Cousinly love

We were out in Illinois for Christmas this year. The whole McNabb family was there and it was really fun. Brita got to hang out with her cousin. I thought they liked each other, but Brita's a little young to want to play with another kid still.

Today I was looking at blogs and showed Brita the picture of Ensley on their blog. She got really excited and started pointing and making noises. I think she likes her cousin.

Sadness

I am crying and feeling sick to my stomach because I just stepped on and broke a Christmas ornament. If it had been any other one I probably wouln't have cared, but it was one that my advisor at Ricks gave me.

The Christmas tree up in the Agronomy building is all decorated in John Deere and Farmall tractors lights and ornaments. I LOVED that tree. I used to study by it every day. When I was helping Sister Zollinger take it down Brother Blaser walked by and gave me one of the little Farmall tractors. I managed to keep it for eight years and not lose it or break it until now. I guess eight years was more than could be expected from me anyways.

But it was one of the only things that I had that reminded me of Ricks and I loved Ricks. It was my favorite school. I loved Brother Blaser and Brother Willis and Brother Stephens and Sister Zollinger and moving sprinkler pipe and breaking farm equipment and riding around on the four wheeler and grading my own tests and trying to get my points back on tests that I graded and cleaning oil buckets and being insanely busy. I miss all the class field trips to Big Juds. And the work lunches at Gringos.

There was one day where I broke eight different things, the last one being the combine right as a storm was coming in. And then let my teacher's car get soaked in the rain. And then I asked if I could go home. When Brother Willis asked why I wanted to go I said that I didn't want to break anything else. He said none of them were my fault..then I remembered I didn't shut his sun roof. They never got mad at me, though. That day I was walking home crying and a guy came out of the building just next to the agronomy building. He saw me and asked if I wanted a ride home. I said yes and then he asked me what was wrong. So I told him in great detail. It took a while because there were lots of things that went wrong. He then reminded me that he had no idea where he was taking me. It was kind of funny in its own little sad way.

A few days later I jack-knifed the baler in front of the entire Madison cross-country team. That was embarrassing.

I would always ask Brother Blaser why he didn't fire me. He would ask me if I wanted him to fire me and I would say no. Then he would ask me if I was learning anything and I would say yes. He was one of the greatest advisors of all time. And I should know; I had the three best.

Cookies

We made cookies the other day. They were yummy. And beautiful.

Christmas is coming

On Christmas morning sometimes there would be presents for us under the tree that weren't wrapped. I think it was just so Dad and Mom could sleep a little longer by telling us to play with those ones. This year I have an unwrapped one under the tree a little early. I'm so excited.



I'm really lame this year and don't have presents for anyone. I need to work on that. Especially since there is tons of stuff under the tree for me. I just don't know what to give. I'm lame.

By the way, do you like our tree? From outside it almost looks normal sized.

Dream

I just had a dream that I was helping teach a little girl the missionary lessons. I think it was the first one and she was definitely too young to get baptized. We were talking about God. I drew a picture and it ended up looking like a strange rabbit and we discussed the differences between m picture and what God actually was like. Then I taught her to sing 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' in Russian so she would fit in in primary. Except that we were teaching her in English, so I don't know why she needed to know that song in Russian. So strange. And now you know what I dreamed about.. Don't you feel better now?

Road trip

We went to Greg and Kelly's house for thanksgiving this year. It was way fun. Peter won every game except the one I cheated on very badly. And we were total mooches. We didn't bring anything. Kind of like the Relief Society dinner and cookie exchange I went to tonight. I brought home a bag full of cookies, though. Yeah for mooching.

Brita in her new car seat.

Me driving.

Peter and Brita in Idaho outside a rest stop.

One of my friends told me (a while ago) that she thought it was a joke that I was calling my husband Peter on my blog. That makes me happy every time I think about it.

