this just in...

Christian does not know how to frown.


I'm not joking. We were comparing double chins in the mirror tonight trying to see who could make their face look worse (always fun to make funny faces in the mirror), and I realized my face looked 10 times worse if I frowned.

So I told Christian to frown.

He tried...

Nothing.

Tried again...

No luck.

He cannot make the edges of his mouth turn down.

My husband is not capable of frowning. He wasn't even aware before tonight. I mean, the guy laughs in his sleep. Does it surprise anyone that he can't frown?

christmas

I've always said that Christmas celebrations should start after Thanksgiving. This year I'm having a hard time listening to my own advice. November is turning out to be a complete blur. How is it already the 17th? In addition to wrapping things up at work, I've been making a billion lists (and checking them twice). My lists include...

* What to pack on which days.
* Where everything should go in the new place.
* What needs to be done to move out of our current apartment.
* What to grab at the last minute on the way to the hospital (hospital bag is packed!).
* What I need to do Thanksgiving week to prepare for our family 5k, which I am once again excited to organize (I obviously will not be participating in the race this year.)
* Christmas gift ideas (gots to get on this ASAP).

Last week that sounded like a lot and I was incredibly overwhelmed. This week I feel fine. Why? (Logical answer is probably that I'm on an upswing of the pregnancy emotional rollercoaster.) I'd like to say it's because if I had the baby today, I could just hand someone my lists and feel like things could be taken care of easily. I love making lists.

So now that I'm not all stressed about everything that needs to be done in the quickly-passing days of November, let's talk Christmas.

I want to make these felt Christmas trees:

{Lorajean's Magazine}

And I want to make myself a simple advent calendar. I would, however, fill it with chocolate instead of knickknacks:

{The Purl Bee}

And I'd really like to find the perfect Nativity Set. I've always regretted not getting a set in Sevilla, Spain, when I lived there. Every year they have an amazingly huge Nativity sale that covers an entire plaza. I just couldn't find the perfect set, or wasn't willing to pay the price, which in retrospect probably wasn't that bad, so I didn't get one. Stupid, stupid, stupid. There's nothing like Christmas in Spain.

What I really need to do is finish making stockings and knitting the gigantasaurusrex scarf I started last year.

Or I'll just have a baby and not do any of this. That's a good plan, too.

Are you already thinking about Christmas?

happy 30th birthday, christian!

Today, Christian turns 30. As of a few days ago, I thought he was turning 29. Turns out I'm the one who turned 29 this year. I seem to confuse myself. So in honor of the big 3-0, here are 30 facts about Christian:


1. He looks good with long, short, and shaved hair. That means if he ever goes bald, he'll still look hot.
2. He is a kid magnet.
3. He is an awesome daddy.
4. He is the oldest of 4 kids.
5. His (our) last name comes from Switzerland. Some day we'll visit there together.
6. He sometimes humors the neighbor boys and breaks out his skateboard to skate with them in our parking lot.
7. He can watch three 1-year-olds all day all by himself. (Naps, feeding, diapers...)
8. He's a night owl.
9. He loves the Simpsons, Futurama, Adam Sandler, and Jim Carey like nobody's business. It was a never-ending quote-fest when Richard lived with us.
10. He's a big fan of cayenne pepper.
11. He prefers Pepsi over Coke.
12. He prefers Mug Root Beer over all others.
13. He wants to fly helicopters.
14. He has been talking about owning a private island since I met him (and before, I'm sure).
15. He once gave a speech in front of his public speaking class about me. He called it "Tribute to Molly" and sent me a VHS copy at BYU for my birthday.
16. I've only seen his chin once in the 7 1/2 years I've known him.
17. I love listening to him speak Portuguese.
18. He has a messed-up knuckle that prevents him from wearing a wedding ring.
19. When he first met me, he thought I was way older than him.
20. When I first met him, I thought he was dating his sister (I didn't know she was his sister--it's just that they always showed up to things together).
21. He is very, very patient with me.
22. I've only seen him cry a few times. It breaks my heart when he does.
23. He is a very sincere person with a genuinely loving heart.
24. He's fun to be around and makes me (and most people) laugh.
25. He likes to buy himself clothes and is quite stylish when he dresses up. In fact, he may very possibly get tired of me telling him how good he looks. I can't help it.
26. He would be happy to volunteer as your husband's personal fashion police.
27. I am 100% positive I made the right decision by marrying him.
28. He has a lot of self-confidence. I love this.
29. He doesn't snore. (He does laugh in his sleep, though.)
30. When I first started dating him, people would ask me what he was like and all I could say was, "He's just so nice!" And it's true.

If you can't get enough of tidbits about Christian, the stuff I posted 3 years ago is pretty fun, too.

So in honor of Christian's 30th birthday, I think my readers should share what they like about Christian... Ready, go!

halloween hauntings

I was a bee.

Christian was a zombie zookeeper (or a mauled zookeeper--take your pick).

Graham was a vampire bat.

I love Halloween!

Modeling his bat wings with Grandma.


Getting ready to carve pumpkins.


Ta-da!


My boys!


All 4 of us. I swear my belly isn't quite as huge as it looks in the first picture. Or maybe it is...




Diego, Graham, and Luca getting ready to trick-or-treat in the city.


Trick or Treat!


Trick or treat or hang out with a skeleton.


Fellow bats.


