Seis Puerqueños

So I decided to plan our dinners.  For a month.  I did it two or so weeks at a time, but switched stuff around during the week if needed.  And I think I will probably continue.  Because we ate really yummy things.  And I liked it, and was way less stressed than being pregnant and hungry at 6pm because I actually had food in the house to make.  Also I ended up cleaning the kitchen almost every night because I knew I would be making dinner the next night, and I didn’t even mind.  I made a lot of new breads and made something new or different almost every night.  It made it a lot easier to not spend one million dollars at restaurants too.  Also we found several new favorite foods, like this balsamic salad dressing and these pizza factory breadsticks.  So, there you have it.  In case you are reallllllly interested in everything I made, you can look here.

If you hate sleeping I highly recommend reading a book about psychopaths for an hour before bed.  And then you can lie awake wondering if 1% of the general population are really psychopaths (and way more in prison) and trying to calculate how many people you know and how many psychopaths by that calculation.  And then you will try to figure out who the real psychopaths are.  And after that you will feel safe because they live far away.  But then you will hear creepy noises in your house that you were already paranoid about every day you didn’t read about psychopaths and you will be concerned that some psychopath is coming to get you and your family.  After an excessively long time you will remember that psychopaths have no remorse and wouldn’t really care if you pleaded with them to not attack you and you will finally get to sleep because you decide that you can’t stop them so you might as well just get some rest.  Problem solved.

Last night Aaron declared I had to taste some grapes that grew in the yard.  I had already tasted many over the past few weeks, but now the red ones were ready.  I bit into a sour one and hurt my tooth on a seed before he could inform me there were seeds.  After removing the seeds from my mouth I declared it to be ok.  Appalled, Aaron declared “well it’s not quite broccoli or anything!”  To which I obviously replied, “yeah, I like broccoli a lot better than that grape I just ate.”  And then we laughed because what kind of weirdo likes broccoli better than grapes?  This weirdo.  Who also loves oreos and french fries from mcdonalds.  Sorry to give you a bad rap, broccoli.

shall remain mostly untold. It was a grueling 3 day passage.

We left Bellevue one evening after stops at Esther’s and chasing Kelsey’s dad at the Church. He gave the kids a ride in his race car around the parking lot and then we hit the road. Kelsey drove her new car (now in the shop) and I drove a small U-Haul truck. Eden came with us and helped Kelsey wrangle the kids.

The kids took turns riding in the truck with me. Harmon loved being a trucker, and Sammy liked being high-high-high. We made it as far as Sunnyside (between Yakima and Tri-Cities) late that night. Next morning we got up bright and early. Sammy first (as usual), I think.

We crossed into eastern Oregon but didn’t make it to our favorite McDonald’s in LaGrande in time for second breakfast, so we continued on to Pendleton for lunch at McDonalds. The kids got to play in the play area and ate their usual 1 1/2 nuggets under duress. Eden didn’t eat much more.

In the heat of the day we crossed into Idaho and were glad to see the sun go down. The truck had AC but the kids liked the windows down. But we kept trucking all the way to Burley where we spent the next night in close quarters. We went swimming in the chilly outdoor pool at the hotel in the cool breezy morning before heading towards Utah.

Idaho rest stops are the best, we we had fun running around and stretching at several stops. Harmon also liked that we parked next to 18 wheelers in the truck lot.

After a long desolate stretch we made it Arby’s in Tremonton. Spirits were high despite the feeling in my gut from a steady diet of fast food (which I hate, but Kelsey subsists on — I prefer different junk.) because we deemed the trip almost over. But our destination kept receding and it was after 4pm when we finally made it to our destination.

This was the last leg, and Sammy rode with me. Harmon took a nap in the car with Kelsey and Eden, but Sammy chattered with me happily all the way from Tremonton to West Jordan– pointing out red trucks (Harmon’s favorite!) and asking questions only a 2 year old can think of.

Finally we made it to Billie’s — but she wasn’t home. Her friend directed us to her mom’s house, where Kelsey chatted with her friend. They kids played with Sadie’s toys, and I fell asleep with the kids crawling over me.

