Some Random Thoughts

It's snowing. Again. I've lost track of how many storms we've had in the past three weeks. Oh, and guess what? More snow scheduled for next week. I only like the snow when we get enough to keep Jon from going to work.



"Runaway Jury" is possibly the stupidest movie I've ever seen. I will never get those two hours of my life back.

(This picture gives me the giggles)

I'm currently reading "A Conflict of Visions" by Thomas Sowell. One of the very best books I've ever read. Even if it is like reading a textbook. And even if it keeps giving me weird dreams about the constrained and unconstrained visions. In case you care: "Runaway Jury"? Textbook unconstrained.

Seth has taken to imitating every word we say. Some stick and become new vocabulary words (hot, cold, dump truck); most are one-hit wonders (chives, belly button, monster truck).

I'm looking for new recipes. Please share. Specifically meatless main dishes, Asian, or crock pot. Oh, and bread machine recipes.

(Yes, this is my exact bread machine. And I love it.)

I finally used my bread machine to make bread. I've had it a year now (I use it all the time to make dough) and figured I should give it a shot. First loaf: brick. Then I read the instructions. Second loaf: fabulous.

(This is NOT my exact rice cooker. But it's pretty darn close.)

Why did I wait 4 years to buy a rice cooker? For only $13 I could have saved myself SO much trouble. Or maybe I'm the only person who can't cook rice. I swear to you I can cook rice EXACTLY the same way EVERY time, and heaven only knows if it will be sticky, crunchy, or perfect. But not anymore. Perfect rice, every time. (I sound like an advertisement, don't I? Well, it's the TRUTH!)



I can't do Tae-Bo. I can get either my feet or my arms going. Not both. And definitely not at tempo. Why did I ever think I could dance?

Speaking of exercise: anyone have any good cardio workouts I can do indoors (as in 'at my house' not 'at the super expensive gym that I would never go to because I refuse to exercise in front of anyone except Seth') ? Because I'm not busting out the jogging stroller in 2 feet of snow.

(I have no idea what this is. But I bet it makes an awesome noise.)

Seth is working on his animal noises. He knows the lion, elephant, cat, cow (well, he says "boo" instead of "moo", but it's close enough), and monkey. I've tried for days now to teach him that a bear says "grrr", but he just keeps saying, "Bear! Bear!" and then giggling at me when I growl. He also knows what fire trucks, trains, and airplanes say. My personal favorite? "Seth, what does the doggie say?" Seth: "No! NO!" (complete with finger wagging). Thank you, Aunt Kenna, for that one.



We went to Olive Garden today for our Valentine's date. We came to the conclusion that from now on we will both order the Braised Beef and Tortelloni every time. One of us always gets it, but then the other person ends up unhappy because their dish is never as good.



Speaking of restaurants: Red Lobster stopped serving Lobster Bisque (quite possibly because it was so rich that it was killing off their patrons). And the past two times we've eaten there, the always-delicious rolls were just kind of blah. So now the only reason we go there is for Endless Shrimp. Red Lobster--your stupid 'health conscious' menu changes are losing our business.




I've been really good about keeping my New Years Resolution about eating at least one serving of veggies every day. But I'm starting to think that I'm negating the benefits of eating all those spinach salads by smothering them in Caesar dressing (which, believe it or not, is WORSE for you than Ranch, my other love). The weird thing is that it's the 'one FRUIT a day' that I'm struggling with. If only potatoes were a fruit...



I just finished reading a book that advocated eating only things that were grown within 15 miles of where you live. I think this is an exceptionally stupid idea. Because I would rather die than give up avocados, and there are no avocado trees between me and Florida. What a stupid book.


Seth is doing really well in the nursery, 80% of the time. The problem with being an only child is that 95% of your life is spent in a nice, quiet house. So when we shove him in a tiny room with 12 other kids, he can't handle the noise and a kind nursery worker ends up taking him in laps around the building while he sobs. I'm assuming by kid #3 these kinds of problems disappear of their own accord.


I wasn't kidding around when I titled this post. And it's still snowing.

Lookin' Out My Back Door

We thought the 6 inches of snow last weekend was impressive. And then the 5 inches on Tuesday. But even combined together, those two storms amounted to less than half of the snow we got today. Our official yardstick on the deck says 22 inches of snow, but there were deeper patches out front.

"Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn"This is Seth immediately after stepping off the front porch and into a snow drift.
He didn't think it was as funny as we did.

Our cul-de-sac, mid-blizzard:

Believe it or not, that is our car buried in that drift.

