. Friday night we played bingo and won a ham! It's in the freezer right now, and we're going to bake it at Christmas. Yesterday we went to a party and watched the UFC fights. I was cheering for Randy Couture and I was disappointed that he didn't win. I'm very excited for the next big fight in December because Forest Griffin is fighting. Forest goes to physical therapy with me. While I use the leg machines for my knee, he uses the shoulder machines. I also saw him once at Discount Tire when I was getting new tires put on my truck.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

Interesting Google Factoid

2008-11-14T09:15:00.000-08:00

Did you know that if you do a Google Images search for "Notre Dame," you get pictures of both the Fighting Irish and the Parisian Cathedral?

Other semi-interesting factoids so far today:

1. I just got invited to sit on a panel entitled "Women & Careers" for a Women in Leadership conference in February.

2. I just ate a delicious donut with raspberry filling.

3. Can't wait until 11 because I'm leaving to go to the airport!!!

4. I am almost done writing a deposition summary.

5. I'm still weighing the costs and benefits of different types of old-time popcorn poppers.

6. Kyle got mad when his diaper got changed this morning. Such a temper! :)

7. I'm halfway through the book "Heat Lightning" by John Sandford. Soooo good!

2008-11-13T11:59:00.001-08:00

I just read an article in the Deseret News about the gay & lesbian community now threatening to "blacklist" supporters of California's Proposition 8, after staging destructive protests at LDS temples and other church property in California and in Utah, organizing a Utah boycott, and lobbying for the church to lose its non-profit status.

This behavior shows exactly how much "tolerance" this contingent really has of other opinions. "I accept everyone and I believe in democracy, but anyone that disagrees with my liberal point of view is a hateful bigot who has no right to speak out" seems to be the order of the day. Now, as an attorney, I understand that to opponents of Prop 8, the matter is a constitutional issue of civil rights and not one to be put to a majority vote. However, a constitutional point-counterpoint analysis is beyond the scope of this blog, and in fact, I usually make a concerted effort to keep politics and religion off my blog altogether.

But I'm making an exception to that today to say enough is enough. A church has every right to participate in the political process and mobilize its members in the political process, just as any liberal non-profit organization, such as PETA, NARAL, or like organization does. And a political process can never take away a right that never existed to begin with until it was created by a panel of activist judges.

One exit poll on election day conducted in Southern California showed that the same African-Americans who turned out to vote Obama into office also voted in support of Proposition 8 at rates in excess of 70%. I don't see any gays or lesbians organizing protests or boycotts in Compton.

After observing the reactions of the gay and lesbian community over the past week since the election, especially those directed at the church, one verse from 1 Nephi comes very prominently to my mind about the guilty taking the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center.

2008-11-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

Thanks for voting in my poll, everyone! I'm hoping that when February rolls around, I won't disappoint you guys. I appreciate your confidence! It's a Wednesday that feels like a Monday. I hate holidays in the middle of the week! I worked most of yesterday, then took Kyle to the mall. My trip was threefold in purpose:

1. Look for deals on winter fashion;

2. Serve as my own "advance team" for Christmas shopping;

3. Perform some recon for formal dress shopping.

First, let me just say that retailers must be anticipating slow sales this holiday season, because I have never seen such deep discounts so early in the year, especially on clothes. A lot of new merchandise is already 25-30% off, and that means after Christmas, it will be a fire sale. I plan to stock up on lots of sweaters, long-sleeve shirts, and maybe even a new coat soon.

Also, Kyle is not turning out to be a very a good shopper. He got bored at the mall and began to fuss, then started reaching out from his stroller and tried to pull clothes off the racks. Then, when I let him out of the stroller after we went down the escalator, he ran right over to the "down" escalator and tried to stick his little fingers in the space where the stairs fold and go into the machinery. When I took his arm and led him away from the escalator, he threw a temper tantrum (screaming and crying) right in the middle of Macy's, the little stinker. I put him back in the stroller and wheeled him off, and luckily, he stopped crying about a minute later. Hmmmmm.....quick temper, but doesn't hold grudges. I wonder where he got that trait from? :)

Weekend Update

2008-11-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We hope that everybody is having a great weekend. I am taking this weekend to catch up on lots of projects around the house and even get started on a little Christmas shopping! November is already almost one-third over, and Thanksgiving is late this year. Therefore, because I hate it when things are left to the last minute, I'm trying to get ahead on it now.

