This is our relationship with Logan, in a blog post. Transcribed as closely as I can recall what happened 10 minutes ago:
He walks in the room where Stephen and I are.
Logan: Ew. Stop kissing. You guys stop it.
We continue.
Logan: STOP! I said stop! I mean it!
We ignore him. He jumps on Stephen's back. We continue to ignore him and he leaves, adding: "You guys are so weird."
Stephen picks up the guitar and starts singing. "Logan sucks and Logan sucks. Logan sucks, he really sucks."
"STOP!" Logan screams from downstairs.
"Logan sucks at Fun Run 2....." Stephen sings joyfully.
"No I don't, it's you, you're the one who quit!"
Repeat 8 times.
"I'm going to tell Dad, I mean it, stop!" Logan announces.
"Logan sucks -" Stephen exuberantly sings back.
The garage door slams as he goes out to the garage to tell Dad.
Later on, Stephen apologizes.
"Logan, I'm sorry. I just say those things to play with you, because I think it's funny how you react."
Logan sits there motionless. He likes to play dead sometimes.
"I actually think you're really smart," Stephen continues. "You might be a manager at McDonalds one day. That's how smart I think you are."
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Friday, October 9, 2015
25 Reasons You Love Me
I'm having a birthday this year. This usually happens, but this year is special!
*She said every year.*
Ehm, anyway. This year, I'm turning 25.
(I might say this for a few years, but this year it's actually biological. So take note!)
In honor of this very exciting event, I thought I would make a list of 25 things about me. Random things that you may or may not know.
Let's begin.
1. Sometimes I get so excited about birthdays that I over-plan them, and then I start to think that that day is all about me and my awesome plans. Even when it's someone else's birthday. This happens annually with Stephen. I have literally said to him, on his birthday: "Don't you ruin this for me! Don't you dare take this away on my special day!"
2. I'm pretty sure I get a crick in my neck more often than is normal, and like 8% of me wonders if an oil would fix it, but I would rather have cricks than turn into an oils person, so. That's a problem I live with for now.
3. I love dressing up and free food more than almost anything else. These things make the world go round.
4. I live vicariously through my sisters in their dating/texting lives. Boys trying to date my sisters, beware that you might be reading a txt I wrote.
5. I remember almost all of my dreams. I make a point to think about them when I wake up, because I love them so much.
6. And actually, I'm a great dream interpreter. My dad keeps telling me I should make a website and interpret people's dreams, because wouldn't that be so funny, and I keep thinking "What is funny about that, this is serious."
7. I never realized how many ways a person can sleep in a bed wrong until I married Stephen.
8. I once went on The Price is Right. I did not get called up. And consequently I did not win any money. I still feel a little sad about this from time to time.
9. I love snakes. Sometimes when I'm feeling lonely, I peruse the snakes for sale on KSL, just intending to look. Get an idea of the cost. And then, inevitably, I end up txting Stephen about 4 or 5 different ones that I waaaaant and are such good deals.
10. I am unceasingly inspired by my mom and Marjorie Pay Hinckley.
11. I went through this Elvis phase once, when I was like 11, right after I watched Lilo and Stitch. I got like 3 Elvis CD's for Christmas that year.
12. Sometimes I try to think about taking a Europe vacation, and I try to Pinterest it, and look on Airbnb, and it always overwhelms me. And somehow I wind up on cruise websites instead, what?
13. I get perfect weather for my birthday e'er year. It just always happens.
14. My most embarrassing moment occurred when I went on a date with a boy, who took me to his apartment to introduce me to his roommates, who apparently were sordid pigs, and I went to the bathroom and found a sandwich floating in the toilet and an empty toilet paper roll and no soap. And I am not going to share the rest of this story.
15. As a teacher, yes I have favorites. #sorrynotsorry. (My favorites are not set in stone and sometimes change daily, if that makes it any better.)
16. If I ever become rich, I want a beach room in my house. Not a beach house. I want a room with a wave pool, and sand, and a skylight, and a sound system that plays the sounds of the ocean. In my house. Stephen says this is unrealistic and I say that is rude.
17. Also, I want a car butler. I do not understand these horseless carriages!! I just want someone I trust to come over monthly, and check everything, and tell me what I need to fix, and get the oil changed, and do all the maintenance things that I am physically incapable of keeping track of.
18. When I first came to Utah, I came with big dreams of marrying a cowboy or Cosmo the Cougar. I married neither. But holla at my better-than-I-ever-dreamed-of-hottie-husband that I snagged instead!
19. I like to wear mismatching socks.
20. One of my nostrils is drastically different than the other nostril. Stephen was the first person to ever notice this, to my knowledge, and he took a picture to prove it to me. His nostrils are perfectly symmetrical, so it was really shocking to him.
21. My car's name is Cassidy Jane Carbaby. One time I bought a car and named him Lerone, after this guy on the Bachelorette who didn't even get a single rose. I was very upset by this and felt like he deserved at least one rose, because he made a great first impression on me! But then Lerone The Car died like a week after I got it. So I decided that Emily must have been right, and I never named another car Lerone ever again.
22. One day, I would really really like to publish a book.
23. I read "The Fault in Our Stars" and it ruined my life. I just think about it and I cry. And this happens like, monthly. Do not read this book!!
24. I have a slight obsession with engagement photos, wedding photos, love story videos, everything up that alley. Sometimes I google "couples story" and watch video after video of people I don't have any connection in the world to, and it makes me so happy.