Happy (Belated) December First

Every year my mom sends us a December 1st present to get us in the holiday spirit. It's so fun to get to open presents. Brita opened it this year (with a very little assistance) and really liked everything that was in it. Thanks, Mom.

12 month clothes

Today I broke out the twelve month clothes. Is it just me or does she keep getting cuter?



I look forward to the day her pants aren't three inches bigger than her waist.

A picture

Today

Here are some pictures of Brita from today. She wore all sorts of new clothes today. Good times today.

The Clapping Game

Here's a video of Brita playing the "leader" role in her new clapping game. This could keep her occupied for hours... that is, if the crowd could keep up with her. Here we are after playing for several minutes already. :)

Here's our fridge letters these days

We've lost some. We don't have a single h left. The others are going quickly as well.

Notice the guy on the skateboard?

My house in Oregon

This is where I lived in Oregon (at least when we lived up river).

This is where I wanted to live in Oregon.  (It's right outside of Walterville.)

Random missing Oregon moment

This is a draft from a while ago. It's not finished, but I was missing Oregon again as I looked at my pictures today, so I guess I'll post it.

I just saw one of my friend's little brother on facebook. It reminded me of the time that he sent me a secret admirer letter at girls camp just so I could get some mail. That was awesome. It smelled a lot. Mail at girls camp in Oregon was a huge deal.

Maybe some day we'll get our scanner working and I can add a girls camp picture here. Maybe the one with Molly and me with our mouths open with spaghetti in our mouths. And Myrtle looking like we're the weirdest people on earth. That's my favorite girls camp picture.

Sometimes I miss the Oregon people a lot. Probably the most of any place I've lived. At least right now. I loved who I was when I was living in Oregon. That was ten years ago. Crazy.

I remember it took my cat dying for me to get the nerve to call one of my friends to see if we could hang out. Or maybe she called me. Her family didn't like me. Her oldest brother offered to give me $20 if I never went back to church....

For Grandma

Fresh pictures

My Dad and Mom just stopped by (for about 7 minutes) and brought me fresh pictures to scan. I stored my pictures with my parents for a few years, so there are some of mine that I haven't seen in forever. Here's one that made me laugh out loud when I saw it.


It was taken in Virginia I'm thinking on Chad's 20th birthday (well, when we made the cake at least, judging from the other pictures around it).

The cheesiest post around

Monday night for our post family-home-evening-activity activity we packaged cheese. We did somewhere around 13 pounds.


I grated.

Peter packaged.

Brita kept busy.

Here're our babies all ready to go down to the freezer.

Peter came up with another title for this post. I'm sure you can guess what it was.

Happy Girl

Here are some pictures to celebrate Brita being happy again after my shower. I was trying to get her teeth.

And here's me eating her.

Lumberjack coat

I made this coat for Brita while I was at my Mom's house while Peter was on a business trip. I actually started it about a month ago, but I didn't get very far until Brita had someone else to pay attention to her.

I made it from my brother Shawn's old coat that I had inherited from him. The pockets are from the original pockets and the buttons and button holes are original, too. As well as the hem. What can I say--I'm lazy.

It was fun to do, though, and Brita likes it. Every time we put it on her up in Hagerman she got really excited because it meant she got to go outside. She got to wear it today because it's been snowing here all day and we needed to get the mail.

My mom and her sisters

Guess which one is my mom.

Peter and I have been scanning pictures ever since our grand purchase of a new scanner. It's kind of addicting to see what's on the negatives. Fun times.

My Dad: killer of flies

At my mom and dad's house killing flies is a full time activity. Usually they use the vacuum, but this time Dad killed a fly with his bare hands. Luckily I was there to document it.


The thing next to him is a beany flipper that he was making for his Sunbeams class. Yeah..their class is cooler than mine.

Asleep, asleep

Brita has been sleeping horribly lately. She fights going to sleep and wakes up every few minutes screaming. It's been fun. One time she was so tired that when I left her on the bed sleeping, she woke up, sat up crying and then folded in half asleep. It was kind of funny.
Here's her cute folded-in-half self.