We went to our friend Tranylle's wedding reception last night. It was so fun! She looked beautiful. Here's a picture of Asa and Kyle. It's kind of fuzzy because I took it with my phone and the lighting in the back of the room was a bit dim:

Before we went to the wedding, we had to go shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond for a wedding gift. We got Tranylle and her new husband a breadbox that they wanted, but we were sorely tempted to get her an old-time popcorn popper, just like they used to have on The Price Is Right (or maybe like they still have now...I haven't watched TPIR lately)(unfortunately). Here are two old-time popcorn poppers currently in stock at BB&B. One is a hot air popper, and the other is a kettle-style, like the kind that go on wheels. I have to be honest, I'd be pretty happy if I woke up on Christmas morning and saw one of these babies parked under my Christmas tree!

And, just so you can get a sense of what a true old-time popper is supposed to look like, here's picture of me posing with one that we saw at a restaurant in Ocean City a few months ago. It's also a little blurry...but you get the idea:

Also on our to-do list yesterday was shoe-shopping for Kyle. We found these babies at Kohl's, which is one of my favorite stores for kid-shopping. These shoes were normally $34.99, but on sale for $24.99. I used a $10 off coupon to take them down to $14.99, and then used my Kohl's charge card for another 30% off that for a grand price of $11.40. Love it!!

Kyle's been taking a nap this morning, so I did these two scrapbooking layouts. One is of our trip to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago when Kyle's Grammy and Granddad were here. The other is some of the best Disneyland pictures.

In other news, I tried a new soda yesterday that is so yummy. It is Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. I picked up a 12-pack yesterday at Smith's because it was on sale. It's so good, it's enough to make me forget about Diet Coke.

JUST KIDDING! I'll never give up Diet Coke. But Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash is pretty good. If you see it on sale, and you are looking for a perfect afternoon or evening caffeine-free beverage, I highly recommend it. I'm also making a roast today, and looking forward to today's football games. Here's to hoping I can pull off a big win against Jeff in Fantasy Football!

Fun Videos!

2008-11-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun videos that we took at Disneyland.

Kyle has recently learned how to blow kisses. It's so cute!

Here's Kyle at Coldstone Creamery. The look on his face when he eats the lemon sorbet is just priceless!

The week is going well, other than that. So happy that tomorrow is Friday! I am going to make a homemade spaghetti sauce on Saturday in the crockpot. I'll let everyone know if it turns out well. If it doesn't, then you probably won't hear about it again. Haha! I also need to do more research for our cruise. We are going to book our shore excursions next weekend. Plus, we're planning a trip next year to Montreal, Canada. The dates aren't definite yet, but probably June 13-20. The last time I went to Canada was for work in 2005. I went to Toronto, but I only got to spend two days there. I think it will be pretty cool to go to Montreal where everyone speaks French. Kind of like going to France, but not as far.

I also got word from the State Bar of Utah that my background check is finished and my application has been formally approved by the Character and Fitness Committee. All systems go for February 24!

Winter is coming to the LV!

2008-11-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! It was 44 degrees when we pulled out of the driveway this morning. Brrrr! That's cold for Las Vegas in November. I could not resist snapping a cute pic of Kyle in his coat and long pants on the way to school. He looked too cute! Fun plans for today include status letters for me in the morning and a deposition in the afternoon. This evening I need to upload some cute Disneyland videos to the blog and work on cleaning and organizing...my never-ending project!

It's Thursday, everyone! The weekend is almost here! :)

More Disneyland Pics

2008-11-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

These are just a few more pictures that I had in my phone. I thought I'd share them with you:

Kyle gears up for his road trip. Check out his new big-boy car seat!

Here are Jeff and Kyle in line for the Finding Nemo ride:

Kyle was all eyes on the Finding Nemo ride. We didn't even have to wait that long for one of Disneyland's most popular attractions...about 15 minutes.

We went into L.A. on Friday afternoon to visit one of Jeff's cousins. On the drive back, we got stuck in rush hour. It took us nearly 90 minutes to travel the 35 miles from the Los Feliz section of L.A. to Anaheim. Here, Kyle expresses his feelings on SoCal traffic:

Other than that, I'm just happy to chill at home watching the election coverage. It has just been a crazy day! Since Kyle is still waking up early (no thanks to the end of daylight savings time), I got up at 4:30 and was at work by 5:45. I took an hour to go vote and run errands and ran back to the office, leaving at 3:45 to go get him. I got him home and luckily he took a short nap while I did a conference call with an expert on one of my cases. Then, he woke up very sad. I think he's teething again. His Orajel is at school so we just ran down to Smith's to get another tube. He's doing MUCH better now, and may be up to dinner in a bit.