25. I am really particular about my water - or more specifically, the temperature of it, and the ratio of ice to water. In case you're interested: freezing cold, and like 70% ice.
Stephen just put my birthday crown on me (!!!!) so I guess it's time for bed.
*She said every year.*
Ehm, anyway. This year, I'm turning 25.
(I might say this for a few years, but this year it's actually biological. So take note!)
In honor of this very exciting event, I thought I would make a list of 25 things about me. Random things that you may or may not know.
Let's begin.
1. Sometimes I get so excited about birthdays that I over-plan them, and then I start to think that that day is all about me and my awesome plans. Even when it's someone else's birthday. This happens annually with Stephen. I have literally said to him, on his birthday: "Don't you ruin this for me! Don't you dare take this away on my special day!"
2. I'm pretty sure I get a crick in my neck more often than is normal, and like 8% of me wonders if an oil would fix it, but I would rather have cricks than turn into an oils person, so. That's a problem I live with for now.
3. I love dressing up and free food more than almost anything else. These things make the world go round.
4. I live vicariously through my sisters in their dating/texting lives. Boys trying to date my sisters, beware that you might be reading a txt I wrote.
5. I remember almost all of my dreams. I make a point to think about them when I wake up, because I love them so much.
6. And actually, I'm a great dream interpreter. My dad keeps telling me I should make a website and interpret people's dreams, because wouldn't that be so funny, and I keep thinking "What is funny about that, this is serious."
7. I never realized how many ways a person can sleep in a bed wrong until I married Stephen.
8. I once went on The Price is Right. I did not get called up. And consequently I did not win any money. I still feel a little sad about this from time to time.
9. I love snakes. Sometimes when I'm feeling lonely, I peruse the snakes for sale on KSL, just intending to look. Get an idea of the cost. And then, inevitably, I end up txting Stephen about 4 or 5 different ones that I waaaaant and are such good deals.
10. I am unceasingly inspired by my mom and Marjorie Pay Hinckley.
11. I went through this Elvis phase once, when I was like 11, right after I watched Lilo and Stitch. I got like 3 Elvis CD's for Christmas that year.
12. Sometimes I try to think about taking a Europe vacation, and I try to Pinterest it, and look on Airbnb, and it always overwhelms me. And somehow I wind up on cruise websites instead, what?
13. I get perfect weather for my birthday e'er year. It just always happens.
14. My most embarrassing moment occurred when I went on a date with a boy, who took me to his apartment to introduce me to his roommates, who apparently were sordid pigs, and I went to the bathroom and found a sandwich floating in the toilet and an empty toilet paper roll and no soap. And I am not going to share the rest of this story.
15. As a teacher, yes I have favorites. #sorrynotsorry. (My favorites are not set in stone and sometimes change daily, if that makes it any better.)
16. If I ever become rich, I want a beach room in my house. Not a beach house. I want a room with a wave pool, and sand, and a skylight, and a sound system that plays the sounds of the ocean. In my house. Stephen says this is unrealistic and I say that is rude.
17. Also, I want a car butler. I do not understand these horseless carriages!! I just want someone I trust to come over monthly, and check everything, and tell me what I need to fix, and get the oil changed, and do all the maintenance things that I am physically incapable of keeping track of.
18. When I first came to Utah, I came with big dreams of marrying a cowboy or Cosmo the Cougar. I married neither. But holla at my better-than-I-ever-dreamed-of-hottie-husband that I snagged instead!
19. I like to wear mismatching socks.
20. One of my nostrils is drastically different than the other nostril. Stephen was the first person to ever notice this, to my knowledge, and he took a picture to prove it to me. His nostrils are perfectly symmetrical, so it was really shocking to him.
21. My car's name is Cassidy Jane Carbaby. One time I bought a car and named him Lerone, after this guy on the Bachelorette who didn't even get a single rose. I was very upset by this and felt like he deserved at least one rose, because he made a great first impression on me! But then Lerone The Car died like a week after I got it. So I decided that Emily must have been right, and I never named another car Lerone ever again.
22. One day, I would really really like to publish a book.
23. I read "The Fault in Our Stars" and it ruined my life. I just think about it and I cry. And this happens like, monthly. Do not read this book!!
24. I have a slight obsession with engagement photos, wedding photos, love story videos, everything up that alley. Sometimes I google "couples story" and watch video after video of people I don't have any connection in the world to, and it makes me so happy.
25. I am really particular about my water - or more specifically, the temperature of it, and the ratio of ice to water. In case you're interested: freezing cold, and like 70% ice.
Stephen just put my birthday crown on me (!!!!) so I guess it's time for bed.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Nata-loo
We had a birthday (shout hooray) this weekend. My sister-in-law Natalie turned into an adult! Technically, her birthday was on Saturday, but we celebrated today. Would you like to celebrate with us? Good. You can sit there and observe.
While Natalie takes a nap upstairs, the rest of us Mama Shimp arranges the gifts on the kitchen table. Four matching black-and-white chevron bags, 3 matching pink bags, and one blue bag from Stephen and I. Then she sets about the much harder task of gathering everyone in.
"Logan, Michael, get Heather up." I'm napping on the couch and get a rude awakening when Stephen sticks his tongue in my ear. I'm very emotional in those first waking moments and almost start to cry.
"Michael! Logan! Stop that. Leave each other alone. Come in here."
They come in and start fighting over a chair.
"Okay, stop. Michael, would you go get Natalie?"
He goes upstairs. "Mike! Stand up, come on. We all need to be standing around the table."
