Lots of fun pictures from our various Easter-weekend festivities are soon to come. But I wanted to take a second to throw this one up of Jon and Norah (the adorable baby of our friends Sarah Jane and Nathan) because it's a perfect example of why I love Jon so much. He just has a cute face.

Notice anything funny about this picture?

Yeah, that's not me.

It freaked me out too, but apparently I have a twin running around out there, wearing Aunt Maude glasses (that I kind of want-- Jon doesn't approve). I will admit that there is a part of me that wants to figure out who she is and meet her, if only to settle once and for all the irrational claim I made as a thirteen year-old that I had to be adopted (now looking more and more rational).

Twin, if you're reading, maybe we could get together and switch places for a week, kind of Parent Trap style. I could take over your indie craft fair responsibilities and you could figure out what I'm doing with my life. I think it's a pretty fair deal. Just let me know if you're interested.


P.S.- Also, does your indie craft friend happen to have a sister named Judy? They just look kind of similar, mostly in the forehead region.

So, we're back. And we had so much fun. And I am jet-lagged out of my mind.

So, while I get my head straight enough to sort through our approximately 4.5 billion pictures and make a proper blog post, here's a little nugget from how we spent our day yesterday. Let me just say that, if you have to be stuck in an airport, Copenhagen is the one to be stuck in. It's pretty fancy (Who doesn't need access to a Gucci store, Burberry store, Hermes store and a Ferrari dealership on the way to their connecting gate?) It's also pretty funny.




Yes, this is a real store. But isn't it also a state of mind? I like to think that I'm always... Soaked in Luxury.




But you know you've been a little too Soaked in Luxury when it comes to starving children and all you can come up with is "Who Cares?"




My favorite marketing message from the Danes, though, had to be this one for Sterling Airlines that we found on the baggage carts. I love people with a little self confidence.


I'll be back soon with more wild and zany moments from Eastern Europe (I promise I won't make you look at all the pictures. I'm saving up that kind of torture for when we have a kid). As much fun as it was, though, we missed you all and we're glad to be back.

Tired beyond all belief. Arms and legs heavier than you remember them. Lingering impaired judgment.

This weekend was fun.

Jon and I, Kristin and Craig and Emily, Tim and Claire made St. George our tranny nanny this weekend. We were all over it. From pedicures to golf to insane hikes, we were doing it all.

Let's start at Asia Nails.



Now, the name of the place says something before you even walk in the door. Once you're inside, Asia Nails does not disappoint. Great florescent light displays, a flashing lights/music/sound-animated bonsai Ewok village behind the register, a masterful Japanese water scene on the wall behind about 50 pedicure stations... this is where the real magic happens.




Imagine our disappointment when our nail technician turned out not to be Edison (the Asian dude with the over-exaggerated accent who thought it was the funniest joke ever to ask Emily about nine times whether her baby was for sale) but rather this girl.





But she was great. Not only did she do a totally passable job on our pedicures but she also told us about her domestic bliss with her boyfriend of seven years who, and I quote, "always knows exactly what flavor of energy drink she wants." She also tried to make us really jealous by telling us that he brought her a Diet Pepsi at work the other day held by a stuffed koala bear. She was really loading it on. Another funny moment of the pedicure? Realizing that I had chosen a nail color called Fuzzy Navel. Really? Someone needs to fire that nail polish namer. He is really off the rails.






Next, let's move to the pool. If I could sit by the pool and read a book all day, I would be happy. But if you could also toss in a totally adorable baby who went swimming for the first time, I'm totally sold.



Also, we all discovered that we are, in fact, now lame grown-ups who, rather than all jumping in the pool later that night, would rather sit around the edge and put our toes in. Maybe we really do need some alcohol. It was pretty fun, though.





Last stop, Zion's. I love this place. Claire was so cute in her little back-pack. Jon put on three layers of sunscreen (he kind of missed his whole nose-cheeks- ears area the day before). And we all went up the Emerald Pools trail.




Later, Kristin, Craig and I decided to do Angel's Landing which is, in Kristin's words, "a little messed up." But it was all worth it when we hauled ourselves up to the very top and then spent a half an hour up there enjoying the insane views and talking to this young German couple who were there vacationing. We did teach them the word "skanky." It was kind of a proud moment for me.







Anyway, it was a really fun little trip. And now I'm back at work and I'm totally trashed. It's the circle of life.

My little sister Alison graduated from high school this weekend and I'm so proud of her. I also can't believe how grown up I thought I was when I graduated. If I had continued to live my life by all the things I thought I had figured out at that point, I would now be a French Horn-playing, Lois Lane wannabe driving a Mini Cooper. Whew. Really dodged the bullet on that one.

Love you, Al.

Spending your weekend in Afton, Wyoming can get you thinking. You start asking yourself questions like, is that really a five year-old driving that ATV? And since when have men worn button-up sleeveless shirts? Tucked in?

Here are some of the better questions that came out of this weekend.


