Funny DUI

Makes me laugh.

Child Seat Safety

Spread the word! Kids are safest rear-facing for as long as the child seat allows...usually 30-35 lbs. Also, convertible seats need to be top-tethered. Britax is one of the only brands that allow for REAR-FACING TOP-TETHERING. LATCH stands for Lower Anchorage and TETHERs for children. Don't forget to tether. When it is rear-facing you tether the seat to the driver or passenger seat anchor on the floor. I think I have a passion for car-seat safety. I'd love to be one of the dorky specialists that check car seats like the fire department does sometimes. It gives me some sort of satisfaction.

This site helped me find an anchor in my Saturn Vue.

Check out this site too.

Hope it helps... tell anyone you know that has young children.

OFFICIALLY SUMMER

Ballerina... Grande battement!

Aw

This face is so funny! Looks like her weird-o Mama. These are her cousins.

I'm a Scallywag

Sage turned FOUR yesterday May 23rd. We had a pirate party with Herb's family. Sage made everyone dress up as pirates and she was Peter Pan. We even had a treasure hunt. It was the best birthday party ever. Yar Matey's!

I am also including a few more pics from Photography class. Alana wanted to see more.

WEATHER

Today is the most gorgeous weather... we could actually go outside. I love the desert and have always thought I could never leave it but I am really starting to take issue with the summer weather. When it is as hot as it gets Anika and I can't do anything... no park, hike, etc. She's not too impressed with swimming and never lasts long, though I keep trying. I admit, it would be nice to live on the coast or something where you can go out all year. My whole family and I keep saying we should move to Santa Barbara where our relatives live. When it comes down to it though... could I really trade the desert Spring and Fall for nothing more than year-round walks on the pier? I'm thinkin' no. But TODAY is the best weather EVER.

More 17

These aren't any more entertaining than the last ones, but I figure I'll put them up for posterity. It's the last day of school and there's not much to do since I told all of my students to ditch. New York in a few hours!!!!

Oh to be 17 again!

By complete coincidence, I found these when I was trying to download a student extra credit video. They are ancient: 11 years ago!!! They aren't anything special, not very entertaining, but I thought you would get a kick out of them... I know I did. They date May-Summer 1997. We were so lucky to have each other!

I DON'T RECOGNIZE THIS

Ok, that comment I made on the last post about vacuuming in St. Thomas in my string bikini got me a thinkin'... I started looking at all of our honeymoon pictures... and WTF!!! So I am posting these pictures. Is this self-promotion or what??? But I am in total shock... no way did my ass ever look like that. I should take a picture of my ass now and post it on here. In fact, I still own that bikini and tried to put it on to sit in the hot tub postpartum... it hardly even covers my crack! Then I saw this picture... it was in Vegas before we flew to ST. Thomas.. we got roomservice... fettuccini alfredo yo! And I am a crackin' up here... so funny, must have been when my no sugar/white flour went out the window. I gained 5 lbs. on our honeymoon because we ate Puerto Rican bread and vanilla cokes for breakfast (yes, Jackmormons). Oh, too funny. Anyway, any of you gals have any great ass or fat ass pictures, I'd love to see them. After browsing my photos, I totally have to quit buttering my pizza. And the grand finale of my photo browsing... wth is this of me with the afro? I vaguely remember dressing up in Brandon's grad gown before I sent it (and this wig) to the D.I. All in all, you can see the downhill course I've taken. It started at 128 lbs. caribbean swimmage, to 138 lbs. ghetto blasta.
Ok, I need to find something better to do while I wait up for Anika. Genealogy perhaps? But seriously, please post something... dig out your nice butt/ big butt photos. Oh wait, that's right, all my friends ALWAYS have nice butts. Especially someone after giving birth... you know who you are.

BLANKLE RIDES

One of the only ways to get Anika to drink her bottle is to drag her around the house on this blanket. We call it "blankle" rides. Sorry all I do is post about Anika but that is pretty much the gist of my life. I'll try to switch it up a little in the near future. Nicole said she cut her hair, and so did I! I don't feel sexy with short hair, hey I never feel sexy. But sometimes, when I'd wear it down I would feel like "the woman" we talk about. Now, there's no hope for that. I now have a coiffeur. Ahh well, it grows and long sucked anyways because Anika would rip it out CONSTANTLY. Short will be good for summer I suppose. The only things left to make me feel sexy (if that's possible) are high heels and bare shoulders. Hey, that rarely happens. Oh how I'd love to wear a strapless dress, or a bare naked back dress, with some cute heels. I mostly just feel like a frump. OK girls, I'd like to hear what makes YOU feel sexy, and assume the role of "the woman".