In other news, I got a letter from the Utah bar about the bar exam. It will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on February 24-25 -- exactly 16 weeks from today. It's definitely getting closer!

Have a great evening, everyone!

Disneyland Fun!

2008-11-03T17:42:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to post the pictures from our Disneyland trip. We had such a fun time! Here are some of the top highlights:

Kyle gears up for the weekend with a power breakfast at Denny's -- more specifically, a Junior Grand Slam:

The park was decorated for Halloween with pumpkins and fall colors:

Kyle rides the carousel. He really liked to look at the horses and all the other kids that were riding on the merry-go-round.

Here's Kyle in a cartoon car at Mickey's Toontown. What Jeff's artful photography doesn't show is the screaming, bratty 3-year-old in the car next to Kyle. His mom tried to take him out of the car so Kyle could have his picture taken...but the kid wouldn't get out, and didn't even want Kyle to get in the car. What a baby. Kyle shows that this didn't faze him with his typical aplomb:

We rode on the rocket ships near Tomorrowland. So much fun to make the rocket ships go up and down while we rode them...

This is a pic of the three of us on the ladybug ride in A Bug's Life:

Kyle and I pose before a ride on Flik's Flyers in a Bug's Life. This was a fun one! I'm not sure what Kyle's looking at here...

Asa and Kristol were absolute angels to watch Kyle for about two hours so that Jeff and I could go on some adult rides. Thanks, guys! You're the best! We caught up with them as they went for a ride on Heimlich's Chew-Chew Train! Look at those baby skills they both have! We think they'd do well with a little munchkin of their own.

During our kid-free time, we went on the Tower of Terror. Here we are in line:

We also went on the wild river rafting ride. As you can see, I got wet! I look like I got into a wet T-shirt contest and lost! Haha!

Disneyland just wore Kyle out! Here he is back at the condo for one of our rest breaks. He fell asleep in the stroller on the way back from the park!

We love Disneyland! We can't wait for our next trip!

Daylight Savings Time Ends

2008-11-02T05:45:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone. Daylight savings time is over, so don't forget to turn back your clocks an hour. I saw earlier this weekend that daylight savings time was scheduled to end this weekend, and thought, "Oh, goody. An extra hour of sleep." However, I neglected to pass that memo along to Kyle, so he woke up, raring to go, at 5:03 a.m. Ugh. I put him in his stroller and walked across the street to get a cup of hot chocolate, because Diet Coke seemed indecent at that hour (even to me). I'm now watching re-runs of SportsCenter while Kyle scoots an old box around the floor of the condo, picking up odd bits of things (pieces of leaves, crumbs, etc.) and putting them in the box. And thinking about those lucky ducks that get an extra hour of sleep. ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Cute Disneyland Pics

2008-11-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few cute pics that we took with our phones, so we can upload them now. Most of the pics are on the regular camera, so I won't have a chance to download them until tomorrow night. Here's Kyle with his Halloween sweatshirt:

And here he is getting ready for the Finding Nemo ride:

We are headed back to Vegas tomorrow. I can't wait to post some of the great pictures from the trip! We hope that everyone is having a great weekend. We are exhausted! We were thinking about going back to the park for the parade and fireworks tonight, but an evening eating junk food and watching the Jazz game while Kyle sleeps sounds pretty dang good!

Dateline: Disneyland

2008-10-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Here's a short update from Disneyland. We are having a great time. We got into Anaheim on Wednesday night and checked into our hotel. Thursday we did Disneyland all day (except for a break in the afternoon to give Kyle a nap.) Today we are taking it easy. We just finished breakfast at Denny's, and now we're heading up to the L.A. area to visit some of Jeff's cousins. Tonight we might get a movie. Tomorrow is all Disneyland and the company lunch. Hooray! It's going to be very exciting. I'll try to post some pictures later.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Times are hard in the LV

2008-10-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hello, my dear readers. I am writing to advise everyone out there to BE CAREFUL and lock up all your valuables. One sad by-product of a downturn in the economy is the rise in crime, especially theft and burglary, particularly now that the holidays are approaching:

