Thanksgiving in California!

Here are some pictures of our trip to Sand Diego to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. We drove down there, stopped and ran around Burger King in St. George, went to the beach, and Lexie and Daddy went to Legoland with Grandpa. Lots of FUN!

'Firelight' kicks 'Twilight's trash!!!

I've watched this like 10 times now and it just gets funnier and funnier... How is it that I can enjoy a parody of a movie about twenty millions times more than the movie itself? First off, the running gag of accidental strangulation is genius. "I do believe I'm going to strangle someone... by accident." HA!! And mad props to Taylor Swift for not only delivering a superior Bella, but for making fun of Kristen Stewart's annoying habit of biting her lips at the same time.

First day of School!

Yes, I'm aware that it's Oct. 21st. And school started Sept 8th. What can I say, I'm just that lame...

Anyway, here are the cute photo's of Lexie's first day of school. A couple points:

• I really wanted her to have cute hair for at least ONE day of school. So used the curling iron to flip it up. Cute, right? Well, after I was pretty much all done, just doing the 'finishing touches', Lexie turned her head at the wrong moment and burned her cheek. THAT is that fun red mark you'll see in the pictures. So, end result: Cute hair, big obnoxious welt.
• Don't you love how Lexie's backpack is bigger than she is?
• Yes, I'm barefoot getting her on the bus. Now that it's colder, I'm usually in just my socks. I guess when it starts to snow I'll have to put shoes on to send her off to school.
• I thought we should get up some of the last pics taken of Seth before we cut his hair. Sigh... I had such high hopes for that long hair, but it never turned out. Love his new buzzed look now, though. I'll post some of those pics when we, uh, find our camera.

Lexie and Wayne's 15 minutes of FAME...

... okay, so maybe it was more like 15 seconds. If we're generous.

One of the parent's at Lexie's school nominated their teacher's for KSL's High 5, which honors people in the community. They really deserved it; the teacher's at Utah School for the Deaf South have made an amazing inpact on our lives. Before Lexie started school last year, she was literally NOT talking. And now I can actually communicate, even on a limited basis, with my child. I can't even imagine where she'll be once she's through the system. There's very little footage of Wayne and Lex (he said she was camera shy. Go figure), but it's still a great story:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Why I Suck At Blogging (because I really do)

1. I'm Horrible at taking pictures
I never bring a camera with me. Anywhere. I know that I should, but so often I find myself at some sort of Kodak Moment when suddenly it occurs to me that a responsible, loving mother would have had the foresight to bring with them the means to capture that perfect moment for posterity. And then, of course, if I do somehow manage to have a moment of mental clarity and pop the camera into my purse before we leave the house, I always forget to bring it out. Not to mention that all we have is a little point-and-shoot, which is cute and convenient, but not exactly the tool for super-awesome-and-beautifully-artistic shots. And a blog post without pictures seems to assume that others just love to hear me talk, and I guess I'm just not self-confident enough for that.

2. We never do anything interesting
It's true. The Tomlinson Family lead very boring and uneventful lives. Not to say that we don't do anything, not at all. We're all extremely busy. Unfortunately, we're just always busy with such mundance activities, the mere thought of writing it down puts me to sleep. Auditory/verbal therapy is not exactly reality-show worthy entertainment.

3. I'm too objective about my children
I'm a totally crappy mom. A good mom would look at their children as if their every dirty diaper was some sort of miracle only a genius child could conjure up, and feel the need to share that miraculous event with the world. The everyday things my kid do are cute, and I love it, but I'm their mom. I'm genetically required to find them amusing. I guess I just figure my friends and out-of-town relatives are not. I mean, it was cute when Seth did a little rendition of flash-dance in milk on the kitchen table, but I'm not exactly surprised that the story didn't get picked up by the Times. Of course, I realize there's some error in my logic, because I actually really enjoy hearing about those everyday, cute moments that other people blog about. Huh.

This is what happens to the brain when you deprive it of sleep...

So, I was doing the dishes today, and my mind started to wander...

God, being God, knows everything, and has, from the beginning, known the entire history of man and everything that would come. Right?

So, as the Earth was being created, God could look forward and see a time with reality contest shows, Twitter, and Jon and Kate Plus 8.

What a flippin' trip that must have been.

Bad MommyAward or How To Start The Summer Off... Wrong

Poor Lexie, she's born deaf AND she's got the worst mother ever. Kid never gets a break, eh?
Lexie's bad mommy let her play outside all day on Saturday without sunscreen. Then, when she started acting like she didn't feel well Saturday night, her mommy assumed it was from the sunburn that she had inevitably developed. When she got a fever Sunday evening, her horrible mommy still blamed the sun. By Tuesday afternoon her mommy grew a brain and took her to the doctor. Poor thing has Strep Throat.

