Ava's birthday

Our little stinker pot turned one on the 1st of December! We sang her happy birthday, gave her a cupcake, and she just cried and cried. When I took her in for her checkup a few days later, it was discovered that she had an ear infection. What a crummy birthday present.

This year has been the fastest of my life. Ava has seemed to grow up faster than any of the other kids. She's funny, cranky and chunky. She loves to be carried around, loves playing in cupboards, in the fridge, and on the dishwasher when I'm loading or unloading. She is very happy sitting in the bathroom sink while I blow dry my hair and put makeup on. Her siblings all love and adore her, and still think that everything she does is cute.

I call her my little stalker, because she manages to find her way back to me no matter who or what is trying to distract her. She started walking right around her birthday, and it's funny now to see her toddling around the house yelling, "MAM! MAM!" while she's looking for me. We sure love this little one.

Merry Christmas! Let's talk about Halloween.

I know this is sad, but we lost the card with our Halloween pictures. But don't cry for me, Argentina, we found it. So here's the dealio: Anders had been talking about being Aang from "Avatar The Last Airbender" since Halloween 2009. In Spring 2010, he was still talking about it. "Sure, Anders, you can be Aang. No prob. Suuuuuurrrrrre." All of a sudden, it was October, and Anders still wanted to be Aang. I was looking at some pictures online to see what I was up against costume-wise. Addie saw some of the pictures, which had Aang's friend (girlfriend- but don't tell Anders and Addie that) Katara in them. Suddenly she wanted to be Katara and nothing else.

Yippee. Mommy gets to sew. I made Addie's costume during the day before our ward Halloween party. It went fairly well. I didn't swear at all, but it wiped me out. I asked Nils if he could try to pull a little something together for Anders' costume. I was really just thinking of the orange cape and we'd find a yellow shirt and some pants- then we'd shave his head and draw an arrow on it, and we'd be good. (Yes, we did shave his head just for this.)

Never underestimate the power of Nils. He stayed up all night and sewed a costume for his boy. That is love. And there I was, feeling all good about myself for sewing Addie's, and along comes Nils and totally shows me up. The man didn't even have a pattern. Sheesh. The good news: I know who's sewing Halloween costumes from now on.

History, part 7

Was your neighborhood a good, safe place in which to take walks? Do you remember any incidences?


Yes, my neighborhood was a good, safe place in which to take walks. I grew up in Orem, for crying out loud. Back when I was a youngster, Orem wasn't the booming metropolis/car lot that it is today. We had the mall, which was a big deal, but other than that, it was a pretty simple place. I used to ride my bike to Walker's gas station to get 27 cent sodas and penny candy. With my incredible ability to ride my bike with no hands, I would drink my soda, (or "pop" as I called it back in the day, before I married Nils and he mocked me into "soda" submission) while riding my bike to Fred Meyer (where Office Max and Barnes and Noble are now) to check out all of the toys and goodies there. It was satisfying times. I realize no one says "satisfying times". Sorry.

Another example of satisfying neighborhood times: When it used to snow enough to cover the streets, our neighbors (the ones with the obnoxiously nice yard) would tie a toboggan to the end of their Suburban and pull all the kids up and down the streets. It was great fun. I don't think you could get away with that now, and it hasn't snowed that much in ages. Either that, or the snow plows are much more efficient these days.

I don't remember any "incidences". (But I like parentheses.)

Poo Breath

Sunday morning as I was getting the kids ready for church, Aani kept saying that she smelled Ava's poopy diaper- except Ava didn't have a poopy diaper. After about an hour of regular complaints, I realized that Aani was probably smelling my breath, since I hadn't brushed my teeth yet. Add to it that I was congested and had probably been sleeping with my mouth agape all night, and well... poo breath. So I told her that Ava didn't have a poopy diaper and that Mommy's breath was stinky. I should have just let Ava shoulder the blame, because she's a baby and doesn't know any better, AND:

This morning I was getting the kids breakfast. Aani had a raspberry yogurt, which grosses Anders and Addie out. Anders was plugging his nose, saying something was stinky. Aani said, "Anders, it's Mommy's breath." Anders said, "No, it's your yogurt. Mom's breath doesn't smell like yogurt."

Apparently not. Note to self.

Blah. Blech. Ugh.

Hello. I'm in a funk. Not exactly sure what my problem is, but I am indeed in a funk. I've been noticing for awhile now that I've been feeling sort of anti-social, which is weird for me. I don't know if the factors are external or internal. I think when my life is really busy, I turn inward and isolate myself to minimize external stressors. All this does is lead to actual isolation, which isn't great. Anyhoo, October was a really, really nutty month- but I can't remember why now. Huh. But it was, so I think I shut a lot of stuff out, and now here I am... funk and all.

And it's so dark outside. I hate it. After I get Anders & Addie off to school, my day pretty much revolves around Ava napping (and playing ponies with Aani, which is fun for me for about 5 minutes, but she could do for hours. And hours.). When the big kids get home from school, the afternoon is spent with snacks, homework, finding friends to play with, etc. Then it's dinner time and it's DARK, and then the day is over and I want to go to bed at 6:30. So I've had a knot in my stomach all day, and I was folding laundry after dinner, which you should know was pancakes, and I realized I was feeling really anxious and sick to my stomach for no apparent reason. Then I realized that I've been feeling this way, acutely, since the time changed and it gets dark at 5 freaking 30, and I think I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, which I know I've had for some time. But I thought I could just power through it and decide to be fine, so I guess I'm surprised at how affected I actually am. The fact that it's totally involuntary baffles me and makes me want to kick something.

