Old Friends and Old Lady Hair

Our friends Erin and Greg came to New York last weekend. They were some of our best friends in New York. I can even prove it. Here they are accompanying us to the Pickle Festival in October 2005.

Obviously they are lots of fun. We were so happy to go visit them. Also they have a cute baby boy Carson who's about a month older than Beckett and we wanted them to be friends. So it was quite a momentous evening. They had a great time playing at the hotel stealing remotes and toy telephones. Once again it was a battle of heft against agility. And once again, I think we have a draw.

Carson loves bread and it's really cute to see him wrinkle up his nose and make his talking noises to get some. I think he ate a whole loaf while we were there. We tried to share with Beckett but bread seems to be a food that shockingly Beckett does not like.





We also found time for a photo shoot. Erin takes beautiful pictures and I begged her to take some of Beckett. She put a couple on her blog and I'm stealing them and putting them here.

And here's our little stroller baby bundled up for the ride back to Jersey.

As you can see from the above picture Erin is beautiful and stylish. (I'm sure that pickle was in Vogue.) Therefore I wanted to impress her with my cute new haircut. So I decided to pull out the big guns--hot rollers. And as those of you with short hair cringe and can guess what's coming, keep in mind that even though it's been a few weeks since I cut my hair sometimes I still think in terms of long hair. Hot rollers were ooh la la two months ago. So I began getting ready for the night while talking to my sister on the phone. I excitedly started unrolling only to discover I have given myself OLD LADY HAIR!!!

As I screamed and assured my sister nothing was wrong with Beckett she encouraged me to take a picture so she could later laugh at my weird hair. Never one to shrink from public humiliation I complied. And here you go.

I ended up with a wet head and a headband. Disappointing.

Squash with Rice! Pears!

Shame on Dawnell and I for not sharing the joy of Beckett for a couple of weeks. Our only excuse is that I've been sick for about two weeks, Dawnell's sick of taking care of me and now she has gotten sick, and Beckett laughs at us, amused that we talk in hoarse voices. Also, before I was sick I was working pretty late, so it was all we could do to catch up on all of the TV shows on our DVR. Ah, the exciting life of parenthood.

It's a bit late now, but for Thanksgiving we went to the house of our friends the Wilsons. The most funnest (most funnest? Oh, that's a good one Chris, take a picture of that) part of spending time with them is trying to start baby fights between Beckster and Haylie. Haylie is more agile and actually moves, but Beckett's got some heft behind his punch. He's a pretty good defensive pugilist. Nobody got hurt, and I think we'll call it a draw.




The next day Dawnell, I and Beckett celebrated the 2nd biggest November holiday: Black Friday! We were unwilling to take Beckett out to brave the rabid crowds, so we rolled out of bed late and hit Target and Staples around 8:30 a.m. Staples was all sold out of what we wanted, but we were able to get some stuff at Target.

Then we went to the Outlet Malls. There we discovered that Beckett loves riding on shoulders. Sadly, he's a bit too small to ride on daddy's shoulders for too long at once.





Mommy got lots of shoes. All on clearance! Good thing Dawnell's love of a good deal is almost as big as her love of shoes.




The highlight of the past couple weeks has definitely been the video clip below. Beckett got a case of the giggles and would not stop laughing about all of the yummy food that we were feeding him. Squash with rice! Pears! Yummy!

Mormonism and American Politics Conference

***********I ripped off several of these pictures from Matt and Addy's blog wherein this issue has already been addressed. Don't sue us 'cause you have two lawyers to our one so you'll probably win.***********

Last weekend we went with Matt and Addy to the above mentioned conference in Princeton. I'll not tire you with all the details, but suffice it to say that it made me feel smart to be in attendance instead of feeling like just a boring person whose brains are falling out of their ears. I even asked a question which garnered a laugh from the audience, an intended laugh, although it was not by far the cleverest question asked. Fortunately the dumbest question asked was a fight between two asked by one weirdo at various times. We had to bring Beckett so Chris and I took turns on baby duty.

So when Chris was out I was sitting by Matt and his wife Addy was on his other side. He talked to both Addy and I and he remarked later that since this conference dealt with polygamy at several points it probably looked like he had two wives. And two outspoken wives at that since we both asked questions. So let this be a lesson to all of you out there that polygamy is all fun for men. My awesome friend Addy is a lot like me in many ways and I don't think there's a man around that could handle being married to two of us.