Yesterday afternoon, in an attempt to get a head start on my Disneyland trip, I came home from a deposition and parked my truck in the driveway while I loaded in Kyle's stroller, extra diapers, etc. in the back of the truck This was about 4:30 pm. Kyle was inside taking a short nap. I went inside and left the truck unlocked because I was going to be leaving in 15 minutes for a 5:00 pm hair appointment. I got Kyle up, fed him some dinner, and when it was time to leave, I loaded him and his diaper bag into his car seat. I then opened my door and noticed that the center console lid was up. "That's strange," I thought. "I don't remember leaving that lid up, or even opening up the console today." I then noticed napkins, papers, and other detritus strewn across the front seat, and my old Treo phone, the one with the inoperable battery, missing from the cupholder. I looked in the center console and the old black Coach purse that I had left in the console was gone as well. Someone had obviously come along during the 15-20 minutes that I was inside, got into my vehicle, and just grabbed whatever they saw that they wanted. Luckily, my new real iPhone and my real purse (that contains my wallet and real valuables) was inside my house and unscathed. I bet that jerk was disappointed when he found out all he got was a broken, 3 year old phone with a burned-out battery and a battered Coach bag with nothing but business cards, pens, and lip gloss in it.

In any event, I got lucky, but the moral of the story is in these times, NEVER leave your car unlocked, not even for a minute, not even in your driveway, even if you live in a good area. And NEVER leave valuables in your car. There are too many drug fiends, thieves, and other general losers out there that want to steal your stuff!

8's

2008-10-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Kyle's Aunt Julie again. This time, the subject is 8's:

8 favorite TV Shows: (in no particular order)

1. Homicide: Life on the Street (best show in the history of television, ever.)
2. Magnum P.I. (from back in the day)
3. Grey's Anatomy (when I have time, which is never.)
4. Monday Night Football (does that count as a show?)
5. Anything that Jeff tivo's for me (like 30 Rock and The Office)
6. The Wire (I'm hoping to get the series for Christmas, hint, hint!)
7. Reno 911 (I know, so embarrassing!)
8. Gotta be a tie between Matt Houston (another 80s detective show, go figure) and any lawyer show from the 80s or 90s (since heaven knows I get enough lawyering in now that I don't need to watch any shows about it! Haha!)

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. McDonald's (so embarrassing!)
2. Ray's Boathouse (Seattle)
3. Buffalo Wild Wings
4. Bonito Michoacan
5. Roadrunner
6. Katie Downs in Tacoma (miss those law school days so much!!)
7. Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay
8. Dos Serranos (used to be at 5400 S and Redwood Road in Taylorsville but they tore it down and built a Wal-Mart!)

8 Things I Did Today:

1. Took a police officer's deposition
2. Wrote a motion for Kevin
3. Wrote a letter to another attorney
4. Met with a client
5. Defended a client deposition
6. Took Kyle grocery shopping
7. Got my car washed at Terrible's
8. Went to dinner with Darla at Roadrunner

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Disneyland (in two days!)
2. For this election to be over!
3. Thanksgiving
4. Christmas/my birthday
5. The January cruise
6. When Kyle starts talking in real sentences
7. Passing the Utah bar exam
8. Visiting the beach at Ocean City, Maryland next summer

Tag others: Heidi, Staci

Pumpkin Party

2008-10-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

On Sunday afternoon, our friends Asa and Kristol threw a Pumpkin Party. This was an opportunity for their family and friends to come together and carve pumpkins, eat fall food, and drink root beer. (Kyle got milk instead of root beer.) Here, Asa and Kyle took a break from the pumpkins to play Flying Baby in the backyard:

Kristol studies the directions for her pumpkin kit:

Here's the Baby Monster and I just enjoying the beautiful fall weather. It is so nice to be outside this time of year.

Only two more days to Disneyland! We're so excited! I went shopping for all our fun Road Trip junk food this afternoon, and tonight after dinner I'm going to confirm the park's hours and our hotel reservation. I think we are going to have a great time! :)

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took Kyle to the pumpkin patch dressed in his monkey Halloween costume. He looked so dang cute!!! We took tons of pictures. These are the ones that turned out the best:

Kyle with my parents:

My dad kept giving him a pumpkin to hold, and he kept throwing it on the ground! So funny!

I don't know what he was going after here:

Me and my little buddy!

Happy Sunday, everyone! :)

Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point

2008-10-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

I'm still catching up the blog from last weekend. Here are some cute pictures from last Saturday's trip to the corn maze at Thanksgiving Point. Kyle stayed in Las Vegas with his dad, but Jeff and I still had a good time.

