The Nieciness Continues!

Yet another niece has arrived--the third of my four nieces due to make an appearance in 2008.



Introducing . . . Caroline Rose! She was born on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 and weighed 7 lb. 2 oz. And I so wish I could rush over to the hospital and see her, but alas, North Carolina is too far away. Luckily we'll be meeting her soon!

Congratulations, Andrew and Andrea! We're so happy for you. And isn't that the cutest picture of Caroline with her new big brother and big sister?? (Drew, I stole the pic off your blog AND cropped you out of it. Only because I wanted to get a closer shot of the baby's cuteness, though. Forgive me??)

3 Things I Like. 3 Things I Don't Like.

Things I like:

1. Pretty blue-skied Sundays like today. Walk to church, head home and nap, have some dinner (Forrest made), have some family over, go on a walk, nice breeze coming in the windows. Blissful.

2. So You Think You Can Dance.
New season started on Thurs. Hooray, hooray! One of the best reality shows out there, and I'm serious. Once you get past the cheesy try-out stage, the actual competition is really fun to watch because the people are so dang talented. And I secretly wish I could dance ("So You Wish You Could Dance?" could be my reality show) so it's fun watching people who are so good at something I'll never be able to do. 'Specially now that I'm careening toward middle age. Isn't 40 middle age? Unbelievable!! But I digress, and this is supposed to be the "things I like" section.

3. The Megaplex 20 at the District

I'm not a huge fan of Larry Miller, and it definitely bugs that with 20 dang screens they insist on showing National Treasure 2 nineteen times a day (you can't spare one little screen for Academy Award nominees? Really?). BUT--I love having a movie theater so close that has comfy seats and a nice sound system and reserved seating so Forrest and I can get tickets ahead of time. I love the embarrassing refillable mugs we bought so we can get our drinks for $1.00 a pop. And I LOVE that we can put Wyatt down and go catch an 8:00 movie on a Saturday night. I wonder when (and if?) going to the movies is going to lose it's luster. Hopefully never.

UNLESS . . . people like George Lucas and Steven Speilberg insist on throwing millions of dollars on mindless, storyless, soul-sucking, CGI reliant DRECK like the Indiana Jones movie. We saw it last night. And as much as it was fun to go to the movies . . . man, that movie was bad. Bad. Disappointingly so. Which brings me to the three things I don't like:

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull



I'm not going into all the reasons this movie fails. Suffice it to say that I truly, in the bottom of my soul, don't understand why seemingly intelligent people like Steven Spielberg can expend millions of dollars and millions of hours to create seamless CGI effects, but yet they can't seem to get a coherently written script together. I mean, plot holes the size of double-decker buses. Non-existent character motivation. Soulless acting. I just don't get it. If a relatively discriminating movie-watcher can not only figure out all the plot problems but come up with plausible solutions . . . then why oh why can't they spend, say, $100,000 on a smart person to FIX THE SCRIPT?

2. Polygamist cults.



I've been following the whole Texas raid for weeks now--despite myself. I don't know why I feel so torn about it. On the one hand, I have a lot of sympathy for those poor mothers who've lost their children, and I don't think that in this country it should be legal to take children away based on something that "might" happen. Sets a terrible precedent and in this case, in particular, smacks strongly of religious persecution. But on the other hand, there IS some awful abuse going on there. Have you seen the most recent Warren Jeffs/12-year-old girl "wedding" photos?? Horrifying. I also just read the Carolyn Jessop memoir Escape for my ward book club. It's a fascinating (albeit rather poorly written, technically) account of what it was like to grow up in Colorado City and especially the precipitous descent into cultish madness that happened after Warren took control. But it was also so creepy and unsettling to see some of the elements of my own religious beliefs that I hold sacred twisted and warped into what the FLDS have become today. Bad stuff, all around.

3. The Excesses of Materialism

Last week we had a big community yard sale. I did okay--don't think I'll do it again in a long while, though, as I'd rather just give stuff away--but I took the opportunity to try and get the kids' toys under control. It's been since before Wyatt was born that I've done a big ol' toy purge, and let me just say, it was a little sickening to see all the stuff that accumulates in a couple of years time. Plastic stuff. Broken stuff. Useless stuff. And then trying to figure out: should we save this? Sell it? Give it away? Throw it away? Absolutely exhausting. I honestly think that if my kids had less stuff, they'd probably have more fun because they'd cherish what they have. And my kids aren't nearly as spoiled as some of their friends--mine only get toys on major holidays and birthdays--and still I get this sense that we're overdoing it and need to scale back.