The man in the middle is the keynote speaker Noah "Dreamboat" Feldman. Okay I added that middle name. He really is brilliant and we had a discussion on the way home about whether he could truly be classified as a genius. I think we agreed he could. Anyway just a fascinating address about the current conservative political climate and Mitt Romney's place in it. He concluded that Romney's religious views are an important part of his candidacy precisely because he's running as a Republican which traditionally garners the votes of "values voters." If he was running as a Democrat he hypothesizes Romney could claim his religion had no part in how he would govern and that would be that, but the very nature of the GOP at this point necessitates him bringing religion into things. Feldman also talked about other things (see Matt and Addy's blog for their take) but I found that analysis particularly interesting. That recap didn't sound particularly earth shattering, but his lecture really was amazing.

After the conference we had a great lunch with an old friend of Chris' who subsequently left Chris' firm so we haven't seen him in ages. We didn't get a picture, but it was New York Patrick, i.e. Nathan, and his wife Jill. They're so much fun. Even Matt and Addy who didn't know them had a great time at our 3 hour lunch. Our friends are all awesome. We're pretty lucky.

The Tooth Will Out

I have not updated for a while because I've been hoping to get a better picture of what I'm about to reveal, but Beckett is NOT cooperative so I'll just have to go with what I've got. Beckett got his first tooth Saturday before last. It's a lot bigger than the picture we managed to wrestle him down and get, but we can't get another one. Probably because he's figured anytime we try and go for his mouth is suspect. He's more than happy to let us feel his tooth and will willingly chomp down very hard on your finger, but he's rather shy about letting us see the tooth. So here's our one picture.

This bad picture inspired me to try again tonight. Lest you think I jest about the difficulties involved here are the failed attempts...

And here's this show in action.
Here's the video. Not quite as funny as Beckett eating pop rocks, but still good stuff.



But finally I was victorious. And here is the tooth now so big.

And Beckett happily using that tooth.

P.S. -

Tagadelic

The rules:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Fact 1: I rule at the claw game. You know the game where you sink in lots of quarters to win a stuffed animal worth a dime?

Well, evidently I am amazing at it. I never played as a kid because my parents rightly (or wrongly in my skilled case) wouldn't let us waste money on it. Well in February of this year I found this hidden talent. My work had a pre-tax season party at Dave and Busters. It's a bar but with games for drunk guys and their kids. We each got a card with money on it to go and have at the games. Well check out my haul:

That's right, that's 3 stuffed animals, a watch, a "gold" chain, headphones, and a laptop. Okay, I didn't claw the headphones and laptop.

Fact 2: Whenever I throw a party I think no one is going to come. I don't think I have low self esteem, but for some reason when I'm hostess I always think that people will have other things come up or just decide it's too much bother. And then I'll end up like this guy all sad and alone with my balloons and party hats that are mandatory at every party I throw so why wouldn't people want to come? :-)

Fact 3: I secretly stare at or subtly investigate the cd collection of new people I meet to see if we could be good friends. Looking in someones medicine cabinet is pointless, who cares if you have athletes foot or a yeast infection? Plus that's really invasive and nosy. But a cd collection is displayed in public places and it tells you a lot more pertinent and interesting information. In some ways I'm like Rob, John Cusak's character from High Fidelity when he says, “It’s not what you’re like. It’s what you like.” Stuff like that does matter.

Fact 4: I love puzzle video games. I rule at Tetris and Dr. Mario. I have conquered the game.

Although I do have to admit that this guy is better than me. This video is amazing even though it made me feel sad about my own skills when Chris sent it to me. http://gameroom.mlgpro.com/view/AeolqE5wAOM.html

Fact 5: I like making my own baby food. I started doing it to save a little money and to make sure Beckett got the freshest food possible, but it turns out I really like it. I thought it would be a sacrifice, but it would be for the greater good, etc. etc. But it's not a sacrifice. It's kind of fun. I like steaming all the stuff and blending it up. Plus I'm not afraid to taste the food and check the temperature when I feed Beckett. In fact I kind of like eating it. Smooth food is strangely appealing.

