::{One}::

Warning: Photo-dump ahead.

We now have a one-year old, which still blows my mind (one month later).  So here is some recent documentation of the Bug on and around her birthday, for your viewing pleasure.

Before we get to the photos, these are some things that we always want to remember about AJ at this stage:

1) She is a mover and a shaker.  Once she figured out how to walk, she decided that she would never stand still.  Ever.  She really likes to dance, i.e. shake her booty and swing her arms.  The best part is that she dances to the beat - cracks us up every time.

2) She eats anything and everything (except mushrooms), including dirt.  She gets in trouble if she drops food on the ground, but for the most part, she waddles around with a perfect little pot belly after every meal.

3) She has finally found and figured out a sippy cup that she likes.  That only happened after we went through most of the options out there.

4) She hates shoes.  I'm guessing that will change all too soon, so I'm not concerned about it at this point.

5) She loves books.  She has the attention span of a gnat, but even still, her favorite thing to do after pulling all of the books off the bookshelf is to sit and look through about ten of them in two minutes.

6) She's starting to climb.  Yikes.

7) She loves playing outside.

8) She's a total flirt - ask every male in our ward.

9) To go along with #8, she's also a ham.

10) Daytime naps are unpredictable (some are 20 minutes, some are 80 minutes), but I really can't complain.  She sleeps 11 hours at night and has been doing that for a very long time.  Bless her little heart.

11) She leaves our front room looking like a tornado on a daily basis.

12) She is curious, and a keen observer.  It amazes me how observant she is, and how quickly she learns things that seem rather difficult for a one-year old (but what do I know?  This is a first for all of us).

  

My two favorites:

Three pigtails, because three is always better than two.

Bug at the annual Duckling Days celebration at the public library.

Struttin' her stuff.

Daddy's girls - through and through.

Getting ready to celebrate.

She was very polite and dainty...

Until she figured out what this was all about.

And then she devoured it.

So...much....sugar!

"Oh, was I supposed to wait for something?"

Team Adams knows how to party, and this was defnitely a family affair.

My favorite picture of all time.

Bug is very much like Steve when it comes to food/eating - neither of them like getting their hands messy when they eat (though Bug can't really avoid it).  The sugar made it worth the mess.

Opening some gifts, and enjoying the wrapping/packaging as much as the gift itself.

Yup.

Playing with the fire truck.

Some fun decor for the birthday festivities...

And if you look closely, you'll see what the day was actually about.

Because, c'mon, this was as much for us as it was for Bug, so let's just be real, shall we?

Best year of our lives.

Happy birthday, Little Bug!

{Quarterly Report}

 A little bit of everything today, so here it goes:

1) Steve is now 30.  I think he's finally getting over the shock of it (it happened last month), but we made an event of his big day, and I have no doubt this new decade is going to be even better than the last for the Mister.  He's certainly going places, and it's fun to see him in his stride as husband, father, friend, neighbor, and fiscal specialist.  We've decided that we're going to institute a non-surprise, surprise party each year since Steve manages to figure things out despite my best efforts.  I did, however, surprise him with tickets to see War Horse which he's wanted to see for a couple years.  It's coming to C-bus in April, so we'll report back and let you know how it goes.

***

2) Now that the weather is warming up, we're enjoying more time outdoors.  Feeding the ducks at Whetstone park has become a favorite activity.  There are two rules: 1) Keep Bug out of the water.  2) Keep Bug from hogging all of the bread and scarfing it down herself.  She doesn't get this part yet, but it's a work in progress.

***

3) I don't share much of what I study on this blog because most of it is Early Modern material that revolves around the Catholic Reformation, and I doubt it would interest most people.  However, this particular painting by Guido Reni blew me away - formally and contextually - when I saw it a few weeks ago.  Even though Joseph doesn't receive a great deal of attention in general studies of the New Testament, at least in relation to the attention Mary receives, I think this painting is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen in the way it captures an almost tangible, significant familial bond.

[Guido Reni, St. Joseph, 1635]

***

4) Steve's latest culinary masterpiece: multigrain crackers (lightly salted) with frosting.  Frosting on one side, a little bit of salt on the other = best sweet & savory snack EVER!  Trust me.  Go buy some crackers and cream cheese frosting right now, and you will not be disappointed.  This is much better than frosting on graham crackers.  My roommates raved about that duo in college - I could never figure out why because it was too sweet for me.  This, however, is amazing.