(Ethan, if you're reading this, don't worry--you'll still get birthday presents. As a matter of fact, I'm sure nothing will change, which is the usual result of Mom's fleeting epiphanies. This will probably rank up there with the "we should change over to whole wheat bread" epiphany or the "I need to keep track of all my expenditures in Microsoft Money" epiphany. Good ideas, all, but the follow through isn't always the best.)

Ahh, but now I'm ending on a down note and I don't like to end on a down note. So one more thing I like:

4. S'mores.



Mmmmmm . . .

Introducing Vivian Mae

(Although I don't know if I'm spelling "Mae" right!)

Vivian was born on Thursday, weighing 7 lbs. 7 oz. I went and visited my newest niece on Friday, and not only is she a darling little peanut, but her mom looked fabulous, like she'd hardly even broken a sweat (pun intended?!). Once you're on number five, I say you deserve to look like you've breezed through labor and delivery! But Vivi is gorgeous and we're thrilled to have another little girl in the family.

New Segullah post

Here's my latest Segullah post. I steal a little bit from Great-grandma Jolley. Hope she's okay with it :-).

Top Ten Reasons Why I'm Not Posting Very Often

10. Kid stuff. Beyond the homework and Scouts and friends and whatnot, there's been a lot of extra-curriculars lately. First, there's the boys' baseball, and even though it's been fun and a great learning experience for both of them, man it's time consuming. Forrest's been serving as Ethan's assistant coach, too, so he's gone a lot as well. But I do have some cute baseball photos! And just as long as I'm not killing myself with nerves and dread (it's a sports related mental illness that goes back to my childhood, don't ask) the games can be pretty fun.




(note how in this photo his eyes are closed and the ball is coming in under the bat :-)

Elise also had her final performances for the Children's Theater group she's been a part of this year. They did a play called "The Little Mermaid Meets the Pirates of the Caribbean" and it was a full two hour song and dance and costume filled extravaganza. Elise played a mermaid and did a great job. Here are some cute shots of her performance:





Oh, and you may have noticed Elise got bangs. We both think they're very cute and it's been a very positive development, other than the mean boy in her class who told her she looked like she had a mullet. I told her he was full of it and had no idea what a mullet was anyway, and if she wanted proof I could show her my Hunter Junior High School yearbook photos.

9. Computerholicism. I am spending waaaaay too much time in my office lately. Between the end of the semester (reading and commenting on 60 or so 4-5 page Classical Argument Essays are enough to make anyone, I mean anyone, want to stay away from a computer keyboard unless absolutely necessary) and the very pleasant but also computer related reading of both my bro the T-Bone's highly anticipated Deseret Book offering (Ever Wonder Why? will be coming to a Deseret Book near you sooooon. The DB suits will probably insist on using his given name, "Anthony," instead of T-Bone on the cover, although it would be cool and attract lots of teen buyers. Maybe he'll have to run that by Sheri Dew?) and my awesome friend and writing homey Kathy's book, due to hit the stores next Spring . . . well, let's just say I've been using the "insert comment" function in my MS Word program a heckofa lot in the last week or so.

8. Parentheses. No matter the time of year--winter, spring, summer, fall--a good deal of my mental energy is expended trying to figure out new and amusing ways to insert parenthetical comments into any of my written communication (you know you love 'em, right?).

7. That blasted coccyx! For the first time in my life, my tail bone hurts. It's probably due to all the sitting at the computer--my computer chair has absolutely no padding left--or maybe I'm just an ol' lady. Could be that. But I've taken to heating up our corn bag (if any of you don't already own a corn bag, please visit the link provided. I mean it. Corn bags beat heating pads hands down). Anyway, I've taken to stuffing our corn bag in the back of my jeans for a little relief. It's both healing and very attractive.