Yes, I'll be accepting that trophy now. Thank you.

Just Like Mommy

At a Redbox Near You...

Everyone needs to go rent this movie. It's a little weird and artsy, which for me is a VERY good thing, but not so much for everyone, but still, it's just a total winner. It was both the funniest and most touching movie we'd seen in a long time. Plus, it's a totally cool, creative movie that's rated PG-13 and actually appropriate! That's so rare.

Go rent it today. Or tomorrow. But preferably today.

Seriously, go now. Enjoy!

Camping Trip from Hell

I do not like camping. I know this may alienate me from a large majority of the human race, but you know what, I don't care. I just don't see the point in spending an entire day packing up all my belongings from their comfortable and logical resting places within my house, driving up into the mountains to sit around in the dirt being cold and doing things that would be more fun and a heck of a lot easier if done at home, just to drive back and spend another entire day cleaning my belongings and putting them back in their rightful place. It just seems illogical to me. But apparently not to most people, and not to Wayne. He gave me the puppy-dog eyes, and for some unknown reason I decided to let that effect me and agreed to go camping over Friday night. Of course, I never promised to be happy about it. In fact, I was an unapologetic brat the entire time.

Look at that scowl! What a wench... Too bad Wayne didn't marry one of those hearty Utah gals and wound up with a prissy little city-girl like me. But the kids had fun, at first:

Here they are playing in the dirt with Tiger. I hate letting my kids get dirty (like, literal 'dirt' dirty. Food, markers, that's all good...), so this was torture for me.

UGH! Look at the dirt on his mouth! What sort of mother lets this happen?! Well, at least he's smiling, which is more than he was doing later. This little guy was the reason the trip ending up being "from hell". He just would not sleep. Seth's not usually a baby who needs complete silence to sleep, but apparently the noise of the great outdoors was just too much for him. Between cars driving by, the wind, the loud people camping near us singing Pink off-key and using the f-word with great abundance, the little dude just couldn't get his zzzz's. He was totally freaked out and just cried and cried and cried. Finally at 1am, Wayne threw in the towel and we drove the hour and a half home. It was miserable.

But at least I won't be forced to go camping again for a while...

Lexie is 4!

Lexie turned 4 on the 2nd. For months I had it in the back of my mind that I was going to do some sort of girly party for Lex, but then I completely forgot that the date was even coming up until Wayne mentioned it a week before. So we ended up taking Lexie up to South Towne mall to the carousel and then to Chick-fil-a for dinner and to play in their play area. It was supposed to just be something semi-fun to do for the day, but Lexie LOVED it, so we decided that was enough b-day for her. Unforunately, she was having SO much fun, I couldn't get her to stay still enough for a good picture, so this is all we've got. We did get a bunch of cute ones of Seth, though.

Quicky Updates

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. Here's what we've/I've been up to:

*Lexie turned 4! Go Lexie! We were going to do a party, but I'm a bad mom and I plum forgot her b-day was coming up until the week before. So instead we went up to the Carousel at South Towne Mall and then to Chic-fil-a and let her climb around in the play area there. It was extremely cheap and she loved every minute of it.

*Seth can walk now! It's weird, he's so little, at least compared to Lexie when she finally walked at 22 months. He's also extremely tall and reach things on the kitchen table and climb onto the couch. So basically, he's unstoppable.

*I finally read Twilight. Eh. I guess I'm just not a 17-year-old girl anymore. But some things were interesting, and once I got past over-indulgent descriptions of Edward's hotness (seriously, if I read the words 'Greek God' or 'Adonis' one more time, I was going to start taking hostages) I found him to be somewhat original and intriguing. I'm just starting the second book, and so far it's better than the first. People do improve, after all.

*Finally saw Twilight the movie. Yeck! The acting was atrocious. Both main characters totally missed the point, especially Edward, neither had a clear understanding of the lines, transition points were missed left and right... basically, it was just bad. Oh well. I usually like that little actress that plays Bella, so I was a bit disappointed.

