Sweet Sixteen (6-3)

To celebrate my niece's 16th birthday we decided to check out what's the big deal with Taylor Swift last Saturday night.

First off, apparently, my 6 year old niece is her biggest fan:

Second off, one of my niece's is pretty much Taylor's look-a-like. So much so, that people in the box next to us kept trying to take her picture to do a comparison. It was a little awka-awkward.

Also -sickness update - we are in the middle of a real-life contagion. REAL LIFE. 5 of my students that work in my office called in sick today. FIVE! Henry and I are in recovery, Greg says he is 100% better . . . and my poor family that got sick on Sunday are also getting better. Heaven help us all. Sanitize yourself! I told our nanny to bathe herself in bleach - and so far it seems to be working. My fingers are crossed.

doomsday - or at least it feels like it

Whoa. I woke up on the extra extra extra wrong side of the bed this morning. Extra wrong side. I came into work and decided that it might be best if I just keep my office door shut and hunker down and hope for the dark cloud hanging above my head to pass. I'm still hoping.

Although I received this picture last night and it does make me smile - so maybe there is hope that the day will perk up?

apparently we know how to host a party

In honor of my sister's b-day we hosted family dinner. It's always fun to have guests over - and apparently they enjoyed themselves too:

And since Haylee was visiting (sans Cory) my parents decided now was the perfect time to have a grandkid picture.

The final results may not have been the best - but it wasn't for lack of trying:

weekend recap

So Rosscat had another exciting Scout camp adventure weekend. Which translates into me being footloose and fancy free. I decided to live it up and had a sleepover with two of my favorite three-year olds - Charlotte and Anna. Despite multiple attempts at separate sleep the only way they wanted to sleep was to sleep all together. For the record . . . I believe that Rosscat likely had a better night sleep on the hard ground than I did between two wiggly three year olds. Here, the ladies are pretending to be asleep - for the sake of the camera. They are ridiculous. And we love them.

i love . . . day 25

Here is some more bathroom/chalkboard wall scribblings. The Medusa makes me um - a little uncomfortable.

These love posts are getting old. I'm going to spice it up. Yesterday I realized that we accidentally bought two bags of red peppers from Costco. Whoops. In an effort to not let anything go to waste - I sliced up and roasted 4 red peppers. I ate 3.5 of them. How's that for spice? (They were delicious).

i love . . . day 23

Wow - with all these love posts - the shortest month of the year is starting to feel really really long. Only a few more days.


Today I love the fact that my nephew Davin is obsessed with pirates. He came to our house this weekend and well . . . there was only one thing he could draw on our chalkboard. One thing.

Yes, a whole wall in one of our bathrooms is a chalkboard. I envisioned it being graffiti-like. You know, like Gino's East's bathrooms, but in our house. Instead my nieces and nephews think it is for drawing pictures of themselves. However, Lauren did draw a picture of Medusa and put a rather cryptic/awesome message. Perhaps I'll love that tomorrow.

And although Davin's pirate/napoleon hat is hiding it - Sarah wrote, "Sarah is coolller than Drake" I'm sure this is a debate the two have all the time.

a brush with fame and a sleepover

First off - this past weekend we gave the nieces our Christmas present and had them over for a fantastic sleepover. We decided to take them to do something they have never done - go to a sports event. We went to the men's volleyball game and it was a hit for some and a miss for others. A definite hit was our electric blanket. Sarah is still talking about it's awesomeness. We got hit with snow that night and in the morning we made a "snow princess" although our neighbor later told us that she thought it was a goose.So this past week this man came to visit my office:
Because I don't watch "The Bachelor" (probably the one reality show I don't watch - I mean I have even been dvr'ing "Carnie Wilson - unstapled" and that's just sad). Anyway he was here doing some sort of interviews or something. I really have no idea. But I do know that many of my lady co-ed workers swooned. Really it was a brush with fame. Or at least pseudo-reality tv show fame. It changed my life.

Welcome to the family

On Friday we became aunt/uncle again to a beautiful baby girl. I think she looks like Shannon. Congrats Shan & Zack on number two! Now if we only knew her name . . . . since it appears they are still thinking quite a bit about it, any suggestions?

A blogging break

I've kind of been on a self-imposed blogging hiatus. In fact, I shouldn't even be writing this now. Instead I should be studying. I should be studying 24-7. But, in all actuality, I'm kind of sick of it. Seriously. According to my study books people are often transferring property to some person and then transferring it again to someone else. When does this ever happen in real life? Also according to my bar study books, there are a lot of murders, a lot of conspiracies, and really state and local governments are constantly passing discriminatory laws. Constantly. Anyway. So to take a break I thought I would provide you with what I do when I can't handle the fact that that once again someone trespassed on someone's property and caused a whole lot of damage.