But our trip wasn’t over yet, we still had to make it to our free apartment in Orem. My work paid for the move and we got to expense hotels, gas, and fast food — and a free month of rent at a nice furnished apartment with a playground, swimming pool, and sandy area.

After 2 weeks, though we’d found our house. The same evening we heard our application was accepted, we bought mattresses and had them delivered. The next day we stayed in our new house, and Kelsey brought over our boxes & bins 1 carload at a time until I got my pickup back from Montana… but that’s a different story.

Aaron claims that this doesn’t count because she “chose it herself”.  But he was assisting her and was in charge, so it totally counts.

So I took some birthday photos.  30 years old and 6 months pregnant.  Here are my most favorites.

If you are really into photos of us, you can get some more (May-August) here.

1. Feed myself lunch at Cafe Rio.
2. Pick up Baby Sister (now 13) from airport.  This is actually quite selfish as she is a huge help while visiting and we love to have her here.
3. Eat lots of double-stuffed oreos.  Sure I do this all the time but we are currently out and so that will make it special.  Especially since I will not feel guilty if I eat them for breakfast.  And snack.
4. Listen to my music all day long.  No requests for “Thriller” from Harmon or “a girl song” from Sammy will be accommodated.  Probably.
5. Take a picture of myself.  I have taken almost zero since becoming pregnant, and wish I had more.
6. Paint my fingernails.  Even if they only last one hour.
7. Write in my journal.  In the future I am always happy when I do this.
8. Give myself a hug.
9. Send someone something in the mail.  This is one of my most favorite things to do.  I really just ran out of time to get this one done.
SUBSTITUTE: Have surprise party with Eden and kids when Aaron and I got home from dinner. They decorated the house with streamers and cute signs and pictures and built me a cake out of oreos.  Did I mention how much we like Eden??
10. Stretch before bed. This will result in sleeping better.  I can’t tell if this contributed.  But it was good anyway.
11.  Watch 30 Rock during naptime. I had to do this while Eden played since they napped 2 whole minutes in the car.  Still good.
12.  Dinner at TBD restaurant. Pizza Factory.  Yum.
13. Open presents.
14. Take pictures of the kids.  Because I haven’t taken any in a month or two.
15.  Do no chores other than child daytime dishes.  Feel no guilt. I was feeling guilty until Aaron swept the floor for me.
16.  Take a bath.
17.  Turn the AC up as high as I want it.
18. Force everyone into a family photo.  Wearing whatever I want them to wear.
19. Load new books into Kindle.  Too much of a chore. (Ridiculous)
SUBSTITUTE: Watch Kid History in bed.
20. Trip to hardware store for: TP roll holders, towel racks, drill & screws (to hang pictures)
21.  Go to Ikea.  I just love going.  I know, I’m weird.
22. Write a letter to myself for my 40th birthday.  For some reason I love time capsule type things, and this will be good enough.
23.  Stay up way too late.  I love staying up, but the consequences are often too much to handle so I wimp out early. So it was only 10:18 but considering the time I woke up and my continual sleep deprivation and the fact I could not keep my eyes open (so old) I am counting it.
24. I will have to eat some sort of birthday dessert.  If I end up at Pizza Factory for dinner it will be the giant warm cookie topped with ice cream.
25. Make and eat homemade popcorn.  With too much butter and salt.  SUBSTITUTE: Pick bedtime stories.  I was too full from other eating to accomplish this so I picked a new one and made the kids read what I wanted because sometimes I don’t like what they pick.
26. Wash and dry my car.  I keep washing it but Utah water dries all ugly on it.
27. Eat lunch with Billie & Sadie. This was an extra good idea.
28. Buy hangers for my closet & kids closet. The lack has been driving me insane.  I’m so old.
29. Make Aaron tell me 30 things he likes about me. He did 52.  Nice.
30. Get a massage.

Not gonna lie, it was a pretty good day, and 30 is feeling pretty good.  Plus Sammy still says it’s my birthday because of the streamers everywhere, and I get to have a party on Saturday.  And celebrate with a cool lady friend next week.  Happy Birthday to me!

Pictures later today or tomorrow when I find the energy to load them.