Grandma has stinky feet!

We got our Wall family portraits on Saturday! Good thing my mom's on top of things, because it's been a long time since my kids have been to a portrait studio! Above is Elise and her cousin Owen...they are best buds and so cute together!

I don't know why this is flipped, but my three adorable kids look great at any angle!

All the Wall grandkids.

It's a miracle we got everyone with their eyes open, smiling and looking at the camera! Of course Elise insisted on standing next to Owen.

Isn't she an angel? Poor girl...this is the first time since she was 4 months old that she's had her portraits taken professionally!

Forget Miss Rodeo America...

Yeah, cowgirl has been pushed to the back burner of life aspirations. I've decided I'm meant to be an Irish dancer!!! Holy cow!!!!!! I went to Lord of the Dance last night........it was the COOLEST thing ever!!! I wish I could dance like that!!! I don't know, there's just something about the style and the music that makes Irish dance so fun to watch! I love Celtic music, that probably has something to do with it.

And I owe my mom tons for getting me a ticket (THANKS MOM!). So the story is...I saw a couple of months ago that the show was coming to Boise for one night, and decided that I wanted a ticket for Christmas. And then life happened and I kind of forgot about pursuing getting a ticket. And a couple of weeks ago I realized it probably wasn't going to happen and resigned myself to it. And then just last week my mom out of the blue asked if I wanted to go, that she would get me two tickets. But unfortunately at that point, they were all sold out. Well, persistence pays off, and she managed to find a single ticket for sale on Craig's list, and she got it for me!!

Oh man, the show was so good! I didn't plan my time very well and was running late, but the traffic light gods were smiling on me. After a hasty park job in a parking garage that I wasn't sure if I was supposed to pay at (does anyone know if you are supposed to pay at that garage by the Morrison Center?), I ran all the way to my seat and made it right as the doors were shutting. I only had to crawl over 10 people in the dark and only landed on one lady's leg. Ah, but once seated, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, feet tapping, a huge grin on my face. I was practically dancing along in my seat! :) Okay, so I'm a big nerd...good thing I was there by myself so no one could make fun of me.

Here are some links to some awesome parts of the show (and whoa, Michael Flatley is AMAZING! ...unfortunately he doesn't perform in the shows anymore. But you can enjoy him on YouTube):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQmBHHvmrD4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmdiPKmji60&feature=related (I love this song! The music is amazing!!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxTTjJtXDA

Almond-flavored stew?

Oh man, back to my little angel...hell's angel that is...okay, not that bad. But as I was making dinner tonight, Elise was sitting on the counter "helping" me stir the stew. When I started putting some spices in, she started rummaging through the spice cupboard herself and pulling things out saying, "this one!" After telling her no, that this was mommy's job, I turn my back for a second and turn back to find her dumping the rest of my almond extract bottle into the stew! I screamed, got mad, stared in disbelief and disappointment, then turned to find my crying, dejected three-year-old (no longer on the counter as I had removed her to the floor) standing in a puddle of pee, covering her eyes from the shame of her wrong-doings! Oh man, I'm laughing about it now, she was so cute and so sad... But don't worry, after cleaning up her pee, we hugged and made it all better.

But I was still faced with it being 5pm, stew that smelled like poppy seed muffins, and the choice to finish making it (and risk wasting more food) or to just start over with something else. It may not seem like a big dilemma, just throw out the almond-flavored stew you say, but no. A lot was invested in that. I mean, it's not every day I make a meal from scratch (okay, I'll admit that that is a pretty rare occurrence these days), plus I had actually used real stew meat. I mean, come on, does depressed economy mean anything to anyone? I just can't go around throwing food away, especially on rare occasions we actually eat red meat. Anyway...so there was my dilemma. When I finally had addressed the Elise issue and sent her away to watch TV (thank you Ruff Ruff man, my dinner prep saving grace), I tasted the stew to see how bad the damage was. And you know what? It wasn't too bad. I mean, it had a very distinct almond flavor to it...but hey, I like poppy seed muffins. Yeah, it all turned out okay. The best part was, my kids even ate the stew.

My Little Angel

Elise is so cute! Well, when she's not driving me crazy with her three-year-old antics and orneriness...