6. My Personal Development and Entertainment. I've been a busy lady lately. After all those years of Forrest going golfing and hunting and fishing and snowboarding and him telling me, "You need to get out and find something you want to do!", well, I think I'm taking him up on it. After not going to Provo ONCE since moving to Utah, after tomorrow I will have been to Provo EIGHT TIMES since February. EIGHT. An AML conference, a publishers' fair, a poetry reading, a job interview (yes, I interviewed to teach creative writing at BYU, but the committee that makes the decisions hasn't met yet. Will keep you posted), a play (at least Forrest went with me to that one), a baby shower, Women's Conference book signing (will discuss in more detail next) and tomorrow I'm going with Kathy and Darlene to the book signing of one of our other writers group members (Ms. Sharlee Glen's book Just What Mama Needs has just been released to wild acclaim.) So there's that.

5. Bound on Earth stuff. It's slowing down a bit, but I've had some book club requests and the aforementioned Women's Conference signing. That was a really fun experience. They invited a passel of writers and I was honored to be able to come. Lucikly, I got to sit by a very intelligent and interesting woman, a psychologist who wrote a book called Forgiving Ourselves for Deseret Book, and we kept each other entertained and staved off feelings of dorkiness during lulls in the action. But it was exciting to see my name in the brochures and hanging on a sign from the ceiling--just like Chieko Okazaki's! Now, she probably sold a few hundred books and me a few dozen if I was lucky . . . but still! And after the signing I got to hang with my Mamacita and her friends. We quilted and had an undersauced Polynesian dinner and went to a concert jam packed with all the Mormon Light Rock Faves (your Hillary Weekses, your Kenneth Copes, and even, yes, your Michael McCleans). To be honest, I was skeptical about the concert because I'd had some rough McClean experiences in the past (I'm not a grab the hand of the person sitting next to you, raise it in the air and sway kind of girl)--but I'll be darned if the concert wasn't really good. Fun, energetic, and some of the performers were just fabulous. A great day.



(a big thanks to my Mom's friend Debbie for the pics. Even though the dreaded Sweat family sloping esophagus is on full display in the profile shot. Gotta avoid the profile shots!)


4. Housewifery. Cleaning. Laundry. Dishes. Dinner. Killing the ants that have invaded the kitchen. Etc.

4. Playing Man on Man Defense with Wyatt. I have to lock all the doors and now whenever poor Forrest goes anywhere, he ends up locked out. Gotta get that man a house key. Especially when he comes home from somewhere and I'm drying my hair or in the basement playing Guitar Hero. (That only happened once. The one and ONLY time I've played Guitar Hero in the last month or so. I've gotten rusty.)

3. Boob Tubiness. I've gotten back in the TV habit now that the writer's strike is over. I really don't feel guilty about this--really I don't, and I'm NOT protesting too much--but these are the shows I TiVo and must watch each week:

-Medium (Forrest won't watch this one with me anymore. He ALWAYS bails on dramas after the first two years. Says he can't watch Patricia Arquette sit straight up in bed with that startled look on her face anymore. I see where he's coming from . . . but I still like the show, if only because Patricia Arquette is one of the ONLY WOMEN on television that is normal sized. Not skinny, not fat--because in TV land those are the only options--just a good Mom-size, probably a 12, a 10 if she's been counting her Weight Watchers points. Go Patricia!)

--American Idol, both days, although I zip through most of the results show on the TiVo. My heart's still with little Davey Archuletta, although I realize that he's a bit of a one trick pony, and the "gorsh!"ing and "aw shucks!"ing and shuffling around with his shoulders up around his ears in humility gets a little tough to take. But what about David Cook's smarmy little glances to the camera, like he's too cool for this and knows it? He's had some amazing performances, but something about him just gets under my skin. There's no way Syesha will win.

--Top Chef. Although it's not one of my favorite shows, it TiVos late on Wed night and then I can watch it Thurs morning when I'm doing the dishes or folding laundry.

--(Okay, I am ashamed of this one) America's Next Top Model. I know!!! I know. Kinda pathetic. And I don't watch it every week. Does that help? And at least I don't watch Dancing With The Stars . . .

--Lost. Of course. It's been a delicious season so far, although Jack (I'm sorry ladies) just bugs me. Bugs me! When it gets right down to it, I'm a Sayeed girl. There, I said it. Iraqi Republican Guard torturers are easier for me to identify with than mopey, drunken, bossy spinal surgeons. Oh, and do you think Claire is dead? I'm thinking yes. She had that wry little smile in the cabin and wasn't at all nervous about Aaron. And how bad is Ben, really?

