Happy Valentine's Spray!

For Valentine's, we had lunch at a local sushi place.  We love sushi!  Not real, authentic sushi, but instead Americanized, fatty pockets of cream cheese sushi.  It's the best.

June decided to accompany us on the date.  She was entranced by this aquarium:

She ate her puffs with chopsticks:

Daniel enjoyed the romantic meal by multi-tasking:

Afterward, we went to Crispers for their biscotti gelato, our favorite.  While standing in line and waiting to place our order, Daniel and June decided to ham it up for the rest of the restaurant patrons.  He had June on his shoulders, and they were dancing all around when June vomited all over his head.  She was shooting for distance, so it splashed all down the front of my blouse as well.  Our fellow patrons laughed hysterically, and we got quite a few claps too.  One guy called out, "Organic hair gel!"  HAPPY VALENTINE'S SPRAY!!!


Other pics:

I can never figure out why June sleeps like this:

On her knees?  Such a relaxing position.


Being silly:

And after church (which always means skipped nap--you can see it in her eyes.)

And I will soon be having a little plastic done:

More on that later.

It kinda reminds of the time that I had a cyst on my wrist in December.  Someone had told me that you could smash it with a book and it would go away.  I begged and begged Daniel, but he refused.  Finally, he decided he would do it in the middle of our skype session with his parents Christmas Day.  I'm not sure they appreciated the show.  But it did work!

Thoroughly grossed out yet?  Thanks for stopping by. 

Komodo Junie

Little known fact:  If you wait until the very last possible day to mail in your taxes (April 15th most years) and you happen to be in Las Vegas that day, you can take your return to the post office at Mandalay Bay and get a free ticket to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.

While living in Vegas, my employer prepared many, many tax returns but always waited to mail them until the very last day so that he could have many, many Shark Reef tickets to share with his grandchildren.  One year, he gave two to me, and Daniel and I went.

This was pretty much the best day of our lives.  Two nerds like us at a FREE museum?  Heck, we went through twice.  If there is one thing the Jolleys take seriously, it's a museum.  You don't want to be stuck in our tour group because we ask every question we have ever pondered, related to the subject or not.  In fact, that particular day, we distracted one tour guide so well that a two year old wandered behind him and stuck her hand in the piranha tank.

We petted the stingrays, freaked out over an alligator we thought was a log (my Florida self laughs in the face of my Nevada self for this) and spent about eleventy billion hours inside this tunnel:






But out of everything we saw, the animal that the greatest impact on us?





The komodo dragon.

The venom of a komodo dragon is killer . . . literally.  There is no antidote for the saliva from one of these bad boys.  When a komodo dragon wants to eat, it will bite that poor animal and then leave it alone because it knows it will die.  And no other animals will go near it because it has the mark of the komodo dragon.  And no matter how far the animal tries to run after getting bitten, it doesn't matter.  The komodo dragon can track the animal because of the saliva he (or she, you sexists!) has left on it.

I should narrate Animal Planet, right?

Anyway, even though it's called the Shark Reef, to us it was all about the komodo dragon.  One of the tour guides told me how he had to trick the komodo dragon every night into entering into his nighttime cage.  If I worked there, I would constantly volunteer to clean the men's bathrooms to avoid this responsibility.

This experience has prepared us for parenthood.

Meet . . . Komodo Junie.

And yes, she is adorable.  But her saliva is also deadly.  Girlfriend has the worst spit-up problem!  Everything her spit-up touches is gone forever.  Just today, I was at a friend's house and June spit up orange gunk all over their carpet.  Orange.  I was mortified.  As I scrubbed their floor, I was so grateful for my friend, Amy, who kept reassuring me it was fine that June had just spit up on their new carpet in their new house.  "We are going to put hardwood floor in here anyway, " she said.  May I always show the same mercy to mothers of small children.

June has entered that phase.  The phase where everything is crazy all of the time phase.  Don't get me wrong--I enjoy June so much.  I thought I never wanted her to stop being a newborn, but now I see more of why people don't like that phase.  June is more fun now.