A few weeks ago Nils and I were having a little heart-to-heart about blogging. We were discussing how blogging has changed since we started all those years ago. It started out purely as an online journal which hardly anyone read, then evolved into a way to keep in touch with friends who lived far away. With more people reading, the posts got more entertaining, but less about the mundane or the crappy stuff. And I mean the mundane crappy stuff, not the exciting crappy stuff. Everyone loves exciting crappy stuff. Anyway, then Facebook came to Earth and changed blogging. With a much more instant, interactive interface to keep tabs on people, who needs to blog? But, I've always felt a loyalty to blogging. It's been such a great outlet for me and a way to purge myself and feel supported.

I was telling Nils that I feel less inclined these days to share things on the blog, and I'm not sure why. It's ultimately my loss, because by not blogging, I'm not keeping a record of feelings or events. I don't want to quit, but I'm not sure what my blogging purpose or identity should be. He said something really great. He said, "When I go online, I want to be fed. I want to learn something or read something that will fill me." I've been giving that a lot of thought. I blog to connect with people, to express crazy feelings, share something funny that I want to remember, to commiserate, to remember the mundane and crappy and appreciate it all. So he encouraged me to continue on with blogging and told me that I'm swell and stuff and made me feel better about things. Aw.

After my little laundry folding anxiety episode this evening, I thought I'd post about it- even though I'm not entirely comfortable doing so. But I'm diving back in, in hopes of being filled and fed and maybe doing some filling and feeding... or something. In any case, I have to figure out how to make it through the winter without completely losing my marbles. Maybe a little over sharing will help...and maybe Wellbutrin will too. We shall see. I love you, little blog. Good night.

History, part 6

Can you remember a historic event that happened when you were in school?


Yup. The first one was when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. I was in second grade, and I remember my teacher wheeling a T.V. into the classroom so we could watch the news. It was so sad. I ran home after school and told my mom, "The space shuttle exploded! They're not sending any other astronauts to space until 1988!" My mom hadn't been watching the news that day, so I was proud to be her informer of world events.

Second would be the Berlin Wall coming down, but I was but a wee lass didn't understand the politics or implications of it, really. I mostly just remember watching it on the news with my dad.

Third, the infamous O.J. Simpson debacle. I was a junior in high school when the verdict was read. I was sitting in Mrs. Gessel's Humanities class, watching it go down on the boob tube. When the "not guilty" verdict was read, a girl sitting next to me shouted, "OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM HAS FAILED!" I thought that was pretty dramatic. Thus, it is burned in my memory.

Fourth, my graduating high school was a pretty historic event.

Monkey Ava

Just a cute photo of Ava in her little monkey costume. We went to Nils' work to trick-or-treat, and he stuck her in his photo tent for about a minute. He got some great pictures of her before she lunged out of it. Ain't she sweet?

History, parts 4 & 5

I can't remember the exact wording of the questions. I had them on my nightstand, but Nils cleaned our room yesterday (which, by the way, looks AMAZING! We forgot about all that carpet!) and now I can't find them. Pardon me while I make up my own wording.

What is the story behind your name? Do you like your name?

My mom's name is Kathryn. After my sister Heidi was born, my parents wanted to have another daughter named Kristina. They proceeded to have four sons. By the time I came along, they were sick of the name Kristina, but wanted to name me after my mom. They thought they were being really creative and thought of the name Katrina as a nice little mix of Kristina and Kathryn. When I was little I didn't like my name because I thought it was too fancy. All of my siblings have pretty traditional names, so I didn't think my name really matched theirs. Now, I can't think of any other name that I'd rather be called. I think Katrina fits me pretty well. I have to say, though, that I always wished I had a middle name. I always thought it would be so fun and exotic. So, I live vicariously through my daughters, who all have middle names. And lemme tell ya.... it's totally fun and exotic. Oh. Yeah.

(Incidentally, Ava's middle name is Catherine. I wanted to spell it with a C because I think it's pretty that way. Wanna know what else? On my mom's original birth certificate, her name is spelled 'Catherine', but there was some feud when she was a baby, so it's always been spelled 'Kathryn' everywhere else. So, I claimed I was just sticking with the original spelling. Ha!)

Next question:

Was there a point when you knew your siblings and family accepted your spouse?

My family loves Nils more than they love me. He's been a part of the family from day one. My brother got married a couple of months after Nils and I met, and Nils is in the family picture at the wedding. That was about three years before Nils and I were actually married. My brother is no longer married to that woman, but the picture remains. When Nils went into the MTC, my family was there. They love him. What's not to love? He's just a lovable guy. He's funny, handy, quick-witted, genuinely nice, and he can eat his weight in mashed potatoes, which they all enjoy watching. Nils winterizes my mom's swamp cooler every year, gets it working again in the spring, changes her horrible fluorescent light bulbs when needed, fixes leaky faucets, and basically does whatever needs to be done around her house. No wonder she loves him more than she loves me. It's because he's got the skills, people. Nilsy Nils has got the skills.

I Think I Like Soccer

Anders played soccer for the fall season. Here's a brief history of Anders' experience with sports: Crying, being carried off the field, being carried off the basketball court, whining about games, etc. So imagine my delight when he told us he wanted to play soccer this fall. Joyous rapture. At his first practice, he was arguing with the coach and picking grass. I thought I was gonna lose it on the boy. After that practice, I told him that A) We PAY for him to play. B) Driving 10 minutes away and sitting for an hour and a half at his practice is not #1 on my list of things I most love doing, especially if he's going to pick grass and not listen to the coach. C) He will not play sports if he's not going to try his best and have a good attitude. Seriously.

