#8 Seed

Congratulations, BYU Mens Basketball for advancing to the NCAA tournament for the 24th time. We took Johnny to a few of the home games this season. Here, we are geared up to watch Kyle participate in the half-time festivities for cash. He practiced all day only to find out they were postponing his appearance. So we went back for the real deal and Kyle walked away $50 richer thanks to his free throw shooting abilities. Free throws win championships, Kyle. You are a champion. Forget about the missed three pointer and half court shot. They were close. Free throw makers are reliable, dependable and we know we can count on you to seal the deal.

Papa and Nana holding their 2 boys.

Johnny is obviously enthralled by his front row seat. Check out those chunky cheeks! His cheeks are seriously so thick - we think at least 3 times as thick as ours. We love to kiss them and feel very comfortable that he has some food storage packed away in case of times of famine.

We sat in the upper bleachers and still got a good view of the game. Don't worry - we hung out long after the game was over, hence the empty bleachers. The cougars know how to pack the house.

Snowboarding Sorrow

The moral of the story is that you should board carefully in between trees. They leave a mark.

Sundance trees were not kind to Johnny this year. To Johnny's delight, it looks much more gruesome than it truly was. He's alright.

Sundance Celebration

Every February, Stephen Covey lets Papa (his brother) use his Sundance cabin. So everyone that can come crams into the cabin for what is always a week full of fun, food, movies, card games, skiing, snowboarding, playing with cousins and everything else fun you can imagine. You get assigned a meal or two to provide for all 50 extended family members so it's good training on cooking for large groups. I have a hard enough time making sure all the parts of our meals for 3 of us are orchestrated and on the table warm at the same time. This year was a hit - we did soup - a treat after a morning on the mountain.

This year, Lance pretended to be a Martian invader with ski goggles. Or at least that is what the look on Johnny's face says.

Take me to your leader!

One morning, Johnny led a group in Yoga.

Inner peace. We do not wash our pits in the pool of sacred tears.


It's so fun to be together, turn off the internet and cell phones, and relax. Thanks to Stephen, Papa, and Grandma for making it all happen.

Criss Cross will make you want to JUMP

In February, Johnny and I went on a cross-country overnighter with some of the students from my graduate program. We assumed we would ski in Utah, you know, the greatest snow on earth, but it ended up that the trip was scheduled for Evanston, Wyoming. So, we traded babysitting with a dear friend and went out on our own. It was a pleasant drive to Evanston and then we hit the groomed trail for a couple of miles in to our yurt.

We had reserved 2 yurts, about a mile apart. But after dinner when we were warm and cozy, we all decided to squish into one. It was a ton of fun. Incredibly warm for snow camping. My expectations were discomfort and pain and suffering, but worth it for the experience of it all. It was warm and cozy and there were bunks in the yurt for sleeping on. Everyone insisted that the 7 month pregnant woman get a bunk bed instead of the floor, but quite honestly, I think the wooden bunk planks were just as uncomfortable as the floor.

It was a ton of fun. We were the heroes for breakfast because we brought blueberry pancakes and eggs and sausage. Tasty - my favorite meal of the day, whether camping or not although camping breakfasts have a special place in my heart (stomach).

Cousins

Johnny and Nigel spend some quality time together. Camille makes it possible for me to get my masters degree because she lets Johnny hang out at her house while I'm on campus working. These boys play so well together. Yay for cousins.

You are the Champion of my Heart

When Johnny woke up on the day after Valentine's day, he said that to me. "You are the champion of my heart". I haven't talked to him about it since because I wasn't sure if he was 100% coherent or not because he went right back to sleep after he said it.

Our Valentine's Day 2009 was fun. We put baby Johnny to sleep with the babysitter and went to our stake dance. We danced and enjoyed the chocolate/cheese fountains. I was standing there not eating because I was trying to save room for Tucano's meat fest 2009. Anxious to get out on the dance floor again and obviously drunk on love I told Johnny, "Let's get out there and rip a carpet." I meant to say cut a rug but it came out wrong. I will blame that pedagogic malfunction on pregnancy.