"Stephen!" (He's studying in the family room.) "Stephen. Come in here, we need to all be standing around the table."
Michael comes back downstairs.
Mama Shimp fusses over the presents. "Okay, okay! Stephen!"
Stephen makes his way in and pours himself a drink. My face fell asleep during my nap, and while this is all happening, I'm freaking out because I think that a chunk is somehow missing off of my forehead. I wander pathetically over to Stephen and tell him "I need you to pay attention to my face for, seriously, five seconds. There's something that's like, wrong with it. Like, something is wrong. Just look at it, am I okay?" He massages my temples and says I look fine. Natalie does not appear.
"Michael....where's Natalie? Logan. Will you go get your sister. No, Michael. Michael! Stay here!"
Logan and Michael both sprint off for the stairs.
"Mike, stand up. Stephen, over here. Heather. Are you....what are you doing? Are you not feeling well?"
I'm poking at my forehead, and I feel a little bit like crying. "I think something's really wrong with my face. Like something happened to me. I don't know," I explain.
"Maybe it fell asleep during your nap? Try putting your head down by your knees, and letting the blood rush to your head."
I try it. It's very good advice and I start to feel better almost immediately. Meanwhile, the boys are back. Michael picks up the lighter and plays with it for about 30 seconds before Mike takes it. Folds his arms. Grips the lighter tightly. Starts playing with it himself. Natalie still hasn't arrived.
Mama Shimp is starting to get frustrated. "You guys, where is Natalie?! Brandon, will you - no no. Mike. Go upstairs and get Natalie, please. Brandon, stand up!"
"Why are you whispering?" Brandon asks.
"Because, I want it to be a surprise!"
"That's right," Mike jumps in. "She has no idea it's her birthday!" He smiles charismatically all around the table and suddenly Natalie shows up. Acts surprised. (She knows how birthdays work.) Everyone gasps and smiles and "Happy Birthday!"s in a disorganized kind of mumble.
"Happy birthday!" Mama Shimp says brightly, grabbing Mike by the elbow to make him stand. "You guys, everybody let's sing." She reaches for her camera and we all start to sing.
Most of us sing like normal people, except me and Logan. I still feel groggy and probably sound like a zombie. Logan still feels like he's not getting enough attention and sounds like he's trying out for the opera. But like, the clown opera. His knees bend unrealistically with each word, and his voice reaches a shrillness only achieved after years of careful study and practice.
The rest of us kind of trail off until it's only Mama Shimp, trying to sing normally, and Logan, trying to sing abnormally. "I can't wait for him to see this video when he gets older," Stephen says, and we all feel a little better as we consider how wonderful that day will be.
Everyone scoots in for a picture at Mama Shimp's request. Logan pulls his shirt up, puts it back down, makes a face, gets in trouble. We smile and take the picture.
We suddenly realize that the candles on the Cheesecake Factory cheesecake were never lit. Crisis! This birthday is ruined! Mike flicks the lighter about 50 times; it finally lights and the birthday is saved! All 18 candles are lit and Natalie poses for a string of pictures. By the time she poses for the "I'm blowing out my candles" pictures, the candles have all but melted.
Natalie pulls out a card and starts reading the sweet message inside. Stephen grabs a Sharpie and puts a dot on Michael's neck. Michael flails his arms in protest.
".....Love, Stephanie, Craig, Heather, and Stephen," Natalie finishes.
I frown. "That's not my card," I say. I wrote an actual note to her in a different card.
Natalie laughs: "I know how these cards work," she says. "If you're not here, your name gets signed anyway." She reaches for another card and starts to read that one. Michael and Logan start to pluck the candle stubs out of the cake, one by one, and lick the frosting off of them. It's a race to see who can collect more candles. When they're done, they each choose a candle and poke it back in the frosting for more.
All the cards have been read. Natalie opens the present from Stephen and I first, which makes me feel very honored :) Mama Shimp records me explaining why we got Poo-pourri for the birthday girl.
Natalie starts to open her second present and Michael and Logan poke their heads under her arms. The tissue paper ruffles and then quiets down as Natalie pushes her brothers away. "Okay, stop touching me. Stooooop. Touching me." The boys back off. Stephen follows them sneakily with a Sharpie and starts pretending to write on their necks.
The second present is some beautiful black heels. "I fell in love with these!" Mama Shimp tells her, grabbing one. "And the lady behind me in line loved them too."
"I love these!!" Natalie exclaims. I love them too, in my head.
"But then I realized, you already have like 3 pairs of black heels," Mama Shimp continues.
"That's true, I do have a lot of black heels...."
"So maybe I'll just keep these for me." Pause. "And we can go pick out some different ones for you tomorrow?" Natalie agrees. She already has some shoes in mind that she wants.
Natalie opens a third gift: Vera Wang "Princess" perfume. "Okay now....we kind of have a problem with this, because I got it at Kohl's, and they forgot to take it out of the box. So, Dad's going to have to break into it." Mama Shimp is laughing as she says this, but she's serious. Mike takes the box over to the island and starts sawing at the box with a knife.
Somehow in the midst of this, Michael has ended up on Stephen's shoulder. Brandon is following him around with the lighter.
"No please! Plea-he-he-he-hease!!" Michael cries earnestly.
"Dude, relax," Stephen says comfortingly. Brandon flicks the lighter behind Michael's ear.
"Oh, shoot!" Brandon laughs, pretending that he lit Michael's hair on fire. "No, seriously, dude, hold still." Michael squirms spastically, pummeling Stephen's back with his tiny fists.