Here's a picture of the south part of the corn maze from a tower. Check out those mountains in the background! It was a beautiful day, about 68 degrees and sunny...just perfect for a day of autumn adventures.

There was a "Chicken Show" next the corn maze. What is a chicken show, you might ask? Basically, someone had taken a miniature barn and put some cages in front of it. Inside the cages were stuffed, animated chickens. This is the "stage" for the chicken show. In front of the barn were hay bales for the kids to sit on. Next to the barn was a button that the kids could press. When the button was pressed, the chickens would "fly" up out of their cages, sing, dance, and tell "corny" jokes. (Get it?) I can't wait to take Kyle to this next year when he gets a little bit older.

Here we are inside the corn maze. It was very relaxing just to walk through the rows of corn for an hour, no phones, no emails, etc.

Here is a pumpkin tower next to the corn maze. It was at least 40 feet tall, and had all kinds of carved pumpkins.

Have a great weekend everyone! Kyle's grandparents are here, and we're off to the Pumpkin Patch as soon as Kyle wakes up from his nap.

Real Salt Lake soccer game

2008-10-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Jeff and I went to the Real Salt Lake soccer game at their new stadium in Sandy. It was a lot of fun. RSL won the game too, 3-1. Here is the stadium before the game started:

Here we are. We were so excited to go to the second game in the new stadium:

Much to my surprise and delight, the entire crowd joined together to do "The Wave" toward the end of the game. As you may be aware, I love "The Wave" and look forward to doing "The Wave" at each sporting event that I attend. Jeff is so funny. He is just like my dad in that they both refuse to do "The Wave" under pretty much circumstance whatsoever. They are "Wave Naysayers." You can't see in this picture very well, but here's the east side of the stadium as "The Wave" approached our section.

I also received my bar review books yesterday, and Kyle's police car was delivered to Jeff's house in Utah. So, now I'll have to buy something else online to track its shipment.

In other excellent news, it's almost Friday. Yay! Kyle's Grammy and Grandad will be here tomorrow afternoon. We have so many fun activities planned for this weekend. We are going to take Kyle to the pumpkin patch, to Costco, to Target to get a new big-boy car seat, and to dinner. We are also planning to watch the Ohio State-Penn State football game, and to attend the annual church Chili Cookoff and Trunk or Treat. I will be sure to take lots of pictures and post them later. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tracking Packages

2008-10-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited for the two shipments that I'm expecting this week. Both of them were originally scheduled for delivery tomorrow. The first is Kyle's police car, which is being shipped Fed Ex ground. It's actually being delivered to Jeff's house since we won't be in the LV for Christmas. I just tracked the package using the confirmation number, and its status is "On Fed Ex vehicle for delivery." So, we will get it early. The second shipment is my bar exam study books. That's being shipped UPS ground. I tracked it this morning and it was in Commerce City, Colorado. Then, I just tracked it now and it has moved to Salt Lake City. That's scheduled for delivery tomorrow.

I know I have a problem when it comes to buying things online, but I just can't resist the high that I get from entering tracking numbers online and seeing where my packages are!!!

Kyle and Kitty

2008-10-20T17:06:00.001-07:00

Here's a picture that I snapped of Kyle and his new sweatshirt. I got it purely by luck...both Kyle and Kitty are fast movers!

Other than that, I'm just catching up from being gone this weekend, with laundry, chores, etc. and looking forward to MNF (as always). Have a great week, everyone!

Redskins fans

2008-10-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

I left my camera up in SLC two weeks ago, and I just brought it back tonight. Here's a cute pic of Jeff and Kyle last Sunday as we got ready to go to breakfast. As you can tell, these two were cheering for the Redskins:

This weekend, we had such a super-fun and action-packed good time. It was so fun. Friday night we went to La Frontera in West Valley City for dinner. Saturday we went shopping at the District in South Jordan and to lunch at the Red Robin. Then, we picked out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch and did the corn maze at Thanksgiving Point. Saturday night we went to the Real Salt Lake soccer game at their new stadium. It was lots of fun! Today we met my friend Sean and his girlfriend Danielle with their new baby, Bridger, for breakfast. He is such a cute and tiny baby! It's hard for me to remember that Kyle was that small (and even smaller) when he was born.