***

5) I saw this picture on facebook and it made me laugh because it hits very close to my routine whenever I fill up the tank.  I don't mind so much about the amount of gas that is in the tank at the end, but the dollar amount MUST end in either a "0" or "5".  I will stand at the pump for however long it takes in order to apply just enough pressure to get an extra spurt of gas so as to make the total $31. 45 instead of $31.39.  I'm usually pretty good at getting it right on the mark the first time I try, but sometimes it takes a bit more time (usually when it's freezing outside and my reflexes are not cooperating as quickly as usual).

***

6) We've celebrated St. Patrick's Day this entire week, and I've loved it.  It is one of our favorite holidays because a) I'm Irish, b) we love the color green, c) it reminds us of Scotland and the UK in general, d) it usually comes right around the time when winter is turning into spring - a blessed transition, and e) it involves some of our favorite family traditions.  One of our favorites is watching Waking Ned Devine.  We've discovered that "Ned Night" is better when it's a small affair.  The witty writing and thick accents get lost in large groups that include people who aren't as obsessed as we are.  But we still make an effort every year to introduce people we know to the schemes and stories of Jackie O'Shea and Michael O'Sullivan.  We hit up the parade in Dublin yesterday, and had fun today finding treasure that the leprechauns left us.

[Bug and her pals]

[The hat says, "I'm a WEE-BIT Irish." Yup.]

[My St. Patrick's Day fashion statement - a new take on the wicked witch from the East]

[The stash from the leprechauns]

***

7) If anyone out there reading this is in the line of work that creates apps for phones, I have a proposition for you, courtesy of a friend who told me about this idea.  Could you PLEASE figure out how to program a cell phone to automatically follow your school/work/church/errands schedule and thereby switch the phone from "silent" mode to "loud" mode at the appropriate times without having to execute the change myself?  THANK YOU!  I swear I have a disease when it comes to my cell phone.  It was particularly bad this week because of Spring Break, but honestly, I'm plagued by the inability to respond to my phone because it's always on silent and I see/hear messages way after the fact, which required prompt attention at the time of the call/text.  I thought parenthood might cure me of this disease, but I think it's gotten worse since Bug showed up.

***

8) God has the best sense of humor.  The following conversation that happened last Sunday proves my point:

Bro. Kingrey: Sister Adams, how long has it been since you've had a calling and what was it?

Kristen: August, when I was released from the YW Presidency, but I fully consider being a visiting teacher as a legit calling (he didn't buy it).

Bro. Kingrey: Great.  Well, we'd like to extend a new calling to you.

wait for it...

wait for it...

Think of the two things that freak me out the most in church: kids and singing

bingo!

...We'd like to call you to be the PRIMARY CHORISTER!

Kristen: Are you serious?!  You know I'm not musical, right?

Bro. Kingrey: That's okay.  We didn't feel inspired based on your musical abilities.

Kristen: Clearly.

Bro. Kingrey: So you'll accept then?

Kristen: Sure?  I hope you're okay if the Primary Program is less than perfect....far less than perfect.  

Bro. Kingrey: Sounds good - that's what makes this calling so fun.

Told you so - God works through humor.  I find that this is often the way he speaks most clearly to me.  It happened that way when I got my mission call, and with many subsequent callings since then, including the latest and greatest.

***

9) My neighbor and I hosted a baby shower last weekend for a friend of ours and had a total blast.  No crazy games that scar people for life (that happened to me and I've never fully healed), no competitions, just food, fun, and lots of love.  We made it an open-house type shower so we skipped opening gifts there.  This was brilliant for three reasons: 1) Our mama-to-be-friend is pretty new to the ward and didn't know everyone super well and we didn't want her to feel awkward being in the spotlight - that spotlight can be intense.  2) Instead of taking up a huge chunk of time opening gifts, the ladies who came all got to enjoy talking, eating, and making some crafts for the mama-to-be at their leisure and could leave when they needed to without feeling bad.  3) We really wanted her husband to feel a part of things too, so we loaded up all the gifts and they got to open everything together and relish in the excitement of their upcoming arrival as a family.  I always feel bad for the dudes because they don't get to open the presents, which is half of the fun.  I based this off of my own baby shower experiences where Steve got to be a part of it, and it was so much more fun that way.  I think our adorable friend had a good time - Heather and I sure did!

