Kate's new do

Before


After

Last night when I was getting my hair cut, Andrew and Kate looked on. Kate kept saying, "Mommy, I need a haircut!" I think I've told her that a time or two recently...her hair has been quite the shagginess. She did let me put in pig tails a couple of times (which was super cute), but then didn't want me to touch it anymore.

So I took her in today and brought a bag of suckers. The last time (and the first time) she had her hair cut somewhere was in Omaha in February. She didn't scream out, but crumpled up and cried silently. It was so sad! Finally, someone got her a sucker because the weird guy that was cutting her hair kept telling me, "I can't cut her hair if she's crying!"

The sucker worked magic on her, and she was totally still for the entire thing. So I figured I'd give it another shot. This time was so funny. She got in the chair, and I immediately gave her the sucker. She completely froze when the clippers came out. She didn't budge--sucker in hand. It never reached her mouth. She obediently raised and lowered her head when told--it was so cute! By the end, the sucker was covered in hair, so I got her another...and another. She was so happy! No tears were shed at all during the haircut. She's growing up.

You can't really see what the hair looks like from these pics, but it's pretty cute. Still sticks out by her ears--oh well.

I guess my bangs are official.

I got my last haircut in February...and before that it had been a long time. When I got my hair cut in February the lady cut off four inches and it was still REALLY long. I was the one who told her to cut four inches, but I don't think I'm great at gauging hair length. Anyway, I went in today and showed the girl about where to cut--thinking about three inches or so. When she started cutting, I asked if she was cutting off about three. She stopped, looked at my hair on the ground, and said, "No." She held up a lock to show me. "More like five." Oh. Okay. She had told me she was going to trim up my bangs. My "bangs" had previously been very long bangs, to my chin. They're now to my nose.

When I saw my bangs hanging there--in my eyes--I panicked. But I don't know how to style hair! I wanted to say. Didn't I give her the spiel I usually give hairdressers about keeping it simple (and I mean simple)? No, I guess I hadn't mentioned my hair phobia, or ineptitude. Crud.

I was like, "Uh, so how do I keep these out of my eyes?"
Her reply: "Blow dry and hair spray." Oh. Crud.
Me: "I guess I'll need to buy some hair spray."

No, I don't own hair spray. I do now. We'll see if I can figure it out. I do have a hair dryer, we'll see if I can find it. I've been using the space heater to dry my hair since Kate was a baby because the hair dryer freaked her out, and I actually prefer the heater now.

Anyway, I actually really like it. I think this length of hair is the best for me. I had been growing my hair out so that when I finally lost my desired weight I could get a cute new hair cut, and the length was to give me options. But, the weight stayed, and the hair grew, and then grew a lot more.

It's fun to have a hair cut I like. I will try hard to make it a working relationship.

PS The shadow in the picture makes my hair appear much larger than it is.

Surely mine eyes deceive me

I honestly got misty-eyed just now looking upon our brand-new, glorious, white GE stove. When Wymount announced they would be installing new stoves, I assumed they meant a different kind of crappy, old, clunker of a stove. I really wish now that I had taken a picture of the stove we've been using here. The handle on the door was broken and would fall off in my hands EVERY time I opened the stove (because I always somehow forgot to open it from the side, knowing that it was broken...). And smoke liked to billow out of it and set off the fire alarm as I cooked. It was horrible!
(you must play "Dream Weaver" in your head as you behold its magnificence)

But this...this beautiful new, delicious-looking stove...I may just be emotional now or something, or maybe it's because it reminds me of the stove we left behind in our house, but I really think I'm in love.

And I have that feeling.

Better days lie ahead.

Sometimes it's good to eat A LOT of cookies.

That's what I've decided. It's good for a few reasons--

1) these particular cookies that I ate (lots of) were on a great sale,
2) cookies are scrumptious, and
3) if you eat a lot of cookies, you will end up feeling sick, fat, depressed, and ready to start working out again.


And...that's where I am. I changed my little weight loss ticker numbers to reflect my new goal. I am shooting for 14 pounds by the end of July. It's not my original goal...but I don't care. Once I hit that goal, I will set a new one until I hit the freaking weight I want to be at. I realized I had totally envisioned myself way skinnier by this summer than I currently am, and of course, pool "fun" has arrived.

Time to get to it. Again.

Climbing mountains in Moab

After Andrew found out he got a job and would start after the Memorial Day weekend, we decided we'd better take a camping trip down to Moab while we had time. We were there for five days...which was a little long for me to be camping without running water...but it was a great trip. I was worried about it being horribly hot, but it rained on us probably 75% of the time we were there (which was a problem for cooking). It was a little scary to go to sleep with thunder and lightning in a tent that is not well-equipped for rain. We did get wet, but not too bad.

Kate loved it! Except for the ride there and back--you can see from the picture below that she was slightly cramped. Andrew decided we should bring our futon mattress to sleep on and somehow got it into our trunk--barely. But it was definitely worth it--sleeping was SO comfy! (These pics are all taken with our old cruddy camera because we loaned out our other one. So the pics aren't so great, but oh well.)

The first day there was the hottest (before the rain hit), so we went to the Colorado River to play. It was FREEZING!! Kate doesn't mind freezing cold water to splash around in, so she had the time of her life. Andrew decided to jump in and shock his system. Then he somehow convinced me to jump in--still not sure how he managed to do that. Once we did, though, it was fun to jump back in a few more times. It was refreshing until a windstorm hit and the clouds came out. Then we froze.

We went on a couple of hikes with Andrew that were really freaky, in my opinion. I'm really scared of heights, though. Didn't seem to bother anyone else. Kate's a great hiker/climber, and Andrew's great at carrying her (and all his camera equipment) for all the tough parts. I, on the other hand, always have to grasp on for dear life.

Andrew looks ready to be a nice lightning pole.

Andrew preparing to get a shot of a pretty cactus flower. He got more than a few cactus thorns stuck in his behind. Some he didn't even feel until the next day. Ouch.

Mmm...cantelope! Kate couldn't get enough--even tried eating the green part.

Kate is doing her morning stretches here as we pack up the car.

The second big hike we went on was right before we left. There was a huge lightning/thunder storm right before we went up. Andrew wanted to watch the sunset from a great spot he found on his last photography trip. It was really gorgeous!! When Kate got to the top, she told me proudly, "I climbed a mountain!!"

This is a picture of a software engineer.

Hooray!! Andrew's job search has ended--luckily, with a job! We were worried about him finding a job with the economy and all, but Utah's economy is still doing fine--Andrew got interviews with two companies and got offers from both of them. One of them was much more appealing than the other, so the choice wasn't difficult. It seems like the perfect fit for Andrew! It's a start-up company that builds websites. The company was started by three guys that were sick of the corporations they worked for and how they were treated, and so they decided to start their own company that was good to its employees. They have a very small team, and so Andrew will be an important part of their company.

Andrew will be able to work full-time this summer and part-time during school. This is his first time working in his field, and we are very excited! Congratulations, Andrew!! :)

I'll give you a hint...

We have good news! Can you guess from the photo? Andrew actually posted about it on his blog (he's going to try to update more frequently now--oh, and me, too...). Also, if you haven't been to his photography website recently, he's added some cool new features. You can now comment on pictures (beneath each image), and you can see much larger versions, too.

Oh, and I realized that I never mentioned on here that Andrew won first place in the landscape category at the 2009 Bean Museum Photography Exhibition and Contest (it was in February) for "Ashen Flame" and also got an honorable mention for "Sandstone Sanctuary" . Woohoo!