He turned it around. Holy cow, the kid really came through. His coach was fantastic. He taught the kids to play their positions, so they're not a herd chasing the ball. I really enjoyed watching his games. His team was a little bit like the Bad News Bears, but I was so happy with how much Anders improved. I love how soccer is all about teamwork. And I loved that Anders only had to be carried off the field once during the whole season.

He was sad when his last game was over. He really enjoyed playing! So, I decided that if Anders wants to play soccer, I'm happy to support him. I think it's a great game.

But basketball starts in January, and he wants to play. Heaven help us.

A Little History, part 3

Did you have pets? What were their names? Were they usually strays? How did you acquire them?

There were several pets that made their way through the Vander Werff compound. There were two cats when I was very young. They were strays that we would feed, so they hung around. We named them Lion and Tiger. Such original cat names, yes. We had them for a few years, I think, but when we moved a few blocks away, they didn't follow us and we were sad. We tried to take them with us but they freaked out and ran away. 

When I was in 4th grade we got a dog for Christmas. His name was Ralphie, after the kid in the movie "A Christmas Story". He was a great dog. He died when I was in 10th grade. I don't like to talk about it. It was sad.  A year or two later, my brother brought another dog home and named him Champ. Champ was also a great dog. Eventually my brother moved away and couldn't take Champ with him, so he stayed with my mom. She took good care of him. He was her walking partner, etc. My sister took Champ after awhile and he was their family dog. He was happy. Then he got hit by a car and died. It was horribly tragic. Yeah, I don't like talking about that one, either. 

Wow. Think I've got some pet issues? 

A Little History, part 2

Question: What kind of chores were you required to do for the family?

There are a few chores I remember well. #1 was dusting. For some reason, it was always my job to dust the staircase, coffee tables, side tables, bookshelves, etc. Man, I hated it. In fact, I rarely dust now because I really, really hate it. I know, gross. In my defense, I don't have a lot of surfaces that require dusting. I probably do that on purpose subconsciously because of my traumatic childhood dusting duty. I used to write my name on the coffee table with Pledge. Aaah, I can still smell the lemony freshness.

#2- Weeding. Holy crap, the weeding. My brothers and I each had a section of yard that we had to weed on Saturdays. It was torture. We had these neighbors across the street that always won the "Yard of the Week" award from the city. It was obnoxious because our yard always looked like crap compared to theirs. They had curbing around their dirt mounds- we didn't. Mystery solved. Unlike dusting, I don't mind yard work so much now.

#3- Cleaning toilets. When I was a small child I enjoyed cleaning the toilets. Granted, my brothers had their own disgusting bathroom downstairs that I wasn't required to clean, so it wasn't bad at all. My love of cleaning toilets has since died. It's the stench that drives me to do it now.

And that's all I have to say about that.

A Little History, part 1

Baaa. Again. For Nils' birthday, his parents gave him the gift of writing a personal history, one question at a time. They stuffed a cute little jar full of random life questions in hopes that he'll pick one question every week and write about it. He's been doing this on his blog. I've been thinking about following his shining example, because I've been rather uninspired as of late as far as this little blog is concerned. So, I'll do one question a week, and maybe that will bring back some of the bloggy inspiration. Maybe not. At any rate, you'll all get to know some random things about little ol' me. Tender. I feel closer to you already.

Question: What did you discover about yourself in high school? Did you learn a skill that you could take out into the world with you?


First of all, I was a pretty lousy student in high school. My dad died the summer before my freshman year, and I really think that made what is already a difficult time in everone's life extra wonky for me. I went into 9th grade with virtually no friends. I think the friends I had had previously were weirded out by the fact that my dad died and didn't know how to behave around me. I hung out with a rogue group that year. We toilet papered a lot of houses and played a lot of Scum (the card game). It was basically a year of survival for me. My grades were terrible. In the district I grew up in, 9th grade was still at the jr. high- still high school credit, but we didn't go to the actual high school until 10th grade.

Sophomore year I was able to make a really good group of friends, which was a tremendous blessing for me. I still consider those girls good friends. They were a positive influence on me and accepted me, warts and all.

My junior & senior years I was able to pull myself together and start getting better grades. I was never an honor roll student- ever. I loathed math and science. I never had to try hard in English, history, social studies, etc. I joined the swim team, which was one of the best opportunities I could have asked for. As far as skills I learned and have used: I learned how to write an essay. I learned how to sew, but now sewing fills my soul with anger and I avoid it. I learned how to do a mean backstroke. I learned that the cool kids really aren't all that cool.

I look back on high school with a general sense of "blech". It wasn't so bad at the time, but I have never missed it or longed to go back. You couldn't have wiped the smile off my face on graduation day. I was truly ecstatic to be done. I do miss hanging out with my friends every day, going to Macey's for bulk candy, watching "Sixteen Candles", listening to ABBA and disco skating. How we loved the Disco Saturday Nights! When I think about high school, I think about the gang and all of the ridiculous, innocently lame things we did to entertain ourselves. I'm very thankful. And I still love to swim.

Ava Tries Tomatoes

This is my funny little baby eating a home grown tomater. Don't mind the dish brush that may or may not make it into her mouth at one point.

In the last week, we've enjoyed lots of Rasmusson family goodness. Nils' sister Saren flew out from CT for a few days with her cute little baby Red. It was great to see her and meet li'l Red, and have a lot of the fam over to eat and play. The front door was open for a couple of hours, and about a trillion flies got in the house. They  were making themselves comfy on the high walls, but they were no match for Nils and his brother Grove, as they sucked them up with the vacuum. It was highly entertaining to watch. I hate flies.