And that is our son, who is also buried in a snow drift.

(Okay, he's actually just walking between two drifts)

What do good parents do when they don't have a sled?
Rig up a white trash sled using Tupperware and a jump rope.
It worked pretty darn well, too.

Needless to say, we will be enjoying a churchless Sabbath tomorrow. And considering the two feet of snow still on the road, I'm hoping to enjoy a Jon-workless Monday, too.

Let it SNOW!!

Since we were basking in the 70 degree Arizona during the big "2 feet of snow in 24 hours" storm in December (absolutely no regrets about that one), today was Seth's first time playing in the snow.Of course, he's been miserably sick: perpetually runny nose, fever, terrible cough (part of this is teething). But did that stop us from bundling him up and letting him run around for half an hour in the the cold? No way. We have our priorities.We weren't sure how he'd react--Seth HATES the cold. He cries when we change his diaper, insists that we warm up his milk before he'll drink it, and refuses ice cream. Much to our surprise, he LOVED it.

What to do first?

What IS this stuff?

Some patches were up to his knees

Slides are way more fun in the winter

Best. Day. Ever.

He didn't want to come in, despite the fact that he was coughing up a lung and had snot running down his face (nice picture, isn't it?)

We had about 5 inches when we were outside playing, and it's still coming down. But we are definitely NOT hoping church gets canceled so we can sit at home in our pajamas. Because that would be wrong. Very wrong.

(Keep it coming!)

An Honest-to-Goodness Miracle

Seth just saw my picture on Jon's desktop.

Guess what he said?

"Mama!"

And he just ran up and gave me a kiss.

I love being a mom.

PS--So there, Uncle Timmy! I hope he's almost 12 before you can get him to say YOUR name.

I Am Resolved...sort of...

First of all, let me just sing the praises of Colorzilla. If you mess with your blog as often as I do, this little tool is absolutely essential. I'm in love. (Side note: you have to be a Firefox user.)

Second, my resolutions for 2010. I'm writing these down so I have to be accountable to someone other than myself.

My thoughts on New Years' resolutions:

Jon doesn't believe in them, and I completely understand. If you need to fix something, just fix it. Don't wait until the New Year. However, those of us with less self-discipline like having a fresh beginning (like a new year) to catalyze our resolve.

My resolutions aren't big things. I'm never tempted to pick things like "create a more peaceful home" or "become more spiritual." While those are nice, wonderful resolutions, they are totally undefinable. There's no way to measure peace or spirituality, which makes it hard to know if you're doing things right.

My theory is this: stick to the concrete. You want a more peaceful home? Fabulous. Now what can you actually DO to create one?

I'm also not a fan of gigantic leaps forward. Ideally, yes, I would love to spend 30 minutes every day studying my scriptures. I can resolve that all I want, but it's not going to happen. So I start small. Last year my goal was to read the scriptures every day. One verse, one paragraph--didn't matter. I think I was 100% successful. This year I'm pushing for 10 minutes every day. And I can honestly say that I've already blown it, but that's okay. Resolutions shouldn't be about a perfect track record: they should be about creating new habits.

So here are my resolutions for 2010:

#1 Read my Book of Mormon for 5 minutes every day

#2 Pray every morning and evening

#3 Smile every day

(If the above resolutions sound familiar, odds are good that you're working with the Young Men/Women.)

#4 Read my scriptures for 10 minutes every day (including the 5 minutes of BOM above)

#5 Exercise at least 30 minutes every week
(See what I mean? Definitely not pushing myself here.)

#6 Eat at least one fruit and one vegetable every day. Make sure there's a veggie with dinner every night.
(Thank heaven I love spinach salads. Otherwise this resolution just might kill me.)

So there they are. Like I said, I've already blown them all, but I'm still trying. And if I succeed, next year I'll push a little harder.

Baby steps, people, baby steps.

And if I had a Wii Fit I'd totally exercise more than 30 minutes a week (hi, sweetie!).

Seth at 18 Months

Several months ago I asked Jon when Seth would officially stop being a baby. We decided around 18 months old we would have to admit he's not a baby anymore--he's a toddler.

Well I take it all back. I am NOT ready to give up my baby yet.

So, at 18 months old, our BABY is 24.5 pounds, 33 inches tall. Which pretty much makes him taller than all the other kids his age in our ward.

At 18 months old, Seth is:

*Absolutely, totally, psychotically obsessed with cars. If happens to see one in a book (or webpage, or movie or toy), no matter how tiny, he goes completely nuts. "CarsacarsacarsacarsaCRASH!" We currently have about 75 cars in various sizes around the house.