*Primary got all shifted around. Our President's mean mean husband had to go be all righteous and get called into the Bishopric, so our presidency was released. There were a lot of tears and gnashing of teeth, mostly on my part. But then I got called back in! Now I'm the 1s Councilor, and I'll be honest, it's WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY less work than being the Secretary. I love it! Sorry, Julien. So, as horribly sad as it is that my old presidency friends are no longer in Primary, I'm loving that I still get to sing songs and play games on Sundays. And now I get to do Sharing Time, which is totally fun. But I also have to conduct, which I'm learning is not so much fun. I still feel like an awkward circus monkey up there. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon.

*X-Men Origins: Wolverine finally came out! Woot Woot! It was... okay. Truth be told, I'd pay $8 and tax to watch Hugh Jackman stand in front of a wall reciting the phone book for 2 hours, so no matter what, it wasn't bad. It just wasn't that good. And if I wanted to get all fangirl on ya, I could nitpick the horrible inaccuracies of Gambit for a while, but I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I'm just glad he was in the movie at all. Overall, it was a fun popcorn movie, and nothing more. Lots of things went boom, lots of people were killed in a bloodlessly PG-13 manner, so, you know, I was satisfied.

*I just finished taking an AWESOME 6-week acting class from Michael Flynn, and now I'm all pumped to go to auditions. Unfortunately, it's still crickets in that department because SAG is still negotiating and studios aren't greenlighting anything. But the word on the street is that things should be picking up by summer. Fingers crossed!

*We've somewhat stopped Lexie's horrible, no-food-allowed diet. Long story short, after a horrible, awful, no-good day at the doctor's, we fasted and prayed about it and felt a confirmation that this particular doctor was not the path that we should take. We now have a different recommendation that I need to follow up on. Until then, Lexie can eat food again, but we're still keeping her off all major sugar sources, yeast, and glutin, seeing as the next doctor will most likely keep her off these as well. The no-sugar thing has actually been great, once she got used to it. Other foods have become 'treats', and she's developed a taste for vegetables again. I feel like a better mommy now, so even if these crazy diets don't do anything to help with her behavior and/or learning, I think I may stick with the general 'no-sugary foods' rule.

That's all for now, I'll try to keep up better. I have a bunch of cute photos to post, but they're all sideways, and I don't know how to fix them, so once I get Wayne on that, they'll be up!

Ain't No Sunshine...

I have had this in my head since Wednesday, so I had to post it here, mostly so I could have easy access to listen to it over and over and over and over... Kris Allen on American Idol is fast becoming my favorite, and for some reason he keeps picking some of my favorite songs and doing awesome arrangements of them. I LOVE this song, it really is one my classic favs, and this version is BEYOND sick. I bought the studio version on itunes, but his live performance was the best. I've watched it like a hundred times and I still get goosebumps.

EDIT: So, aparently any youtube versions of his live performance eventually get kicked off the site, so I just got the live audio on my playlist. To listen to it, just pick the very last song.

Proud Mommy moment!

Last friday was the AG Bell Speech Fair at Lexie's school. It was basically like a recital for all the speaking Deaf kids in the area, from Lexie's age up to Highschool. It was really fun to get to see the kids progress as they got older, and it was really amazing to see how talented a lot of the older kids were. Everyone was speaking, and there were a TON of musical performances. It's great to see other kids who started out where Lexie is doing so many things involving sound. Lexie's preschool theme this year is T.E.A.M (Together Everyone Achieves More), so they did a sport's theme for the fair. Her class did a cheer, which was "2,4,6,8, who do we appreciate? Mom, Dad, They are Great! Yay!" It was totally cute, and Lexie actually said her parts! Her teacher Lori Ruth (who is just the best teacher on the whole planet) warned me that a lot of kids clam up on stage, and Lexie definately gets stage fright when I try to get her to show people what she can say, but not on that night! That was sort of amazing considering there were like 100 people in the audience. And the best part was, I got it on camera! The kids in her class on the video, from left to right, are Seth, Lexie, Leah (Lexie's best friend at school), and Benson. They are the cutest little things. Lexie is the second youngest in her class, and Benson (the youngest) started out the year already talking some, so you'll notice the other kids are a little more advanced in their talking than she is. Her teacher, Lori, is holding the microphone, and Nichole, the teacher's aide, is in the back. So enjoy, our little Lexie ACTUALLY TALKING!! Woot woot!

I wish it was just Salt Water Taffy!

As many have heard, Lexie received the results of her allergy testing and it is not good news. She is allergic to everything. We are starting on Monday to no longer give her the foods she loves. We need some ideas on what to feed her. Check our her allergies and see what you can come up with? There is now a link on the left hand side...