FIRST SWIMMAGE

HEY, does anyone out there remember "swimmage" and "chaffage"?

Windy Day

I am loving this windy day. It's not too great when you try to take your kid to the park but it always does the same thing to my soul, no matter the inconvenience. In the postpartum days I would turn the overhead fan on and watch it blow my big house palm while I nursed. If I squinted my eyes and relaxed my brain just right, I was in the desert... in the wind... my center. That is my healing place. Wind. Desert. Boys. These are a few of my favorite things. I also like cantaloupe, pale blue, rivers, canyons... but these are non-essential to mention as they are encompassed with The Three. I am forever capitalizing them in my mind. Wind. Desert. Boys. They are all triggers to my soul's SOUL response. They make me feel in love. To stand in the desert on a hot sandstone slab and lean into the wind is the closest I can get to... I don't know... something. If there is anything better than The Three, I would like to hear about it. Seriously, what are a few of your favorite things? Nicole, I can understand your love affair with New York. I get it. I get it. I totally get it.

"For what is it to die but to stand naked in the WIND and to melt into the sun?"
-Kahlil Gibran

"In the love of narrow souls I make many short voyages but in vain- I find no sea room- but in great souls I sail before the WIND, without a watch, and never reach the shore."
-Thoreau

I wish I could eloquently describe the feeling I feel for these. The best short sentence I can come up with is...
"Stand in the desert against the wind". For some reason STAND and AGAINST are important to accessing this feeling while imagining my center.
Yes, that wasn't a sentence... no subject Mrs. Hadley. For the record, I'm constantly aware of my fragmented writing. Who doesn't love a - or a ...?

fini

Well, Brandino finished the table. She's a real beaut, I think. We completely abandoned the original table plan and it ended up like so... and me likely the black legs/chairs. We scored chairs for $20 each at IKEA! Whoa, cheapness. I think some ivory tie-on cushions for the chairs will be a nice touch... also at IKEA, but have to wait a week for my Mom to go to California. Brandon's been waxing this bad boy down... he is so compulsive about his stuff- especially the poly finish. Surely y'all don't give a rip but my house is my project right now. I am enjoying nesting and getting things situated. I am Goddess (and master) of my domain. ha.

I do exist.

Hi my name is Ciara (pronounced See air uh). No it's not Claira. I am 5'11 and I am the luscious brunette.  Why, yes that's me breastfeeding.  I love frisbee golf, swimming, and I am the best friend anyone could ever have.  Hahaha....yeah right Ciara wouldn't write any of this as all ya'll know. But I was trying to post one for her, but it looks like she already beat me to it.  It's not like you have anything more important going on then blogging, right Ci?  I really do think you are the best friend anyone could EVER have. You are a beautiful, luscious brunette w/ legs as long as the eiffel tower.  Love you, Kelli 

Williams - The Lurker

Herb nicknamed me the lurker today because I told him that I like to read the JNAC blog but I don't like to post. I have been fighting to post for some time and came to terms with the fact that it isn't fair to you that I read and never post.

That and also I am on somewhat of a friend strike right now.

The pictures I am including are a sneak peek of what I have been up to for the last 5 1/2 weeks. I just finished my Photography class and these are the fruits of my labors.

Nuestros Amigo

Or should it be nos amigo? Ok- severely losing what little Spanish I gained living in Spain. Anyway, I talked to A last night and she said she had a conversation with Paul. Oh sweet mystery. Where is he? What is he up too? What became of our friend? And... even more importantly, does he have a blog? There were some good times weren't there?! Back in the day and all things pertaining, right? Remember when we sat in his hot tub and planned a trip to Africa? Remember Pam and the pool? Remember the stump in Havasu Pi? Remember the early morning jogging trips (maybe you don't, there were only about 2). Remember the prom, and Powell, and 7 layer bean dip, and all night long conversations? The blanket? The blanket sequel? Zion? Road trips? Being young and free and pretending we had worries but really it was just minor drama by comparison to real grown up life? Well, Paul, if you're out there, here is a shout out to you. You may be lost to us, but you are not forgotten. We miss you!

P.S. If you are out there, you should join our little blog. It could be pjnac. jancp? canjp? That's the one. All in favor of canjp say "I" !!!!!!!

The worst news ever!