*He's understanding more of what we say. He understands and (generally) obeys "sit down", "lay down", and "get your shoes." He's also understands the word "food" now--it's no longer all called "cheese."

*He would probably spend all day on his slide if he could. Unfortunately he's been trying to stand on it, which makes me completely paranoid.

*All teeth are in besides the two bottom eye teeth (which are pushing through as I write this) and his 2 year molars. Hallelujah.

*His favorite foods at the moment are craisins, pistachios, M&Ms (he only gets one or two a day), ham, pasta, strawberries and cottage cheese. He has decided he no longer likes bananas or peas-and-cheese (he decided this AFTER I made a huge batch of it).

*Favorite movie? Cars, of course. Hercules has been supplanted.

*New words: "cuck" (truck or duck), "baby", and "oh, wow." That last one is said very sarcastically, since he learned it from his dad's sarcastic reading of a bedtime story. But pretty much the only things we hear all day are "car", "crash", and "please."

I had to (unexpectedly) deal with another "my baby is growing up" change this week: moving to his "big boy" room. We have two bedrooms down the hall from our bedroom. One is the nursery, the other has bunk beds in it for when Seth gets older.

I had no intention of moving him out of the nursery. He can't climb out (hasn't even tried) and no other babies need in. Plus it's just a cute room.

Unfortunately, the nursery shares a wall with our neighbors who have two boys. They have bunkbeds, which means every weekday morning at 7:15am, they jump off and run downstairs. Which means every morning at 7:15am, Seth wakes up screaming. After a week of this, we decided to set up his Pack-n-Play in the other room. I hate that my son has to sleep in such ghetto conditions, but at least he SLEEPS. I can't wait for the day we no longer share walls with our neighbors.Today was Seth's first official week of nursery. By "official" I mean "legitimate." We snuck him into my parents' ward nursery for two weeks at Christmas and tried to sneak him in ours last week. No luck.

Nursery is the greatest thing to happen to us. Seth was SO ready--he never looked back; just headed straight for the cars. And oh my heavens was I ready. As much as my Beehives loved him distracting them from the lesson, I was done. And you know what? He was SO good in sacrament meeting today. Didn't have to take him out once (as opposed to every other week, when he's out the ENTIRE time with Jon). I love nursery.

In other news, I got to make another cake last week for a friend in the ward. I really, really love doing this--I don't have much time for creative things right now, so I really enjoy getting to design cakes.Yes, I know this picture is sideways. I've rotated it every direction and Blogger won't recognize it.
And guess who saw the cars on the cake and was pretty dang sure the cake was his?
He went into complete hysterics when she drove away with the cake. Guess I know what I'm doing for his next birthday...

Why do they have to grow up so fast?

The Christmas Post a.k.a. If You're Not Family, You Won't Care

Per the official request of the Blood Family, I am updating my blog.

(Because heaven knows I don't want to get on my in-laws' bad side. They might send Joanna after me, and I'm pretty sure she could take me. She's 11.)

December 12th was our ward Christmas party. One day I will get to be the one enjoying a pleasant chat with friends while being served a delicious dinner instead of the one slaving away in the kitchen and bossing the youth around.Seth met Santa Claus and did remarkably well considering he was in melt-down mode. He even got a candy cane, which he shattered on our front porch before he even got a taste. His face in our family picture pretty much sums up the night:

Thank heaven for pacifiers. He can keep it until he's 13 for all I care.

We opened some presents before we left since there was no room to pack them. I got a brand new frying pan from Joanna, and Seth got cars and a racetrack from Grandpa & Grandma Blood.
It ended up being cheaper for us to buy a hotel room by the airport and shuttle over than to pay for parking, so we headed down to Baltimore on the 17th. I was nervous to spend the night in the same room as Seth (past experiences were awful for all of us), but he slept straight through the night.

Until 4:45 am, when we woke him up because our flight was at 7 am. Considering we spent 7 hours on the same plane stuck in a window seat without a window, Seth did pretty well. Not great, but not awful.

My mom picked us up in Phoenix and we wandered around the temple grounds until Marah & Kenna landed two hours later. This is a fair summary of how we felt:I don't think I've ever looked forward to a vacation as much as I did this one. For almost 3 weeks I would have a break from church responsibilities, cleaning, and piano teaching, and a semi-break from cooking and Seth-tending. I needed it.

My phone died the day after we got there. I didn't charge it until the night before we left. That, my friends, is a true vacation. Not to mention that the weather was in the 60s to 70s...sunny and delicious.

