Halloween pics

Oh this poor little neglected blog of mine.

Here's the dish. My husband is working a lot lately. (Someone's gotta make some sweet moolah while I'm playing patty-cakes all day.) (That's a reference to Napoleon Dynamite, in case you didn't catch it.) I seem to be developing dry socket, so it's back to the oral surgeon tomorrow. Awesome. And let's be honest, Bloom has become more of a priority for me lately. It's an important creative outlet for me.

ANYWAY. Better late than never, I'm going to show you some cute Halloween-ness.

The Wednesday before Halloween, the youth in our congegration at church always put on a rad carnival.

Rog in his little pumpkin suit with bear legs and diaper bum and little converse all-stars was pretty much killing me (and everyone).
The first weekend in October, Melis and I took our 6 kids to the mall. When we walked into Gymboree Blaine ran to this fuzzy caterpillar costume and put it on (nevermind it is size 6-12 months). He was so obsessed with it I broke down and bought it for him (let the record show, I never would have if it weren't for a sale and a coupon!). I've never seen him care so much about an article of clothing. Pretty much cute.
I had big costume plans but was busy helping set up the carnival, so I went with my fall-back farmer girl look. Good thing I kept my giant, baggy overalls that were uber cool to wear in high school back in the '90s. What in the heck were any of us thinking? What was Calvin Klein thinking, making them?

By Halloween night I was trashed from my wisdom teeth removal. (Talk about a bummer not to be able to eat candy!) We did a quick circle around the neighborhood, which seemed to suffice. Blaine had just as much fun passing out candy from the blue house. You'll note that this night he opted for the pirate digs from his costume box. (Good thing I bought you that caterpillar costume, kid.)So there you have it. I still have big plans to dress up as Marie Antionette. (And a very specific reason why.) And I probably won't wait until next Halloween. Stay tuned...

That kind of friend

(Can you believe I made her wear a crown at her farewell feast? Don't you love her for humoring me?)

Dear Amy,

A couple of years ago, when we were still in Provo, my long-time friend, Kate, was over. After watching her help herself to some milk in my fridge I looked at Taylor and said, "I love friends like this. I love that Kate is comfortable enough here to do that."

When we left Provo I was fearful about a lot things. Friendship was one of them. I worried that I would be sad without my friends and that I wouldn't be able to find that sort of friend in my new home.

My first Sunday in church I sat in the mothers' lounge and nursed my little chub-a-lub, Rog. You were there, in lavender, nursing your babe. You have one of those sweet countenances. The type of peaceful smile that tells someone like me--she is a really nice person. (I don't have one of those faces. I notice those that do.) And I wanted to be your friend.

Not long after, I came to a mommy&me day at the park. You were there, protecting your darlingly freckled skin with your fabulous sun hat. You had three kids in tow, but didn't seem to be frazzled. I watched you patiently mother and gracefully socialize. And I wanted to be your friend.

The other day you came to pick up your children after their busy session of playing pirates at the blue house. You were in the middle of packing and cleaning and sorting and...ugh. It makes me tired just to write it. But you looked at me, and, as I told you about my needful preparations before the big oral surgery day, you looked around for a job to do. And then it happened. You went looking for my broom and--finding it--swept my hideous kitchen floor.

After you and your darlings left that day (what I knew to be the last time I'd see you dear Hills walk through that threshold), I thought of you and that broom. And I realized. You'd become that kind of friend.

Oh, dear Ame, I miss you already. I didn't think I could cry anymore about it, but writing this makes it bubble over yet again. We will not be the same without you. Thank you for being my friend.

XO,
Anne

Baz. I love thee.

So here's the part where I fish for sympathy. I had my widsom teeth out Friday afternoon. Boo hoo. I know. But, despite being tired of mushy food, I am doing great. I heard horror stories. HORROR stories! So I am relieved to be feeling pretty well.

On Friday after work, Taylor came to my mom's to collect me and the boys. I had smoothie stains on my sweater, bloody gauze stuffed in my mouth, and a mostly numb face (thus the smoothie stains). I'm sure I was quite a vision for my love.

He scooped me up and took me home, stopping by the Red Box at Wal-Mart for a surprise. Not until the boys had been tucked in did I see what the movie was.

Ooh! I lit up when I saw the opening credits. AUSTRALIA! I'd been wanting to see it forever. We'd heard it was good. Good? NO! It was incredible! We loved it! I wondered why I hadn't heard more hype. I mean, seriously, I loved this movie. It has your scenery, your romance, your adventure, your great acting, your history...all put together by Baz Luhrman, who I happen to loooooove. It was magic.

It left me:

wondering why we don't learn more about Australia in world history

embarrassed that I didn't know more about the terrible things that happened to the aboriginals

wanting to plan a trip down under

loving Nicole Kidman, yet again

loving Hugh Jackman, yet again

more in love with my own 'Drover.'

Have you seen it?

Did you love it?

I want this dress. You're gonna want one, too.

Wow. I have amazing friends.

Exhibit A

Karaoke Stars and other trivia

Happy B.day, Karen!

(Please note the 'No smoking, No Drinking, No cursing on stage' sign. Awesome.)