Lastly, Jeff's mom sent Kyle an adorable sweatshirt. I am going to put it on him when he wakes up and take a picture. It is so cute. It says, "Don't Scare Me -- I Poop Easily." Haha!

One Word

2008-10-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

I got this "tag" off of Kyle's Aunt Julie's blog. You're supposed to answer every question with just one word:

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Where is your significant other? Utah
3. Your hair? Blonde
4. Your mother? Caring
5. You father? Funny
6. Your favorite thing? Beach
7. Your dream last night? Courtroom
8. Your dream/goal? Togetherness
9. The room you're in? Office
10. Your hobby? Scrapbooking
11. Your fear? Failure
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Partner
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? Afraid
15. One of your wish list items? Perfume
16. Where you grew up? Puyallup
17. The last thing you did? Email
18. What you're wearing? Boots
19. Your TV? Football
20. Your pet? Dominique
21. Your computer? Slow
22. What do you think of tags like this? Fun
23. Your mood? Content
24. Missing someone? Yes
25. Where would you rather be? Airport
26. Something you're not wearing right now? Coat
27. Favorite store? Costco
28. Your summer? Hot!
29. Love someone? Kyle
30. Favorite color? Pink
31. The last time you laughed? Meeting
32. Who will participate? Staci

Kyle's Police Car

2008-10-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

Shhhhhhhh! Don't tell Kyle, but he's getting a little ride-on police car for Christmas. I ordered it from a store called Meijer. I guess they're located in the Midwest. I looked everywhere online for this thing. Amazon.com was out of stock, and so was Toys R Us. However, Meijer had it in stock and even on sale. (In this economy, we looooooove sales! Haha!) So anyway, I figured I'd lock in the sale price, so I ordered it on Wednesday. It shipped today via Fed Ex ground from Richfield, Ohio, so now I have something to track online. Yay! Here's a picture of it. I hope he likes it!

Kyle goes to the zoo

2008-10-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

Kyle and his dad went to Seattle last weekend and visited my mom and dad. Kyle got to go to a zoo for the first time. Here are some cute pictures:

My mom said that Kyle paid close attention to the animals and that he was very good when he came to visit. What a cutie!

Also, read below for this week's poll. :)

Cruisewear...Formalwear advice needed!

2008-10-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I need your opinions. I'm going on a cruise on January 25 and I want your help. There are two formal nights on our cruise, and J's getting a tux! That means that I have to step it up, and try to look dazzling, while also looking age-appropriate (will have just turned twenty-fifteen, eeeek!) Luckily, the all-stress, no-food diet has resulted in an 8 pound loss since June 30, and I'm squarely in the 120s, so we're loving that...and if the Dow and the LV housing market continue to tank, I could be down from a size 4 and back into a size 0 again before too long, so let's focus on what's positive about our dwindling economy, and not on what's negative, okay? Haha! Okay. End of satire, beginning of seriousness.

Please choose TWO of the following that you think most suit T for formal night on a Holland America Western Caribbean cruise:

Option 1:

Option 2 (far right):

Option 3 (on the right):

Option 4 (far right):

Option 5 (pink):

Option 6 (no laughing allowed!):

All right, vote away! (On the top right.) Thanks!

Home alone!

2008-10-12T08:19:00.001-07:00

Rick had some work come up in the Northwest, so he took Kyle up to visit my mom and dad. It's been a long time since I've spent a weekend at home by myself without Kyle...I think the 4th of July weekend was the last time. The house seems so quiet! It's hard to remember that it used to be this quiet all the time. I used the time to catch up on some housework and also made a few scrapbook pages yesterday. Today is Kevin's wedding up at The Grove. I'm looking forward to it. I think it will be lots of fun.

Here's a picture from last weekend. We went through the drive-through at Fazoli's for dinner on Friday night. Kyle loves any kind of pasta. Here, he is eating spaghetti as fast as Jeff can feed it to him, haha:

Have a great Sunday, everyone. Wish me luck in Fantasy Football! :)

Jeff is the best! :)

2008-10-10T07:39:00.000-07:00

Nothing makes a bad week better like flowers. Check these out...Jeff even picked out the pink ones because he knows it's my favorite color. He always seems to know exactly what I need, even when he's 400 miles away. He's the best. Cool boyfriends are awesome! Thanks, baby! :)

