Oh Bane of my existence!

Death by COMPUTER . . .

Click on this link only if you wish to have your life sucked away from you! This game is so fun and addicting. And suddenly my house isn't so clean. My baby isn't getting all the attention she wants. And my book is going unread. Someone needs to ground me from the computer, quick!

Yes, we have no bananas.

There is one teensy problem with the power of communication. Disillusionment.

Juliet: na-NA-na
Kristina: we don't have any bananas.
Juliet: na-Na-na
Kristina: we don't have any bananas.
Juliet: na-Na-na-Na-na-Na-na



Brett runs to the store.

Juliet's victory banana dance.

There is one teensy problem with communication. My disillusionment with my ability to say no to my baby's every desire.

This week in Primary I learned . . .

the chairs on the stand in the chapel are not designed for children.

The primary program is coming up so today we had to practice. Although we teach the 10 year old Valiants the primary pres had me sit with the rather larger 6-year-old class. Rather larger and rowdier, I should say. To be fair, 2 hours is a long time to sit folded up like a taco in a big red chair. This is probably why most of the practice I watched 6-year-olds shoot up and down like popcorn in an airpopper.

It has been a fun experience. It has especially been nice for Juliet since primary kids tend to be more tolerant of a crazy one-year-old than the relief society ever was. And of course kids have a different spirit than adults do. It's been nice to be in such a worry-free environment. The last thing on a primary kids mind is the economy, or the up-coming election (unless their 4th grade teacher decides to ruin their voting lives by running a mock election). It has been refreshing. We'll see how long that feeling lasts!

Halloweenie

Happy Halloween!
We had a pretty uneventful Halloween. We had a ward party where we threw together a makeshift halloween costume, inspired by my big brother Daniel. It didn't occur to us that we no longer attend a married student ward until we were already on our way to enjoy ward Chili.
Sure enough! We were one of maybe two couples that dressed up. Oh well, it was fun anyway. Juliet made an adorable nose.
We had a pumpkin carving party about a week ago (and have since learned a valuable lesson: do not carve your pumpkin a week before Halloween. It was always okay in Rexburg where the cold would preserve the pumpkins forever. In texas they are noticeably depleted the next day.) It was a lot of fun! We are trying to make new friends, which has been hard for me since the only time I get out of the house is on Sundays. And on Sundays I am in the primary (did we mention we are the 10 year old "Valiant's" teachers?) so it was nice to get some people over.
Actual Halloween was kind of a drag. Brett had to work that evening so I was stuck at home with Juliet with no car and no second eyeball. And no trick or treaters! Our neighbor Ruth came over to trick or treat so I gave her a hefty handful of nerds and dots. We saw no one else. Sad! Juliet did find a box of nerds, which after some manipulation she managed to break into. And thoroughly enjoy until I managed to sweep them up. :) She is such a character and we love her so much! Brett got home about 10:30, so to celebrate the Pratt's came over with Tod and Emery and we played games until we were about dying of laughter. or Exhaustion. It was a good ending for an otherwise disappointing day. I'm excited for next year when Juliet will be old enough to trick or treat!!

Today I voted - and it COUNTED!

Well, since I write the blog entries they are all of course going to be a little biased towards my point of view. Especially this one, where I will admit a slightly embarrassing truth about myself.

I am afraid of voting.

It all stems back to the 4th grade. Yep, all the way back to the 1992 presidential elections. Mr. Palmer thought it would be a great social studies lesson to hold a mock election so we could learn the voting process. We had to register a party, research the candidates, and then, when the big day came, vote for our educated choices. I don't remember why, but my 9-year-old logic decided that Ross Perot would be the perfect president. I was ready to make my voice heard!

The big day arrived. Our classroom bathroom was transformed into a voting booth. I watched in anticipation and excitement as each of my classmates entered the "booth" one by one until finally, it was my turn.
I picked an empty ballot out of the sink, took my pen in hand, ready to mark a bold X next to the name of the great Ross Perot . . . but something was terribly amiss. There were several boxes. Lots of names I didn't recognize. And a hole punch. What the heck was a hole punch for?
After some scrolling I did finally locate Perot's name, which I circled a few times for lack of a better option, then stuffed quickly into the ballot box. Then I left the booth feeling confused and embarrassed.

When we came to class the next day the votes had been counted and the results posted on the black board. I don't remember the tally for the candidates, but I do remember a fourth tally that had been written on the board. Invalid ballots: 1.

I had done it wrong. I knew it in my heart of hearts. I filled out the ballot incorrectly and my vote didn't count.

This one small epiphany has haunted me for 16 years. I am sure my 4th grade teacher meant well, but I was scarred for life.

This year I studied the candidates. I checked out the local elections. I decided who I wanted to vote for. I registered. And I voted.

You can not imagine my relief when that little digital American flag waved in the digital air, signifying a ballot well-cast. A vote that counted. A constitutional right excercised. A 16 year old fear laid to rest at last.

Punkin Paradise!

Every October mom and dad took us to the pumpkin patch. Every year. Pumpkin Patch. Without fail. This was just how the world worked.

So I believed for 18 long wonderful years. You can imagine the terrible surprise my first October in Rexburg presented. There was not a single pumpkin patch in the entire city.

My second Halloween my roommate Chandee and I set out on a 5 hour long expedition to discover a pumpkin patch in the outlying areas. We were thwarted and had to resort to buying our pumpkins at Albertson's.

Pumpkins don't grow in Chile. They do have these incredibly giant squashes that would work well, except you can only purchase them by the slice. And going to the outdoor market to purchase a slice of giant squash didn't really leave me with the same warm fuzzy pumpkin patch feeling.

Well now we live in Lubbock. And some things have got to change around here. Luckily Brett is very patient and loving and most important, humors me.
Juliet had a blast with the mini pumpkins. She thought they were meant to be picked up and dropped. Which she did quite effectively with several of them. Luckily none of them busted open cause we didn't want to pay for them, just enjoy watching her pillage mini-pumpkin town.


Brett was the official pumpkin transporter of course. He did a great job! And as a just reward I gave him a dollar to shoot the corn cannon. (I'm the official cash transporter.) He almost won a free t-shirt. Well, I guess since we payed $1 to almost win it, it was more like a dollar t-shirt. But he didn't win. I think he still had fun though.


All in all I think it was a pretty succesful day. :)

Tree of Life

So the three of us went to hang out on the tennis court to enjoy a nice beautiful fall day. (We don't have any grass to hang out on because too many dogs live in our complex.) Juliet has been very camera shy. Well, not so much camera shy as camera rebelious. Every time I attempt to take cute pictures of her I end up with lot of shots of the back of her head, a couple where she is only half in the picture, and if I'm lucky, one great one that is slightly out of focus. Well today was no different. Brett tried to distract her with a tennis ball while I secretly photographed her, but she was so on to us.
About this time a healthy gust of wind rolls a giant seed in between my feet. I stoop to examine it only to discover . . . a pecan? In the middle of the tennis court. I couldn't be too sure, so I cracked it open under my heel.
It was delicious! Now to discover the origins of said nut.
As it turns out, the kind of ugly tree that hangs over our tennis court is a pecan tree! I shared the joyous news with our neighbor (after picking up all the pecans, of course -- maybe that was a little shady. Havilah, you be the judge!! :) .
A couple days later we made another brilliant discovery. The complex is full of pecan trees! Which, obviously called for a scavenger hunt. Rahel and Tyler mostly picked up rocks and clumps of dirt (I had to throw their bags out soon after because bugs kept crawling out of them) but Brett and I got another hefty bag of pecans. Now if we only had a way to shell them. . .