I've had three migraines this week. This is unacceptable. They make me mental and I'm sick of Aani saying, "you don't feel good, Mommy? Mommy, you're sick?" I'm going to try eliminating artificial sweeteners from my life and see if that makes a difference. Goodbye, Light 'n Fit yogurt and Crystal Light. I'll miss you, but I'll manage somehow.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a Women's Health Conference at UVRMC. There were several speakers, breakfast and lunch, and door prizes. I won a gift basket full of all sorts of goodies. When they read my name I yelled, "WOO HOO! I NEVER WIN ANYTHING!!" It was a pretty quiet group, so I looked like a freak show, but I was genuinely excited. Fortunately my mom and sister were with me to offer their support.

I need three things right now: A good book, to go grocery shopping, and this bloody headache to leave me in peace.

Thanks for reading. Nighty night.

School, Cake, Meatloaf.

He was saying, "Are you done taking pictures?" He'll thank me one day. Or maybe his wife will thank me one day. SOMEONE will thank me one day.

School. It started. This pleases me. Anders has a great teacher. She's nice, organized, communicative. He comes home happy every day. Addie also has a great teacher. Her name is Miss Broadhead. Due to her speech errors, Addie calls her Miss Bra-head. I've been trying to emphasize that pesky "D" sound, because no one likes to be called a bra-head, ya know? At any rate, both kids are happy at school, which is a big relief.

On the first day of school I made a cake for dessert. It was the ugliest, most pathetic cake ever made. Since it was so ugly, I decided we would eat it like heathens and snarf it straight off the pan. 

So many things went wrong with this cake. How can something so delicious look so sad?

It was a hit. 

The other night I got a wild hair and made meatloaf. I knew the kids would act like I was trying to kill them, but I decided they needed to experience a good ol' fashioned meatloaf. 

It was not a hit. 

But they suffered well, and are stronger people for it. Addie can tell Miss Bra-head all about it.

I Tried to Tri.

My number and totally sweet wound from my bike pedal.

August 28, 2010. What can I say about my first triathlon? It kind of sucked, but I sort of loved it. It was a sprint triathlon with a 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike and 5K run.

The swim was fabulous. I was a swimmer in high school, so it's my strongest sport. I finished the swim, got dressed and started the bike. I was feeling great and thinking how fun it all was. I even made it up that beastly hill. About 2/3 of the way through the bike route I heard a POP! HISSSSSSSS.... low and behold, my tire was flat. 

I ask you, what are you supposed to do if your tire pops during a triathlon? WHAT? I walked/jogged/rode on a flat tire the shortest route back to the race start. My poor little heart was broken. I knew I'd be DQ'd for not finishing the bike, so I just laid the bike down on my towel and started the run. I was sad, so my run was slow and bitter. I drank Gatorade from the aid stations. I think I drank too much Gatorade from the aid stations, because I totally puked after I crossed the finish line. An old lady in a purple shirt couldn't take her eyes off me whilst I puked. It's like a car wreck, I guess.

Me trying really hard not to hurl.

That pretty much sums it up. So, next time... NEXT TIME...

1) Slime in the tires, pehaps?

2) No Gatorade.

3) No running over large METAL SHARDS.

The metal shard that popped my tire and broke my heart.  LOOK AT THAT THING!

Until we meet again, triathlon world... until we meet again.

We're Aliiiiiiiive!!!

My negligence to this blog is shameful. Just shameful. I always think I'll blog when I get pictures uploaded. Right. So, a post without pictures is better than no post at all. Yeeeaaaah. That's the ticket.

Ummm, summer is almost over. What the heck? It's gone really fast, and I keep thinking we haven't done anything, but I know that's not true. To make myself feel better, I'm going to hit the highlights of Summer 2010:

There was a cruise, Lagoon, swimming lessons, swimming at the Scera pool, Toy Story 3, sleepovers at Grandma's (and Nana and GrandPar's), weekly Robert's Crafts Kid's Club classes, going to the gym, playing with friends, popsicles dripping all over the porch, Vander Werff family reunion, and the RARARA Family Reunion this last week in Heber. Basically, this summer has been the bomb diggity and it's gone by in a flash.

Oh yeah, we went to the zoo, too. I really hate the zoo. Put that on the Summer 2010 Lowlight list. Ugh.

Nils' birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I asked him to take the day off so we could go out for the day. My mom watched the kids which totally rocked. We went to lunch, rode the chair lift at Sundance, made out on the chair lift at Sundance after Nils begged for awhile, and then saw "Inception". That movie is really long. It was good day.

School starts on Wednesday, but Anders doesn't have a teacher. Heh-heh. That's sort of my fault. We had he and Addie registered at a different school for this year, but I kept feeling weird about it. Have you ever made a decision that makes perfect sense logically, but doesn't feel right- but it's logical, so you keep telling yourself it's the right thing to do even though your gut/soul/instincts keep telling you otherwise? Anyway, after praying and trusting the Spirit rather than our heads, we've made the choice to keep them at the school in our neighborhood. Long story short, I had to register Anders again, so I'm just hoping he can get assigned to a class before the first day of school. So that's my "I'm a pain in the butt" story of the week. I feel like I have to sign up for the PTA to make up for my pain-in-the-buttness. We'll see.

So, all is well. Time's a flyin' and we're just trying to hang on!

Shoe Horn

Yesterday Nils was getting dressed for work  and I watched as he put his shoes on with the help of a shoe horn. I was like, "You use a shoe horn?" He was telling me how convenient it is, because he doesn't have to untie his shoes because the shoe horn just helps the old foot slide right into the shoe.