--The Office. I can't believe Jim's on corrective action. And Ryan's pseudo hipster dude beard is one of my favorite new developments of the past few years.

--30 Rock. Some episodes are absolutely hilarious, others still a little wobbly. The season finale was great, though. And Forrest loves him some Tina Fey so much that I have to watch with him, just to keep an eye out. (And yes, we went to Baby Mama opening weekend. You've gotta support your peeps!)

So, yeah, that's a lot of TV. So sue me.

3. Magnifing my Calling. Or at least trying to remember to still do it the way I'm supposed to. After Christmas and the Birthday social, I think the Enrichmenty party of my brain wants to go on autopilot. And they told us at Stake leadership training that Super Saturday doesn't count as a Quarterly Activity! Travesty! But we will soldier on.

2. Wifeliness. Forrest has been on a travel "brown out" for the last few months. Kinda funny since six months ago he was supposed to travel 3 days a week whether he needed to or not (gotta show us that hustle!) and now he's not supposed to travel at all as a cost saving measure. It's been really nice to have him around, but part of me feels a little guilty, like I've been taking advantage of him. (Did I tell you I've been to Provo eight times??). So I'm trying to use whatever energy I have left to be extra nice and tell him what a hottie he is in his cute little running outfit and not stay up all night ignoring him while I type on the computer. Tonight he's at Scout camp with Ethan, which is why this post is so dang long. Love ya, hon.

1. Blog Exhaustion. When I first got my blog, I was excited about it and would think about it a lot--little witty things I could say, interesting topics to wax philosophical over, photos I could upload. It was kind of like a new high school boyfriend with whom I'd become infatuated. But the romance period is over and sometimes the blog feels a little like a chore. And I have so many dang chores. So I might not always post once a week . . . but when I do, watch out! I'll probably unload, just like I've done here.

Thanks for hanging with me . . .

Update on the Mister

(Those eyes! Those lips! I mean, c'mon.)

Mr. Wyatt Dean (known affectionately as Mr. Baby, Mr. Dean, or good ol' Mister)hasn't had a lot of good blog time lately, so I thought I'd take a minute and share a bit about my favorite 15 month old.

-He was sick last night. Poor Bubba. He's never had a true stomach virus before, and it's always so shocking to babies when the throw up, don't you think? After two changes of sheets his tummy finally settled down, and today he's on a strict juice and pretzels regimen (it's all he'll eat). But no throw up since this morning, so we're in good shape.

**editorial update** while typing this, we had a spectacular diaper. So there's that.

-He loves anything with a long handle: toothbrushes, combs, toilet plungers, toilet brushes, brooms (he's holding one right this very minute), baseball bats, and my Swiffer wet jet.

-He's becoming quite a talker. Some of his favorite words are: ball, na na (banana), ni ni (night night), Hiiieeeey! (he says this very enthusiastically any time Forrest comes into the room), uh oh, ow, whassat? or dis? (he says this a lot in the mornings, pointing at everything he can find), ow-sigh (outside, which is the place he prefers to be, always), and he an tell you what a doggie, kitty, snake, and lion can say. He can also show you your nose and your hair, but you might up with a fistful of your hair yanked out of your scalp for the trouble. His newest means of communication that I just noticed is whenever anything is in the microwave, he starts blowing. I figured out it means he wants a hot dog or chicken nuggets (since that's what we do to them after we take them out of the microwave, smart kid).

-He loves to read. He'll bring you book after book and sit as content as can be in your lap, listening to you read. He loves books about animals and books where he can lift any kind of flap.



-He's started watching Teletubbies. I know it's bad to let him watch TV, but we have Teletubbies "on demand" on Comcast (oh, the luxuries I didn't have with the other three!) and every once in a while, we'll let him watch one. He's not much into Sesame Street or anything animated yet. But he likes him some Dipsy and LaLaa and NuNu action.

-He's an adventurous type. We have to lock all the doors in the house or else he'll promptly escape out one of them. He'll go straight up to big dogs and try to pet them, and he recently ended up in the bottom of our rock window well (but standing on his own two feet! He had a little scratch on his knee but was otherwise unharmed. Don't know how he pulled it off.)