This is the first real time I've been deeply saddened by the fact that I don't watch rated R movies. I mean, come on, any movie where NYC is practically a 5th major character in the plot has got to be worth seeing. I found out that the movie event of the season was going to go down without me when, last night, they finally started airing the trailer with the official rating. I'm so bumbed I can't even cope. It's one of those guilty pleasures I would never admit to my own mother, but I LOVE Carrie Bradshaw and crew. How can I survive without seeing her on the big screen? This is the pits. But, alas... I have no choice. I've never seen an unedited rated R movie in my life and I'm not about to start now... even though I want to. So sad. -N

I BUTTER MY PIZZA

IT'S TRUE.

Desert Girl

So, Anika used to love the backpack and could hike in it forever completely content. Well today she decided she hated it. She screamed the whole way back to the car. Not cry, scream! I think she just wanted down to eat more rocks and dirt. She loved these flowers. Sorry I give you girls a play by play of my own girl. I just can't help it. Roll your eyes and carry on if you must but I just absolutely can't resist showing her off YO.

The Actual

This is Q and I at a wedding I videoed last weekend. I think it does not serve me well. Is this really me? Do you ever think that, when you look at yourself? How is it that my mental image of what I should look like is so far from the actual?

So... I'm plugging along. Working hard. I can't believe I still teach dance. Add to that dismay my worst possible student ever. I mean, this kid makes Stalin look like a lamb. Yesterday I actually caught myself yelling, "Decist!!!" at him while cradling him in the safety restraint position in front of an auditorium of mothers watching the recital rehearsal. I'm too old for this. Dear Lord, hear this plea: Send me downs, send me MS, but please, whatever you do, don't send me a kid with autism.

Birthday Girl!

I can't believe my baby is 1! This is insane. I'm so impressed with myself that I kept another human alive for a year... myself too!

Has anyone heard from this chick-a-dee?

DONDE ES CIARA?

Oatmeal Cake!

I seriously LOVE this stuff! QM made me not one, but 2 oatmeal cakse for my birthday... you know, the kind with the home made coconut, walnut, brown sugar frosting. YUM-a-molee! In fact, I love it so much, I think I'll go home and eat some right now. Come to think of that, I better beat Quinn home.

So I feel like a moron! I've been so consumed with my struggles this year that I didn't realize how miserable I was to be around. I didn't realize that my situation PALES in comparison to one of my best friends... and here I've been complaining to her EVERYDAY for the past year!!!! I feel so stupid and humiliated. How is she still my friend? I feel so stupid. I'm an idiot.

Why can't I just be happy?????

I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER

This girl has got an appetite one her.
The last night my Mom spent with my Dad they went out for Mexican food. After returning to the hotel room my Dad said, "That didn't really fill me up... would you mind if we went across the street to KFC?"
Dadio, I can so relate.
Brandon and I ate at Marv's today. I got a burger and fries and when I was nearly done with it I said, "So, what are we gonna get for lunch?" To which Brandon replied, "Yeah, they should call it Starv's".
I can out-eat ANYONE you put in front of me... especially Brandon. Brandon was born with that virtue we call moderation, while I am only moderately virtuous.
Thank you Mom and Dad for the pretty good genetics that keep me from exploding, because I have the SOUL of a fat lady.

My Little Buttercup

So today Brandon is going to build me this table! I have been drooling over it for many weeks now so he bought some nice kiln dried wood and is going to replicate it for me. Oh how I love being married to my own furniture store. Also, check out his new lamp shape he made for our house... we had the house wired so it turns on with a switch and hangs right over the dining area. Of course he tells me the mathmatical name for the shape but I can't remember. Anyone know where to score 8 chairs for less than $100 a piece. Chairs are so expensive that we will be pulling up beach chairs to the table for many months to come, I'm sure. Anyway, why is it so sexy when a guy builds stuff? I always tell Brandon that I'm glad he doesn't teach math anymore because I need a man who puts a drill bit through his thumb on occasion.

True story: Brandon was building our house and he calls me up and says "Hey hun, do you have a minute to bring me a bandaid... I hurt my thumb". So I drive over with a bandaid and ask him to "show me where it hurts"... at which point he reveals his rearranged thumbnail. There was nothing left of the end of his thumb- I couldn't even make sense of what went where. The end of the drill bit looked EXACTLY like ground burger. I told him to get in the car now, we are going to instacare. He refused and that's when I had to get mean. I said "you idiot, you need more than a bandaid!!!!!" In fact, he needed what was left of his nail removed, stitches, antibiotics.... the doctor even discovered that the drill bit deflected off his bone and chipped some off. When it hit the bone, that's when it went towards the end of his thumb, thus "blowing out" his flesh. Oh Brandon darling, my little buttercup.... A BANDAID????!!!! Anyway, love a man who is "good with his hands" :)

Let's hear it for Quinn whom I ran into yesterday and talked to by his truck that A) is a Toyota truck, B) has an NRA sticker on it, and C) had some big motorized woodworking tool in the back. That's a man's truck.... a man with 2 healthy testicles.