[The soon-to-be parents!]

[In lieu of baby advice, we did a baby wishes quilt for everyone who attended to sign]

***

10) Lo and behold, Bug is my kid.   She happens to be mini-Steve, but something happened this week that screamed "Irvine."  You may judge us and think we're terrible parents for doing this, but here's what went down in my discovery:
Steve: "Kristen, what should we feed the Bug tonight?"
Kristen:  "Mmmm, not sure.  What do we have in the fridge?"
Steve:  Conspicuous pause..."How about the mushrooms?"*

*Note - we only had fresh mushrooms to add to the pizzas we made for Ned Night, and they weren't purchased for our own consumption.  Neither of us like them - I detest all forms of edible fungi - so we were stuck with a carton of mushrooms in the fridge and weren't sure who to give them to, until Steve had his brilliant idea, that is!

We proceeded to introduce Bug to mushrooms.  We'll let you be the judge of her experience:

[The edible fungi in all their glory]

["Okay wait, you want me to do what with that?"]

["Here goes nothing."]

["Oh my goodness, what WAS that?!"]

["BLECH!"]

That's my kid right there!  There has to be a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon with this exact scenario, and I'm sure this is the face that my own parents saw many a time from one Kristen Kathleen.


Until the next update - happy Spring!

In My Head

If you were to empty the contents of my brain, the following points reflect some of the thoughts therein.  These are things I have recently heard from people, things I've been thinking about for years, events that have lately transpired, etc.  My journal writing habits have taken a turn for the worse since I started my program at OSU, and even though we still take lots of photos, I don't want to look back on this year and crave words when I only see images.  So here we go - some things that one Kristen K is thinking about in 2013:

1)  Diversity is good.

We went out to dinner last night and had thirty minutes to kill before being seated.  What did we do?  We put the buzzer in our pocket and hit up the Indian grocery store right next door, of course!  Why?  We love a good meal of chicken tikka or korma every once in while and thought we'd take a spin through the aisles to find something fun and different to try.  More importantly though, we pushed Bug through the grocery store in the hope that she will notice and become familiar with people who don't look like her, and likely do not believe what she does, speak like she does, or think like she does - and that is just fine.  Steve started up a conversation with a nice Indian family and by the end of our store experience, we made three new friends and crossed a little further over the bridge spanning a cultural gap in an effort to raise a well-rounded and accepting kid.  Those twenty minutes also made us realize (as experiences like this tend to do) that we want to live outside of the United States again - and soon.  My brother tells us that we are gypsies who can't stay in one place for too long.  True story.

2) Know the difference.

This is courtesy of a woman who visited our ward last week and shared her testimony to a room full of women.  The gist of her message was this - there is a difference between being active in the church and being active in the gospel, and it's only the latter that matters.  I thank that dear woman for sharing a simple yet profound lesson with me.

3) Public radio rocks.

One of my favorite aspects of each day is when I come home and get to spend time with Steve and the Bug and we catch up on the events of the day, including what we each heard on public radio during our commutes.  We're on the road at different times and catch different broadcasts, so it's always fun to hear each other's take on the local/national/world events as reported on public radio.  Bug has yet to contribute...

4) Making friends as a married couple is akin to dating.

This is one I've been thinking about for years as a direct result of the time I've spent watching friends find spouses and start their married adventures together, but it even applies to meeting new couples as we go through life.  You invite couples over for dinner or to different events and discover throughout the course of said event whether or not you, as a couple, hit it off with the other couple.  Sounds weird, but you know what I'm talking about right?!  It's the dating game.  The golden relationships are when you and your spouse hit it off with both of the other people, not just one of them.  Those are the keepers.  It's been interesting to see how friendships change/morph/strengthen/weaken over the years as more people are added to the party.  In conclusion, this is what I'm trying to say: the quality of the friendship is directly proportional to the relationship I have with the added spouse.  If I was friends with the wife prior to the marriage and think the husband is really cool, the friendship becomes so much the better.  If I was friends with the husband prior to the marriage but the wife is a crazy person, the friendship becomes weaker, i.e. more of an acquaintance-type relationship.  Don't know if that makes sense - couples dating couples and such - but that's what is in my head.