-He has this hilarious Wyatt language. He'll engage you in entire conversations full of it. It sounds like a mixture of German and Chinese. Here's a great video clip of Wyatt pretending to be his dad on a conference call:



He's a pretty cool little human.

FOUR posts today . . .

which is crazy, I know. But we've had so much going on at our house over the last week or so. So much GOOD stuff. So make sure you start at the top and keep on readin'.

Lillian Marie Colasurdo!

I am so happy to announce the birth of the first of FOUR nieces we'll be welcoming to our family this year.

Lillian Marie Colasurdo (aka Lilly) was born yesterday, April 21st. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. And she's absolutely beautiful, as you can see. Mindy and Peter had a little bit of a scare getting her here, as she was breech and an emergency c-section ended up being necessary. But she is healthy and recovering nicely after a bit of a stressful birth.

It was so fun to go to the hospital today and see her. Oh, how I love going to the hospital and seeing new babies--one of my favorite things in the wide world. We're happy you're here, little girl! And good job, Mindy. We love you.

Barnes & Noble Book Signing

After the marathon on Saturday, we headed home, showered, primped (well, at least I did :-) and took off for my reading and signing at Barnes & Noble.

I have to say that I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. Would anyone come? What story would I read? What would I do, sitting at that little table at the front of the store with my books and my pens and my signs and my specially made souvenir bookmarks? In all of the "marketing your book" how-tos, they say you're supposed to be chatty and bold, walking directly up to people and saying, "Hi! My name is Angela! I've written a novel about (blah blah blah). Would you like to learn more about it?"

Problem number one: I still don't have a coherent answer to the "what is your book about" question, so unless the poor, trapped victim wanted to listen to my two paragraph explanation, the "bold and chatty" approach wasn't going to work.

Problem number two: It's not really my style, walking directly up to people and telling them they want something. Anything. Even salvation, I guess, which is why it's probably a good thing I was never a missionary :-).

Luckily, I was saved by my wonderful family and friends, who came out to support me. I was really touched by the number of people I care about who were there to listen to me read and come to my little table and let me sign their books.

Not only did my two mucho-pregenante sisters-in-law (yes, I made up that adjective, but it's a fun word to say) haul themselves and all their kids across town,



but a bunch of good neighbors came, and I was so pleasantly surprised to see some old friends from high school. Even a half dozen women from my mom's work came--which was so kind of them, and is a testament to how much everyone who knows my mom loves her.



I'm so glad I thought to get a picture of Darlene and Kathy, two of my great writer friends. Darlene is an award-winning poet and fiction writer and fabulous champion of all things Mormon and literary; Kathy is the mother of the lit-mag and blog Segullah (as well as seven flesh and blood children), the editor of the anthology Gifts: How Children With Down Syndrome Have Enriched Our Lives, and the soon-to-be published author of her own memoir coming out with a national press. (She got an actual ADVANCE! I was so happy for her I cried.) And both of them live five minutes away from me. I can't believe how blessed I am to have such great examples and friends who happen to be amazing writers living down the street.

And Darlene stayed with me the WHOLE ENTIRE TIME, so if no one was at my table she could come up and talk to me, preventing me from feeling like a dork. That's true friendship, right there.

It was really a wonderful day. And I was so glad my kids could be there and share it, too. (And this isn't the best picture of all of us, but it's the only one I've got!)



And, once again, no Wyatt! I know, I know--he was with a babysitter, since readings at quiet bookstores aren't really his thing. Lest you think we've sold him to a band of traveling gypsies, though, here's a picture, so you won't forget his cuteness:

Marathon Man (Okay, Half Marathon Man)

On Saturday morning, my stud of a husband ran a half marathon. He's been training for it since February (and lost about 20 pounds in the process--now when I lay my head on his chest at night it feels like I'm snuggling with a rock. Does it mean I'm one of those spouses who tries to undermine weight loss when I say I liked it better when it was soft and cozy? But he's looking really good in his jeans, that much is true.)

He ran the half marathon in just under two hours, at 1:56, which meant he maintained a pace of about 8 minutes and 50 seconds per mile. That's pretty great for a guy who's new to running. He came in 948th out of 3814 runners. It was really fun to go there with the kids and cheer him on as he crossed the finish line.