Fact 6: Sometimes I really want to punch people. I mean really. People are so clueless. They run into you, push you, cut in front of you, give you no service. Sometimes I wish I was like some martial arts expert and could take all comers and just kick the crap out of people. How satisfying.

I now tag Sheryl, Erin, Mary, Candace, Ann and Jill.

Pop Rocks

In the spirit if Halloween and eating candy we gave Beckett a pop rock to eat. I hope you enjoy the results as much as we did. Babies are the best toys ever!

Grown Up Halloween Party

Saturday night was the grown up party, although since our standard babysitter swapper was also invited to the party we just took Beckett along. I made his costume. I mean made like I sewed it. I made it out of a t-shirt. I'm pretty proud of myself. Of course that's because you can't see it up close and see what a rotten job I did. However, it stayed together the whole night and nothing fell off or ripped so it must be counted a success. So without further ado here is the becostumed Beckett.

So what is Beckett you say. Why he is a Money Beet, of course. Perhaps Beckett in context will help.

Still unsure? Well then you obviously do not love The Office. We went as Dwight, Angela, and a Money Beet. A Money Beet? "First rule in roadside beet sales: the most attractive beets on top. The ones that make you pull the car over and go, 'wow, I need this beet right now.' Those are the money beets."

We have many friends who also love The Office. Here's Ryan and Kelly. (Aka Jenny and Tom.)

The ladies of The Office. Here we have the addition of Halloween Pam (Jill). I look weird in all these pictures because I'm doing my uptight Angela face.

The boys of The Office. They are about to embark on a sales call wherein Dwight/Chris will plant his seed in Ryan/Tom.

And here's our whole cast together. Jenny and Tom are perfect with the way she's hanging on him and he's looking exasperated. And Jill's Pam face is great.

Here are some of the party organizers and also the costume contest winners. They are amazing every year. Bryan and BreAnna Larson go all out. They make their costumes and I'm always so excited to see what they do. You should definitely go to their blog and look at the party slide show thw have up. Bry and Bre in the NYC. So here they are:

Cindy Lou Who and Master Chief from Halo.

Since Bryan and BreAnna organized things they graciously let others win the costume contest.

First place, Captain Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swan (Ryan and Shanna Farnsworth)

Second place is a gentleman from the 1980's giving his friend a present. (Sheena and Jason Larkin) It was based on a Saturday Night Live Sketch.

Third Place Plugs (Megan and Brian Porter)

Beckett the Beet got 7 votes but it was not enough to propel him to greatness and his mom and dad to a large bag of candy. Randomly, Chris and I, who both hate scary movies, won a prize in the Halloween movie trivia contest. We missed three, but if Chris had listened to me we would only have missed one.

Lois and Clark stopped by. (Alicia & Christopher)

Matt and Addu came as people from New Jersey. Funny on so many levels.

And Mary and Bryan were a house divided as BYU and USC fans.

It was a wonderful party. I wish I'd taken more decor pictures. They really went all out. Thanks everyone for a great party!

Kids Halloween Party and Book Club

We got invited to a Halloween party for kids. Beckett's costume wasn't ready, plus it doesn't make a lot of sense without Chris' and my costumes so instead he wore his pumpkin hat and "Baby's First Halloween" outfit that Chris bought him. Here is he learning to sit up. He's wobbly, but he's starting to get the hang of it. He can balance on his hands, but he if he gets excited he falls over.

It was a very well done party as you can see from the spread below. All the treats were themed and very delicious. Beckett was mad he didn't get any. But who wants candy when you can have green beans and butternut squash?

I went as a busy and stressed mom who didn't have a lot of time to do her new hair.

Here's Pumpkin Beckett with his pal Raggedy Ann.

I was stressed because later that night I was hosting book club. We read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. I almost cancelled since it seemed like people weren't going to come out to Jersey but they did and we had a great time. At least I did. They were nice and indulged me. I made everyone wear headscarves and we sat on carpets on the floor and ate hummus and dolmas and had a very insightful discussion.

Here we are at the end of the night. (Sorry Jenny, you had to leave before I got out the camera.)

Left to Right: Dawnell, Gretchen, Mary (& Abby), Brittany