She is learning new things, like climbing:

And eating different things:

But she is crazy too.  And into everything:

Last Friday, I put her to bed.  She was crying crying crying, but I was holding out strong.  Next thing I know--THUD.  When I ran into her room, I discovered that she climbed out of her crib and fell to the floor.

One day before that, she climbed up on her little chest of drawers, and they, together with a lamp on top, toppled on top of her.  I had a heart attack.  She laughed.

Evidence:

Yay!  More stuff to play with!

Any of you have a crazy baby story to share?  Or has your kid ever spit up on someone else's carpet?  Or broken something at someone else's house?

You are not my spokeswoman, Khloe Kardashian.

I recently watched part of a panel discussion produced by the Huff Post.  The topic of discussion was the new U by Kotex campaign (the tampon company), which encourages discussion between women about their bodies, as well as the importance of dispelling myths surrounding women's' bodies.  This is an idea I can get behind--I think knowledge is power, and girls (and boys) should ask questions and learn about all things, including their bodies.

The panelists included many female body experts and the spokeswoman for the U by Kotex campaign, Khloe Kardashian.  Though at first surprised by Kotex's choice for this campaign, I honestly approached the panel with an open mind, hoping to find one thing that both Ms. Kardashian and I support.

I was incredibly disappointed with the outcome of the panel, at least the part I saw.

Now, it is important to say that I did not watch the whole thing and thus do not know if Khloe was ever corrected by another panelist or if she ever recanted what she said.  I have searched for the video again, but could not find the whole thing.  I did find this article, which confirmed what I had seen.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/khloe-kardashian-my-vagin_n_2593571.html

Among other comments, Khloe said that women should be proud of their vaginas, not because being a women is awesome, but instead because "vaginas could get you a lot of places in life", "a good puss could control any man", and "it's the man's downfall" among other things.  (Excuse the language; it's a direct quote.)

Really?  This woman is the spokeswoman for a campaign meant to empower young girls? 

Khloe wasted this perfect opportunity to discuss an important subject by demeaning the sexuality of women, suggesting sex is a weapon to use against men to get what they want.   She also suggested that sex is what helps women progress in life.  She seems to think that women can't excel based on the work they do or their achievements.  She reinforced in my mind that there is something quite wrong with a world that concerns itself with the doings of people who make a living by producing dysfunction and false empowerment.

There is a plethora of other things wrong with what she said; feel free to list any you think of in the comments.

I hope to instill in my sons and daughters that their bodies are beautiful and that sex is a wonderful bond between husband and wife and definitely nothing to be ashamed of.  It should also never be used as a means of power over another person.

Kotex should kick Khloe Kardashian to the curb.

And Now For Something Really Important . . .

How often do you wash your hair?

I am a sweater. 


Allow me to clarify.

Not a---



(though I wish it were in my closet in case Florida ever has a real winter.  Here's hoping it doesn't.)

But a--








A sweat-er.  One who sweats.

I love Florida!  It is in the 70s or 80s everyday.  I do NOT like cold weather, so this is the perfect place for me.  However, I do sweat pretty much everyday.

So my deep question of the day is--do you sweat?  And how do you cope with said sweatiness?  Do you wash your hair everyday?  Do you use baby powder or dry shampoo to soak up the grease?  Does your hair cover it up well?

I realize that this is a weird question for January--most people are cold.  But think to summer and let me know.

Leave a thought if you would like.  I'm always interested in the tips of others.

Finding My Niche

I go through a phase every few months where I research all different types of graduate programs and try to figure out what I want to do with my life.

I know I definitely want to be a mom (which is great because there has been a baby wandering around here lately), but I also recognize the need to have marketable skills.  Also, constantly learning is incredibly worthwhile.  I miss school a lot!  I always loved it.  Always is a stretch.  I hated biology and social dance.  What is the connection there?  Mating rituals?  Social dance was talked up so much at BYU as Da Best Class Evah.  And then I absolutely hated the whole experience. 

My problem is that I don't have my thing.  You know, that thing everyone else seems to have and that they obsess over and are passionate about.

