To My Luva....

Brit has taken a backseat to Lyla since she has been born. I can see in his eyes the jealousy everytime we stay in bed all day and make out. Or when we sing Endless Love to eachother. (He wants to sing the Lionel Ritchie part I just know it.) Or when I tickle her and nibble on her ears. She even gets to sleep right next to me under my mama bird wing.

I love her perfectly round bald head and her breath that smells like sweet milk and her neck that smells like stinky cheese. Oh wait this is about Brit....

Happy Birthday!!

to the most

white food fearin'

toe crossin'

lawn mowin'

british voice singin'

bad shoes judgin'

"I don't eat a whole lot of candy" sayin'

poopey diaper changin'

shoulder shaker dancin'

slurpee is the same as a smoothie thinkin'

door to door sellin'

toilet fixin'

late sleepin'

pretty green eyes havin'

on the potty readin'

dirty text sendin'

mint chip isn't the same as chocolate chip mint fightin'

babe around!

For my love on his 35 years on this earth. You are the Absolute Best...

husband, father, brother, son,son-in-law, assistant (to the) scout master, friend we could ever ask for!!

I Love You , wildcat!

This is Halloween! This is Halloween!

I think this is the first year we carved pumpkins. (when I say we, I mean Brit). They turned out really cute. He did a scaredy cat and a spider web.

Dad made them scrape out the guts and we sorted through to get the seeds. Although, I don't know if I cook them right because they tasted terrible.

We made caramel apples and the girls would only eat off the caramel. They kept asking for more "frosting".

Sharpay and Ariel. And yes, my kids are too young to know about HSM. I have the cousins to thank for that. She loved wearing the wig though. And Soph loved her red hair too. She kept saying,"mom, I look so beautiful!"

Aren't they cute?!

My little poodle. Her head wouldn't fit the dog head but I know she loved it!

Hair Today....

Somedays I get really good ideas. Somedays I get fantastic ideas. Some of my fantastic ideas have been marketed already. About 5 or 6 years ago I came up with what is now known as the Oral B "brush ups". I went to the place where you tell in detail of your wondeful invention that no one else has. They tell me it's going to cost roughly 9million dollars to start your wonderful invention. Then they give you that sad look with the tillted head and gently, but firmly see you to the door. And yes...2 or 3 years later my spark of genious is in every store ending in 'mart' across the nation.

I also like to think I came up with shade clothing in the 9th grade. I used an old 'units' piece under my t-shirt, for the illusion of a longer undershirt, because I didn't like my belly showing whenever I raised my arms. I would always think,'somebody needs to make a shirt that is long enough.' (And even though it was so hot for some people to show their tummies whenever they could at Gibson Jr. High, for someone who was as white as milk[as someone called me] it just wasn't that hot.)

Also that year or the next, I like to think I came up with the whole spanx idea. I always bought control top nude pantyhose in a size smaller than normal and cut the leggs off. Everytime I would put those control shorts on, they rolled right up my thigh sometimes causing numbness. I would always think,'somebody needs to make something that smoothes you under skirts and pants.'

So this morning I get an idea to cut bangs...

With the scissors in my hand, I get a mental image of Joey Ramone(the Ramones). That might sound weird to some, but not to me. You see... he is my less attractive man double. I like to think every woman has a man double and every man has a woman double. I have two men doubles. One cute... one, such as Joey, very much so unattractive.

My hair grows out, not down. With the wrong cut I could,(and have) look like a mushroom or a christmas tree. Add the curly bangs to that and Viola! Soup's on!
An idea of desperation. My hair has been falling out in rediculous fistfulls since I had Lyla. The Lord blesses you with thick shiny hair while you are pregnant, so you don't mind your ever growing belly so much. Then after, although I am thankful I HAVE hair-mind you, I don't want people to get too close because they will see my scalp.

Zippidee-A-and-Hi-Dee-Ho

A friend of mine does a birthday tribute for her girls on their birthdays. I think it is such a sweet idea, that I am stealing it! Chloe Marie....This is for you!

I had to put this one with Sophie...


25 Things you might not know about Chloe, the 6 year old.



1.You were born weighing a mere 5 lbs. 6 oz. By the time the doctor got you out, you were swimming in maconium. He shouts out, "she looks like a green smurf!"

2. Your first word was "mama." Your second word was "ow." Of course you would shout them both whenever we were in public places.

3. You love to look pretty,and you always do. It started at a young age, when you would only wear dresses and skirts. Moving back to Utah, you would get so upset if I wanted you to wear jeans, even if I prepped you the day before about having to wear them. (Scenario: "Chloe, please put these pants on. It's 20 degrees outside!" Sobbing, "No!! I can just wear this yellow skirt, I won't get cold I promise!" Gritting my teeth, "Chloe put the jeans on." "But mom, they don't have any stars or hearts or sparkles or anything! They're ugly!") Ahaaa....I got it then.

4. Anything you wanted to know how to do, you have taught yourself. You taught yourself to swim without floaties, dive, tie your shoe laces, blow bubbles with bubble gum, do a cartwheel, flip on the trampoline and in the pool, count to 100, spell words...dad and I can't even spell things anymore without you figuring out what we are saying. Anything you decide to do, I know you can do it!

5. You are so tender-hearted. You can't imagine anyone not wanting to play or a group not all getting along together. And you love having your friends around.