5) The other side.

The grass IS greener on the other side.  Last weekend was amazing.  It was the annual graduate school candidates weekend for the OSU History of Art department.  The grad chair and faculty members select a number of candidates from the pool who have applied for the Ph.D. program at OSU, and nine students were selected to come to OSU for a weekend full of events to get to know the department/program.  They come, they eat, they interview, they tour, they eat some more, and then they go back to wherever they flew in from and wait for - I might even say stress about - the decision of whether or not they'll be accepted.  I remember perfectly how it felt to be in their shoes - I was in them one year ago.  Eight of us were there and went through the whole weekend, and then had to wait another month and a half for the final decision to come.  Natalie wasn't there last weekend, but I'm pretty sure she would agree as the other first year - it was so relaxing to be on the other side of that situation.  Yes, we have a huge road ahead of us with plenty of stress and challenge, but still, it was nice to enjoy the weekend and welcome the potential candidates knowing that we are already in the program.  I enjoyed every minute of that feeling last weekend because as soon as Monday came, it was back to the grind.  The grass isn't always greener on the other side (I get that whole analogy, I really do), but sometimes it is.

***

There's always more going on inside my head, but that's all that will make the cut for now.  We're grateful to be where we are and doing what we're doing these days.  I'll look back twenty years from now and read this post and probably laugh at what was on my mind, but there it is. Bis später.

Catch Up

It's been awhile...no surprise there.

Here's a glimpse of our holiday adventure in Utah and Idaho.  We relished every minute of our time there since we don't have plans of heading west in the foreseeable future.  I must say, holidays - especially Christmas - are so much fun with babies.  Bug is already curious, but with shiny ornaments, tinsel, lights, and jingle bells, she is out of control.  It was awesome.

We ran into some crazy Texans who we absolutely adore and made an afternoon of it at Squatter's for lunch and a stroll through City Creek.

Steve and I played chaperones for an outing to the Utah Symphony's Christmas performance with my cousins' kiddos.  We've missed these munchkins!  It was especially fun hearing their version of how picked on they are by their parents.  I was glimpsing my own future...

It was a special treat to introduce AJ to her great-grandparents this trip.  Here she is with Bill and Marlene...

 And Great-grandma Charmain.

And Christmas isn't complete without a visit from St. Nick!  Look how much fun my mom was having!

AJ's first interaction with Santa was a huge success.  No tears, no tugs, just curiosity and smiles.

 Christmas found us in Logan (freezing Logan, I might add) to spend a couple days with Steve's family.  It's always nice to get together and hear about Julie and Derrall's adventures in Peru.  They met a friend of ours who arrived at the MTC in Peru a week or so before they flew home to Utah for Christmas.  Small world.

The time passed too quickly.

AJ got to meet her cousin this trip and they had lots of fun reading with Grandma.

 Bug's first Christmas.  Her expression says it all.  Clueless, but oh so happy.

After we left Utah, we headed north and made our way to Sun Valley, Idaho.  Behold, the quintessential logo at the lodge.

Exploring the ice sculptures in the Village.

We enjoyed the scrumptious desserts and hot cocoa at the Konditorei....multiple times.  Jack Frost forced me into it, but I must say, the pecan brownie and lemon tart were oh so tasty!

Bug finally got to meet my oldest brother, Precious Scott.  They became best buds from the moment they met.

So much so that Bug snagged a special photo-op with Scott and the Zamboni (technically it's an Olympia, but that's like calling a kleenex by some other name...it just isn't the same) in front of Baldy.

She stayed up waaaay past her bedtime to ring in the New Year (she conked by 9:00 p.m.).

 Daddy/daughter date on Baldy?  Absolutely.  

More Village exploration...

And a highlight of the trip was meeting my BFF's brand new baby!  Dez is the cutest little guy on the planet and I was so glad I got to spend time with him (Twice!  Didn't take pictures the first time).  It's still surreal to me that Penn and I are both mamas now.

And that's a wrap.  2012 was a big year and this trip was a perfect way to bid it farewell.