Forrest ran the marathon with Mindy's husband, Peter. I'm sure if Mindy wasn't days away from giving birth, she would have given it a shot herself! I'm just so proud of them for doing something that I don't think I'll ever be able to do.



But I can be a supportive wife :-). Good job, babe.

Sunburns and Safaris

Trip Update Part 2

The Hotel:
The hotel in San Diego was near the Cinderella Castle/Sand Diego temple, and we got to stay on the hotel's tippy top floor. We could see the temple out our window. When we arrived, there were a plethora of young people scattered all over the lobby; the crazy thing was, some looked super conservative, dressed in sensible skirts and blazers and carrying briefcases, and the others looked super skanky. I mean, spangled chartruese mini-dresses that left very little to the imagination. Turns out there was a Model United Nations AND a "fraternity prom" going on at the exact same time. So some members of the future of our nation were getting a little more than tipsy and wobbling around in stilletos, while others where busy pouring over graphs of agriculture subsidies in Argentina. Very interesting to observe.

The room was really nice--we always get a suite, not because we're hotel snobs (but who knows, maybe we are) but mainly so we don't have to watch Disney Channel with the kids. Jonas found himself the perfect place to crash and loved his little makeshift bed:



Beach-a-rama:

There's a great beach in San Diego that apparently every single other tourist and San Diego resident decided to descend upon. It was the first really warm weekend in CA, so lots of bikini-clad folk were out and about. I looked around, and besides one sixty-year old woman, I was the only one there wearing a skirted swimsuit. Whatever. They're comfortable. Anyway, here's a shot of the boys lounging in the surf:



The San Diego Wild Animal Park:



On the last day of our trip, we went to the Wild Animal Park. It started out as a breeding facility for the San Diego Zoo, but it's turned into a really cool tourist destination itself. We loved the "Journey to Africa" safari where we rode on a little tram and got to see some wildlife up close:




We also fed some cute little parrots who found perfect perches on the tops of our heads.

We had a great time. Although we missed our Wy-man, it was fun to get some time with the big kids and to see so many great sights. We were so happy to see Wyatt when we got home--we hear he was a good boy, and we're so glad and grateful to everyone who took care of him.

It was a great trip!

Coasters & The Coast

Trip Update Part 1

Although I'm still dealing with the laundry backlog from our California trip, instead of folding and putting away, I'm posting and bringing this baby up-to-date. And this isn't going to be an exhaustive travelogue. I'll just post some pics and give you a little commentary.

Oh, and just in case you're wondering where our darling Wy-man is in all these pictures, we decided that as much as we love him, we would love him even MORE if we didn't have to wrestle with him at amusement parks and zoos for four days straight :-). So wonderful Mindy and Pete and Tony and Cindy and Grandma and Grandpa Sweat took him while we were gone, for which we remain EXTREMELY grateful. And Wyatt had a ball with all of them, too.

The Arrival:



This is a picture of the kids patiently waiting at the Hertz Rent-a-Car station in San Diego. We were happy to be there, considering Delta had overbooked our flight and we didn't have actual seats assigned (we made it onto the tiny commuter jet by the skin of our collective teeth). And upon arriving at the airport, Forrest mistakenly thought he'd booked the car through Avis so we took the shuttle there only to find that--oops!--we were booked on Hertz. Luckily we only had to trudge through a couple of parking lots until we made it to the right spot and claimed our spunky Saturn Vu.

Knott's Berry!



Here's a picture of the boys on day one, waiting in line at Knott's Berry Farm. By the way--emphasis on "Berry" or "Farm"? It was a debate. I prefer the emphasis on "Farm," Forrest and the kids on "Berry." Those dang kids always side with their father.

We drove an hour and a half to get there, but decided it was worth it because it was 1. relatively cheap and 2. would allow the kids to get some rides out of their system, since we weren't visiting Disneyland.

Let me tell you, we got the rides out of our system. The very first ride we went on was called the Silver Bullet. In order to fully explain the coater, I consulted Wikipedia, where I learned it is the longest "inverted rollercoaster" on the West Coat, and that it "features 6 inversions including a vertical loop, cobra roll, zero-g roll, and two wingovers just before the final helix."

Exactly.