1. Last Thursday evening I went out with some friends to celebrate my friend, Karen's birthday. As it turns out, Karen is a friggin' amazing singer. During dinner, Karen recounted the stories of her two American Idol auditions. Then we went to Rumors Karaoke Bar to put her to the test. Oh. My. Gosh. Seriously, amazing. I don't know what those chumps at Idol were thinking, because let's get this one thing straight. They missed out.

We all died laughing about a group of Mormon ladies sauntering into a cheesy bar in downtown Medford and announcing we wouldn't be drinking. The lady at the bar: "Well you can't sing karaoke if you don't buy something." Us: "Oh, don't worry! We'll buy something." So we all ordered Shirley Temples, Julie slapped some cash down on the bar, and we marched back to choose our songs. So hilarious. Between all of us we have like 29 billion children and here we are at some random bar (thankfully not a slimy, smoky bar or anything) sipping ST's and singing our hearts out. It was SUCH a ball! I didn't really know what to expect going into Karaoke night, but it turns out it was serious soul candy! So fun. Don't you worry. I rocked me a little "I will Survive," "The Sweater Song" (with Amy), and "Cowboy Take me Away." Loved it.

2. Next. I love LOVE Glee. It has every element that Anne loves, all in one show!
a) MUSICAL!
b) sharp, biting humor
c) quirky charachters
It's like someone put 'Ed' to music. I LOVE IT!

3. Finally. Did you see Where the Wild Things Are this weekend? We did. We were not disappointed. LOVED it. Some things I wasn't expecting. First, it is not a kids' movie. I wouldn't take anyone younger than 10 or 12. It's both intense and deep. Second, I didn't expect to get so emotional. Within the first 10 minutes I was a disaster because there was an emotional scene between Max and his mother that I have lived with my own little wild thing many times before. And Max was acting out because he needed attention and love. Wwwhhoa. Serious wake-up call. Anyway, fabulous soundtrack, amazing costuming, great voices, great symbolism and parallels between the wild things' world and Max's world. We loved it.

As a bit of trivia, I recognized the wild thing, Judith's voice immediately. Anyone know who it was?

XO
Anne

Trivial run-down (it's been awhile.)

(what I'm gleefully watching on my treadmill these days. thanks, abcfamily)

In trivial news:
-Finally got to see Julie & Julia. Loved it as much as I hoped for. Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Nora Ephron. Love you all.

-Also saw The Proposal. Thought the premise was cute. Love Sandra and Ryan. And then it got so, so silly! Too silly. And I can never look at Oscar (from The Office) in the same way again.

-Speaking of The Office (and silliness), was anyone else severely disappointed in the wedding episode? Seriously, what the heck? After a while, Taylor was like, "Wait, are we watching Mr. Bean or The Office?" Bummer.

-And do you want to hear something rad? I have a gajillion channels again. Because it was cheaper than my 24 channels (20 of which seemed to be home shopping). I heart Dish Network. And. AND! Do you know anyone with DVR on their treadmill? You do now! Running just got so much better! Taylor and I are loving it. (Note. Let me say for the record that Taylor hates the ugly dish on our house and also hates that we have that many channels. He is worried that it is going to ruin our life. But, as I told him the night of the installation, we are too busy to get sucked in. So far, so good. Phewf! Now Taylor will not be cross about this post. Because, you know, Taylor gets so cross about things...)

And finally, have you voted for your favorite photo yet? Get to Bloom! Voting ends tonight!

Another good day on the mish

(Unrelated photo that I love: at the top of the chair lift at Sundance, UT)

I was just wiping the kitchen table for at least the 8th time today, when I thought about something my sister, Liz, has written about. How much time do I spend every day wiping something? (A table, a floor, a face, a bum.) And today--glory be--I just smiled at the thought of it.

I think because this week I am a new woman (did you read Sunday's post?). And I am remembering every day that wiping things is just a part of this glorious job we call motherhood.

I've written before about making mothering my mission. This afternoon I was out sweeping dirt from the street back onto our property--dirt and rocks that Blaine had thrown while I was inside checking on the cookies. The darling elders rode by on their bikes and Elder Huber offered a trade of sweeping for some water. I happily took him up on the offer, and threw in a peanut butter chocolate chipper for free. They thanked me for the water, told me about meeting some of my neighbors, and rode off just as cheerfully as they had arrived.

I thought about them while I was wiping the table just now. When you're on a mission, there is a LOT of monotony. There is a lot of work that seems fruitless. You knock on a lot of doors with no one behind them. But when there is someone there and he says, "Mormons? I'm your guy! Come on in!" (that is a direct quote, even ask my companion, Melody Coleman Odell!) your heart leaps and you know you would be willing to knock a million more doors just to get that response again.

And I will wipe my table a million more times to snuggle with Blaine like we did in my bed this morning or watch Rog triumphantly build a tower with blocks and then congratulate himself with a grin and round of applause. Seriously. A million more times.

p.s. Did you watch Nie on Oprah yesterday? She continues to inspire.
p.p.s. Along these same lines, we are getting some wonderful photo contest entries over at Bloom. Please send us your photos! This is going to be such a beautiful and inspiring compilation of photos!

Seeing the Everyday Photo Contest

I am suuuuuuper excited about what's happening at Bloom this week! We are having a photo contest and the winner gets a year subscription to the most fabulous magazine, Seeing the Everyday. Click here to check it out. And tell your friends! It's going to be wonderful.