Dolphin Bubbles

I saw this video and was thoroughly impressed by these dolphins who blow rings of bubbles from their blow holes under water. Crazy!

http://news.aol.com/article/dolphin-bubble-rings/386019

"NO!" and Holland

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

byEmily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

I read this story before I ever had kids. My mom is a special ed teacher and had shared this story with me because she thought it was so beautifully written. When I first heard it, I agreed with her. Then, years later, we had a daughter and even later we learned she was deaf. The whole process of having her diagnosed was like a strange episode of the Twilight Zone, and to be honest, I can't exactly remember everything. I think it's called post-traumatic stress syndrome or something, I don't know.

But I do know when she was diagnosed, we were given a booklet on having a disabled child and where to turn for services. I'm sure it had a very nice title, but I just remember calling it the "You Have A Disabled Kid 101" binder. I hated that binder. And in the very front of that binder was the Welcome to Holland story. I can recall clearly opening the front cover and seeing that horrible, stupid, enter-an-expletive-here story and suddenly hating it. Because it was painfully accurate. I was in Holland. And at that point, I was pissed. I hated the stupid piece of paper that seemed to be mocking me, knowing how I felt without knowing me, and telling me that at some point I was going to be ok with what was happening.

Now, I can look back at this story, and I love. It is perfectly written. It's exactly how I feel. Yes, it still hurts that I didn't get my perfect, "normal" little girl like everyone else got. I still get bitter pangs of jealousy when my friends recount the funny things their children say, when my child is barely putting two words together after years of hard work on my part. But I'm starting to see a lot of good things, too.

Lexie has started saying "no". I know that's a normal 'first word', and most people wouldn't be that excited about it, but every time she says "no", I love it!! It's not just a label, she's not just repeating back a phrase she's been taught like a trained animal. When she says "no", she's actually expressing a feeling, telling me a desire. When I ask her if she wants something and she says "no", it's an actual conversation!!! That's the biggest thing; I can't tell you how many times I've cried over not being about to have a two-way conversation with my child. I know that her "no" is just the beginning of this. The first time I heard her say "no", I almost cried, except we were in Lexie's classroom with her teacher and that would have been embarrassing.

I guess I just wanted to share this amazing story. For anyone who has ever wondered what it's like to have this experience, that's it. It's nice for me to be able to look back and see that I'm coming around to living in Holland.

The Photos Time Forgot - Christmas 2008

My dad took pictures of the kids Christmas morning, so I'll have to get those pics from him someday and post them here for posterity's sake. But for now, here is the TOO CUTE picture I took of Sethers with his awesome new Christmas Hat from Aunt Thumbs-Up. I love taking him with it on, it's a total chick magnet. The scene-girls really dig his emo vibe.

The Photos Time Forgot - Snow 2008

Here's just a few pics of Lexie in the show. Note: She does NOT like the snow. She wants to like the snow, but she does NOT like the snow. She can't walk in it, and ends up sitting dejectedly and freezing her tiny butt off.

The Photos Time Forgot - Fall 2008

Here were just some random pictures from the fall that I thought were cute. I have no idea when exactly when they were taken, but I think Seth's around 6 months... I just remember taking pics of Seth's red eyes from not sleeping, some cute thing I did with Lexie's hair (I'm horrible at hair!) and Seth just being cute:

The Photos Time Forgot - Polar Express

In December, Lexie's school went to the Polar Express in Lindon, and I came with her. Here are some cute pictures from our little adventure:
*Lexie loved watching the Movie while waiting for our turn on the train
*She did NOT like Santa. She sat on his lap as stiff as possible and refused to look at him. But she didn't cry!
*She LOVED her Secret Santa present (too bad we don't own a VHS player so she never got to watch it).
*The last picture is of her showing her new present to her best friend from school Leah. The two were just babbling away at each.... who knows what they were trying to say, but it was cute as heck!

Seth Climber

About a week and a half ago, Seth figured out how to climb the stairs! This is sort of amazing to us, because Lexie still had trouble crawling up stairs when she was two. Of course, she had balance issues and only got to practice on stairs when we would visit Grandma, but still... it's weird to have this tiny little thing doing something so dangerous! The first time he did it, we didn't think to grab the camera until he was 3/4 of the way up, but at least we got the end of his climb. Sorry, the picture is grainy because Lexie was already in bed so we couldn't turn on the hall light upstairs or it would wake her up (yes, she's that sensitive to light). Hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway (we do!), and yes, Seth is laughing as he falls. Too cute!

From Seth_Stairs

SUGAR! (Doo doo DooDoo Doo Doo) Oh, honey honey!

