hi i'm andi, and i have hair issues

while i was in utah last weekend at a particularly silly moment, aubry took a series of photos of me and posted them on a certain insta-social network.  the pictures were actually of me dancing, but all i could see was my hair, my awful hair! 

disclaimer: this in no way is a criticism on aubry, she's a good friend to me, and i could recognize that the photos WERE funny. 

but the way i saw them was painful. i feel like i reverted back to my insecure 12 year old self for a minute, and i'm almost 30!

let's get real here: 
there is something you should know about me. i have a lifetime of bad hair stories. tears shed over bad cuts, perms, chemical relaxers, flat iron burns and teasing...little orphan annie.

i was a shy kid due in large part to my hair insecurities.

i've tried it long, short, curly and straight. the better part of my college and early married years i spent showering at night and sleeping in a ski hat.

while i thought i'd outgrown most of my hair issues (i still have my days ie: last saturday), these photos brought back a flood of rough memories for me.

SO, in an effort to shake it off, for posterity's sake, and hopefully comic relief, let's take a walk down old memory lane...shall we?

age 3.

age 5.

age 8.

big acting debut at age 10, and i thought the brushed out extreme side part was a good choice.

probably 11 or 12 here, and do not EVER brush dry naturally curly hair. EVER. oh my gosh do you understand now?

8th grade: first experiment with straightening. a best friend + ironing board + iron , still curly at the roots.

sophomore year: half straight, half curly, can you say IDENTITY CRISIS!
AND parts of it are permed here

1999: 
first serious chop. senior picture.

2000:freshman year of college, let's try REEEAAALLY short.
*i had more people ask to touch my hair with this cut than any other. weird.

2001: undoubtedly the WORST. first "professional" =bad chemical relaxer, and way too short . i hate this look so much i can't even tell you. and i had my first real "boyfriend" with this hair, but he was from canada, so that explains a lot, ha. 

2002: chemically relaxed, and just long enough to straighten with a flat iron. enter ski hat sleeping. the rest of college was something pretty close to this.

2004: wedding day. i thought i'd finally figured it out and i'd have this hair forever.

2006: until we moved to humid north carolina. this is me with the same hair as above only in n.c. crazy right?

2007: i grew it longer and went straight again during
the winter in north carolina.

summer 2007: and then i gave up. stopped fighting.

you win hair, you win!
it's been curly ever since.

some journey huh?

anyways, i guess my point is, i'm overdue on a haircut AGAIN, i'm revisiting the straight idea in my head AGAIN, and i'm still a bit sensitive about my hair.
also, i blame my dad, 

whom i also happen to adore.

it is what it is and it's mine.

solo road-tripster

i made my second solo road trip to salt lake last weekend. this time to see my sister-in-law jeneca dance at the conference center theater. it was a quick trip and spencer having just returned from there on business offered to spare himself the kids the long drive and stay home.

which gave me the perfect excuse to indulge in a 100% girl day with aubry! (see the whole report here)

eating (soooo much food), shopping, shellac, and crafting, with a crummy movie on top; just keeping with tradition. (our track record is horrendous. one time we watched suckerpunch and roommate in the same weekend, THE WORST. it's become a thing.)

it went like this: midnight crazy bread and diet coke, mid-morning cookies and diet coke at the e-bar, lunch at the bistro, dinner at zupas, dessert at red mango and breakfast at tulie. fa' real people.

making friends with baby  NAVY!

because we feel the need to "make" when we're together.

on another note, jeneca's team performances and solo were beautiful and intense and moving (i may have cried...3 times). i'd forgotten how much i enjoy dance. it was a much appreciated cultural dose, and really lovely to see her in her element for the first time.

i think jeneca would appreciate me mentioning that she's sporting a
rather amazing 60's dance costume compliments of BYU.

and, the drive back on sunday was sunny and beautiful. i couldn't help but feel gratitude in my heart, for good friends, and kids, and family. i was in awe of this big 'ole beautiful world as i solo car danced to my mix-tape. 

it's amazing how therapeutic a good drive can be.

and when i got home harrison had cut his one year molars, and i swear he'd grown two inches, in 48 hours?! why do i feel like my life is in high speed sometimes?

a pink cake and party hats

3!

the morning after party, while i had a cupcake for breakfast.

olive had a birthday!

when i asked her what she wanted for her birthday she said, "a pink cake and party hats"
when i asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she said "get a BIG pretzel ( a girl after my own heart) and go to the play place with lucy".
and so, that's what we did. when she's 16, i'd like to look back and remember how easily pleased she was at 3.


olive is such a fun and spirited kid. she's becoming a real, little, person and her ever growing vocabulary keeps us laughing.


her dark curly hair continues to grow (yay! i'm happy to report that the boy comments have slowed down drastically), her lips are naturally rosy and she has her mother's pasty complexion (you can't win them all). she towers over most kids her age and constantly scares surprises me at her coordination and abilities. (the kid can climb anything).

she loves to pick on harrison, and he adores her. she loves to dance, and sing and play her guitar, and she's 100% committed to curious george right now; there is no one else for her.

she's sweet and affectionate and fiery. oh how i love her. 

a tell tale sign that the birthday was a success. we spent most of the next day recreating it for timmy. hooray!

and SAVE a pretzel for the gas jets!

my sister was here!

she's so great. sooo great.

we talked and shopped and ate out a lot. we pinwheeled for baby #4 (a girl!) due in may.
we stayed up too late and made french fries at midnight like we always do.

she told olive about road runners and javelinas in arizona and olive hasn't stopped talking about "halloweenas" since. "they have pokey noses" she says, "and andrew saw two, TWO, so aunt alisa had to go outside to save him. i don't like halloweenas," over and over again.


we've added javelinas to olive's list of fears. 

so far:
storms
javelinas

its genetic, we all cry when we laugh.

we laughed REAL hard at this. and this. and these. and olive kept us laughing throughout the week with her constant mis-use of the word "itchy".

why can't we be neighbors?!
my sister is my favorite.