1) So this is what it's like to have grandparents? Grandparents were the point of this whole little trip, namely Jon's grandparents. I've never had the fortune of having grandparents who cared or knew much about my life (To be fair, it's not really their fault. Being dead and/or emotionally stunted by your childhood as an orphan are not entirely things under one's control). But I have to say, I now get what all the fuss is about. My inherited grandparents are kind of awesome. We came to stay with them for the weekend and they did such grandparent-ly things as insist on filling up our gas tank, teach me how to play Chinese Checkers, give me an amazing old red Schwinn bike and keep us fed with a constant stream of homemade cake and cookies. Sound like a ten year-old boy's dream? That's probably about right.

2) Do I want to be a farmer? The scenery was beautiful and there was nothing to do except enjoy it all weekend. Hence, for about ten minutes, I thought, "Maybe I just want to live on a farm, in the country." I got a pretty good fantasy going in my mind until I tried to imagine Jon milking a cow and me doing anything involving poo or bugs. Then I realized that what I really want is to read books all day and not have to go to work. Turns out, my dream life is not defined as "farmer" but more as "lazy."

3) Can you really pickle zucchini? The answer is, yes.

I've been a combination of lazy/busy the last few days and haven't gotten a chance to tell you how lucky I am. As of Sunday, I have officially been married to my favorite person ever for two years. To celebrate, he took me to Ruth's Chris on Saturday. My favorite part? The most delicious steak I have EVER had. I'm more into fish than I am into steak but I have to say, wow. My other favorite part? Valet parking our little Mazda and then realizing that they didn't even park it in their normal parking lot as to save room for oh, say, this Ferrari. Funny.

Love you, Jon.

Some weekends, I laze around and consider just feeding myself worthy work for a two-day period of time. As awesome as that sometimes is, there are other weekends that we actually do stuff. This was one of them. Here are a few highlights.


1) My Mom's Birthday. My mom is amazing. And she's now a sprightly 49. We had fun celebrating at Bambara on Friday night (Cool little hint... if you make a reservation and tell them it's someone's birthday, they apparently print you special menus with a birthday message. Way classier than singing waiters.) We then went and saw Iron Man (spoiler alert: the suit's most supernatural power is keeping Robert Downey Jr. sober). I totally loved the movie but I have to say that my favorite part of the night was hanging out afterwards and watching my mom giggle like a little girl at Jon Stewart's anti-McCain jokes on the Daily Show. Way to stay young, mom. Love you.

2) Lydia's Baptism. This was an interesting event for me because it did not feel like my little sister was getting baptized. It felt like my little sister/child was getting baptized. Because of how the adoption process worked with both Josh and Lydia, I got a lot of opportunities to perform mom-like duties when Lydia was a baby and my parents were in Russia for Josh. I also got to endure lots of nasty looks when I took her to the Bountiful Albertsons and everyone thought I was her teenage mother. And now she's eight and I honestly can't believe it. The whole experience has helped me realize how moms can do anything for their kids. It's amazing how much you can love another person.

3) Brian's Coming-Out Party. No, my brother is not gay. He's the only thing that Utahns may get more worked up about: a budding Democrat. And this weekend, I got to see him speak at the Utah Democratic Convention because he was running to be a national delegate. As a national delegate, he would get to go to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August and cast Utah's vote for his boy toy Obama. He did an amazing job and he won (against some stiff competition-- one of the guys he was running against looked just like Forrest Whittaker, I am not even kidding). I'm really proud of him. He looked so snazzy with his suit and delegate tags. Good job, buddy.

4) Mother's Day. Yes, my family really knows how to pack it in. My mom always gets to enjoy Mother's Day and her birthday within a few days of each other. I keep hoping that Jon will do like our ward does and get me a present on the whole "I'll be a mother someday" premise, but he doesn't fall for it. My favorite moments of the day both came courtesy of Josh. First, as my mom was opening her presents, he chimes in, "Ooh, mom, hopefully you'll get something cool... like cash." Then, when it came time for the primary kids' obligatory "Mom Medley," he went all American Idol on us, got right up on the podium (with the other, say, fifty kids to either side of him) and sang right into the microphone. After enjoying a two-song de facto solo, he then threw in a goofy skipping dance move to accompany the "Tra La La La La La La" chorus of "When We're Helping We're Happy." In his final shout out, he pointed straight at my mom, gave a thumbs up and winked. The primary leaders had nothing for that. I was dying.


So, as far as weekends go, it doesn't get much better than this one. Had the Jazz lost, though, it would be a totally different story.

This weekend had its share of expectations, both high and low. Expectations play a funny role in life. Is it better to expect everything and be inevitably disappointed at times? Or is it better to never expect anything and have occasional moments of surprised happiness? If you were to base your life philosophy on a movie and a concert (which is only natural), you'd probably come out with one of the world's great symbols tattooed on your arm: the yin-yang.

Which is what I did this weekend. Not the tattoo part. Just the "basing my expectations and happiness in life on a movie and concert" part.