Although I am ridiculously afraid of non-enclosed heights (e.g. balconies, mountaintops, etc.), I'm not really afraid of heights where I'm securely strapped in. Forrest, though, really hates twisty, turny rides (poor tummy!), so I was the one that went on this baby with Ethan and Elise. Must say, it was the craziest rollercoaster I've ever been on--made all the crazier because I kept having visions of my two skinny kids slipping out of the ride's restraints. But we made it. We lived. And Ethan and Elise even went back for more.

We spent the rest of the day riding three or four more upside-down rides--some of them with Dad and Jonas, the bravest 7 year old I know--as well as a few other less death-defying coasters, and ended the day hot, sweaty, exhausted and a mite sunburned. To our surprise, it was 95 degrees that day, and remained so throughout the entire trip. I had a sun-scorched part on the top of my head to prove it.

The Ocean:



The next day, we left LA and headed back down to San Diego. On the way there, we made our first stop at the beach. It was fun to watch all the surfers, and the kids had a ball playing in the surf--and getting a little more drenched than we thought. (Did we mention it was 95 degrees?)

Drenched Joe:



Sea World:





We headed to Sea World on Saturday. A super hot, super crowded Saturday where members of the military and their families (whom we respect and appreciate wholeheartedly) were offered free admission. So we literally got the chance to "rub shoulders," so to speak :-).

I have a way cooler picture of Shamu, but it was taken with my camera phone and I still haven't figured out how to get a photo from my phone to my computer (yeah, I know, very tech-lame of me.) We spent Saturday seeing all sorts of cool sea life . . . but decided to come back the next day in order to ride some of the rides. There were lines over an hour long for the "Journey to Atlantis," and unless they were taking us to the ACTUAL Atlantis, not gonna do it. Luckily we had these 3 day passes and the next day the kids journeyed to Atlantis four times, back to back. (Ethan thought they should rename the ride the "Journey to Self Esteem," since the whole entire time this lady intoned phrases like, "Thank you for your heroism. Because of you, Atlantis has been saved! Without you, all would be lost! Your bravery is overwhelming!" We were all stumped as to how strapping ourselves into a tube and floating along a water-propelled roller coaster is capable of changing anything, in Atlantis or elsewhere--but we appreciated the kind words.)

We got to see Shamu up VERY close, pet and feed a dolphin, hand feed a bat-ray (gross) and enjoy the beautifully manicured Sea World grounds--made that much more beautifully manicured in comparison to Knott's Berry's (although we DID see an actual impromptu cock fight between two loose roosters on the Knott's Berry grounds--quite a sight).

And there will be more to come . . . in my next post.

More Bound on Earth stuff

One more quick update: I have a reading/signing tomorrow (Sat.) at the Barnes & Noble in Sandy from 1:00-4:00. If you can make it, I'd love to see you! But if you can't, I totally understand.

Also, there was an article in the Salt Lake Tribune today, as well as a review of the book published in a weekly Salt Lake Magazine called In Utah This Week. You can click on the links and check them out.

And I WILL post the promised vacation update . . . soooooon . . .

This blog is a little behind . . .

as you all might have noticed. Part of my excuse is that we've been on vacation to lovely San Diego, California (great fun had by all!), and the other part of my excuse is that I've been, of course, busy. But I will update soon. I have lots to say about the California trip and baseball and all sorts of fun stuff.

And a little personal update: long story, but as a lot of you know I've been involved with the lit mag Irreantum off an on for a few years. One of their co-editors in chief decided to step down and they've been trying to fill the slot. They asked me to do it and I decided to say yes. I know I'm usually super busy, but here is why I said yes:

1. I love Irreantum. It's always been, and remains, very important to me, and I want it to keep on going strong.

2. I decided to stop teaching at SLCC, so I'll have a little more time.

3. As co-editor, I am going to be responsible for one issue a year. The other co-editor, Scott, is going to be in charge of the other one. I figure that if I stay organized, I can handle one issue a year. Especially since the magazine brought on a managing editor, Kathleen, who's exceptionally organized and will take care of all the administrative stuff.

4. It felt right.

So there you have it! And very very soon, I will upload all my great California photos and regale you with our tales of sea dwelling mammals and sunburned scalps :-).

p.s. If you want to bop over to Segullah, today I wrote my monthly post. It's on getting published. Check it out if you're interested.