This week we started a new diet program for Lexie that may help rid her of some of her autistic-like behaviors. It's something that has helped with several children with similar behaviors to Lexie's, and her doctor is optimistic that it will help her, as well as help clear up some digestion problems that she's had for a long time that I just always figured were no big deal. I know, I'm a bad mommy. Not anymore! But this new diet is hardcore: NO sugar (and she's only allowed a small amount of fruit), no sugar substitutes, no yeast, no white or refined flour or grains, and no cheese. Yup, that's basically it. So, of the things Lexie likes to eat, that leaves... popcorn. Which is basically the only thing she's eaten a normal portion of all week. We're hoping that eventually she'll get hungry enough and submit to eating bland food. By the way, did you know that EVERYTHING has sugar in it?! Yes, everything. Just start looking on ingredients lists. I've been BLOWN away, it's completely nuts, sugar is everywhere! It's taking over the world! And the few things that don't have sugar in them usually have yeast in them. Grrr... it's been a frustrating week. And add in trying to get her to drink Cod Liver Oil AND chew a soft tablet filled with fish oil AND eat all of the applesauce I give her with a crushed up pill and vitamin powder mixed in twice a day... hopefully some good will come of this, because otherwise we're all going to go kookoo bananas... we miss sugar!

I need me some Gris-Gris, STAT!

The early hours of this morning found me once again kneeling before the porcelain alter. What the heck is up with me and stomach bugs lately? This is the fifth time in the past six months that I've been forced to puke my guts out. I'm starting to wonder if our house was built over Indian burial grounds (and for some reason the spirits didn't realize until recently), or I pissed off karma somehow and need to start writing a List, or maybe I accidentally cut off some Voodoo Shaman in traffic or something, because it's seriously starting to get ridiculous at this point.

100 Random things about Me... the Lizzie Version

Alicia did a "100 Random Things About Me" post on her blog, and I was impressed! I don't think there even are 100 things about me, much less 100 I can think of. Let's give it a shot (and maybe we'll get Wayne to try this out as well.)




1. I love wearing hats, but my head is almost always too small for the ones I find in stores, so I never buy them.


2. I hate sandwiches.


3. I love Lemurs!


4. I find it almost physically impossible to wash the dishes without singing. If we have company over, I usually whisper a song as quietly as I can and hope no one notices.


5. I love filing papers. One of my first jobs was at an architect's firm, and I loved filing away huge stacks of blueprints and vellums after the architects were done with them.


6. I'm not a girly girl, but I do hate getting dirty.


7. Ever since I was little, I've hated having parties (or even just people over). I spend the entire time worrying if everything is going alright and if everyone is having fun (therefore I am not).


8. I'm a naturally messy person, but I like having everything clean. The result is that I have to pick up the house. A lot. And it's still usually a mess.


9. I love a good pair of tight jeans.


10. I both love and hate speaking in public. It's sort of a terrifying thrill, like a scary carnival ride.


11. I was going to audition for American Idol this year when they came to SLC, but I got sick and lost my voice the day before. It's ok, though, I wouldn't have won anyway (or come anywhere close).


12. I love cloudy days. Too much blue sky makes me feel uneasy.


13. I'm a sucker for any kind of top with a hood.


14. I'm afraid of vacuum cleaners (probably because when I was little my sister used to chase me with one).


15. Although I only wear one pair of earrings now (if any), at one point I had three pairs and my cartilage pierced on my right ear.


16. I have been a brunette, a blonde, and a redhead. My natural brunette is the winner (Go figure).


17. I'm a closet comic fan. Though I've never let myself actually read them, the characters intrigue me and I occasionally catch up on the plot lines of X-men through wikipedia and fanfiction, and I know far too much about Batman to be considered cool. It's lame. I know.


18. I love to people watch.


19. I find it almost physically impossible to drive a car without singing.


20. I can only wear Vanilla, any other scent gives me horrible headaches.


21. I once had a crush on Donny Osmond's son, Don. He wrote his phone number for me on the whiteboard in my apartment, and my roommates left it on there for weeks just for me with a big note pointing to it saying "Don Osmond's freakin' number! Go Liz!"


22. In Seattle, my bedroom was completely blue, including the ceiling.


23. I love black and white photography of man-made structures (buildings, bridges, streets, etc).


24. My favorite weather is sweatshirt and jeans weather. In other words, the standard two weeks of Utah's fall.


25. I love boots.


26. I love making faces in the mirror with Lexie. She does an awesome mommy impression!


27. I hate talking on the phone, so much I sometimes come close to having a panic attack when I'm forced to do so.


28. My mom has been my best friend since high school (or maybe before).


29. The food on my plate cannot touch. But seriously, who doesn't have a problem with that? I'll tell you who: freaks. You know who you are, people. Don't deny it.