Happy Halloween!

graham's birthday party

I finally figured out why I never get around to putting pictures on my blog when I'm home and have access to them. All our pictures are on our Mac Mini. Our Mac Mini is hooked up to our TV. The TV is constantly on. I'm not exaggerating. It finally occurred to me that whenever I'm home at night, the TV is on, therefore I have no access to the pictures on the Mac MIni. Christian is at soccer tonight, so you get some pictures.

We barely took any pictures of Graham's birthday party. Oops!

Graham is not crying or whining here. I think he might be smiling for the camera. He kept making this face for us and then laughing. It was hilarious.


He "ate" cake. That means he poked around at the frosting, tasted a little, rubbed it on his face (and behind his ears), then proceeded to drop the cake over the side of the high chair. Twice. This was WAY more entertaining to him than actually eating cake.



Charlie and Max helping Graham open his gifts. Look at that shiny hair!


And a picture of Graham at home with his new train from Dixie (and Eve and Sean). He LOVES this train. He loves his other gifts, too, but I don't seem to have pictures of them right now.


I can't believe my little boy is a year old! I can tell time is going to keep flying by. We love this little guy!

(un)interesting tidbits

Once again I didn't post pictures last night. Instead I spent 30 minutes looking for a pacifier (where do they all go??) and an hour and a half cleaning. After that I just wanted to go to bed. So I did. Maybe I'll get some pictures posted tonight. Until then, enjoy these (un)interesting tidbits about me:

1. I'm totally afraid of the dark. I can't watch scary movies.

2. When I get up to pee in the middle of the night, I make sure the bathroom door swings all the way open and hits the wall so I can be sure no crazy person is hiding behind it.

3. I am making a very conscious effort not to gain too much weight this pregnancy. And by that I mean that only my conscience is making the effort. I stare at the scale every morning sending it "don't gain weight" vibes. So far it's only partly working.

4. I have to fix toilet paper if it's messed up. You know when you're in a public restroom and the perforations of the layers of toilet paper don't match up? I have to flip it around until it does. Or when the roll has an entire thin section on the side that just ripped and didn't unroll with the rest? I have to pull all that off and make it right again.

5. My feet cramp during pregnancy. But only if I'm wearing cute little flats and standing around. This means I have to be very careful and not wear cute flats on days I teach. Back in April my feet cramped a ton while teaching one of my classes. I came home and said to Christian, "My feet cramped. It was weird, because that ONLY happens when I'm pregnant." Yet I didn't think anything of it. I started feeling sick a couple days later. Turns out I was pregnant.

6. What am I most excited to do after I have my baby? Go on a bike ride.

7. I think showers are a huge waste of time. Don't get me wrong--I like being clean. I just have yet to master the art of a fast shower. Therefore, they take up way too much time and I'd rather not have to take them.

8. Reeses Pieces make me feel sick.

9. I just found out last month that Christian's favorite kind of ice cream is Cookie Dough. I've known him for over 7 years and always thought it was Rocky Road. Perhaps I should pay more attention.

{Edit: Slightly interesting tidbit--Christian's favorite ice cream is, in fact, Rocky Road. See the comments. Boys are weird.}

catching up on my social life

{Pictures coming soon of our lovely trip to Cambria and our fun Halloween outings. Our pictures are all at home, but I spend most of my time at work, so it's hard for me to remember to post photos when I get home. Sorry!}

This weekend was good for me. On Saturday we went to a party and the ward Trunk-or-Treat with Graham, then a grown-ups party without Graham. On Sunday we went up to the city to trick-or-treat with my sister and her kids (and my parents). It was just what the doctor ordered.

Although in reality I'm sure the doctor would just order more sleep. Read on.

Remember how I (1) tend to have mini meltdowns if I don't get enough sleep, and (2) try to do too much in one week, and (3) am never home, and (4) rarely see friends, and (5) am usually really okay with how busy I am, but (6) periodically complain about it on this blog (hey--it's my blog and I can complain as often as I'd like)? If you don't, you obviously don't read my blog enough.

Oh, and remember how I'm in the 3rd trimester of my pregnancy?

Yeah, so add all those things up, and what do you get?

Tears.

It's true. After staying up too many nights this week making Halloween costumes, and after planning a caramel-apple-making night with my ESL students, and after a busy week at work, I sat down on Thursday night and started looking at blogs.

Big mistake.

I was tired. It was after 10 at night. And there on a blog were pictures of people hanging out with each other and having fun. People I know. People I like.

And I started to cry.

I said, "Christian, I know I'm just crying because I'm tired, but tonight I don't care about being logical. I just want to vent."

I know I have a great life. I know I have nothing to complain about. But every once in a while we all just need a good vent session.And so I had one.

Christian sat there patiently while I explained that it's hard to be in a different stage of life than so many people I know. How it's hard to be at work when friends are holding daytime or weeknight Halloween parties. How it's hard to be at work for every week-day girls'-night-out or Relief Society activity. How it sucks to see what I would probably be doing if I were in a different stage of life.

And then we talked about his life. How it's hard to be unemployed in this terrible market. How it's hard for him to identify with lots of the guys we know since they, too, are in different stages of life.

And then we talked about our friends who are in the same life situation as us. And how we are grateful that we can identify with them and that it seems normal for them and for us that we only get together every couple of months. And how we're also grateful for those friends we can't really identify with but still love just the same.

And then we were satisfied. So I went to sleep and he stayed up watching TV. Because that's just how we do things.

And I woke up happy.

And this weekend we saw people. Lots of people. And we talked and laughed and had fun.

And I caught up on some much-needed sleep.

'Twas a good week.