Great Food

I know I've posted about a gazillion times the last few days, but what can I say-- I'm verbose! We have had some really nummy food lately.  Nummy for the eyes and the tummies!

Here's Mr. Hotdog Ears, with ketchup/mustard hair and a charming watermelon smile:

This is a picture (a terrible one-- I know, I really need to work on my food pictures!) of what I whipped up for dinner tonight.  Salmon with homemade fish sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli:  

The mashed potatoes were supposed to be orange except my yams had gone funny.  Oh well, it still hit the spot!  The best part about the dinner was that Bud and Ginger finally deigned to try the broccoli--and they both liked it! Miracle of miracles! Of course they might change their minds the next time I serve it (What?! Children change their minds about what they like?! Nay, nay I say!).

Wedding Woes

Last night we went to my cousin's wedding reception. When we arrived at the great little venue, Big noticed all of the round paper lanterns hung for decoration and yelled, "BALL!" He spent a lot of the evening yelling the word and trying to figure out how to get to one of the objects of his obsession.

We greeted the bride and groom and offered our congratulations, I gave the bride a big hug and shook the groom's hand.  My cousin looked beautiful and seemed very happy. As we stood there talking, since there was no one behind us in line, the groom decided that he needed to take a seat on the bench behind them.  I asked him if he was feeling light-headed from standing too long or if he was sick, and he told me he was a little sick.  I felt bad for him, even more so when, a minute later, he booked it around the side of the building to barf (he must have a different definition of "sick" than I do--he said he was a little sick, I call that a lot sick!). 

I thought, "Poor guy!", and then pulled out my Purell (I know it has been previously established that I am a bit of a germophobe, but come on!--even you have to admit you probably would have used it in this situation! I mean, I shook his hand! Maybe I'll start giving grooms a fist bump.) I really did feel bad for him, for them, though.  It brought back memories of how sick Rophone was for our own wedding and honeymoon. While Rophone's sickness was not of the stomach variety, it still put a bit of a wrench in the works.  Although, now that we've been married for 13 1/2 years, and I know what a truly lousy sick person Rophone is, I am impressed with the fortitude he displayed for our wedding and honeymoon. He must have really wanted to marry me!

Rophone had a terrible fever and chills for our wedding, and then a few days after (Christmas Eve, in fact) his eardrum ruptured.  I must admit that the words, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" are not what I expected to hear on my honeymoon.  He had to lay on his side with a heating pad under his ear at night, and the only available outlet had him lying with his back to me on one far side of the king-sized bed.  Super romantic. The best part was when I, too, came down with the cold and had to sleep with wads of toilet paper shoved between my head and the pillow.  

There is a silver lining to all of this, though.  Believe it or not, despite all our suffering, we had a fabulous time together!  There were moments of humor, like when we awoke one morning and I said to Rophone, "I'm hungry", to which he replied, "I love you, too" (He was super deaf at the time, and told me later that if he heard an unintelligible 3-syllable phrase that he would tell me he loved me just so he wouldn't miss something like that so early in our marriage).  The difficulty in communicating helped us to realize the importance of good communication.  Anyway, my point is, I think a lot of couples may experience a bit of a let down after the honeymoon is over.  Not in our case!  

So, rest assured, cousin!  You can still have fun on your honeymoon and it will all be up from here!

Odds and Ends

My life has been pretty ho-hum the last few days, so I was glad to see this video yesterday.  It gave me a good laugh.  It also made me realize that even though Rophone purchased a video camera a couple of months ago we have yet to use it!  Here we have 4 kids that constantly do funny and amazing things and we're not trying to catch it on video.  I am still getting used to the freedom a nice digital camera gives me--I think a video camera is a little too new-fangled for my tastes.  

It took a long time for me to switch to digital, but the costs of film developing and my desire to burn a lot of film finally made me do it.  My Mom has always told me I should have been born in pioneer times.  I think I am happiest when camping, and if an electric can opener and a manual one are sitting side by side on the counter I'll pick the manual one every time.

Rophone was talking to our neighbor a few weeks ago and he told Rophone that it is costing him $1200. a month to fuel his truck.  $1200!!!  No wonder some people feel really slammed by the rising fuel costs. Each time the price of gas has risen since we found that out I think of him.  He owns a construction business and is seeing the cost of fueling all the trucks and other equipment really eat into his profit.  All of this just makes me want to move to some little wooded island somewhere or some little village in another country so I can just walk or ride my bike everywhere I go.  That's really more my style than all the gas guzzling vehicles, leaf blowers, snow blowers, ATV's etc.

I guess maybe I should have been born in pioneer times (did they have reality TV back then?).

Future Foodie

Something finally clicked in Big's noggin this week regarding food. In the past when a food was put on his tray he would just look at it, or maybe pick it up and feel it with his fingers before dropping it and then acting like it was not there. Then he progressed to occasionally sticking a bite in his mouth, only to spit it right back out again. Even feeding him baby food has always been a struggle. I know it's hard to believe, but Big's size is not due to a love of people food (don't go thinking dog food--it's not that either!).