I once went on a date with a guy who was over the moon about being a paramedic.  All of his stories had to do with calls he had taken that day or driving the ambulance through red lights.  He even had the paramedic symbol tattooed on his arm.  It's a good thing he was a paramedic.  That's really one of the only symbols that can be pulled off as a tattoo.  What if he had been an accountant?  Or a grocery store manager?  I can't imagine a calculator or check stand appearing quite as fierce.

I have often wondered since, if I were the tattooing type, which I'm not, what would I have tattooed on my arm?  What is my passion?

You might say music, and that is true.  I do love music.  And it is one of my talents.  But I most likely wouldn't get into a grad program for music.  And besides what would my fierce-looking tattoo be?  A  a snake-laden musical staff?  A piano engulfed in flames?

I have also considered linguistics.  Programs require intense study of a second language, which I have.  Besides, my second language is the ever-obscure Romanian, so no one would even know how unskilled I am at it.

So I am still trying to find my niche.  Maybe I should start with---how does one pronounce niche?  Is it "neesh" or "neetch" or "nitch"?

Thank you and good night.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned from AOGG. And Latimer's American Heritage.

 

I have the type of husband who loves making his family happy.  I am the type of person who loves making me happy.  So my birthday is always great.  This past birthday (two months ago . . . dang gina, it's about time I got my write on), my husband asked what I wanted.  I told him that this year I wasn't asking for anything material but instead wanted him to watch the entire Anne of Green Gables movie series (9 hours) with me.  Every few years I get the itch to watch Anne.  I think it mostly hits when I think the world is going kaput (2012 election anyone?), and I want to escape it by visiting  simple Avonlea with its one-room schoolhouse and where the biggest concern is passing the entrance exam for Queen's or dealing with the snubberies of Josie Pye.

So we watched Anne of Green Gables and fell in love with Anne all over again.  Then we watched Anne of Avonlea and yelled mean things as Anne rejected Gilbert (what the whaaaa girlfriend?  He's perfect!), developed feelings for Captain Morgan Harris (ew! so old!) and finally realized her true love for Gilbert as he lay in his bed, dying of scarlet fever (man that close-up of his sick, washed-up face is baaaaaad.)  Then we watched Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story and wanted to chuck it out the window.  That whole movie makes me mad, not only because it is based on nothing LMM ever wrote but the characters don't even resemble themselves inside or out. 

Daniel was a good sport.  He's more of a romantic than I, so even though he groaned at the length of the movies and rolled his eyes at many of Anne's shenanigans, he was also happy to see that Anne and Gilbert end up together.

The whole thing made me crave to read the books again, and I ran through AOGG in four seconds flat.  I became a part of myself that I left behind long ago--reading every spare second, late into the night, and getting fully wrapped up in a book.  I honestly haven't felt that way in years, and it made me realize how important reading is to me and my health.  It made me realize how fake and awful television and internet-surfing can be.  A poor man's literature.  A counterfeit copy of true entertainment. 

Reading the book was so enjoyable to me that I here I leave you with some gems from AOGG.  Drum roll, please.

"I thought nothing could be worse than red hair.  But green is ten times worse."  I have often thought about this storyline this past year when I battled pink eye (read: no contacts, no make-up) for three weeks and accidentally colored my hair orange which then I had repaired to platinum (read: major hair breakage).

About Rachel Lynde:  "I sometimes think she'd have more of an influence for good if she didn't keep nagging people to do right." 

"How do you vote, Matthew?"
"I'm a conservative."
"Then I'm a conservative too."

"That is one consolation when you are poor--there are so many more things you can imagine about."

Please leave your fave Anne line or scene in the comments.

Resolutions.

For me:
1.  Work out 5 times a week.
2.  Half Marathon.  This is the year!
3.  Scripture Study 30 minutes a day.
4.  Blog at least one time a month (trying to be super realistic).


For the Fam:
1.  FHE every week.
2.  Every night--one minute of as many crunches as we can do!  And one minute of as many push ups as we can do!
3.  Do some sort of race together.

The goals are simple this year.  My theme is "Back to the Basics."  As much as I wish I were doing bigger and better and more exciting things, I am working to improve my basic spiritual/physical/emotional health this year.