Culture

I have a wonderful sister who loves to dabble in a little of everything. She loves sports. She loves technology. She loves my children. She loves travel. And she loves art and culture. So on Memorial Day she took me, somewhat begrudgingly because of the $32 entrance fee, here.

Taliesin West. I loved it! Frank Lloyd Wright (who was actually christened Frank Lincoln Wright and whose son is the creator of Lincoln logs) is an amazing architect and designer and this was his winter home. It currently houses the FLW foundation, an architectural school, and all of FLW's archives. Amazing. His sense of space, form, function, and accounting for the environment are seriously incredible and it was so cool to tour around his creation. It is something you have to experience, as pictures don't do it justice, and can't recreate the harmony and peace you feel walking around the space. It is a place where people can just be and I loved it! I highly recommend this tour to any one living in or visiting the Phoenix area. You won't be disappointed.

Thanks sister for reminding me about the some of the finer things in life.

Paying the babysitter

I was talking to my friend this morning and she brought up the issue of how much money should you pay a babysitter? I have asked this question of a lot of people and received answers all across the board. I think there are several factors that go into the equation. 1. How many children are being tended. Leave more kids= pay more money. 2. How old is the babysitter. Is it wrong to think that the time and experience of an older sitter is worth more? Also, they have a better idea about the shrinking value of the dollar. 3. Location. It definitely depends on where you live as to how much it is appropriate to pay. Our family in San Francisco definitely pays more than our family in Utah. 4. Your ability to pay. If you pay all of your extra cash to the sitter for a night out, but then can't do anything fun together it just might not be worth it.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on factors that go into the babysitter equation as a parent. But I was also a babysitter (and although it was probably longer ago than I think) I feel like I remember some things pretty well. First is that I hated getting stuck with hard children (crying baby) and leaving with a few dollars ($4) after a long tending ordeal (4 hours. True story.) Second is that there were families I loved to sit for because I loved their kids and didn't really care what they paid. Third is that as I got older there were other ways to earn money that were worth more to me than babysitting. And fourth, if you are LDS and hire an LDS babysitter, the girls will talk to each other about about how your kids are and what you pay. So yes, I am personally sensitive about what to pay the babysitter as I don't want any of them to regret, be turned off, feel slighted, or not want to come back and tend for me.

Finally, I have come to adopt a personal motto that the mother of some kids I babysat a lot shared with me. She said- I am not just paying you for your time to come and sit at my house. I am paying you to watch, guard, love, and protect my most important asset(s) while I am away.

Princess Power

So, since my last post about Dora being the winner in the epic battle of childhood character marketing schemes, I have to say that things have been changing around here. L has really taken to the princess action figures we bought her in D-land and has seen several of the princess movies and she is losing her love for Dora. Instead of her saying "tell me a Dora story Daddy" she requests a princess story, and instead of "one Dora song and one Jesus song" before bed, she requests one princess song (which I can mostly remember from my childhood, except films that came out after I was a girl) along with a Jesus song. She loves to dress up and pretend to be a princess (usually Cinderella or the "Pink Princess" Aurora) and have either J or I act the part of the Prince. (She even goes so far as to give an order such as "Get me a plate, Prince." :) I have to say that both J and I have mixed feelings about it. Dora has been a part of our lives for a good while and we've enjoyed letting L live up her Dora love. I guess we just have to face it that our baby is growing up!

Pilates

J and I are on a new exercise kick. We need to get in shape, and since we're on a new savings plan and cannot afford the gym right now, we thought home workout would work for us. I've got two days down and I'm already feeling the burn. We have this DVD and high hopes of becoming toned in the "core" and flexible enough to actually touch our toes. I even bought an exercise floor mat so watch out core, here I come!

PS. Here are a few pictures of our recent trip, before the camera breakdown.


With the Elder before he departed to Mongolia.


With my sister and brother in law at Jenny's graduation.


E with my Grandpa Vern.


L with one of her good pals Zachary.


Our little family.

Warning: Defective Product

Do not buy this camera. I repeat, do not buy this camera.

We bought this little gem at Costco in November thinking we needed a new camera to capture pictures of our new little baby.

Innocent enough.

Well, we got it home and for the first three months (during which we could have taken it back to Costco for a refund) it functioned perfectly.

But on the 91st day it went on the fritz.

It wouldn't turn on.

It wouldn't turn off.

The pictures were blurry. (Which, unlike I previously thought was NOT due to a fingerprint).

So I took it on my trip to take pictures of my brother's wedding. It worked up until the wedding day, the moment the bride and groom were coming out of the temple. And then it would not turn on. No matter how hard I tried, pushed the on button, charged and recharged the battery.

For the last week it has been dead.

Until just now.

Just as I started to type the title of this post it fell from my lap (where it was sitting so I could look up its picture for you to avoid) onto the hard tile floor and miraculously turned on.

I think it is possessed.

I need a new camera.

Long time, no post

Well the last two weeks have been wonderful! I got to go home for 12 days for my brother's wedding and spend time with my family and in-laws without cooking a meal once! I loved being able to catch up with my family and friends and enjoyed having 24/7 entertainment for my children. It was so good to go to the temple too, as that is kind of a luxury with a new nursing baby. And the wedding was wonderful and Dave got lucky with such a great girl as Courtney! I would post pictures, but my camera will not turn on and I'm about ready to throw it into the pool. This week- BUSY. For the rest of the week I'll be hosting a book club, hosting a play group, carrying out a Primary activity, planning and teaching Sharing time, and hopefully sometime in there being able to celebrate my 4th year anniversary to J! I can't believe how these years have flown by and I can't wait for more to come. All in all, thanks to everyone who welcomed me into your homes and for the much needed break. :)