"Oh, that's really nice," Mama Shimp says with a disapproving look. "You guys, stop it. We're trying to celebrate your sister's birthday."
Stephen puts Michael back on the ground and Logan calls everyone's attention to the perfume, which is almost free from it's plastic prison. Mike finishes cutting, grabs the warped plastic.....and burns his fingers on it.
Natalie spritzes some of the perfume on her wrist to test it out, sniffs it, and smiles. "Ooooh," she says. "I like it!" Mama Shimp grabs her hand to smell it, too. Brandon meanders over and suddenly snaps his head back in alarm. "Oh, I don't like that," he says firmly.
"Wait, you don't?!" Mama Shimp sniffs again. "Oh no. If a boy doesn't like it....smells are just so hard, you know?" Another whiff. "Do you - Stephen, come smell this. Do you like it?"
Stephen smells Natalie's wrist. "Yeah, I like that," he says.
"No. Oh, no." Mama Shimp is not happy with that response. "This is $35 perfume, if boys just like it, that's not good."
"Mom, it's fine, I like it. That's a good smell," Stephen reassures her.
"Okay but, if you were dating a girl, and she wore that perfume, would you like, think it was okay, or would you want to marry her? Just so you could smell it all the time?"
Stephen looks confused; Natalie looks amused. "Is that what we're going for here?"
Mama Shimp grabs her wrist and smells it again. "We can return it," she decides. "Unless you love it?"
"It's a little mature," Natalie admits. "We can go pick out another one."
Stephen, Michael, and Logan apparently got bored during this crisis, and are now wrestling in the living room. Michael gets a dead leg and rams his head angrily into a chair in response.
Mama Shimp cuts the cheesecake and starts serving it up. Michael and Logan run over and each grab a slice. Brandon isn't ready for dessert yet, so he goes into the living room and tries to flop down on the couch. He somehow ends up rolling around on the ground in pain. We look over at him in confusion. "Dude, I just like....knocked the wind out of myself," he moans, grabbing at his stomach. "Ahhh, man."
The cheesecake is the most beautiful dessert any of us has ever seen. It's all chocolate and peanut butter and Oreo cookies and chocolate chip and heaven all whipped up into a perfectly-layered work of art. Stephen and I share a slice and barely finish half of it.
"Hey stop!" Brandon suddenly says. "Everyone listen."
*Fart*
We all regret stopping to listen.
The birthday comes to an abrupt end when the boys all finish their 3 bites of cheesecake and leave their plates to kill each other again.
"I hate when they get like this," Mama Shimp laments. Then grabs my phone and tries to take a video.
We suddenly realize that the candles on the Cheesecake Factory cheesecake were never lit. Crisis! This birthday is ruined! Mike flicks the lighter about 50 times; it finally lights and the birthday is saved! All 18 candles are lit and Natalie poses for a string of pictures. By the time she poses for the "I'm blowing out my candles" pictures, the candles have all but melted.
Natalie pulls out a card and starts reading the sweet message inside. Stephen grabs a Sharpie and puts a dot on Michael's neck. Michael flails his arms in protest.
".....Love, Stephanie, Craig, Heather, and Stephen," Natalie finishes.
I frown. "That's not my card," I say. I wrote an actual note to her in a different card.
Natalie laughs: "I know how these cards work," she says. "If you're not here, your name gets signed anyway." She reaches for another card and starts to read that one. Michael and Logan start to pluck the candle stubs out of the cake, one by one, and lick the frosting off of them. It's a race to see who can collect more candles. When they're done, they each choose a candle and poke it back in the frosting for more.
All the cards have been read. Natalie opens the present from Stephen and I first, which makes me feel very honored :) Mama Shimp records me explaining why we got Poo-pourri for the birthday girl.
Natalie starts to open her second present and Michael and Logan poke their heads under her arms. The tissue paper ruffles and then quiets down as Natalie pushes her brothers away. "Okay, stop touching me. Stooooop. Touching me." The boys back off. Stephen follows them sneakily with a Sharpie and starts pretending to write on their necks.
The second present is some beautiful black heels. "I fell in love with these!" Mama Shimp tells her, grabbing one. "And the lady behind me in line loved them too."
"I love these!!" Natalie exclaims. I love them too, in my head.
"But then I realized, you already have like 3 pairs of black heels," Mama Shimp continues.
"That's true, I do have a lot of black heels...."
"So maybe I'll just keep these for me." Pause. "And we can go pick out some different ones for you tomorrow?" Natalie agrees. She already has some shoes in mind that she wants.
Natalie opens a third gift: Vera Wang "Princess" perfume. "Okay now....we kind of have a problem with this, because I got it at Kohl's, and they forgot to take it out of the box. So, Dad's going to have to break into it." Mama Shimp is laughing as she says this, but she's serious. Mike takes the box over to the island and starts sawing at the box with a knife.
Somehow in the midst of this, Michael has ended up on Stephen's shoulder. Brandon is following him around with the lighter.
"No please! Plea-he-he-he-hease!!" Michael cries earnestly.
"Dude, relax," Stephen says comfortingly. Brandon flicks the lighter behind Michael's ear.
"Oh, shoot!" Brandon laughs, pretending that he lit Michael's hair on fire. "No, seriously, dude, hold still." Michael squirms spastically, pummeling Stephen's back with his tiny fists.
"Oh, that's really nice," Mama Shimp says with a disapproving look. "You guys, stop it. We're trying to celebrate your sister's birthday."