I've noticed lately how sensitive she is to my mood. Sometimes, if she thinks I'm getting frustrated or upset, she'll turn to me and ask, "You happy? Happy, happy, happy!" Almost like it's a reminder, or that she knows that by saying that with her cute and happy enthusiasm, it automatically brings a smile to my face and really does make me happy. The other things she does is, if I have a little sniffle, she'll whip her head around and make sure I'm not crying. "You sad? You cryin' Mom?" I always have to reassure her with a smile that I'm not sad, but "happy, happy, happy!" And when she thinks I really am sad, she'll come over to me, give me a hug and a kiss, rub my back and say, "It's okay, Mom." Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?

Yeah, I need those moments from her...like right now, to keep me from getting too mad at her for still being awake!! Grrr...she's been in bed for at least 35 minutes, and she's still calling out for me! :)

Oh, update...an hour after she's been in bed, I go in to check on her and she tells me to go and play the piano. What? She's never asked for that before! Apparently she's a big fan of Moonlight Sonata too!

Secret Life of Daydreams

I love playing the piano. I love beautiful music. I love being able to express my feelings and escape into a life of beautiful melancholy by playing such profound music on the piano. Tonight I was playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQVeaIHWWck) and the soundtrack music to the recent Pride and Prejudice movie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OefE1UzOsDc, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEZ7iZKqe4A&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3j3oTViVww&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib6Z2Yl3Hek&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6y7BErnZsM&feature=related.) Oh man, such good stuff! Listen to it and join me in a dimension of existence where life is created and sustained by music that sets the mind free...

Wedding in Vegas

I just got this picture in the mail the other day, from my awesome friend and college freshman roommate, Heather!! She got married in June and I was so lucky to be able to have a little weekend getaway to Vegas to be there for it! It's the first time I've traveled by myself (I've flown by myself with kids plenty of times, but never just me). It was kind of weird finding the hotel by myself, staying in a huge hotel room in a king-size bed all by myself, and the worst part was, I only brought one book to read, and I had it finished before I even left the airport Friday night! So I was kind of bored in my hotel room by myself. Oh well. I hooked up with Heather's family at the hotel, and pretty much just tagged along with them the whole weekend. It was kind of funny at first, being Heather's random friend that flew in for the wedding, tagging along at the temple. But it was so fun to be there! Heather's totally the coolest, it seems like her husband was a really great guy too.

So about the picture...it was around 10 am at the end of June, in Las Vegas, and this picture was taken after an hour of standing outside in the 100+ degree weather. I was impressed that you can't tell from the picture that we're soaked in sweat. I was laughing that when planning for a summer wedding in Vegas, you can't forget lots of cold water for everyone who has to be outside during pictures. Oh, and there was a hankerchief used specifically to keep the bride and groom sweat-free! :)

This was at Heather's reception...where I ran into Courtney, my other freshman roommate from BYU!!

If you want it, I want to

Mitch is playing Y-ball (basketball) for the first time this year...holy cow, it is the cutest thing ever! It seems like there are so many rules and skills to know to play basketball, not like soccer where the only rules they have are no hands and kick the ball in the goal. But they're actually better than I expected them to be. There's traveling and double-dribbling all over the place, but they have the basic concepts down of passing, shooting, rebounding, and defense. Last Saturday was the third game and the refs actually started calling double dribbling (at least the very obvious kind of dribbling the ball after you've picked it up to shoot or pass...the kids who dribble with two hands still get cut a lot of slack!). Anyway, Mitch is a solid player, but unfortunately isn't quite aggressive enough or tall enough to out-rebound his teammates, and of course kids who dribble up the court hardly ever pass and so Mitch ends up hardly ever touching the ball. It's kind of up to the coach to let the less dominant players get the ball when it's brought back in bounds, but if he's not paying enough attention...well, you know how it goes. Last game we noticed Mitch starting to tear up a couple of times because he never got the ball, could never quite get the rebounds, or could never quite convince his teammates to pass to him. Poor kid! I teared up just seeing him get sad! And then I started weighing the pros and cons of being the parent who tells the coach my kid needs more playing time out there! I mean, I know the coach is doing his best...but really, they're six, and right now it's all about making this a good experience for the kids, right? I'm afraid that if every game ends up like that, Mitch won't want to play basketball anymore. Which actually is fine with me I guess...I'd much rather him stick to soccer. Oh, the challenges of parenthood!!

And I just threw this picture in because they love shampoo hairdos...especially when they are way overdue for haircuts and they can make some pretty sweet mohawk action. Yes...they all still take baths together. Is that wrong? I can't seem to convince Mitch to take showers, and I'm not sure my temperament could handle them taking baths one at a time...it would take too long (they all still require me to do most of the work--at least Mitch and Luke insist on doing their own faces and privates)!! I'm all about expediting the bedtime process!