Big Shoes To FIll

Saturday for Redfish

Playing the piano

Watching Daddy do some yard clean up. I know you can't see her face but you can see how she stands on her tippy tippy toes. She LOVES to look out the window. We have all of the blinds in our house drawn up about a foot so that she can look out of all of them without messing with the blinds.
Playing with the playdough we made the other day. She is fascinated by it.

Mommy Moments

This morning Red Fish and Blue Fish were both laying on our love sac snuggling and having a great conversation. Red Fish would babble along and Blue Fish would add a yip or two every once in awhile. You gotta love the little sweet moments like that. What's better than a girl and her dog?

When I practiced my violin yesterday (funeral and temple thing coming up this weekend) Red Fish danced around me and sang at the TOP of her lungs. I could barely hear myself play. It was hilarious. I was finally laughing too hard to keep playing.

When I was doing laundry on Monday I hung all of my wet clothes on my drying rack. I turn around for thirty seconds to get a new load and Red Fish has taken all of my clothes back down and put them back in the basket. This happened twice! She is FAST! And what can you say when she looks so proud of herself for helping? Why of course you smile and say: "What a good helper! Now let's leave the clothes hanging up this time so they can dry!" Then when I was dusting she was happily dancing along behind me and then I noticed she had the baby powder and was sprinkling it along behind me. It makes it sound like I wasn't watching her when these cleaning "helps" happened but I swear she is just that fast and sneaky!

Two Fish and I were recently called to be nursery leaders at church so naturally we take Red Fish with us even though she is a little young. Unfortunately, Red Fish's tiny size has invited a few bullies to pick on her. Last week when Red Fish saw one of them coming for her she hauled off and slapped the little boy before he could get her. Then she of course gave him an immediate hug to apologize. As if to say: "I'm sorry I had to do that to you!"

We made play dough with Sas and Lovely N this week and the three little girls had a great time squishing their hands in it. They were so cute running around together. I feel like it's a very recent thing that Red Fish has really started running around with kids and playing with them for an extended period of time. It's so fun to see her making little friends. Sometimes I could push pause and freeze her sweet babyness to make it last longer but on the other hand it's fun to see her growing and changing.

Things I've Done

I stole this from Steph.
bold: means you have done
italic: means you want to
normal: just stuff/ideas- but I couldn't get my italics to turn off for some reason so I made them gray.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Been to the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen buildings of an Ancient Civilization
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Visited the Caribbean
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Been to a World Series game
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten sushi
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someones life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Cure For The Winter Blues

Sorry for the boring blog lately. I've been having a bit of the winter blues being stuck in the house all day. Yesterday I went skiing with Two Fish and my brother J and it made all that fade away. It felt so good to be outside! It was so fun to be out with my husband having fun.

National Bankruptcy Day

A United States law will go into affect on February 10th that will have a profound impact on small business and anyone with children. It is called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. It is a law that in essence, prohibits anyone from selling products to children under twelve without rigorous lead testing. This includes ANY products intended for use by a child. Small businesses, Etsy, E-bay, Craigslist, Freecycle, thrift stores, garage sales, even hand-me-downs are included in this measure. This testing is often prohibitively expensive and will bankrupt companies across the country. This law is also retroactive and requires all untested items to be put in a landfill. Isn't that wonderful for the environment? Write your congressman!

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story

Yay for Lovely L!

Here she is! Baby C- serious cheeks.

Lovely L is on the way to the hospital to have her baby! Yay!

Cooking Up Some Cutie Pie...

And apparently it's served on a ladle. Daddy put this together last night and Red Fish hasn't been more than a foot away from it all morning. Don't you love the giant apron?

Still Making Me Laugh

Just in case you have been hiding under a rock someplace and haven't seen this snl skit- it's freaking hysterical. Justin Timberlake is too funny. Actually the original single ladies video cracks me up too. Double click on the video to have it open in a larger window.

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

2009- Here we come!

The O family extravaganza has extended well into the new year. Two Fish and I invited everyone (22 people) over for a giant new years bash and sleepover. Are we crazy... well yes we are, but for reasons I don't have the time to get into right now. The party actually went really well. The kids had a wii tournament while the adults got everyone set up with a blog and facebook account. I've infected everyone. We had chicken fajitas for dinner, popcorn with the movie, and a hot chocolate bar at midnight. The hot chocolate bar was fun- I recommend it. We watched the ball drop at midnight and had a countdown. We spread out over eight different rooms in the house to sleep and managed to get in a good 5-6 hours of sleep. Then we made a big pancake breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, and juice and laid around the house for a bit. No broken bones, no stitches, very little crying, and a whole lot of crazy cousin fun. Overall it was a success. I think my favorite part of the night was watching Red Fish run around with all the kids. She was just one of the gang tonight- finally old enough to join in the fun with everyone else. She insisted on wearing her ballerina outfit over a pair of jammies so she was quite the sight marching around in her tutu with everyone.

A little New Years smooch

I have big plans for 2009. The last few years have been very life changing for our family and I expect the next year to be no different. I had this plan a few years ago that I referred to as my 12 month plan to happiness. The idea is that if I make small goals every month that are very reachable and do it for a month until it becomes a habbit that by the end of 12 months of goals I would be healthier in body, spirit, mind, and realtionships- and therfor happier. It was supposed to prepare me for parenthood. I got a bit sidetracked when parenthood didn't come in the package I expected so I've decided to reembrace the 12 month plan now (actually more like eight weeks ago.) My January goals are going to be-

Health goal- floss my teeth on a regular basis
House goal- My first one was actually to do my laundry every week and put it away immediatly but I've been doing it for eight weeks so I think I am going to go with vaccuuming every room in my house at least weekly so there is no dog hair.
Spiritual goal- read one chapter in the book of mormon with my husband daily.
Family Relationship goal- set aside specific time everyday to just play with Red Fish and do nothing else.
Mental Health goal- Try to read before bed more frequently.

So wish me luck on my 12 month plan. If I don't finish a goal I restart it the next month. It's supposed to be low stress and help me grow. Perhaps it will go better this time. Baby steps right?