Grocery Shopping Is for the Birds

I’ve been home from my 3 ½-week vacation for 8 days now, and I still haven’t gone grocery shopping. Sure, Liam’s on his second gallon of milk and I bought some bread and even some bananas one time, but I got those at Target while I was shopping for a table lamp after I came home and realized that not only was it colder than Antarctica in Utah this week, but that even with all of the lights on you can’t see anything in my house. Ben claims he’s been trying to tell me this ever since we replaced all of our light fixtures with cool-looking (cheap) ones from Ikea, but I choose to believe that our house suddenly became gloomy. Or maybe I just got used to the sunshine.

I’m very intimidated by the grocery store, especially after a long trip. I haven’t made a list yet because I know it will be 4 pages long, and then I’ll remember 10 more things after I get home. I don’t know which is worse—pacing the aisles looking for all of the millions of items on my list or going listless and spending 3 hours at the store, wandering up and down every aisle, thinking about every product Mr. Albertson has to offer.

Ben keeps offering to go grocery shopping, but I know he’ll only come back with frozen burritos and ice cream.

Is it too early to start getting anxious for Liam to get his driver’s license?

It's -3 Degrees Outside and I'm Sunburned

Costa Rica is my new favorite country in the whole world. Where else can you sail to Tortuga Island one day…


Ride a zip line through the rainforest the next day…


See pelicans, giant lizards, sloths, and croissant-eating monkeys while hiking to the beach…

And visit an active volcano, complete with natural hot springs?

I can’t think of anywhere else. It’s official—Costa Rica is the coolest. I was totally unprepared for how awesome this vacation would be. I actually packed the same clothes I have been wearing in Utah this winter. Who knew that it would be 80 degrees and beautiful every single day?

Liam spent the week at my parents’ house, where he learned to make farting sounds with his mouth. I’m not sure what else he did there, but this morning he kept trying to put a rubber band around his head so I’m not going to ask.

Follow My Nose

When was the last time you had a toucan on your shoulder?

10 Cool Things that Happened on My Christmas Vacation

1. I visited all of my favorite stores that don’t exist in Utah (Ikea, the Sweet Factory, In-N-Out, Forever 21...).
2. A radio DJ introduced the song he had just played by the Sick Puppies and then said, “I think I’m going to lose it if I have to hear one more power ballad in ¾ time.” Funny.
3. We stripped the wallpaper in my parents’ family room, revealing the wall of memories underneath, where my friends and I had written all kinds of stuff the last time there was no wallpaper there.
4. I got to play music with one of my all-time favorite bands, the Boney Mountain Mamas.
5. Santa brought me my dream guitar.
6. I got to hang out with the cutest little momma’s boy in the world.



7. Ben told Ed-the-rocket-scientist that he would send him his résumé.
8. Liam learned how to give kisses. So sweet.
9. I made a New Year’s resolution to stop eating dessert on weekdays and I’ve already kept it for an entire week.
10. I’m leaving Liam in California and meeting Ben in Costa Rica tomorrow. See you later, suckers!

Fun in the Sun

With only the state of Nevada between us, it’s hard to believe that the weather in California can be so completely different from the weather in Utah. In California you can actually wear short sleeves to the park in December without getting frostbite.

Happy Winter

It is officially winter this week, which means that in 3 months it will officially be Spring 2007, which means that Utah is SO close to getting its very own Ikea.

I’m so excited, I can hardly stand it.

I Heart the Red Box

Here's why:

1. If your DVD is scratched and you can’t make it through the whole movie, just call and they’ll give you a refund.



2. If you unknowingly approach the Red Box before the last patron finished his/her session and the Red Box asks you to swipe your credit card, so you do, and then The Pink Panther pops out without giving you a choice, you can get a refund and watch The Pink Panther (or however much of it you can stand before turning off the TV) for free.



3. If you go to return your movie but the Red Box spits it back out, you don’t have to hurry and drive around looking for another Red Box before 7:00. They’ll give you a refund for the extra day and then you can just try again the next day.

Nasty Ingredients = Yummy Food

Yesterday I made a recipe called Cabbage Crunch Salad. It was made of shredded cabbage, green onions, toasted sesame seeds, crumpled up ramen noodles, and toasted almonds. Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck, and yuck. Even though not a single one of those ingredients sounds yummy, the salad was so good!

It’s kind of like a tuna sandwich—who’s the jokester that thought it would be good to mix tuna, mayonnaise, and pickles? Talk about three nasty ingredients. But put them together and suddenly they’re yummy. How does that work?

Slumber Party

Last night felt exactly like living at home again. My sister slept over because we stayed up too late watching Pirates of the Caribbean, Part No Ending. One time I turned the air duster spray upside down and shot it at her leg and she started screaming like a little baby, “OUCH! That really hurt! And you’re ruining the ozone layer! Spiz’s kids aren’t going to have a place to live because you’re ruining the ozone layer!”

It was so rewarding…just like old times.

Slightly Delayed

Liam’s girlfriend, Maggie, taught him to sign a bunch of words. Now he can say “eat,” “more,” “milk,” “water,” “ball,” “dog,” “car,” “please,” etc. He can say whatever he wants as long as someone is looking at him. Even though he’s basically a baby genius as far as his ASL skills go, his English skills are technically delayed because the only word that he actually speaks is “hot.”

He says “hot” (only he pronounces it more like “hotsssss”) when he hears the microwave beep, when he goes near a fireplace, and when I blow on his food. It’s clear that he knows the literal meaning of the word “hot.”

Today I found out that he also knows another meaning of the word “hot.” I got him up from his nap and walked over to the mirror in the hallway to show him how sweet he looked with his drowsy eyes and his freshly matted-down hair. He took one look at himself in the mirror and exclaimed, “HOTSSSS.”