So, now let's focus on what's positive and not on what's negative. (I think that's my mantra.) First, I won the work football pool last week, and now I'm in the lead and ahead of 25 people. Yay! Also, today I'm wearing jeans, a pink zip-front sweatshirt, and my pink Redskins ballcap, and I've already had two people today tell me I look cute, and that I match my flowers. Double yay! And speaking of the Redskins, they will soundly trounce the Rams on Sunday. Triple yay! Okay! I'm psyched! I'm ready to go tackle Friday! :)

Frequent Flyer

2008-10-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone! Happy Monday. Kyle and I had a super-fun time in Salt Lake City this past weekend. I'll have to write more about it later. We are glad that the busy summer travel season is over, because this means more empty seats on flights. In fact, the plane had empty seats both ways, and Kyle got to have his own seat both coming and going. Here's a picture of my favorite frequent flyer just before takeoff Friday afternoon in Las Vegas:

Also, check this out...on the way back last night, the flight attendant came around to take the drink orders. The guy in front of me got a Diet Coke. She then asked me what I wanted, and I asked for a Sprite (watching my caffeine intake after 4pm). So did the guy in the window seat. Kyle, in the middle seat, then stood up, and I swear, I am not making this up, opened his mouth and said, "Diet Coke." I mean, in Kyle-speak it sounded like "Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Kooooooooooooooooooe," but I clearly understood what he meant. However, at 14 months, he's a little young to take after his mother that way. He'll have to stick with whole milk and Enfamil Next-Stage formula....for now.

Mid-Week Update

2008-10-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, and Happy Wednesday. The workweek is half over, yippee! I had my doctor appointment this morning and got recommended to do PT on my knee. I know, one more thing to cram into my schedule, right? I am supposed to go two to three time a week for six weeks and see if it helps. If not, they are going to send me for an MRI and possible arthroscopic surgery. Luckily, my knee looked good on the x-ray in terms of not having any bone spurs or arthritis. It's the cartilage that is all jacked up...along with what could be a small tear in the meniscus.

Also, my article supposedly got published today, but I haven't seen it yet. The magazines are supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

My check for the application fee for the bar exam ($625!!!!) got cashed. All systems go!

I'm looking forward to going to Utah this weekend. (Miss ya J!!!) One of my friends from the law firm is going to Utah tomorrow and also gets to go to the Oregon State/Utah football game tomorrow night. So lucky! I wish I could go...but I gotta crank out the BH's (billable hours) to make up for my sorry showing in September, haha. We gotta have a good October and finish strong in time for Disneyland!

More Kyle!

2008-09-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

I just love these pics of Kyle!

Eating spinach on Sunday night...(yeah...didn't really go over):

Being super cute on Monday am while I got ready for work:

Have good week, everyone! :)

I love Saturdays!

2008-09-27T17:58:00.001-07:00

Saturdays are sooooo fun! No work, just hang around the house doing chores and errands and hanging with Kyle Monster!

Here's another scrapbook layout that I did this morning...from the train ride that we did on the Heber Valley Railroad in June:

Kyle has figured out how to get into the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen. He got out a ladle and a saucepan and started to "cook":

I was going to take the ladle and saucepan away from him, but then I realized that this activity was not nearly as destructive or hazardous as some of his other exploits so far today, which have included (1) throwing toys down the stairs and laughing when they hit the hard wood entry way; (2) putting a toy truck in the toilet; (3) grabbing the kitty's tail so hard that she squeaked, and then laughing; (4) systematically taking the paper flowers from the pot in the entryway and trying to eat them; and (5) throwing corn off his high chair tray onto the floor and laughing when I told him no. So, the ladle and saucepan stay. Nothing else going on. It is blissful!

Fall Fashion with Kyle

2008-09-26T17:00:00.001-07:00

Here to show you some of fall's best looks is Kyle, modeling an array of outfits designed to carry you stylishly through autumn and into winter.

Fall means one thing in this house...football. What better way to show spirit for your favorite team than with an attractive windsuit with your team's logo and colors? Here's a football bet that's sure to be a winner no matter who's on your fantasy team. For his first trip down the runway, Kyle shows off this Washington Redskins outfit that can be worn through autumn and into the playoffs season! Next stop, FedEx Field!

One of this fall's key buzzwords is "roomy." You certainly don't want to invest in fall fashion only to find that you've grown so much that by February, your clothes are too small. Here, Kyle shows off the right way to wear some of this season's larger looks with a navy blue Nike sweatsuit.