30. I hate dogs, with the exception of one adorable and extremely well behaved pug. If she happens to disappear from her home one night, I'd recommend looking at my house.


31. I love wearing dark colors.


32. After years of being frustrated with skin that won't tan, I've come to love my porcelain complexion. In olden times white legs were considered a sign of nobility. Take that bronze goddesses!


33. I own all 8 seasons of X-Files on DVD (season 9 does NOT count).


34. I hate having to join in on group conversations. It's far more interesting listening to everyone else.


35. I love movie and television trivia.


36. I love to act, and would do a lot more of it if I didn't already have an important full-time job: Mommy.


37. I love to be bundled up when I sleep.


38. Seth's favorite songs that I sing to him are "Landslide", Colbie's
"Capri", and the Jonas Brother's song "Burnin' Up".


39. I love to swim laps.


40. I'm a serious homebody.


41. I love trees.


42. For some reason I currently have a burning desire to learn french.


43. I hate PDA. My own more than others.


44. When I'm really mad, I tend to be a thrower. (Not at people, of course). Or a wall-puncher. Or kicker.


45. My answers to James Lipton's standard 10 questions are: kitten, wiener, Hugo Boss cologne, bodily function humor,"Mother-Freakin A!", rain on the rooftop in the middle of the night or when you first wake up, children shouting indoors, criminal psychologist, sales, "Eh, good enough. Come on in!".


46. I hate slapstick comedy.


47. I have a non-sexual crush on Tina Fey. I think she's awesome beyond words. I want to go to there.


48. I find blondes unattractive. (Then I go and have blonde children. Irony is neat).


49. I always said I would have a daughter named Riley and a son named Fox. My kids are Lexie and Seth. Huh.


50. I cannot be touched anywhere on my body when I'm trying to sleep. A two foot personal bubble is preferable (you can't always get what you want).


51. I met my husband on Valentine's day. We went to see a movie with a bunch of people from his singles ward. My friend convinced Wayne to come along, I convinced Don to come. You know how the story ends.


52. I'm extremely ticklish, to the point that bodily harm is threatened to anyone who would dare even think about tickling me.


53. Although I enjoy living in an LDS-familiar community, I loved being in a ward in "the mission field".


54. The second time I ran into Wayne, it was at a party where he actually used the old "let me show you how to shoot pool" trick. Cliche!


55. I hate country music.

56. My favorite movie is Dead Poets Society

57. I love Thai food, especially Massaman Curry.

58. When I write, I have a tendency to use an excessive amount of run-on sentences.

59. I love shopping for almost anything. Clothes, groceries, anything. I just enjoy the exchange of money for goods and services.

60. My favorite color is probably still blue (although not for decorating).

61. I hate songs that tell a story (Billy Joe was walking down the street. Little Sally was the girl that he would meet. One day they went to the county fair, and Sally wore a red bow in her hair...).

62. I love spearmint gum.

63. I find hugging awkward.

64. I once breached Heathrow Airport's international security (unintentionally, of course) and was detained with my friend for over 2 hours.

65. I've been kissed on top of the Eiffel Tower. By 3 separate people. Unfortunately, they were all friends and it was not in the least bit romantic.

66. I've slept on a park bench in France.

67. I've walked Abby Road (got the picture to prove it).

68. My favorite place in the world is Trafalgar Square in London, which is also my favorite city in the world (Not that I know that many to compare it to...).

69. I desperately want to visit New York City some day. It's pathetic that I haven't done this yet.

70. I'm a notoriously bad parker. And backing-up-er. I have a horrible driving short-game.

71. I hate wearing face makeup.

72. I find it almost physically impossible to pick up the house without singing.

73. I hate eggs. It's a mental thing more than anything, I think.

74. I love a good vinaigrette, and I hate ranch dressing. You Utahns are nuts.

75. I love dancing around for Seth to make him smile. He seems to enjoy my style, which is a mix between nerd-at-a-rave and The Wiggles.

76. I'm claustrophobic, but it's mostly under control. I used to be really bad. I could only fly in a plane if I self-medicated with Dr. Pepper and meditated the entire way. The flight to London was a nightmare.

77. I'm squeamish with "eye" things (poking them, pulling them out, fingers or instruments coming anywhere near them). Somehow I've managed to wear either glasses or contacts since I was 8 years old despite this.