We dove straight into the celebrations. First, my dad's birthday. We're not allowed to publicly announce his age. Let's just say it rhymes with "nifty-poo."(No, I am not that short. I was standing on my tiptoes to be as tall as Jon & Kenna, who were on theirs. I fell right as the picture snapped.)

There was also a cookie-decorating extravaganza involving all the Mikesell girls:

Where, you ask, were the Mikesell (and Blood) boys?
Seth was asleep.
My dad and Jon were watching the same football game.
On two different computers.
In two different rooms.
Both with the volume turned all the way up.

The Blood Family: Cookie Edition
(Looks like Jon's been hitting the Christmas treats a little too hard)

We (meaning Marah, Mom, me, Seth, Beth & boyfriend) went on a Christmas-light viewing "hayride" around our neighborhood. All I have to say is: LAME. Come on, Copper Creek! Impress me next time! At least there were free cookies and cocoa.

Other family activities: dinner at Macayo's (so good), Wii battles (I am the 3-point basketball champ, Jon is the golf champ), and family pictures:

Dad & Seth.
Oh, and Kenna. But we don't talk about that.

Can't forget our annual visit to Winterhaven:

Seth's favorite display?A car.

Christmas Eve was fabulous. We had a yummy Mexican dinner of enchiladas, beans, and zucchini, followed by fried ice cream and alfajores. Our program for the evening was, of course, the Nativity, starring Seth and Emily (next-door neighbor).

And what happens when Joseph and Mary are both under the age of two?Well, Joseph will require a pacifier because he's being a whiny-face, and Mary won't go anywhere near him.

Also, about the time the 3 Wise Men show up, Joseph will make a frantic getaway attempt on the donkey. He's not sure he's ready for all the responsibility.

Our Nativity Cast

And Jon loved his pink sparkly crown. His comment? "I feel like I should be wearing tight silver pants."

Later that night we opened our Christmas Eve gifts (a book on Isaiah for Jon, pajamas for those of us who aren't ridiculously picky pajama-wearers) and headed for bed.

Seth broke the "no one comes down the stairs until everyone's awake" rule because he was a grumpyface. We fed him and hauled him back up to wake up his aunts. Because I truly, truly love my sisters, I will not post the picture from Christmas morning (though I am sorely tempted).

And what did Santa bring Seth?

A car.

And what did Seth get when he opened his gifts that afternoon?More cars. (Anyone else seeing a trend here?)

After Christmas we spend a lot of time just relaxing. There was a lot of Halo playing:

A lot of Wii playing:

A lot of playing with all of Grandma's cool toys:

And a lot of playing with Grandma's "not actually toys but way more fun than real toys" toys:

Later that week my Grandpa & Grandma (and cousins Cam & Leighton) came down from Utah to celebrate their 50th anniversary with us. We are a very, very attractive family.

Want to guess what Seth had Grandma doing almost the entire time she was in Tucson?

Yep. Playing cars.

We celebrated New Years Eve with a surprise visit from Kenna's almost-fiance, Brian, who drove all the way down from Utah to see her (and then didn't propose! Why, Brian, why?!) We did our toasting at midnight East Coast time (2 hours early) so the grandparents could be there to enjoy with us. We Mikesells sure love our alcohol. That is, we sure would love our alcohol, if we weren't Mormon and didn't drink it. But boy do we love that Sparkling Grape & Cider...

Soon after New Years our vacation started coming to a close as family members left for home/college. We still had a few days in Tucson, so we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and brought Seth for his first zoo visit.
A quick summary: elephants, giraffes and polar bears are very, very interesting. Tigers are scary, especially if they snort while walking straight at you. Peacocks are not even worth noticing.

Seth's favorite animal at the zoo?A car.

I loved being home so much that I tried to make us miss our flight with a sudden bout of vomiting. Unfortunately, by the time we needed to leave for the airport I was feeling up to flying. It wasn't the most miserable flight I've been on (that would be the 5 hour flight from L.A. to Hawaii while 7 months pregnant) but it was a close second. Especially since Seth seemed to sense when I was most nauseous and would pick that moment to start crawling on me. It was a very long flight.

Let me just pause right here for a short disclaimer: I am not pregnant. That vomiting was a stomach bug, not morning sickness. Or if it is morning sickness, then Jon is pregnant, too.

And now it's back to reality. Thank you for a wonderful Christmas! We love you!And yes, Seth is completely, totally, obsessed with cars at the moment. At times, it's kind of unnerving how obsessed he is...