So here goes:


We had this visitor. She (and her brother and her mom, Haylee) were our first overnight guests. We tried to show them a good time by providing high heels for the Miss Charlotte to walk around in (she does a better job than I). We also provided sock monkey sheets for her bed where she proceeded to jump up and down on it and sing "no more monkeys jumping on the bed." I wish they could have stayed longer. I also wish I was on vacation with them and pretty much everyone else right now in St. George. Stupid bar. I'm not bitter. Just kind of.

I also thought, in the interest of full disclosure, that I should provide you some pictures of how our remodeling/ move is going. Well it's going very well. Just take a look at these pics of the master bedroom and bathroom:

Um yeah. Maybe by 2011. Maybe. Also that cookie monster is left over from the visitors. Although I think that Ross wants to keep it. I'm still hopeful to be in our bedroom/bathroom by month's end but well - Ross is off on a canoe trip (again I'm desperate for a vacation - anywhere!) and I'm no help right now.

Okay back to it. Or maybe I'll go work on folding that mountain of clean clothes that haven't been put away. Oh dear - that's how much I'm tired of studying - I'd rather go fold laundry.

we're back!

We spent this long weekend hanging out with these two chicks at Disneyland. I think we pretty much made Charlotte's life because we sacrificed and stood in line for an hour so that she could meet Minnie Mouse. And I must also admit that seeing this made our admission tickets to Disneyland worth every penny. We also got to cart around Mr. EZ - who loves just about anything he can put in his mouth (just look at the size of those cheeks!)

And for good measure - I thought I'd also post a picture of Charlotte's helmet head. This is what happens when you have a can of extra strength hair spray and a great mom that does not let other things get in the way of her ability to do good hair. We miss them already!

Happy Birthday Davin!

In honor of this guy's FOUR year old birthday (a few days ago) - I thought I'd share some good pics of Davin doing what he does best - dressing up.

sweater capes

Today I'm grateful for sweater capes. Particularly the sweater cape I made for Miss Charlotte for her two-year old birthday. It was meant to be a poncho but due to my inept pattern reading ability (I only increased two on the round instead of three) it turned into a sweater cape. Which is actually perfect because we all know how much Oprah/Pam and Liz Lemon love sweater capes. Maybe I intentionally made the mistake. Nevertheless, after a bit of cajoling and a lot of exclaiming how amazing Charlotte looked in her sweater cape she started to kind of like it too. At least to my face.

he made it!

Today I'm grateful that this:

became this:

8 lbs 11 ozs - 21 inches long - baby boy - congrats to Kevin and Telacia - this really is the miracle baby.

Introducing . . .

There's a new nephew in the house - Ezra Michael Carlston. He arrived safely weighing in at 8 lbs 6 ozs - chubby and a little red. Here's some shots of my brother's family and their new addition. I love the family picture because there is Charlotte - looking a little concerned as a new big sister and reminding the camera that she is still #1. And yes, my sister-in-law, Haylee, is amazing - she looks that good in the hospital after her natural childbirth. The single picture of Baby Z? Well he looks a little concerned about his new surroundings - just give him time - he'll realize how lucky he is to have such great parents.

You may be wondering . . .

Due to our geographic "separation" Greg and I have been spending a lot of time apart. Part of me wonders what he is doing without me around to entertain him because let's face it - I'm his pride and joy - however, I was reviewing my camera and I realized, "duh" - I know exactly what he is doing even when I call and he says he is "packing."This is what I have been doing . . . being the aunt extra-ordinaire.

Just because I don't want you to miss this

My sister posted this picture of her daughter and my niece, Anna, and I can't help it - I find myself clicking over to her blog simply so I can look at this picture - so so so so cute.

See who's three!

Happy Birthday to our nephew, Davin. Here he is sporting our "early" birthday gift - a monster hat (I know a homemade hat is probably not what he really wanted for his birthday but I really wanted to make it for him and since he is only three I decided that I knew best).

Congrats to us for receiving "The Aunt and Uncle of the Year" Award

It is official. We are the #1 Aunt and Uncle. I mean how could we not win when we return home from China and give all these kiddies outfits like these? On a sidenote - congrats to Oliver for finally making the blog - we have kept his handsomeness in hiding for far too long.

Eight is Great - part two

We are aiming high for the whirlwind traveler award. This past weekend we went to Utah to see our niece, Elise, be baptised. It was a short trip - especially if you factor in the fact that we were still suffering from jetlag from China. However, it was totally worth it. Here is a before and after shot of Elise - I think just about every eight year old will be jealous of her awesome baptism and confirmation dresses - I'm jealous and I'm older than eight.

Eight is Great!

Happy Birthday Elise Kristina Finlinson! (Yes, she is my namesake).

Our niece, Elise, is absolutely fantastic. She turns EIGHT today. Here is a picture of Elise, being awesome, pretending to me, who was pretending to be Joanne Whorley. It really doesn't get much better than this. Also this is a picture of the dolls we are sending you in the mail. Sorry we are so late getting it in the mail. We'll see you at your baptism next month!