HAPPY, HAPPY LIVVY

To the Birthday Girl, Liv!

OH, BY THE WAY...

The toothfairy is a fool.

She left $1.00 under the pillow and 25 cents in Liv's tooth holder.

This is why you're fat

I found an awesome website today that everyone should add to their reader...

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

SO, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH NO TV?

We're heading into our 3rd week without a TV.
(I believe it was either SoapNet or SpongeBob
that finally did it in.)

We've been waiting for the part to arrive,
but it's on back-order and we aren't sure
when it's going to get here.

Surprisingly enough, we've discovered
that one can survive without the boob-tube.

Here are a few things:

You become creative.

Your kids form their own rock band.
They call themselves the "Pinky Doodles" and
perform a live concert in your living room.

"Butterflies" is our favorite song!

You dust off the IPod.

You listen to Muse's "Blackholes and Revelations"
over and over again
and realize once again why this is one of the BEST albums ever!

BONUS: Your kids know every song by heart.
(Sadly, YOU still don't know the lyrics.)

You make a discovery.

You catch up on all your regular TV shows via Internet.
(Who would of thunk???)
This is known as "snuggle time"
because you literally have to "snuggle"
to be able to view the images on your laptop's 13" screen.

You take a chance.

While searching for celebrity news on www.imdb.com,
you come upon a show called "Legend of the Seeker".
And then you find yourself 10 hours later
fully caught up with the entire series.

And then you read...

and read....

and read...

and read...

and read some more...

(I think you get the picture - no pun intended!)

FUN IN FEBRUARY

It's All About the Princess.

Can't believe it!!! Four years old.

Our very own princess was showered in the traditional manner:
Gifts, balloons (Thanks favorite Auntie Auds!), hugs and kisses,
money, cards, and treats.

Double the Fun!!!
Family get-together to celebrate
both Maggie's and Gramma Mad's bdays.

What could be better than Papa Murphy's pizza and rolls?
Um...Grampa Mike's homemade German chocolate cake!!!
Yummy and delicious!

Can't Stop the Birthday Fun.
It was Gramma Kimmy's bday too. Another family get-together!
We enjoyed presents, heart-shaped sugar cookies,
and fresh fruit on top of sponge cake.

But what could outshine all of this?????.........
One handmade macaroni noodle necklace. (Thanks Erik!)

A "sweet" visit
from the Valentine Fairy.
Come Saturday morning, we found that
our personal Valentine fairy had brought us
President Obama trading cards, SpongeBob chocolates,
tickets to Disney on Ice, and more chocolate.

Liv lost another pearly-white.
Liv lost a bottom tooth while eating a PopTart on her way to school
and then lost it again walking into the school.

Liv wrote a note begging the Tooth Fairy to leave her some money
even though there was no tooth in exchange for the cash.

After a couple nights with no response, tonight Liv decided
to take a different approach -
by placing a white pom pom in her tooth holder
to see if the Tooth Fairy will think it is a "real" tooth.

Um....we'll have to get back to you
to let you know if this devious ploy fooled the fairy.

BYU MUSEUM OF ART

I had been wanting to take Jake and Liv down to the Japanese woodblock print exhibition at BYU for some time now. And with the pressure of it coming to a close in a week, we headed down on this past Saturday. We also invited Ms. Segura and Mr. Alarcon to join us (They are teachers at the kid's school and they are also from Spain. Ms. S and I have really gotten to know each other over the past few years because we share an interest in art and I help teach art to her students. She loves and appreciates art so much and wants her students to learn about different artists. And I really like this about her.)

We arrived at 1.00pm and spent the next couple of hours looking, sketching, puzzling and resting. We spent most of our time in the woodblock exhibit, which was amazing! The accuracy, the detail, the patience one needs to do this type of intricate printing just astounds me.

We also stopped in to see the Dan Steinhilber exhibit. Jake was quite annoyed by what this artist put up as "art". He just didn't get why 3 swings hanging from a ceiling constitued something artistic. I had to agree that most of his installations were a bit "off", but both Liv and I enjoyed the balloon wall art. It was huge and colorful.

On our way home, Bea and Antonio treated us to a late lunch at Zuppa's.

It was a nice afternoon to spend with the kids as well as with Bea and Antonio.

FAREWELL TO 2008

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

NEW!!! - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer

All I can say.....I can't wait until 07.17.09

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417741/trailers-screenplay-1-10-2)

TOO HOT TO HANDLE-Part 1

Though I haven't finished the book, I am pretty sure I'll be recommending this book when I do. If I didn't have to work, I would be laying out on the couch with my face pressed against the words. My mom gave it to me the other day. It's called Lament: Fairie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stievfater. It's the first of three books. It just came out last month and supposedly the second book will be out next year. Let's just say, if you need a fix, you know that kind of "fix", this book will do the trick. Instead of Edward and Jacob, it's Luke and James.

TOO HOT TO HANDLE-Part 2

Brian had a little surprise waiting on my Ipod for me today. My favorite from American Idol.....David Cook's self-titled album. I've been listening to it all night (intermixing it with the Twilight soundtrack. By the way, I LOVE the track by Muse, "Supermassive Black Hole" Check it out http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B001JOIEZ4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1227594727&sr=8-3. This song probably has been hitting the spot because it was playing during my most favorite scene from the movie. You know the one where Bella brushes past Edward in the school parking lot on her way up the hill and he turns and follows!) and I gotta say it ROCKS! Really, it is good. If this is what he gives us on his first try, I'm excited to see what he does in the future. I can't get enough of "Bar-bo-sol". It's probably the heaviest-sounding track on the album. And you can't go wrong with "Declaration", "Light On" or "Life on the Moon".