Stephen puts Michael back on the ground and Logan calls everyone's attention to the perfume, which is almost free from it's plastic prison. Mike finishes cutting, grabs the warped plastic.....and burns his fingers on it.
Natalie spritzes some of the perfume on her wrist to test it out, sniffs it, and smiles. "Ooooh," she says. "I like it!" Mama Shimp grabs her hand to smell it, too. Brandon meanders over and suddenly snaps his head back in alarm. "Oh, I don't like that," he says firmly.
"Wait, you don't?!" Mama Shimp sniffs again. "Oh no. If a boy doesn't like it....smells are just so hard, you know?" Another whiff. "Do you - Stephen, come smell this. Do you like it?"
Stephen smells Natalie's wrist. "Yeah, I like that," he says.
"No. Oh, no." Mama Shimp is not happy with that response. "This is $35 perfume, if boys just like it, that's not good."
"Mom, it's fine, I like it. That's a good smell," Stephen reassures her.
"Okay but, if you were dating a girl, and she wore that perfume, would you like, think it was okay, or would you want to marry her? Just so you could smell it all the time?"
Stephen looks confused; Natalie looks amused. "Is that what we're going for here?"
Mama Shimp grabs her wrist and smells it again. "We can return it," she decides. "Unless you love it?"
"It's a little mature," Natalie admits. "We can go pick out another one."
Stephen, Michael, and Logan apparently got bored during this crisis, and are now wrestling in the living room. Michael gets a dead leg and rams his head angrily into a chair in response.
Mama Shimp cuts the cheesecake and starts serving it up. Michael and Logan run over and each grab a slice. Brandon isn't ready for dessert yet, so he goes into the living room and tries to flop down on the couch. He somehow ends up rolling around on the ground in pain. We look over at him in confusion. "Dude, I just like....knocked the wind out of myself," he moans, grabbing at his stomach. "Ahhh, man."
The cheesecake is the most beautiful dessert any of us has ever seen. It's all chocolate and peanut butter and Oreo cookies and chocolate chip and heaven all whipped up into a perfectly-layered work of art. Stephen and I share a slice and barely finish half of it.
"Hey stop!" Brandon suddenly says. "Everyone listen."
*Fart*
We all regret stopping to listen.
The birthday comes to an abrupt end when the boys all finish their 3 bites of cheesecake and leave their plates to kill each other again.
"I hate when they get like this," Mama Shimp laments. Then grabs my phone and tries to take a video.
Monday, August 31, 2015
My Hair-Did
I have a message, for everyone who has ever felt picked on because of their hairs.
Your hairs do not define you! You are more than just your hairs! They are a part of you, but they don't tell the whole story! As important as they are, they aren't everything. Just ask anyone who's ever gotten chopped on ANTM - hairs are important, but you can werk without your normal style. #blackhairsmatter....and so do #blondehairs and #brownhairs and #redhairs. Furthermore, I want to encourage everyone to style their truth! Baby let your hair down! Drop it down low or pick it up real slow! It's your hairs, so do whatever you want with it! I support you.
Once upon a time, I.
I.
Ihadsomehairhaters.
Okay this is still a little hard to talk about, but I think that there are people out there who will benefit from hearing my story, so I'm going to tell it!
I tried a new hairstyle, one that I had seen on Pinterest. It's called the Bubble Ponytail. I carefully teased, tugged, and tied until I had reached the look I was going for. However, I wasn't 100% confident in this trail I was blazing, so I went about gathering some opinions. Stephen said it looked cool, and his aunt said it was fun, but just to be sure, I txtd some important people in my life. And in my txt I included a picture, which is lucky for my visual learners in the audience:
Hmmmm. Not exactly the enthusiastic response I was hoping for....but maybe balloons are a good thing? I sent out a few more txts and figured I would just let the majority rule on this very important issue.
Nicole responded first:
 |
| What the! Okay, this was much more hurtful than I had anticipated! |
 |
| I smiled as I sent this last txt. Surely my sister would feel my passion for fashion through the phone, and catch my vision, and jump on board. |
 |
| ......Nope, I guess I was wrong. |
So that was definitely not the response I was hoping for, but in the midst of that, I got some kind words of encouragement from my friend who has a fashion blog, and I was pretty sure that a fashion blogger's opinion should count as 2 points at least, so now I had gotten 3 positive responses, 4 if you want to count the fashion blogger as 2, and 2 negatives.
Unfortunately, Jacob was the next person to respond:
 |
| Sorry for the obvious photoshopping, but I am not trying to give out my little brother's number to all the ladies who undoubtedly would have snatched it up and tried to txt him after seeing this charming exchange.... |
And then Julie responded after him:
I was feeling very smfimphim. <--Do you know what feels like? Like nobody understands you. Like you're all alone in a sea of people. Like there's nobody out there who shares, or even comprehends your dream! (Can I get an amen!!)
But then I thought about Stephen's response - that "Yeah, it looks cool. I like it."
And his aunt's verdict, that it was fun and creative.
And Caitlin's heart-eye emoji, and her comment that it was fun that I was experimenting and doing something cooler than just a plain ponytail.
And the lady at the Dolla Store last year when I was running errands, who gasped and said "Youuuu, have the most beauuuutiful hair!"
And the Portlandian girl who told her mom that she liked my hairs, when we were at Beacon Rock State Park.
And all these loving supporters buoyed me right back up, and helped me channel my inner Blake Lively a la Met Gala, and I went out into the world bright-eyed and bubble-ponytailed, and I loved every second of that journey.