You think you know a guy. I don't know how long this has been going on, because he usually leaves for work before anyone is awake. Then he put the shoe horn away in this spot, like it's lived there forever, and I was a little flabbergasted. I just never knew.

Nils, you da man.

This morning I woke up with a migraine. My migraines vary in severity, but most of the time I'm able to do what I need to do and make it through the day. I waited for the aura to go away, because that's when the pain starts and I sort of know what I'm up against at that point. At any rate, today's migraine was the worst one I've had in years. I took a pretty strong pain killer, which didn't even touch it, and I knew I was going to be useless for the rest of the day.

I called Nils and told him my plight, and he came home right away. He made it in time to take the kids to swim lessons, and spent the whole day with them. I was able to sleep off the worst of the migraine. Addie had her kindergarten check-up and shots today, so I met everyone at the pediatrician's office. They all had nasty swimming pool hair and chocolate ice cream mustaches and chocolate ice cream drips on their shirts. They sort of looked like little orphans, but they were there. (As a side note, Addie took her three shots like a man. She is one tough momma.)

I'm thankful Nils has a job that's flexible. His boss's motto is "family first", so if there is ever any family issue, he has no trouble leaving. I'm also thankful that he's willing to come home and help me out when something like this comes up. I don't know what I would have done today without him. Nizzle, thank you for rocking the hizzle. Fo' schizzle.

Life is Funny

Nils took Ava on a walk and she fell asleep. Two thoughts went through my head when I saw this: 1) A very Nils thing to do. 2) Good thing our house is a rambler. 

Yesterday was an exhausting day for some reason. I decided in the morning to sign the kids up for swimming lessons that started 2 hours later in Orem. While they are taking their half-hour lesson, I'll have to use that time to exercise, so I got on a treadmill at the rec center and ran as fast as I could for 30 minutes. Around 27 minutes I felt the vomit signals so I had to walk for a minute and I was ticked. There was a time a few years ago that I didn't heed the vomit signals... good thing there was a garbage can nearby. Anyhoot- Anders declared to me last week that he never wants to go to the gym again. This puts a major cramp in my style. I don't want him to be miserable every day, but mama's gotta exercise. Hopefully this two week swim lesson respite will cure him until summer is over. 

Then I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. I've been dreading this for months, because I have problem teeth that have been worked on, but still give me some grief. They have both been root canal candidates, but when the dentist actually gets in there he manages to avoid a root canal- which I appreciate. He's warned me that if they start bothering me again, a root canal is the next step. I told him that they've been aching here and there, but nothing a little Advil won't fix. He did all of the appropriate tests and said they're fine. Yay! I really was expecting terrible news. This kind of goes along with our air-conditioner story a couple of weeks ago. We suffered through June with no a/c, and we had visions of costly repairs. My neighbor (thanks, Michelle) referred me to a guy in our neighborhood. He stopped by on his way home from work one night and checked things out. He scraped off some crud that had accumulated due to our lack of filter-changing- and voila! We have ourselves a cool house. He charged us a plate of cookies. I mean, seriously, we had never even met the guy. So two things that have been stressing me out turned out to be just fine. And now we know why changing air filters is important. So is flossing, but I've always done that.

Tonight I have been asked to teach a mini-class on cooking with dehydrated potatoes. So last night I experimented on the fam and made potato soup from potato flakes. Since it was a thousand degrees yesterday, this was an inappropriate meal, but whatever. I needed test subjects. Everyone liked it except Addie, who gagged and sputtered and spit it out. Love that. After dinner the kids went out to play, and we couldn't find Aani awhile later. Then I saw her little naked butt streak across the yard. She had gone to the next street over and stripped from the waist down. A few minutes and some clothes later, Nils found her again, next street over, this time playing in some random dog's water. Hand washing was swift. As was bedtime. 

Why I Shop Alone

Because when Addie goes with me, she cutes her way into getting a gigantoid TUB of Cheese Balls.

Cruises are Delightful

Cruises are the bomb. You probably already know that, but if you don't... well, now you do. We sailed to Ensenada. Honestly, why Ensenada is a cruise destination is a bit of a mystery to me, but it's not really where you go. The boat is just so fun.

Hey, look, it's Nils sleeping! Check out our port holes. That's right, two of them. We were overly excited about them. 

We don't get out much.

Why is the boat so fun, you ask? 9 WORDS. ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT-SOFT-SERVE-ICE-CREAM-CONES.   This was my 3rd one in a row, so I took a picture. A guy walked by me and said, "Did she really just take a picture of an ice cream cone?" I said, "Yes I did. It's my third one." He said, "Congratulations." I said, "Thank you." I think he was mocking me. Rude.

We arrived in Ensenada, and we went snuba diving. Snuba is a cross between scuba and snorkeling. Nils found a snuba guy online. I was a little bit scared that he was going to pick us up, drive us an hour away and murder us. I dunno. But he didn't, so it worked out well.

Anyhoo, he picked us up, drove us an hour away, taught us how to snorkel and then how to snuba. You breathe through a scuba regulator and have a weight belt on. The air tank is on a little kayak, and you're attached to it by a 30 ft. hose. Nils loved it and had a grand time. I thought I was going to suffocate and die, so it didn't go so well for me. I was also stabbed on my foot by a sea urchin. But I like snorkeling. I could snorkel all day. After Nils snuba'd, and after I flailed and gasped for air, the snuba man drove us back to the city and bought us fish tacos. Coming from a couple of fish haters, they were fantastic. For real.

Shut up, we know we're hot.