The Promised Photos

This is a photo catch-up post. Here are some great shots from an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house:








I'm not posting any pics from Easter morning because they're all terrible. My pictures of Easter morning are ALWAYS terrible--everyone looks rumply and sleepy. Even the kids in the Easter clothes pics are wrong on lots of levels. Well, what the hey, here's one so I can show you:



See what I mean?

We also celebrated Jonas's big 7th B-Day this weekend. Here are some pictures from the party at Gasoline Alley, our local arcade, to prove it:





Seven year old boys are still so dang cute. Even if they can go through a ziplock stuffed with tokens in 15 minutes flat.

And lastly, here's a shot of my almost-not-a-kid-anymore kid who graduated into responsible adolescence this week when he got contact lenses. When I took him in for the "contact practice session," the eye doctor said he was "the fastest 12 year old to catch on to the process I've ever worked with!" to which Ethan replied, "Eleven year old!" He really does look good, though, with his baby blues out from behind those lenses. Here he is in all his blue-eyed goodness:




And now you're all caught up!

Easter and things

I have not yet posted about Easter, mainly because the camera with all the good pictures on it is still at my Mom's, and who wants to read about Easter egg hunting without pictures? Not me. But apparently I'm going to make you do it anyway.

Easter was fun, kind of low-key. I ended up making parts of four different dinners and taking them all over town. A friend of mine isn't feeling well, so I took some food to her family. Then Forrest's Mom just had knee surgery, so we made some more food to take to them. Then we were going to have dinner with Mindy & Pete, but the Colasurdo clan wound up hunkering indoors, under flu lockdown, so we swappend food with them, too. (And Mindy, I must say the little homemade shortcakes you created for our strawberry shortcake ROCKED! Too bad we couldn't see you in person to praise you!). We ended up eating a hodgepodge dinner, just us an the kids, but it was kind of nice.

Oh, but the day BEFORE Easter, I got to go to the Whitney's, a fancy shindig where the awards for the best LDS writing of 2007 were handed out. I blogged about it on Segullah today. You can read it here if you'd like. (Oh, and if any of you, my loved ones, would like to nominate my book for next year, you can do it at the Whitney site. Not that I'm asking or anything. :-)

And that's all I have time to write right now. I'll update more when I have what you really want to see--the pictures.

I just ate three Samoas

and washed them down with Diet Coke, and I feel a little sick to my stomach.





Why do I do these things?

So first things first, Wyatt Dean does NOT have eczema. Nosiree. His rash is the rash that will not subside, so I brought him back to see the actual pediatrician who took one look at him and said, "Hmmmm . . . . Dunno what that is."

Which is always very encouraging to hear. He told me to find a dermatologist, so after much calling ("Booked until June" was a common response), I finally squeezed him in this morning. And I'm glad, because yesterday the rash traveled all over his back and up his neck and onto his ears (bless his little neck and ears, as my mom is wont to say) and my nerves just couldn't take it. I think there is something lodged in our reptilian brain that makes us simply recoil at the sight of rashes.

Beep, beep, beep, alert, alert, all hands on deck, something is afoot! Like that.

I am so pleased to say, though, that the dermatologist is "99.9% sure" (his words) that Wyatt has a "post viral exanthem"--fancy doctor talk for "he had a virus, then he got a rash." I was skeptical about this at first, since the rash has lasted almost two weeks, but the Dr. is (as he said) 99.9% sure. He said it should go away on its own soon, and hopefully it will.

So that was a relief.

Also had Elise's Big 10th Birthday Bash today.



Contemplating the meaning of 10 candles.



Cute girls gabbing.

It was a houseful of girls. Twelve of them. It was a "Rock Star" party, and I did the whole decorating thing with balloons and shiny curlicues hanging from the ceiling and confetti. We spray painted the girls' hair and they all got lip gloss and body glitter. (Hope no parents were mad. C'mon parents! Don't be mad!) Then the girls did Sing Star and danced around and I'm going to eventually make a little "music video" with my video editing software that we'll give to them when we hand out thank yous. Should be cute. And Elise had a great time. And I'm glad it's over. :-)

Now onward and upward to Easter! And Forrest's Birthday! And Jonas's! Ahh, March.