78. I've been told I'm an excellent kisser. : )

79. Jon Stewart helped me lose 40 pounds.

80. I find it offensive when people use the word "retarded" to mean "stupid" or "lame".

81. I'm affectionately (right, guys?) known as the Liberal Hippy of the Tomlinson Family.

*Note: can you tell I'm running low on material at this point?*

82. I love to bodyboard.

83. Although I complain about it all the time, I am actually quite happy to be living in Utah right now. Lexie is getting amazing services (which, if you know anything about the public school system and special ed, is unbelievably lucky) and there are a ton of film opportunities (hopefully even more if the House approves SB 13).

84. Although I'm actually quite happy living in Utah right now, I'd like to move back to Seattle some day.

85. In September I got a Tiffany's Charm from my sister as a bridesmaid's gift, and now I wear it (on a chain) almost all the time. I sleep in it, shower it in, etc. I only ever take it off on the the rare occasion I want to wear a special piece of jewelry to go with an outfit on Sunday.

86. I used to love cats, but lately, the thrill is gone.

87. I hate yard work. That's why God created boys.

88. I find it very relaxing to have a long car ride with just myself. Guess how often that happens.

89. I love Top Chef. But I have to be eating something while I watch.

90. My family has a tradition of making homemade pizza and watching the Academy Awards. I extended the tradition to include the Emmy Awards and the Golden Globes, and at one point the SAG Awards. Generally, I'm the only one who still keeps up the pizza part of the tradition (although my parents did it up right on Sunday. Woot Woot guys!).

91. I have at portfolio of almost $20 Million on the Hollywood Stock Exchange (hsx.com).

92. I eat KitKats one layer at a time.

93. I'm wearing two different colored socks right now (yes, we're getting desperate right now).

94. Wayne works for a Home Security company, we have a security system on our house, and I never arm it (Wayne says that by putting this online I have to change my ways).

95. I love filing taxes and wait anxiously starting January 1st for Wayne's W-2 to come so I can get my tax-return on!

96. My favorite (paying) job was my last one, working in the office at All American Gymnastics in Lindon, first as a secretary and by the end as the Office Manager. I totally miss it.

97. I ate venison once on accident and liked it, until I found out I was eating Bambi's Mama, at which point it became disgusting.

98. I'm an insomniac, and I have to fall asleep with the tv on (if I can fall asleep at all).

99. Wayne frequently talks about a someone he works with named McWayne. I think McWayne is actually Wayne's imaginary friend, and apparently Wayne is not very creative and just added a "Mc" to the front of his name. I imagine he spends hours everyday sitting in his office having meetings with "McWayne" while everyone at Pinnacle wonders why he's sitting behind his desk talking to himself.

100. Although I obviously don't get to do it very often, I love to blog!! It's the perfect excuse to get to write pointlessly and have an audience, albiet a small one. Thanks for letting me blab on occasion!

Wow, I can't believe I actually made it to 100. I'll admit, a lot of them were totally lame, but hey, 100 is a big number.

Auditory Cheesecake

Jason Mraz performed on SNL last saturday, which was, of course, AWESOME. Who doesn't Mlove the Mraz? It's Mimpossible. Anyway, his live performance of I'm Yours was insane, and I would put it on here, but NBC sucks and didn't release it online. But even better was his duet with... Colbie!!! As the title says, it was pure auditory cheesecake (for those who love cheesecake. If you don't, think of something decadent, and it was auditory that). Since NBC hates me, the (in my opinion) better live version is not online, but I found this, which is at least more visually stimulating. Enjoy!

"Lucky" Official Video With Colbie Caillat

Recommendations

I thought I'd start out the new year with a couple of recommendations for everyone (not that y'all have been sitting on pins and needles waiting for my lofty suggestions. Oh crap, did I really just write "y'all"? I've been in Utah for too long. I'm going to go cry in a corner and pretend that my first instinct was to write "you guys" or at least "you all" in two words...)