Don't we look so in love? Cruises make love grow.

We had a lot of fun. It was the perfect amount of time to get away, too. We truly enjoyed our time alone, and when it was over we couldn't wait to get back and see the kiddos. Thank you again to Nana & GrandPar, and Grandma for taking care of our crew. They had a great time as well. When we got back to Utah to pick up Ava and Aani, my mom said, "Well, I hope you enjoyed this ONCE IN A LIFETIME experience." Ha ha! She so funny! I guess next time we'll just have to leave all 4 with you, Par and Jenny. :)

Back to Life

We got home Tuesday evening from our trip, and yesterday we went to Lagoon, because we're lunatics. I'm so dizzy today. I'm still getting my land legs back, and all the spinning and upside-down-ness from roller coasters yesterday didn't help expedite the process.

Yesterday was terribly stormy. It rained, the wind blew, and it was cold. We were unprepared so my mom took Ava home in the afternoon. The rest of us bought some sweatshirts and toughed it out. The great thing about Lagoon when it's cold, rainy and windy is that everyone leaves and there are no lines. The bad thing about Lagoon when it's cold, rainy and windy is the hypothermia. However, the kids never once complained about being cold. Their little chins may have quivered a bit, but they didn't seem to mind. We were the last car in the parking lot. Anders and Addie slept until 10:30 this morning, so I feel we got our money's worth. The last time we went to Lagoon, I was days away from delivering Aani. It was fun yesterday to watch her run around like a big kid from ride to ride. My how time flies.

I'll write about our booze cruise as soon as things stop spinning. Later!

A week from now...

I will be on a large boat with Nils, sans children. The kids are being divvied up between grandparents, to whom we are most grateful. We've always wanted to go to Hawaii for our 10th anniversary, but that wasn't in the cards. Hospital bills, however...yup.

Anyhoo, we're going on a weekend cruise to Mexico, just the two of us. Nils surprised me with this news on our anniversary. He is indeed the romantic one. I'm excited, but mostly nervous about leaving the kids- especially little Ava. She's my biggest fan. She's sort of obsessed with me. I hope she does alright with Grandma for 4 days. I haven't been away from my kids for more than a few hours, so this will be strange. And wonderful. But there's no cell service in the ocean. I'm breathing into a paper bag.

We shall Snuba. I'm breathing into a paper bag again. No, seriously. It'll be great, won't it? Spending days alone with Nils is something I can scarce remember doing. Since I like him quite a bit, I think this will be enjoyable. Namaste.

I signed up for my very first (sprint) triathlon in August! I feel lucky to have friends who inspire me to do things like this. I know I can do it, and I know I'll love it- sometimes you just need a little push. I'm very excited.

Nils and Anders are on the Fathers and Sons camp out, and I have two little girls sleeping on my floor and one in the room right by me. We partied the night away with Kipper the Dog and mint chocolate chip ice cream cones. Yeah, baby. I have to give my girls credit- it doesn't take much to please them. Anders, however, is a different story. I could write volumes. But I shan't.

'Night.

Chicks

I have to tell you that I hate birds. There are many reasons.

1) I once had a psychotic bird that was abusive to me. All I did was try to love it, but it would lash out at me. It was a love bird that my brother inherited from a friend, then he gave it to me (he didn't tell me it was crazy), and then I gave it to my other brother who eventually killed it. I don't know details, but I don't think it was on purpose. In any event, no one was sad.

2) Birds chirping at 5 in the morning outside my bedroom window does not please me.

3) A bird crapped on me once. I was like 7, but I still harbor resentment.

4) Once we were driving to Las Vegas and a bird flew into our windshield and was obliterated. I was quite startled and probably screamed like a banshee.

5) I grew up near some people that have- yes HAVE....STILL HAVE a cockatoo that they put on their back porch during the warm months. It squawks and squawks and squawks and squawks all day. My brothers tried to shoot it with their BB guns, to no avail. When we go to my mom's house on Sundays during the summer, we hear that squawking and I just can't believe that bird still isn't dead.

So now we have this bird's nest in our tree. The mom bird sat on her eggs diligently, and a couple of weeks ago they hatched. I have to say that my heart has been softened a little by watching this mommy bird care for her babies. She made the nest out of twigs, twine, and even some birthday ribbon is woven in there. We see her flying around the yard with worms in her mouth. When we try to get close to see the chicks, she makes sure to fly right into the nest to let us know we need to back off. The little birds are big enough now that their beaks are hanging out of the sides of the nest, open and waiting for their mom to bring them some food. It's cute. We feel sort of honored that she chose our tree to make her home in. I still don't love birds, but I think I kinda like the birds in our tree.

Cute, huh?  Just don't poop on me, little birdies, or wake me up, or fly into my windshield, and we'll get along juuuuust fine.

Odd's Fish!

I have some really, really, really exciting news. I read a book, and it was enjoyable and somewhat easy. This was made possible because my sweet little baby Ava has become a normal baby who sleeps at night. Thus, I am emerging from my sleep deprived haze of exhaustion and can actually stay awake long enough to read more than a sentence. It's great.

I read The Scarlet Pimpernel. I liked it. I liked it a lot. It's witty and romantic. It also made me realize that I know virtually nothing about world history. My knowledge of the French Revolution was limited to the potatoes that got chopped in half by the little guillotine my 10th grade history teacher made and demonstrated in class. I also vaguely remember watching the movie of The Scarlet Pimpernel in said history class, but I'm sure my sophomore attitude prevailed and I slept or wrote notes to my friends instead of paying attention; because it was all new to me now. I don't know how I graduated from high school.  