Summer may be over, but that's no reason to fuss. There's still plenty of time to wear fashions from America's Favorite Pasttime before the World Series is over. Here, Kyle (a little overdue for his late afternoon nap) models a stylish one-piece romper to show his support for the Nationals. Hey, maybe he's upset over the Nats' disappointing season?

Thanks for joining us for our mini fashion show. We'll be back in March to show you all the fabulous looks for Spring 09!

Scrapbook Fun

2008-09-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

I dug out my scrapbook stuff in an endeavor to get at least partially caught up on my scrapbooking. I'm not as far behind as I thought I was...but there's a lot to do. I haven't done anything since Christmas 2007! Yikes! I did three layouts, and took digital pictures of them. Here they are. I know, nothing to write home about...but I thought they looked cute:

Swimming pool from August:

Basketball (Rocky Mountain Revue) from July:

Ocean City from September:

Have a great week! I still need to do Kyle's fashion show...which I will try to get to tomorrow....

Kyle the Big Boy

2008-09-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Here is Kyle after I got him ready for school this morning. He is getting so big, and getting to be such a big boy. I am just floored thinking about how fast he is growing. He got moved up a class in school, and is now with the 18-month-olds. He really seems to like his new class, and the teachers tell me he is playing well with the other children. I think we're gonna have a blast at Disneyland next month!

Washington, D.C. and the Nationals game

2008-09-21T13:43:00.001-07:00

Here's another set of highlights from Washington, D.C. and the Nationals game from last week. First, on the way into town, we caught up with Jeff's cousin Larry, who is a mail carrier in Gaithersburg. He is so funny! Those two make quite the pair:

We took Metro from Shady Grove to the middle of town and then just walked around. Here I am in front of the White House:

We went over to the new Nationals stadium to watch the game. Jeff took this picture of the mascots for me. For some reason, I laugh hysterically at oversized mascots...especially mascots with oversized heads:

Here we are at the game:

It was tied at the end of nine innings and went all the way to 14 innings! We didn't leave the game until after midnight. Here's Jeff expressing how we both felt as we waited for the train back to Maryland:

It's good to be home and to have a day to get adjusted before going back to the office tomorrow. Kyle's been so fun today! He's taking another nap now. As soon as he wakes up, I'm going to try to get him into some of his new clothes for a fashion show.

Maryland highlights...so far

2008-09-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

More mobile blogging! Haha. We are having a great time in Maryland. Here are some great pictures from our adventures so far.

Dinner at Maggiano's:

At the Redskins game:

On the deck at Fager's Island in Ocean City:

A view off the deck of the condo in Ocean City:

Mini-golf in Ocean City:

I'll post more later. We are having such a fun time! Today is visiting Washington D.C. and the Nationals game. We'll be flying back tomorrow. Have a great week, everyone!

Kyle goes to the hair salon

2008-09-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a hair appointment, and Kyle's regular sitter Jenna was not available. Therefore, Kyle had to go with me. He did not like it. I felt kind of bad for him. It can't be much fun to be a boy baby that has to sit in your car seat while Mommy gets foils in her hair. I had to keep him in his car seat, though, because he kept trying to walk around the salon and pull all of the hair products off the lower shelves. Don't worry, though. He didn't have this face the whole time he was there. Everytime one of the hairstylists or other customers would walk by, they would smile and play with him, and he would laugh.

I tracked my bar exam application. Yesterday it was in Memphis and today, right now, it is in the Fed Ex facility in West Valley City, Utah. Hopefully, when I check later this afternoon, it will say, "On Fed Ex vehicle for delivery."

Bar application done!

2008-09-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

I'm still so excited about my MPRE score. 109! It's so funny that I scored just one point less than the last time I took it. I don't care, though. It's still way over the minimum score of 86. Yippee! And, I sent out my bar application by Fed Ex yesterday afternoon as well. Now I'll have something to track online. (I love to track shipments with Fed Ex and UPS. It seriously makes me happy. I know, I'm a moron.) I sent it two day delivery, so it should be there by Thursday at the latest. One more big task out of the way.

In other exciting news, Kyle's school is having a fundraiser to buy supplies for his class. They are selling Christmas products! I took a catalog to work and sent one to my mom and dad. So exciting! I am officially a fundraising mom now!

Also, it rained yesterday. I love rain. I never liked it much before I moved here, but a nice rainstorm at the end of summer is so relaxing!

I know, I need to post some pictures. I'll try to work on that this week before I leave.

Score reports are in!

2008-09-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

109, baby!!!

:)