Anyway, our dream in life is to live in Springdale by the river and have a furniture/ stained glass/ lamp store connected to our house. This likely will never come to pass but what we are determined to accomplish by 4 years from today is to buy a little piece of land and build a little ranch house with horses. No matter how small a house, I'm determined to live in the country. I want Anika to grow up how I did... not playing in a gutter, but riding horses, building forts, catching lizards, climbing trees. Our house bordered the national forest when I was little and I'd go for a horseback ride every morning with my Mom. I've had this fantasy for 10 years: I see my little ranch house and me and my daughter are out shoveling the manoor in the corral... the little girl is wearing panties, white tank, and cowboy boots. Then we work in the vegetable garden. Could this be Anika? My dream is just around the corner... I can't wait!

Anyway, come see my new house yo!

Happy days

Happy Birthday to you I think it's awesome that we have now been out of school for 10 years and I am never going back.
it's odd that you are the oldest we will all be younger than you for the rest of our lives congrats for being the oldest just kidding I hope that you get everything that you wanted post pics of all of your b day presents.
Have fun at school

Happy Birthday Darling!

I can't wrap my brain around the idea of us turning 28. I want to take you on a hot date or something. Let's go out to late dinner one of these nights or another movie, as long as I can wear some houndstooth pumps, I'm happy. I am jealous that you get to dress up for work. I fantasize about dressing up. Not like you teach in 4 inch heels or anything but you at least do your hair and you don't wear sweats out of the house. My M.O. is: sweats to leave the house, no pants inside the house. In the summer my pants get left at the door with my shoes, occasionally with my bra (before childbirth). These days I'm more comfortable fully clothed, even in my own presence. Enough about me, you are the birthday girl today!!!!! I like your crown photo, LOVE the lavender dress w/ white flats. Girl, you've got it goin' on. Like it or not, (rather believe it or not) I will surprise you with a belated gift. I'm proud to be your friend.

$200.00

Yipee Ki Yeah (sp?)

My librarian (a nice guy) just gave me $200 to spend at the book fair!!! Where to start? That's like giving a heroin addict a free fix for the month. OK, not the best analogy coming from a public school teacher... I'm exited, let's leave it at that. What a great B-day present.

Oh what fun...

We had a fun time at the blessing as you can tell.

Lexington John is the baby's name he looks like the muffin man with that little hat.

sugar lays to waste

I am loving our little blog here. You should read Potatoes not Prozac. It was quite enlightening to learn that sugar actually increases our tolerance for physical AND EMOTIONAL pain. It actls just like painkillers or alcohol on the receptors in your brain. I know you enjoyed my other sugar-book recommendation. I truly believe that sugar is a poison exploited by Satan himself to ruin our lives and spirituality, so why, I ask myself, do I eat the crap? Oh sweet sugar, how I perpetually yearn for your sweet embrace. Seriously though, my new sugar book was helpful, and also shed some light on the "addictive gene" and why the addictive personality runs in families. I have reason enough to believe I am a phantom alcoholic and have had the occasional brush with painkillers. If it weren't for the "blessing" of seeing my entire family LAID TO WASTE by addiction, I surely would have also fallen in Satan's favorite little trap. Sorry, this post was a little scary. Nicole, you crack me up. I assure you, I truly love hearing about anything... especially your pie! I want to read your book.

Let Them Eat Pie

I'm not trying to one up Alana or anything- I just want to let her know she is not alone!
As we speak, I am eating a piece of pie for lunch... but not just any pie, this is pie of death: It's ingredients include but are not limited to peanut butter, milk chocolate chips, sugar crust, sweet and condensed milk, flour, butter. I know this isn't a great picture, but it was taken literal seconds ago and it stands as proof that I can never complain about my figure again: It's my own fault when I eat crap like this for my midmorning meal. I'm sorry, it's just that when you walk into the faculty room to get your Tupperware of fresh Costco fruit, and to get to it in the back of the fridge you have to pass the cookie pie from faculty meeting, there's not much self-control to stop you from just taking the pie instead. Plus, pie sounds really good after three classes of hell and mouthy students.