So yeah, Ava is sleeping much better and has become a much more content, predictable child. Glory, glory! She is sitting up, rolling over, and puts her little bum in the air and scoots herself backward. She's 5 1/2 months old, so this is all happening a little fast for me. She's very eager. And chunky. 

Aren't they cute?

P.S. Happy birthday to my Dad, who would've been 66 today. I've been thinking about him all day. 

Happy Mommy's Day, Katrina!

Big Gulps, huh?

Blessed

Ava was blessed on the 11th of this month. She writhed, screamed and arched her back through the entire blessing. I heard someone who participated in the circle (I can't remember who) say that he grabbed her foot at one point to keep her from falling out of everyone's hands. The second the blessing was over and she was upright, she stopped screaming and was perfectly fine. The entire congregation cracked up. That kinda sums up this girl-she knows what she wants, and she's got us wrapped around her stubborn little finger. We're so thankful for her and for the love she brings to our family.

Thank you, GrandPar, for taking pictures on her special day!

It's Our Anniversary, ho ho ho

Hey, guess what? Today is our TENTH wedding anniversary! Go us! I will allow myself to list 0ne or two major events from each year that we have been married. I don't want to get carried away or all "get a room"ish, you know.

2000: We got married. It was fun.

2001: I graduated from college, the company I worked for closed, so we moved to CT.

2002: Moved back from CT due to lots of crying on my part. So many trees, so little horizon.

2003: Anders was born!

2004: Bought our first home, our lovely little townhouse in Springville.

2005: Addie was born!

2006: Went to the Grand Canyon. Nils got a new job in SLC. Sold beloved little townhouse.

2007: Moved to Saratoga Springs. Aani was born!

2008: Went to Disneyland. Nils graduated! Ya-hoo!

2009: Nils began a new business venture. Ava was born!

2010: Holy crap, has it really been ten years?

I shall now reminisce a little: When Nils and I were engaged, I remember driving somewhere with my mom and she asked me what it was that I loved about him. Of course a bunch of things came to mind, but I realized that I love the way I feel when I'm with him. We're like PB & J. He makes me whole and everything is better when we're together.

Thanks for marrying me, Nils. I love you lots, and I shall forever more.

Now to further the narcissism, here are a few pics for our trip down memory lane.

Attractive.

Also attractive.

Good thing we were attractive to each other. Am I right or am I right?

Whass up ma peeps?

Hi. How are ya?

Our van has been giving us some problems lately. One of the problems has been this weird scraping noise on the drivers side in the wheel area. We drove it around for a couple of weeks with it making that noise, and we just figured it was some piece of plastic scraping the wheel. It was very obnoxious. With this week being spring break, I took it to a mechanic in Orem so the kids could go to my mom's house while I was there. The Orem mechanic told me the wheel bearing was bad, and that I would probably be okay to drive it home, but not much more. We drove it to our regular mechanic in American Fork. He called me today and said, "Hi Katrina. Do you believe in God watching out for people?" I said indeed I do, and he told me that the wheel bearing was completely gone and the wheel was barely hanging on an axle. Apparently the technician was able to just pull the wheel off without doing anything at all. He said, "Heavenly Father has been watching over you." (Yes, a true "only in Utah County" moment.) I'm thankful.

I've seen/heard "The Princess and the Frog" 1.4 million times this week.

While in time out today, Aani was sobbing, "Grandma! Grandma! Help me!"

Aani and Addie really like watching the show "Caillou". Caillou's parents make me feel like a terrible mother. "Oh, Caillou, you wrote all over the wall! How about instead of writing on the wall we go to the library?" Yes, how about that? Totally how I react, too.

We're thinking about changing Ava's name to Chunka. She's the chunkiest baby we've ever had. Man alive, those thighs are a thing of beauty. She's learning to sleep on her own. Chunka needs to learn so Mommy can get some quality shuteye.

Anders lost his top front tooth, at last. The tooth fairy is SO. NICE. Not only did she leave him a dollar (in dimes and nickels), but she let him keep his tooth! Our tooth fairy rocks. The neighbor kid's tooth fairy leaves her $10 (probably leaves a bill- but who wants a stupid bill when you could have dimes and nickles?), but takes the tooth. Ours is way better.

Okey doke. Have a nice day!

We've turned a corner

She's cried a lot for the last few months, but I think we've turned a corner. She's much happier these days. I can't say she was colicky, because she was fine as long as I was holding her. And I mean, as long as I was holding her. It's wonderful to feel loved, but it's wonderful to have hands again. I love that other people can hold her and she smiles at them instead of screaming. I just love her and could kiss her all day. But I don't, because I have to do my chores too. Boo.

Family

I've been thinking about this lately and thought I should write it down.

Almost 8 years ago we found out I was pregnant, and we were broker than broke. Our circumstances were pathetic, but we were determined to make it work out on our own and not ask for help from anyone. We were walking into a grocery store to get job applications, and my brother and his two kids were walking out at the same time and saw us. I remember he jokingly asked, "Are you guys here for the case lot sale, too?" and we told him we were looking for second jobs so we could buy me a new bra, since I was expanding all over. Ha ha, ha ha. He immediately turned around and started walking toward the ATM. I ran after him, telling him I didn't want his money, that we were grown-ups and could handle it, etc. etc. He looked at me and said, "Katrina, this is what families do- we help each other." He was going through a really bitter divorce at the time, so my logic told me that of all people, he should be exempt from helping me. Then I felt impressed that at that time, he needed to help. He told me that when he and his now ex-wife were expecting their first baby, they lived far away and didn't have family to help them. I remember standing there bawling my head off in the Macey's parking lot with my brother, thankful and humbled. I'll never forget that, ever.