THE YIN: Baby Mama

Everyone knows that I have a fake girl crush on Tina Fey. According to my husband, it's because she validates my life-long hope that a girl who loves to eat, write and quote Star Wars actually has a future as a semi-normal and successful human being. I also just think she is seriously funny. All that being said, however, I was seriously concerned about this latest movie venture. First, I found out that Tina Fey didn't even write it (dashed were my hopes for Maternity Mean Girls). Then, all the commercials made it look not only entirely predictable but also entirely not funny.

But I am a girl with loyalty.

We saw it on Saturday as we celebrated Jon's birthday with some of our favorite friends (You all now think I'm the manipulative wife who ropes her husband into seeing the movie she wants to see on his own birthday. But that's where you're wrong. He wanted to see it too. And it wasn't even his real birthday.) And the verdict: I laughed my head off. Yes, it was totally predictable. But it was also funny in surprising ways. And I left with thoughts of cheating on Tina Fey with Amy Poehler.

The zen lesson? Low expectations sometimes lead to higher pay-offs (somewhere out there, Michael Scott just said, "That's what she said.")








THE YANG: The Swell Season show

This show was the polar opposite in terms of expectations. We bought our tickets over three months ago. I not only love their album but also adore the movie that brought the two main players in this act (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) to Utah in the first place. And there's a magical combination of love, sacrifice and success in their story that everyone loves to believe is possible.

When we got to The Depot on Friday night, I started worrying if maybe my expectations were a little too high. There was a huge line of people waiting to get in and it made me a little annoyed (I really hate crowds). Plus, the lame snobby part of myself looked at the people around me and said (in my head), "You're only here because you saw these guys on the Oscars."

When the show finally started, I realized how stupid I was being. It really was an amazing show. Backed by members of The Frames (Glen Hansard's former band who is also definitely worth a listen), all of the songs that made me love the Swell Season took on an even greater life. And that's when I discovered why all of these people came out to this show: when someone does something that they really love and they put themselves completely out there for it, it speaks to people. Glen Hansard isn't the most technically accomplished guitarist out there. He only plays one guitar for the whole show and it's the same beat-up one he played in the movie. It's not about an impressive stage set-up or mixing or anything like that. It's just beautiful songs by people who love what they do. And it's a reminder to me to forget all of the unimportant things that you think hold you back from doing what you love and just try it. Because sometimes creating something beautiful and meaningful even in the face of imperfection is the most impressive thing.

It was a pretty perfect show, though.

The zen lesson? Sometimes, high expectations are good. It makes you remember that amazing things are possible when even those are exceeded.




So, there you go. I left this weekend with my expectations satisfied. And I'll try to avoid referencing the yin-yang ever again.

It's my cute husband's birthday. He's turning 24 (if he were writing this, he would insist on including some joke on how that would now make me 53 or something). I was going to compose 24 reasons why I'm glad he was born, but I thought I would spare you and keep it to three.

1) He loved me even more (or at least just as much) after he discovered that the only cookbook I had upon entering our marriage was a Star Wars cookbook. I am not even making that up. It takes a real man not to be scared off by the fact that your wife actually has a decent level of interest in making Yoda Soda. He's made up for all of this by being a very good cook in his own right and always makes sure that we don't starve.

2) He taught me how to play golf. It's in his own self interest but, let me tell you, it's taken a high level of patience and skill to accomplish. I used to think that I would rather spend a beautiful summer day shopping or at the pool or something. Now I've realized that cursing loudly and making excuses for my swing is way more fun.

3) We have more obnoxious inside jokes than I ever thought possible. "I don't know percentages." You know what I mean, babe.


I'm pretty lucky to have a guy who is this cool. Happy Birthday, honey, and thanks for being my best friend.

This post is a little bit late, but hey, I'm new at this. We'll just let it slide.

So, bright and early last Saturday morning, Kris and I headed down to the RC Willey on 2100 South. Why? Because we were doing something responsible and adult-like, like shopping for a tasteful microfiber sectional?

Nope. Because we were trying out for "Deal or No Deal." Along with about 15,000 other certifiably crazy individuals.

(One side-note: what is it about Utahns, that we get so worked up about getting rich quick and getting on TV? I can't cast stones because I was definitely in that line, but I can say one thing in my defense: I didn't camp out. And trust me, there was an entire tent village.)

Anyway, Kris and I have had this crazy idea for a while that we want to go on "Deal or No Deal" together. We even worked up a pretty good schtick that we thought would definitely get us on. Until we finally got to the front of the line and got separated into our casting group. Which consisted of a black Vietnam vet, a special-ed school bus driver and a 90 year-old grandma who watches every episode. I'm not even kidding. Who can compete with that?

Needless to say, we were the kids sent crying to the curb to sit and wait for our ride home (we didn't really cry. but almost.) And thus went a disappointing but extremely entertaining Saturday morning.

(In case you're wondering, yes, the guy in the picture did wait in line with his shirt off for over four hours. And, yes, he did artfully recreate the "Deal or No Deal" logo in black Bic pen on his chest. And, yes, I did pretend like I was making a phone call while taking a picture of him.)