Sunday, August 21, 2011

chili-pie and meatballs

the western idaho fair is here ya'll!
(insert bonanza theme song.)
which means carnival rides, oversized produce, greasy food, wacky people, and the last week of summer.
baby brother tanner is workin' the burger booth this year, which brings back some pretty great memories.

let me share.

for a week at the end of august throughout most of my high school years, my friend katie, my sister, and i worked the hot dog booth at the grandstands. we got to hear all the concerts for free, and i still have the guitar pick i got from the willie nelson show. awesome right?

but mostly, i just got really fast at wrapping hot dogs, filling drinks, and making chili-pie= take a bag of fritos, dump in some chili, cheese, and a plastic spoon, and voila- a culinary masterpiece, no bowl necessary. i also learned how to use a till, so that was a good respectable skill, except that i didn't ever use a till again after that.

the real gem of the fair job was that it led me to a super sweet gig at the annual christmas craft bazaar. my sister and i worked the meatball sub table. mmmmm= a french baguette, pull out the soft middle and stuff the carcass full of meatballs. it was a top seller, an honor to make really.

good times.

*also sprinkled throughout my younger resume were a variety of temp assignments. highlights include: a night shift at a mental hospital where i sat behind a locked door and a thick glass pane. i signed in patients and answered the phone when troubled people would call and cry, or shout, or swear, and then hang up.

but the worst was probably a night shift emptying expired milkshake mix bags into a giant vat, my gag reflex was on overdrive that night. and ironic, it was the only time i've had to wear a hair net. i learned an important lesson that day: fast food ice cream isn't really ice cream.

Friday, August 19, 2011

dear instagram,

where have you been all my life?

thoughts on moving.

it STINKS. 
i HATE it.
in 2004 we moved from rexburg to boise.
in 2005 we moved across the country to charlotte
in 2006 we moved from southpark to the southend of charlotte
in 2007 we brought our stuff back across the country to denver
in 2008 we moved from denver to greenwood village (8 months pregnant).
in 2009 we came home to boise
next saturday we'll move to meridian.

yuck, right?

and with each move we've acquired more stuff, more kids, less time...and NO motivation. at least this time around half of our stuff is in storage and we're moving locally...buuuuut, it still stinks. so today, as i was packing up the first of many boxes to come, i pulled out the kids baby books. i shamefully realized i hadn't yet taken harrison's hand and footprints (come on, he's ONLY 7 months), and his feet barely fit on the stamp pad, but we worked it out. stamped, sprayed and taped to the book.

back to packing.

i then discovered that harrison is deathly afraid of the tape dispenser. every time he hears it he flys into a screaming state of panic. poor baby. i've tried shutting the door and taping in the next room...no go. he does it with the sound of popcorn kernels hitting the air-popper too. weird.

and then there is olive. sweet, SUPER helpful olive. if i leave a box unattended for two seconds i come back to all sorts of treasures inside. legos, washcloths, rice chex, a sippy cup full of milk wrapped in her pajamas pants.

i'd take the kids to the zoo and pay movers to do it for me, except that i'm too much of a perfectionist to have strangers pack my stuff...and i'm cheap.

...it's hopeless.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

amos and aubry


aubry came to town for the amos lee concert last week. i can always count on aubry as a loyal concert sidekick. he put on a pretty great show, even gave my current celebrity crush a run for his money...until he didn't anymore.

dear amos, 
forever long guitar solos that only you are into are weird.
they make your audience uncomfortable, and you know you've missed the mark when even the drunk people sit down.

so, there was that. but over all a great show.

moving on.

aubry stayed through the weekend, so we did all the usual things: we shopped, and dined, and painted nails, and diy-ed. we cooked, and stayed up late, and slept in, and shopped some more.

she taught both olive and i the magic of bribery with money, way more effective then smarties and dum dums! genius.

and our shopping hit a high right before she left sending her on her way much later than originally planned. sorry aubry, i hope 9am church wasn't too painful.

come back!

slc rendevous

spencer's parents live in north carolina, which means we don't get to see them as much as we'd like to. but, we were able to intercept them in slc a couple weeks ago for a long weekend. they are such amazing grandparents, and i always get a little anxiety when we're going to see them because it's usually short and olive is a "warmer upper."

so, a testament to their greatness, the warming up took about 3 seconds. if you know olive, you know that's pretty spectacular.
we had a great time swimming and riding ponies at thanksgiving point, we took advantage of all the yummy food in slc, and olive still talks about the grasshopper papa found and carried on their walk.
tara and kennedy were in town for a few hours as well and it was so great to see them! thanks for helping olive with her candy necklace kennedy, she's now added you to the list of friends we say goodnight to at bedtime.

nigh night lucy
nigh night clara
nigh night kenny
nigh night ella
...

thanks to ty and kumari for hosting the crowd for the weekend.

it was so fun to see everyone!

new years prediction 2011: will we all be in one place at the same time? check.
even if it was only for 12 hours, 8 of which we slept through.
can you tell she's not a bit shy with her nana and papa,
but she's 2.5 and she still wont talk to her nursery teachers,
EVEN when they bribe her with extra snacks.