What a difference a day makes. Suddenly he is trying whatever we put on his tray, and even likes some of it! As much as I love our time together, I am now seeing a future with a little more freedom (and maybe singing fewer renditions of "I'm a Little Teapot" to get him to open his mouth).  While it makes me happy, it also makes me a little sad.  Big is getting big.

He is looking so old:

I expected Big to look a little more like this on his Birthday:

Looking at a bird outside:

Just too cute:

Big is also turning into quite the climber now that he is getting more steady on his feet. I was a huge climber as a kid and I jumped off pretty much anything I climbed. I hope Big is a little more careful than I was, he doesn't need a gray and dead front tooth like I had (my landings weren't super successful, I guess). It's kind of funny that Bud looks like me but is cautious like Rophone, and Big looks like Rophone....well, you get it.

My Complex Life?

During the last week I have reconnected with a friend from my college days at BYU.  I am very excited about it and look forward to a continuing friendship.  In answer to his question about what I am up to these days I sent him the link to my blog, thinking that it would be the easiest way to get him up to speed (at least about the last few months, anyway).

After he read my blog entries he emailed me and said (I hope he doesn't mind me using this), "I had no idea how complex and interesting you were at the time I knew you".  Was I?  Am I?

Here I was, thinking I am leading a somewhat unremarkable stay-at-home-mom type of life, yet there is someone who saw something complex and interesting about it...about me!  It has caused me to take a second look at the life I am leading.  Was I more complex and interesting then, or now, or am I the same?

It is true that Rophone tells people that he married me because I am the only woman he knew who could hunt/trap/catch our dinner and then make something marvelous out of it in the kitchen (I'm sure I would then sew him some clothes out of the animal hides, belting the pants with some rope I made myself, of course, probably singing angelically all the while). So, maybe I'm more well-rounded than some--but I haven't made rope in years and will only sew if someone really insists.  

When I asked Rophone the question regarding my complexity, he says that I am the same. That may be mostly true, but I can think of one huge difference. Back then I had the self-esteem of a gnat (Okay, all you gnats out there, don't get your panties in a wad!  I'm not saying that every single one of you has a low self-esteem, just that even if you have a very large gnat self-esteem it is still small by human standards).

Luckily for me I married a man who has always known me and loved me just for who I am. He has never had any plans or desire to change me, only to help reveal the things he knew I had inside. His acceptance of me has helped me to more readily accept myself, and his recognition of the creativity and talents I have (and his desire to have me discover and develop them) has helped me to believe that they are really there.  I am so glad to have married someone who is not threatened by or jealous of any growth I may experience, but in fact rejoices in it and is right along with me for the ride.

So, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I have always had something complex and interesting about me that I could share--it's just now that I'm finally starting to believe it that it's more noticeable. 

Ballet Day!

Today was Pen's first ballet class.  She was so excited!  I talked to Pen about how she'll be utilizing different muscles than she's used to, but not to get discouraged if it is hard at first. She's been waiting so long to take lessons, though, that I know it will take a lot more than a little muscle pain to make her quit.

Just before heading out the door:

When Pen came in the door I asked her how it was and she said, "It hurt!  But I loved it!"  She was in a great mood all day. Fine! has been making herself known lately, so I was happy to share the day with a gleeful Pen instead.  

Power's Out!

After Rophone got home tonight we headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things we needed for dinner.  Bud was able to nab a cart just his size, and I grabbed one to stick Big in, and we were off.  We were having a good time, drooling over the stuff on the shelves since we were all hungry (albeit walking a little nervously, just waiting to be clipped in the heels by Bud's cart--it reminded me of the guy in high school in the motorized wheelchair and the panic in people's eyes when they heard the chair behind them in the packed hallways between classes), when suddenly with a big clunk it was pitch black!  

It was so odd.  We ordered the kids to stand still and a moment later a few overhead lights came on. It was weird to walk around in the dim light finishing our shopping-- almost like everything was in slow motion. The situation elicited a strange reaction in me.  I felt kind of like I needed to rush the shelves and start stockpiling food (making Rophone pay for it, of course--I still have a ways to go with the retail therapy).  I don't know if it felt kind of like we were in the middle of some natural disaster because of the lack of windows and dim light, or if I felt some misplaced need to save the refrigerated items languishing on the shelves, but I resisted and we went to check out with our few items.

Since the belts weren't working Rophone just used his long arm to sweep the items forward. Right as we were finishing our purchase the power came back on and it seemed to come along with a big collective sigh of relief from all the shoppers.  I must admit that I like shopping with the lights all on and the hum of the refrigerators in the background much better than the way we did it tonight. Like I said, very odd.