I'm learning, little by little, how important family is. The family I come from is big and loud. My 4 older brothers beat the crap out of each other growing up. They chased my older sister around the yard with worms. They told me I'd die if I ate the chestnuts on the ground. Once I picked up a chestnut and thought just touching it would kill me. I went to my room and waited to die. When I was 5 and in ballet, one of my brothers called me a "rea-tard" whenever I wore my leotard. What a crack up, seriously. What would childhood be without sibling torture?

As adults, we disagree and don't always get along. We have our fair share of drama. But when it comes down to it, we're a family and we love each other no matter what. When times are tough, family is where we can turn for help and support. I know Nils feels the same way about his family. I've just been really thankful lately to be a part of two good families and to have that network of love and support.

Sleep is for Suckers

This here kid is making me exhausted. She could quite possibly be the worst sleeper in the history of the world. Not to be melodramatic or anything, but it's 3 in the morning and I just took this picture. This is a regular occurrence. Oh, she's cute alright, but ya know what's friggin' adorable? Sleeping at night. It's the cutest thing ever.

Love you, Ava C. Stinker.

From the Archives

Here are some recent funnies from the photo files:

The other day Anders went to a friend's house, and Aani wanted to go with him. She put her backpack and boots on, but didn't feel the need for pants. That kitty face was MAD when I told her she couldn't go with him.

Anders' hair had turned quite shaggy. When we told him it was time for a haircut, he said, "I wanna be BALD!" So, Nils took him out to the garage and sheared him. He shaved the top first, and when Anders saw it, he said, "AHHHHHH! I LOOK LIKE AN OLD MAN!!" He wasn't happy- so of course photos were taken. Then Nils shaved the rest, and people have been rubbing Anders' head for good luck ever since.

When Ava was in the hospital, this breakfast tray was brought in. I took the cover off of the plate to see what the "main course" was- VOILA! A singular blueberry muffin. Ha. It made me chuckle. Ah, what you find funny after four days in the hospital. I think I found it funny in part because the food was abysmal in general.

It occurred to me that we have lived in our house for 3 years this week. That's the longest we've lived anywhere in our married lives. The great thing is that I really love where we live. We're very happy here- there's just something special about the 'Toga.

The wonderful life he led

Well, we knew the day would come that one or both of the fish would kick the bucket.

Bolt has passed. I know.... I know. I'll give you a second to compose yourselves.

We spent a lovely weekend in Nevada visiting Nils' parents. The fish were being babysat by the neighbors, and all was well until Monday afternoon when Bolt was found floating. It's sad that he died on the neighbors' watch, because they blamed themselves. I explained that these fish have lived way longer than is normal. Nils and I were tempted to ask them to keep the other fish until it died, but that wouldn't be nice, would it?

So, for FHE we talked about death. Tender. We explained the whole "spirit leaving the body" deal, and broke it to the kids that Bolt's spirit no longer resides in his body. Anders was sad for about 10 seconds. Addie said, "BOLT'S DEAD???" and then she sobbed for the rest of the night and was inconsolable. I said the closing prayer and said, "We're thankful for Bolt, and the wonderful life he led..." and laughed and laughed. I tried to muffle the laughter to sound like crying, but I don't know how effective that was, and yes, I know I'm going to perdition.

Anders did flushing honors, since it was his fish. Then he wanted dessert.

And, this was Addie for the rest of the evening. Bless her heart.

So long, Bolt. It's been real!

Family Clown

Aani is our family clown. She is genuinely funny. She was born a happy girl. She was the happiest baby and hardly ever cried. She started smiling socially at two weeks old- really! It was crazy. She's a normal little stinker of a two year old, but she's a happy stinker- not an ornery one.

We were driving home the other day and she put her sunglasses on and started talking in a low voice saying, "Hi, I'm Daddy." Then she put her sunglasses in her ears like a stethoscope and said, "Hi. I'm a doctor." She had me cracking up. What would I do without this girl? How I love her.

The Power of Advertising

I bought a Baby Bjorn today off of KSL, because Ava has to be held all the time by yours truly- exclusively. I can't blame her, since I'm so awesome and everything, but it's making it a little difficult to get anything else done.

The kids had no school because of a teacher professional day, and I made them clean their rooms. Then I made them drive to Highland with me to pick up the Bjorn. I felt like they deserved a little sumpin sumpin, so we stopped and got some ice cream. We were sitting in the booth eating ice cream, and Addie kept dragging her sleeve through it. I told her she had ice cream all over her sleeve.

She looked at her sleeve and said, "Too bad we don't have any Oxi Clean."

Anders said, "Yeah. It really cleans."

Addie said, "It gets the tough stains out."

I put my head in my hands and moaned, and the kids were like, "what?"

P.S. Rest in peace, Billy. I loved Pitchmen.

Yaaay! She's home!

I got a much anticipated phone call from Katrina today, letting me know that they had the all clear to head home. Ava is off oxygen and ready to join the madness that awaited her at home. She spent four full days in the hospital and poor Katrina hardly saw the outside world. When I went to pick them up, it was so great to see Ava with nothing attached to her. She had leads on her chest, some glowing thing on her foot, the oxygen and the IV. I must say, the nurses that helped were great and all of our friends and family have been fabulous.

On that note, we want to send a big shout out to everyone for praying for her and thinking of her. Your prayers were noticed. I gave her two blessings as well and we feel like she just got better and better and did so more quickly than the doctors anticipated. We're so grateful for that. Here are some other pics from the last four days.

Thanks again to everyone!