So my message to you is, try something new with your hairs! You are bea-u-ti-FUL! Even if there's someone out there who thinks your hair-did is a hair-dud, you can be sure there's someone right here, who wrote this blog, who thinks it's a hair-(please)-do(-over-and-over-again), and I'm cheering you on! And if you're standing in front of your mirror in doubt about your hairs, know this: if you were Bruno Mars' girlfriend, I'm sure he would write a song for your hairs, and he would mean every perfect lyric, and all the girls all around the world would swoon e'er time it came on the radio, and wish that they were you.
You do you, hair experimenters. You're the movers and shakers, and Portlandians and fashion bloggers and Bruno Marses everywhere are rooting for you.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Random Summer Happenings
So I am one of those people who LOVES year-round school. I also blab about how great it is, to anyone who asks. It is one of my favorite things about my job.
Except in July. July is the part where everyone else is halfway through their summer and halfway through their tan, and I am just starting my summer while also about to end my summer. In my school, teachers get 2 weeks off, then go back to school to set up our classrooms and sit in meetings. Kids come back after the third week.
(Secretly I still kind of like this, because I don't feel like I need a huge long summer if it means fewer breaks throughout the year. But I like it in kind of a hateful way. Like I like it, but I hate it. It's a love-hate kind of a feeling.)
Anywho, here are some random pictures of things I squeezed into my summer:
1. Shimp family reunion! We stayed at the Westgate Hotel in Park City, which was really fun in and of itself, and also put us close to Olympic Park. Our first room was about the size of my living room. (I'm not kidding.) There was one pull-out couch bed, one king-size bed in a private part of the room behind some pocket doors, and a shower that we couldn't figure out how to operate.
Being in such close quarters for 10 minutes made everyone go a litttttle bit crazy. Brandon trapped Logan in the sauna shower. Logan started screaming that he couldn't breathe. Stephen mooned his brothers. Michael commented that at least the view wasn't bad and we all got confused because the window looked out on some cement stairs. Mama Shimp sent us out to the car to bring everything in, and texted us to not forget the marshmallow sticks so we could roast marshmallows.
When we had cleared out the car and brought everything into the eensy-weensy room, the Shimp parents went downstairs to get a different room and Stephen and I took the kids to the pool. We came back just in time to help move everything to the other room, which was on another floor and in another section of the hotel. This room was awesome!! It had some quirks, but at least we were all able to recover our sanity in here.
The main quirk was the bathroom. It was a huge bathroom, with a double vanity, sauna shower, jacuzzi tub, and obviously a toilet.....and a window looking in on the bathroom from the master suite. When I say window, I don't mean a dinky little thing with frosted glass. I'm talking about a 5'x5' hole in the wall that you could climb through and you'd wind up in the tub. From window to wall, the bathroom was set up like this: tub, shower, toilet. So the toilet tried to hide, but when you took a seat, you'd be staring into the mirror over the double vanity. And whatever that mirror showed also conveniently reflected off the mirror next to the tub, so no one got too much privacy during this trip.
*Pictures soon to come of this anomaly of a bathroom.*
One time, someone - who will remain anonymous - fearlessly tried to take a dump in these conditions. Then some cousins came to visit.
"Wow, it's really nice in here!" they said.
"Look at all this space!" they exclaimed.
"You guys got a cool room!" they said.
"Oh yeah, except the bathroom has a window in it," Logan said. "You guys have got to see this." And he led them back to the bathroom.
Locked. So he led them into the master bedroom to show them the window.
"What??" they said.
"Why would anyone put this here?" they wondered.
"Oh, hi Stephen," they said. And continued to stand there marveling at the bathroom with a window in it.
While we were there, we roasted marshmallows, swam, played ping-pong, went to Olympic Park, had a baby shower for Stephen's aunt who is our age, and went to lots of things for Stephen's cousin's wedding.
I guess the only person who didn't have fun was Logitos, when he didn't catch the garter and he had to get under some coattails.
#5. Stephen's birthday! I already blogged about the most interesting part of that, but I also want to share a few pictures here.
#6. We erm......broke our scale.
#7. Mob. We love Moab because, well, because it is Moab, and also because it was where we took our first mini-vacation together! This time, we went with Stephen's family. We found a cool little lake that I'm assuming was man-made, rented some paddle-boards, hiked to the Delicate Arch, and did a few other mini-hikes.
#8. Lady A and Hunter Hayes!!! (And Sam Smith but no one really cared about him. #rude? Maybe, sorry.) Caitlin won tickets to all the shows this summer, and even though Stephen meanly rejected her Toby Keith tickets, since he hates country, she was still nice enough to take me to Lady Antebellum. We fangirled it up and I'm now even more obsessed with Hunter Hayes than I was when Stephen picked his song for our first dance.
#9. Babay shower! So many baby showers. So many, guys. I guess it's just the phase of life I'm in. I love it because baby clothes are fun to buy, especially baby shoes. Ahhhh I die every time!! Anyway, the only one I got a picture at was Christine's.
And now I'm in Week #2 of my first 3-week break of the school year. We just got back from galavanting around the West coast, and I'm working on those blogs now too. Howwwww was everyone else's summer!?
Except in July. July is the part where everyone else is halfway through their summer and halfway through their tan, and I am just starting my summer while also about to end my summer. In my school, teachers get 2 weeks off, then go back to school to set up our classrooms and sit in meetings. Kids come back after the third week.