Then we left the dance and went to Tucano's. We walked to our table, where my genius sister and her husband were sitting because they had made reservations for all of us, through a shoulder to shoulder crowd of people who were not geniuses and had not made reservations. What a lame valentine's day to wait 4 hours for your meal. Yes, that was the wait when we got there.

The food was great. My new favorite is the Cod in mango sauce - tasty. Nigel gave us Dharma initiative hot chocolate mugs and keeler cookies and valentines. Tucano's gave us roses and chocolate covered strawberries. Johnny took one bite of his and put it back on the plate. Jon Canlas almost picked it up and ate it - just like at Charlie Chow's when Johnny spit out a fatty portion of meat onto a plate and later Jon Canlas got it all the way to his lips before he realized that it was ABC meat (already been chewed) and quickly threw it back on the plate.

All in all a very fun night on the town. We don't normally do anything to celebrate because every day is Valentine's Day in our house, but this year was a special treat. Shout out to everyone for making it happen.

Love is in the Air

Lance and Johnny are fun to be around (when they are both well napped). Here is such an occasion of Papa's 2 boys. I'm so curious. Is baby Q going to make it an even 2 boys, 2 girls or will the ratio get bumped up in favor of the men? I can't wait to find out.



Happy Valentine's Day! Tonight we are going out to Tucano's with Callie, Jon, Millie, Micah, Collin, Catie, Mike, and Carlie. Of course we have a few 2 for 1 coupons to ease the burden of the cost of all the meat you can consume in one sitting without making yourself sick.

Bodily Fluid Soup

Gamut - [gam-uht] noun: the entire scale or range

Yesterday, Johnny boy put me through the gamut of bodily fluids. It all started when I was changing his diaper and thought there was no harm in letting him run around without his diaper on for a few seconds. He was standing behind me playing peekaboo, which I thought was so darling. Then I grabbed him, put on his diaper and hurried to take him over to the babysitter's house. A few minutes later, I looked down at the carpet and saw the evidence of a leak. Since Johnny dad doesn't usually relieve himself on the carpet, I knew it had to have been Johnny boy. As I also realized he only could have peed during peekaboo fest, I reached around to confirm that yes, in fact, he had peed on me as well. I was so glad I was wearing my coat already. Problem solved by a quick wipe-wipe.

Next ingredient of the bodily fluid soup: I'm holding Johnny in my arms in the front seat, waiting for his dad to come out to the garage to drive us down the street to the babysitter's. I am trying to force feed him his nightly bottle which he struggles to accept. Usually, I have to distract him by laying down on the ground next to him and reading him a book while he takes sips from the bottle. But we were late and I was just trying to make do. Johnny boy showed his discontent by throwing up what little milk he had consumed on my dress. Blech! Stinky and no time to change.

Third time's a charm when we are waiting in the babysitter's driveway and Johnny boy is happily playing with the radio controls with no ill effects showing from the before mentioned throw up incident. He has 4 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth with 2 more bottom teeth on the way so his salivatory glands have been on overdrive. Johnny dad is sitting next to us and notices but fails to prevent a large dollop of drool from hitting me on the leg. Warm and wet. Wow.

You might think the fun is over by now because we've dropped the little dude off and are on our way out for our hot date, but don't be deceived. Everyone knows bodily fluid soup has 4 main ingredients and the final one is not for the faint of heart. Johnny and I are holding hands and talking when I bring my other hand (don't worry, he wasn't holding the contaminated hand) up to my face and smell the distinct putrescence of poop. Apparently, I was not vigilant enough when I was changing Johnny boy's diaper and apparently I was not sanitary enough to wash my hands afterwards. Double yuck.

There you have it. Bodily fluid soup. Not recommended as a part of the daily diet but shout out to all those parents who know what I'm talking about.

While we are on the subject

Callie, Camille and I went out to The Cheesecake Factory and all I wanted was a hot fudge sundae. I was so excited when it came and I didn't realize that it might be a lot for one person to finish. Seriously, I was clueless as my sisters' jaws were dropping and their eyes got as big as saucers. I was oblivious to what the reactions were about until Callie said, "That thing is huge!" Well, I am proud to say that I finished 2/3 of it and couldn't polish the rest. Thank goodness for pregnancy cravings. Yum.

A little chocolate never hurt anyone...

What mom doesn't know won't hurt her.