Wayne and I got to go see an actual new release movie in an actual movie theater (gasp!) last Saturday (thanks for the babysitting Sharon!). To the average citizen this may seem like nothing special, but it's been a year and a half since I've seen a movie in the theater. It was the last Harry Potter movie. And the time before that was a year earlier when we wasted a theater trip on "Blades of Glory". Yes, our theater experiences are few and far between these days. It's a sad occurance for someone like me who is (maybe too) interested in movies and television and knows what the reviews are saying for all movies, whether I want to see them or not, and who for many years pictured my future working in the film industry. It's semi-heartbreaking to think that it's barely an annual event to get to a mother-loving cineplex... anyway, rant over. The movie we went and saw was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and I have to say, it was honestly one the BEST movies I've ever seen. I'm seriously considering bumping Dead Poets Society out of the top spot of my favorite dramatic movies. It's one of those movies that just stays with you. Wayne loved it too, which says a lot for the movie, because we don't always have the same taste in flicks, especially dramatic ones. It's hard to give a review of the movie without giving away too much of the plot, but simply put it's about a man who ages backwards. It stars the gorgeous Brad Pitt, which of course is a reason to get in the car and drive to the theater on its own (kidding, Wayne). But the film's two biggest compliments would have to be 1) that although it runs almost 3 hours, Wayne and I both agreed that we felt like we'd only been in the theater 15 minutes, and 2) I almost, almost cried at least 3 times. That's big. Wayne cried at approximately 5 points in the movie (kidding again, Wayne. Although I heard some sniffles coming from your general direction at the end). In conclusion, everyone should go get a babysitter and go see this movie. I would pay someone to watch my kids just to go see it again.

Right now I'm obsessed with Colbie Caillat's cd "Coco". I started hearing more and more songs from the album on Pandora, and after realizing that I was in love with every one, I decided to buy the whole darn cd off itunes. Best. Purchase. Ever. You know how with most cd's you like about 80% of the songs, but there are like 3 that you skip over every time? Yeah, not on this cd. Every time a new song comes on I think "Oh, this one is my favorite!", and then of course the song changes and I think the same thing for the next one, etc etc... (edit: I just realized that I do skip one. The song 'Capri' starts out "she's got a baby inside, and holds her belly tight". It hasn't been long enough since Seth was born for me to look back on pregnancy with happy nostalgia, so if I catch those words I tend to hit 'next'). My particular favorite tracks (today) are: Magic, Oxygen, Older, One Fine Wire, Feelings Show, Battle, Bubbly... ok there are 12 tracks and I've singled out 7 and could keep going, so you get the picture. I love Colbie's voice, very smooth and mellow, and the whole cd is very sing-along-able, which is big for me, because I like singing along with people who sound better than me and pretending that I sound as good as the voice that's drowning me out. So, check it out. Maybe I'm not cool, and this isn't the kind of music the kids are into anymore, I honestly don't know, I just don't listen to the radio these days. If I'm no longer hip, feel free to laugh at me, and I'll know to start using phrases like "Well, back in my day...".

I know this whole post is sort of out of left field, but it's just what I felt like writing. One day I'll get around to writing the posts that I've been meaning to do, so in the hopefully near future, look forward to:

* Seth's 6-month update

* Christmas

* My 6-month Post-Baby goal: met!

* Lexie's School Update

* Wayne's job update

Tradition!

Last night was our annual O'Bryant&Tomlinson New Year's Fondue party! We were trying to remember how many years we've done this with Cory and Mindy, and we think this was year number 4. All I know is that it was a lot easier before we started having kids! But this year went remarkably smooth, compared to last year's fire fiasco (which is a story for another day...). Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of us eating the first course of steak cooked in oil and bread in cheese, most likely because we waited to start eating until the kids were all in bed, and by then we were all starving! There's no time for photo ops when you're busy stuffing your face as fast as possible. Even though this was the first year that Wayne and Cory have not worked for the same company since we all got married, somehow the conversation STILL turned to work 95% of the time. Some things never change, eh Mindy? But I guess that's just part of the tradition: The boys rambling on and on and on about inventory strategies while the girls roll their eyes at each other from across the table... After the main course, we played Mario Party (tradition) on Wii and ate chocolate fondue until we were all beyond sick and wanted to kill ourselves (thus completing the tradition). This year Mindy found adorable little bottles of Martinelli's for us to drink at Midnight (No, those bottles we're drinking from are NOT beer). So it was 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, NEW YEARS, cheers, shot, and kiss. Cory was the only one "man" enough to down his entire bottle on the shot. And then, because we're all old and pathetic, we quickly finished our game, cleaned the kitchen, packed everything up, and headed off to bed before the new year rounded out it's first hour. Yes, we're lame.

A few photo notes:
* Wayne put a lot of care into staging our fondue shots. Go Wayne.
* Wayne's "8 year old on Christmas Morning Playing Wii" shot was staged. His eyes are not normally filled with that much child-like wonder.
* The many laughing shots are a result of Cory downing his entire bottle of Martinelli's, burping LOUDLY in Mindy's face, then leaning into his wife expectantly for a big kiss.