(Secretly I still kind of like this, because I don't feel like I need a huge long summer if it means fewer breaks throughout the year. But I like it in kind of a hateful way. Like I like it, but I hate it. It's a love-hate kind of a feeling.)
Anywho, here are some random pictures of things I squeezed into my summer:
1. Shimp family reunion! We stayed at the Westgate Hotel in Park City, which was really fun in and of itself, and also put us close to Olympic Park. Our first room was about the size of my living room. (I'm not kidding.) There was one pull-out couch bed, one king-size bed in a private part of the room behind some pocket doors, and a shower that we couldn't figure out how to operate.
Being in such close quarters for 10 minutes made everyone go a litttttle bit crazy. Brandon trapped Logan in the sauna shower. Logan started screaming that he couldn't breathe. Stephen mooned his brothers. Michael commented that at least the view wasn't bad and we all got confused because the window looked out on some cement stairs. Mama Shimp sent us out to the car to bring everything in, and texted us to not forget the marshmallow sticks so we could roast marshmallows.
When we had cleared out the car and brought everything into the eensy-weensy room, the Shimp parents went downstairs to get a different room and Stephen and I took the kids to the pool. We came back just in time to help move everything to the other room, which was on another floor and in another section of the hotel. This room was awesome!! It had some quirks, but at least we were all able to recover our sanity in here.
The main quirk was the bathroom. It was a huge bathroom, with a double vanity, sauna shower, jacuzzi tub, and obviously a toilet.....and a window looking in on the bathroom from the master suite. When I say window, I don't mean a dinky little thing with frosted glass. I'm talking about a 5'x5' hole in the wall that you could climb through and you'd wind up in the tub. From window to wall, the bathroom was set up like this: tub, shower, toilet. So the toilet tried to hide, but when you took a seat, you'd be staring into the mirror over the double vanity. And whatever that mirror showed also conveniently reflected off the mirror next to the tub, so no one got too much privacy during this trip.
*Pictures soon to come of this anomaly of a bathroom.*
One time, someone - who will remain anonymous - fearlessly tried to take a dump in these conditions. Then some cousins came to visit.
"Wow, it's really nice in here!" they said.
"Look at all this space!" they exclaimed.
"You guys got a cool room!" they said.
"Oh yeah, except the bathroom has a window in it," Logan said. "You guys have got to see this." And he led them back to the bathroom.
Locked. So he led them into the master bedroom to show them the window.
"What??" they said.
"Why would anyone put this here?" they wondered.
"Oh, hi Stephen," they said. And continued to stand there marveling at the bathroom with a window in it.
While we were there, we roasted marshmallows, swam, played ping-pong, went to Olympic Park, had a baby shower for Stephen's aunt who is our age, and went to lots of things for Stephen's cousin's wedding.
 |
| We went on the drop tower at Olympic Park in Park City! |
My other favorite part about staying in this room was the sleeping arrangement. Stephanie and Craig got back from a different vacation just in time to spend a night in the hotel, and Natalie got back from a student council retreat on the same night, which meant that 3 more people had to fit in. It was quite an adventure trying to find spots for everyone!
In the end, the parents and Natalie slept in the bed, Stephanie and Craig slept on the worst couch-bed I have ever felt, Stephen and I slept on our sides squished on the couch, and Logan and Michael made beds out of pillows and blankets and slept on the floor. Brandon started out on the padded bench at the kitchen table, but that got old after about 5 minutes, so he came in and started gathering up bits and pieces of Logan and Michael's beds to make one for himself. Obviously that didn't go down too well. At first, Stephen and I didn't have a pillow, and Logan was highly frustrated when Stephen tried to take one of his five, but eventually it all worked out.
Until someone farted and Logan almost had a meltdown, but then things got quiet again!
Until Brandon started to feel like "dude I'm seriously either about to throw up or poop for like 5 minutes straight dude, I'm not even kidding," and Logan just about lost his Shimp telling him to be quiet.
Okay and then things were pretty much quiet until poor Brandon got uncomfortable again.....and you guys, I don't even know what happened, I'm pretty sure he just ended up sleeping on the floor with no blankets or pillows or anything.
Through all of this, I could not stop laughing! And Stephen didn't help because I was trying to be considerate by laughing silently into his shoulder (which was jammed in my face anyway because remember we were both trying to sleep on a skinny little couch), but every time I started to calm down, he would start shaking like he was laughing, just to get me to laugh again. It just reminded me so much of that scene in Snow White, where all the dwarves give her their beds, and then they have to find a place to sleep, so they all go in cupboards and tea cups and fireplaces.
#2. Jackie's wedding. Stephen's cousin Jackie got married at the end of the Shimp family reunion, so a lot of our activities revolved around that. She and Aaron got married in the Bountiful temple, which I had never been to before, but it was beautiful!
The wedding reception was a lot of fun. It was at my new favorite venue, the Bungalow. The food was good, Jackie's parents danced the legit tango, there was a photo booth, and I had the cutest dance partner in the whole place.
 |
| We love the Bruners! |
 |
| It is really hard to get a good picture of a photo booth picture. |
I guess the only person who didn't have fun was Logitos, when he didn't catch the garter and he had to get under some coattails.
