..and another by Frost

RELUCTANCE

Out through the fields and the woods

And over the walls I have wended;

I have climbed the hills of view

And looked at the world, and descended;

I have come by the highway home,

And lo, it is ended.



The leaves are all dead on the ground,

Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

And let them go scraping and creeping

Out over the crusted snow,

When others are sleeping.



And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,

No longer blown hither and thither;

The last lone aster is gone;

The flowers of the witch hazel wither;

The heart is still aching to seek,

But the feet question "Whither?"



Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?



Robert Frost

we love the things we love for what they are...

HYLA BROOKE by Robert Frost

By June our brook's run out of song and speed.
Sought for much after that, it will be found
Either to have gone groping underground
(And taken with it all the Hyla breed
That shouted in the mist a month ago,
Like ghost of sleigh bells in a ghost of snow)--
Or flourished and come up in jewelweed,
Weak foliage that is blown upon and bent,
Even against the way its waters went.
Its bed is left a faded paper sheet
Of dead leaves stuck together by the heat--
A brook to none but who remember long.
This as it will be seen is other far
Than with brooks taken otherwhere in song.
We love the things we love for what they are.

I'm working on a collection of 20 poem's for a children's literature class i'm taking, and this is one I really enjoyed, but didn't make the cut. I love the words, jewelweed, otherwhere, groping underground. lovely!

We had the most wonderful trip with good friends both old and new. We spent a week on a Caribbean Celebrity cruise without any kids! It was pure luxury, white sandy beaches each day, fine dining at night & tons of uninterrupted time to catch up and have fun with each other.
I was happy because I had just seen the menu and was getting ready to order about 10 courses!

Personal Blog

Sorry for the confusing switch to private and then back again.

Jim and I decided to start a personal blog so that I can post pictures and stories of Tessa to my heart's content, without worrying about who's looking at these pictures and stories. While we were on our trip our friends told us about the awesome albums they make each year of their personal blog, which are more like journals.

This blog isn't going anywhere (I love having a place to keep track of my favorite things) but it'll have less personal stories and family pictures so if you want an invite to my personal blog send me an email or comment!

Reading and Watching

Two of my new favorite things lately:
The Ladies No. 1 Detective agency from HBO, exactly as I pictured from reading the books and so much fun to watch, I love the scenes from beautiful Botswana.

This American Life online. Brooke reminded me of this. It's great to sit and listen to while I'm baking, cleaning, or folding laundry, I love it because I feel like I learn something new or come away with a fresh perspective every time I listen.

easy no-knead bread

We just spent the last weekend baking and perfecting the now famous recipe from the minimalist at NYT, the no-knead bread. The recipe is super simple, but we still had to make it one or two times to get the hang of it. Now that I understand it, we're making it almost daily, and Jim is sick of hearing me talk about bread! But here's why I love it, it reminds me of Julia Child. In the middle of her book, "My Life in France" she talks about her struggles to help the home baker make a moist, crusty loaf of bread in a regular oven. She basically spent two years perfecting her recipe, recommending things like asbestos bricks and quarry tiles to get a steamy oven. This recipe solves it! Don't fuss over the dough and toss it in a pot with a lid, so simple!! Anyways, try it, you'll be hooked like me.

green with envy

I'm having a bit of jealousy over Jordan's paris adventure...watching this video didn't help much!

Delicious!

We recently went on a rare date night and had this wonderful napoleon style pizza in a new little strip mall restaurant just up the road. I'm hooked. Don't get me wrong...it's no 2amys, but it is pretty delicious! That is an actual picture of the real pizza...I stole it from this guy on yelp, just looking at it makes my mouth start watering!

P.S. I had no idea I had a babysitting problem. Apparently I never ask anyone to babysit for me, and I didn't realize it. We are planning many more regular trips out sans Tessa in the future...I guess i've got some babysitting trades racked up!

Favorite Superbowl Commercial

Tessa just reminded me of this commercial tonight as she was getting ready for bed. She likes to walk around her room in just her hooded towel and air out for a little while before getting her PJ's on. I was humming the darth vader song as she walked around like she owned the place, in only her towel and birthday suit.

favorite videos

Do children learn about sesame street in utero? We were walking down the aisle of the toy store yesterday, and Tessa walked past a certain toy and said "mel-mo!" She's only seen him on her diaper! Now that she's hooked to Elmo, we spend a few minutes a day on the Sesame Street You-Tube channel, here are a few of my favorites (and Tessa's too).

Nasty Dan


Celebrity Lullaby


A song about Elmo

bye-bye blog?

So James and I are thinking of gettting rid of the blog permanently. I would just take it private, but I feel like people just stop reading/updating when it's private, so what's the point? Jim's thinking facebook is better because then you just control who you share things with, but i'm still on the fence. Any thoughts on what has worked for you??