New faucet

Peter installed a new faucet a couple days ago.

Brita helped.

But we didn't have the right part, so it's not finished.


Thanks for your help, Dad.

Brita has teeth

Brita started getting her two front top teeth in right before I left for Idaho. Now they're sticking out quite a ways. I haven't got them in a picture yet, so you'll have to settle for this one.

We voted.

Spasibo

We were talking about being thankful today in sharing time. The primary president went through how people say thank you around the world in different languages and how God understands them all. Then she said that people in China were thankful for rice. It struck me as funny because it was in an incredulous tone of voice. So I started laughing and couldn't stop. That was bad. I'm sorry, Sister Riding.

I remembered last night that I needed to teach today. I didn't find out what lesson until this morning, though. I taught about how good music makes us happy. It makes me happy. I think they had fun. I hope so.

Peter's sick. Brita's not sleeping well these nights. I have lots to do. Maybe I'll post about my trip sometime soon. I'm sure you all can't wait.

Oh--Last night I was trying to get Peter to take some little white pills to make him feel better. He kept saying that they were just placebos. I tried again a little later and he just muttered under his breath "placebo". So I said pozjaluista.
I thought it was funny.

My Thunder

Peter stole my thunder today. I suppose I should be posting more often. But, click here for a cute picture of Brita.

Pictures of Brita

Teething, packing, cleaning, haircuts

I'm so tired.

Adventures in cars

We just made a couple of trips to the car mechanic's. Luckily it wasn't our car's transmission that went out. Unfortunately it was Pamela's. Here's Brita at the end of the long adventurous day.

Brita: Eater of Erasers, Chewer of Cords

Conference

Conference was great. We watched it at our house, which I don't really like to do because it makes me lazy, but it was really nice just to be home. And conference was amazing.

I got a migraine during priesthood session and when I woke up the next day Brita had made me a card. My family's so cute.

Mission Reunion Fun

Well we made it to all the mission reunions. I even went to one three times. (I forgot the diaper bag for the second visit, and had to check and see if my beloved former companion [Sister Oohara] was there the third visit.)

The first reunion was at the coolest park I've been to in a while. It had way yummy grapes and apple and peach and cherry and pear trees. It was amazing. I recognized five people there including my mission president and his wife (who I'm not exactly sure recognized me). The food was great, though. And people were really nice. I learned some sad things about the mission.

The second (and third and fifth if you want to count those stops) was at the Clyde building as usual. I love President and Sister Christensen. We got there early and were the only ones there for a bit. Then another sister came with her family. It's so fun to hang out with people who have lots of stories when there's not a lot of people around. You learn so much. It was really fun to be there.

The third (or fourth) was in Springville and it was fun too. There was lots of singing. And stuff. I got to talk to Peter's former companion's wife. That was fun. Brita was hanging out with all sorts of people at that one. She also hung out with President Christensen at my reunion. And she chased kids around for about 45 minutes at that one. They had fun.

And that's the skinny on mission reunion fun. Oh--and 4700 is faster than Bangerter coming home from the south.

Grrr

I am so sick of food going bad. Brita and I just tried to have lunch and the bread was moldy. Its sell by date isn't even until the sixth. Bad, bad bread.

A couple days ago I was making knorr sides for dinner (because I'm lazy) and there were worms in them. Nastiness. Nastiness.

Why can't food just be good? What's so wrong with that?

Mmm yummy

Elvis & the Joker

Peter thinks Brita looks like Elvis in this outfit.


I took this picture right after the new batman movie came out and there was a bunch of discussion about how the Joker's mouth ended up looking like it does. I think he might have been chewing on a plastic lid as a baby. At least that's how Brita got her marks.

You kind of have to look at the pictures bigger to fully appreciate the ruffles and the mouth.