#3. Studying. Most of our summer was consumed with studying. Stephen was preparing for the DAT, which he's actually not going to take until next spring / summer, and I was preparing for the Praxis, which I didn't think I needed to study for originally but then I got freaked out when I read some stuff online about it the week before my test. So some of our days looked like this:
 |
| PS I just got my scores back and I passed :) |
#4. Lagoon. Remember when I won something with 97.1 ZHT, and I got to jump in a big....pen kind of thing full of lucky charms with 20 other people, and somebody won Taylor Swift tickets and everyone else won something a little less cool but still cool? Well I won Lagoon tickets that day! Stephen and I went with Natalie and Brandon, and it was so much fun.
#5. Stephen's birthday! I already blogged about the most interesting part of that, but I also want to share a few pictures here.
 |
| In our house, errbody gets to wear a crown on their birthday, even the boys. |
 |
| I made him this delicious (kinda yellow) breakfast and was very proud of myself. |
 |
| Remember the candles I got that were a 2 and a 6? I tried to redeem myself here. |
 |
| This "cake" was amazing! It was basically a peanut butter chocolate cheesecake. You can find the recipe here. |
 |
| I literally don't even know how this happened. I just walked in to find it like this. Stephen said he just nudged it and it shattered into a million pieces.....but I mean why?! |
 |
| We were unaffected by the Dad-Bod trend, thankfully. |
 |
| Um, we were pretty excited. |
 |
| Sorry that my phone camera is |
 |
| And there's Hunter Hayes! Stephen said that if he pulled me onstage and kissed me that would be cheating. So I guess that will never happen. |
 |
| Lady A came out into the audience! They were right at the end of our row and it was so great. |
#10. Back to school!
 |
| Here was my first day of school bulletin board! I'm still doing a circus-themed classroom, as you can tell. |
And now I'm in Week #2 of my first 3-week break of the school year. We just got back from galavanting around the West coast, and I'm working on those blogs now too. Howwwww was everyone else's summer!?
Monday, August 10, 2015
2 Years
I've been a Shimp for two years now.
!!!!!
Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday that we got married, and other times it feels like it's been 80 years and we are an old married couple. But e'er day, whether it's good or hard or boring or adventurous, I'm glad I married this super-hunk.
We half-celebrated our anniversary a day early, on Saturday, August 8th. Our anniversary traditions are:
-Write love letters to each other
-Do something we love doing
-Do something we've never done
We wrote love letters on our wedding day, and I love that someday we will have a huge stack of all the letters. Your relationship changes every year and I think it will be cool to look back and see how we loved each other differently at the different phases of our marriage - from our newlywed days to our married with children days to our empty-nester days.
After getting engaged, Stephen took me to La Jolla Groves. It is a fantastic restaurant in the Riverwoods and we have gone back every year! This year and last year, that has been our something we love doing.
For our thing we've never done, we had a few ideas that all fell through. We wanted to go on a ropes course - it closed too early. We wanted to spend a night at the Anniversary Inn - it was booked. We wanted to go to a drive-in theater - and we did! But we took Sabie, and she is a tard car, and when you turn on the car just a little bit so you can listen to the sound of the movie, the lights come on too. Personally, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. They weren't on all the way and I didn't think it would bother anyone. But Stephen was extremely self-conscious about it and refused to have the car on, so we had to hang out our windows listening to the movie through other people's car speakers, and in the end it was just about the worst date we had ever had!
On Sunday, our actual anniversary, we celebrated with a heart-shaped breakfast and love letters.
Then church, and then a walk to Stewart Falls! Back to where it all started, if you want to say it started when we got engaged. Walking hand-in-hand along the beautiful trail, this time with Stephen's family, was a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary. (And it was also one of the best dates we've ever had :)
All my single lady friends.....get married! There is really nothing better. I loved being single, but I love being married more than I ever even imagined I would. There is so much satisfaction and comfort I feel from being in a relationship, one that I know is forever, with a man who is wholly and unconditionally mine.
I can't imagine life without him - I can barely remember a time when I didn't know him, and I love how effortlessly he fits into my future. He is my person, and nothing makes me happier than how securely I feel that :)
We half-celebrated our anniversary a day early, on Saturday, August 8th. Our anniversary traditions are:
-Write love letters to each other
-Do something we love doing
-Do something we've never done
We wrote love letters on our wedding day, and I love that someday we will have a huge stack of all the letters. Your relationship changes every year and I think it will be cool to look back and see how we loved each other differently at the different phases of our marriage - from our newlywed days to our married with children days to our empty-nester days.
After getting engaged, Stephen took me to La Jolla Groves. It is a fantastic restaurant in the Riverwoods and we have gone back every year! This year and last year, that has been our something we love doing.
 |
| 2013, directly post-engagement |
 |
| 2014, after one year of marriage. The lighting is not great in La Jolla Groves, but everything else is! |
 |
| 2015, after two years! There was a wedding going on this time, so they put us in a different room than we've been in the past two years. It wasn't as cool of a room, but the food, especially the salmon, was just as delicious as ever. |
On Sunday, our actual anniversary, we celebrated with a heart-shaped breakfast and love letters.
Then church, and then a walk to Stewart Falls! Back to where it all started, if you want to say it started when we got engaged. Walking hand-in-hand along the beautiful trail, this time with Stephen's family, was a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary. (And it was also one of the best dates we've ever had :)
All my single lady friends.....get married! There is really nothing better. I loved being single, but I love being married more than I ever even imagined I would. There is so much satisfaction and comfort I feel from being in a relationship, one that I know is forever, with a man who is wholly and unconditionally mine.
I can't imagine life without him - I can barely remember a time when I didn't know him, and I love how effortlessly he fits into my future. He is my person, and nothing makes me happier than how securely I feel that :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)