6.You have such a pretty singing voice! I love when you and Sophie sing songs around the house.
7. You are great at gymnastics. When you learned how to do flips and cartwheels, I knew you would love going to class. Now you stand on your head in the shower!

8. You are a very talented artist. My favorite was the whole group on Sponge bob. You even drew a customer at the Krusty Krab. I also love the family pictures you draw of all of us with heart heads.

9. Creepy crawly things really creep you out! It's funny when you just get paralyzed with fear when you see bugs, spiders and worms. At grandma's house, after it rained, you stood at the doorway and screamed because ALL the worms were out on the sidewalk. (To be honest, it completely freaked me out too. Some of them were a foot and a half long!)
10. You love shoving things into small purses, bags or boxes! Just like a little pack rat. When you were little, I found a coin purse filled with baby carrots.

11. You are the best biggest sister around! You are so helpful! You always do your best to make sure Lyla and Sophie are happy.

12. You love hearing stories about when you were younger. You even want to hear about mom and dad when we were younger too because you thought you were with us growing up!

13. You are so great at riding horses. You love to go for rides on Diamond with Lindsey. And you always love to feed the horses too.

14. You have such pretty straight hair. You say that you want curly hair like mom's, but I always want nice straight hair like yours! I love when you do your own hair and there are about 8 different clips right in front! You look so cute.

15. You have a great sense of style. Your hats or scarves or necklaces always seem to add just the right touch!

16. You aren't afraid to try new things. You are a daredevil! You dive into the ocean waves, jump off high jumps, try new and different foods, and anything else that looks like fun for you. And you always love it.

17. You are almost always happy in the morning. That has taught me a lesson or two.

18. You love school and never want to miss any of it. You are a great student too!

19. You love going to church and learning about heaven and why we are here on earth. You love primary and always sing the songs around the house.

20. You are a great eater! Sometimes you eat every hour, and ask what's for dinner.

21. When you do a full on belly laugh, it is the best sound in the world! Your laugh is so funny to me!

22. It's funny when you act like a grown up. You sit with your legs crossed, write in your diary, walk around while you are talking on the phone, and say adult things all the time.

23. When you grow up you want to be a cookie baker and a ballerina.

24. You made me a mom for the first time! I will forever be grateful for you.

25. No one has ever loved their 6 year old as much as we do! Happy birthday- we love you!!

These are the days to remember

Sophie with her Minnie Mouse backpack full of nothing.

We do a neighborhood extended playdate "preschool" twice a week. She loves going to school like her big sister. She comes and wakes me up everyday and says, 'mom, get up. It's time for my school.'

Chloe loves kindergarten and her teacher. She just started riding the bus too and thinks she is too cool.

The end of a comfy ride...?

Lyla Claire...We like her a lot!

Blessing Day at Aunt Margi's house, we had a fun day.


Blessing dress with Mom...the blessing dress is another story for another post. Ain't they beautiful? (this is brit...)

For the love of dairy

I love cows. I love the fact that all they have to do all day is eat. I would have even considered having one as a pet if I weren't severely allergic to their dander. Everything that is wonderful in this world comes from a cow... milk, cheese, steak, cheeseburgers, ice cream, butter, yogurt, chocolate. Brit and I have even had a big fight once over cheese. Smoked gouda. Mmmmm.
I have been sober from dairy for a week now. I miss it every day... every minute. So when Jonelle "Jojo Babbit" emails me and threatens to use force on me if I don't update my blog...(which is funny she did that because we would always wrestle in high school -in front of Robert Martin for some strange reason- and she would always be taken down! She really has no upper body strength) ...she gave me a list of things I could write about, and my love of cheese was on the list. *
(Some other things on the list were too personal to write about...the whereabouts of my green suede shoes with the black ribbon laces. I get teary just thinking about them and the joy they brought me.)
I just knew I needed to share. Now, you might be saying, 'Cristine- they make delicious soy versions of everything you mentioned. Whats the big deal? Buck up, camper!' But I failed to mention, I also am on the gluten free and egg free wagon. Some of the soy items contain wheat and egg. Ironically, some of the gluten free items contain milk and egg as well. What's a poor girl to do?! So why am torturing my body like this? Perhaps a new found health kick or road to a new self discovery? Maybe a new recipe for mood alteration? Maybe I am half vegan?

While I eat my butter pecan soy dream, I look at my sweet little bundle of love and her shredded, beet red cheeks, I could care less about those delicious dairy cows. ( Well- maybe I care a little when it comes to sees candies.) Her food allergy is more important than all the milk in Utah. When her doctor told me to go off gluten, dairy, eggs, tomatoes, and chocolate I thought 'hey, no big deal. I don't drink that much milk anyway. I don't eat that much bread.' The very first day Brit was making fun of me for acting like a homeless person looking in our cupboards. I was starving for the first 3 days. I even cried a little bit.

Now I feel better. I do think my new found diet actually has some mood alteration proponents. A few weeks ago, Chloe was saying the prayer. It went something like this..."please bless mommy to not be so grouchy and we won't have a bad day like we did today or yesterday or the day before..."

I haven't had a prayer like that since, so it's safe to say it was the wheat and cheese that made me grouchy.

*Author's note: I find it funny that after I write this I find a small pamplet about cheese written on Jonelle's blog http://thisishowwerolllv.blogspot.com/