Christmas Home

I decided this year to get us a fake tree. $40 at walmart doesn't get you a lovely piney scent, but it's easy and cute, and the lights don't need to be re-strung every year. Christmas is one of those holidays that is best celebrated all month long, so getting the tree helped us get a jump start. I loved getting out our ornaments and I was laughing as I realized that the majority of my ornaments came from the places I worked, Williams-Somona with the chef snowmen & my 12 days of Christmas from the Land of Nod, such good memories of working like crazy during "peak" season. I also love our cheap Walgreens star on top, I think it's pretty amazing, and Tessa loves it too, constantly telling me all month about the "tee" and "sta". Our stockings were given to us by my old neighbor, Maryanne Gourley, who made one to match mine for James on our wedding day, and sent us one for Tessa after she was born, I love the thought and tradition of them. I also love our wooden nativity that James' parents brought back for him from Jerulsalem, it's so peaceful and serene, and hard for our little baby to break!

Thanks for all the Christmas cards friends and family, we wish you a joyful Christmas!

Munchkins & Pumpkins

We spent one of our indian summer days recently visiting a pumpkin patch in half moon bay with all the babies, Elliot, Adeline, Freddy, Tessa, Beckham, and even Diane's puppy-baby, Luna. Honestly, it was really just an opportunity to take them all to the pumpkin patch and take zillions of cute pictures with them.

wedding photos

A few of my favorites from my sister's pretty wedding. More of Sara & Dillon over at her photographer's webpage.

marcel the snail shell

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

I've watched this video about 10 times since I found it, it is the funniest thing ever. I love the way it talks to it's little lint doggy, and the phone conversation, so so funny!

emmy snarkiness

I don't particularly love watching award shows on TV, but I do love looking at what everyone was wearing the day after...and by everyone, I mean the women, because really, there isn't much a guy can do that hasn't been done before. Here are my favorites and least favorites from last night's emmy's:

LOVES: Claire Dane's sparkly dress, so smart that she didn't wear much jewelry and kept it simple, when she won the Emmy for playing Temple Grandin, she spoke so eloquently. I love that Jayma Mays (from Glee) wore navy blue with gold jewelry, so classic and pretty, she has just the right color of blonde hair to pull it off. Christina Hendricks picked a great flattering dress, even if she never looks quite as confident and put-together as she does playing Joan.

DISLIKES: Anna Paquin, because her dress didn't quite fit, and I never really like those platform shoes, I think they make people's feet look bizarre. January Jones, not digging the fish-fin look, weird hemline, or cones on this dress. Heidi Klum, her skirt was just a little too short and didn't seem formal enough, also she's got a crazy look in her eyes!

baby shower

Brooke, Taryn and I put these invitations together for their good friend Kayla's shower next month. I think they turned out pretty adorable! It is so much fun to sew on paper, I'm imagining all the possibilities.

new shoes

I got Tessa a pair of white Salt Water "sea-wees" during a visit to the Children's Hour while I was in Utah last month. Salt Water sandals are my favorite because they totally stand the test of time, and just look like they have been built to last. I remember running around in them when I was little. Tessa has teeny feet (size 2) and hasn't yet been able to fit in anything, so these bitty ones were perfect for her. They are adorable and have made the perfect summer shoe. Good thing I didn't see the gold, or we would have continued the gold-footed trend Tessa's had since birth. I also like the brown & red for small-footed little boys!

Growing up in Utah, my mom took us to the Children's Hour in Bountiful for as long as I can remember, it was one of the most magical bookstores I'd ever been in, small and filled with shelves of books and small toys. The "Shop Around the Corner" in You've got Mail reminded me of it a little. Now that they've moved to a bigger store in Salt lake, they still have the great books, but adorable clothing, shoes and jewelry as well.

thoughts from the kid-free

“Most of my married friends now have children, the rewards of which appear to be exclusively intangible and, like the mysteries of some gnostic sect, incommunicable to outsiders. In fact it seems from the outside as if these people have joined a dubious cult: they claim to be much happier and more fulfilled than ever before, even though they live in conditions of appalling filth and degradation, deprived of the most basic freedoms and dignity, and owe unquestioning obedience to a capricious and demented master.

I have never even idly thought for a single passing second that it might make my life nicer to have a small, rude, incontinent person follow me around screaming and making me buy them stuff for the rest of my life. [Note to friends with children: I am referring to other people’s children, not to yours].“

- Excerpt from The Referendum by Tim Kreider

*I saw this quote on Melanie's blog and just had to share, It gave me a good laugh. And there is such an element of truth to it, as I spend my day walking Tess to whatever she chooses to point at, cleaning an entire plate of carefully diced food off the floor. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

the BYU library gets spicy

Does the old spice commercial make you crack up? I love this imitation made by the BYU library, so funny!