New Hairstyle

I decided to put Aud's hair up in a toddler ponytail for a change. I have never done this before, because I always worry that she will get a headache. I never get headaches, except when my hair has been in a pony too long, and I didn't want that to happen to her so I think it is a legitimate concern. So, I put the rubber band in pretty loose and am feeling confident that it won't hurt her by the end of the day.

As you can tell, pictures are getting very difficult to take of her- she just squirms and squirms everywhere!!! But, she is the cutest thing, isn't she?

Last Days of Summer

Last week was SUPER HOT and Ben kept complaining that he wanted to go bike riding before the summer ended, but we didn't have a way to go with Audra. So, after weeks of discussion, we decided to splurge and buy a bike carrier.

This is Ben putting it together- he is becoming such the handyman! Audra ready to go- we can't decide if she liked this or not, she never cried, but she never smiled either. Ready to go! We rode to the park, and it was so much fun! It was a great park, so we will definitely be going back. Ben is really excited to have this and now all he wants to do is go bike riding!

A brief update on Audra, as she is everyone's favorite (including ours!):

She is scared of heights. We learned this when we were out on the deck for the 100th time and Aud realized that if you looked between the slats you could see down 15 feet, and then all of a sudden she froze and started crying, refusing to move at all.

She loves to give kisses- but this consists of her coming at you with mouth totally open and her tongue hanging out, so they are very slobbery (we love them anyway)

She loves hugs and gives the best hugs. Often I will be making dinner or doing laundry and she will run up to me and hug both of my legs super tight so I can not move. Makes it difficult to get things done, but I don't care, I love the hugs!

She enjoys playing the drum set that we have in our basement

She loves taking out all of the diapers in her diaper holder, handing them to me, and then putting them all back in.

She likes making Indian noises with her hand over her mouth to test her voice (I know that is totally politically incorrect, but I wasn't sure how else to describe that, so I apologize, and if you have a better way to say it, let me know and I will edit my post!!!)

Today she kept pointing at her small stuffed giraffe and saying "dada". I am not sure what that means, as I am sure she knows her daddy isn't a giraffe, but perhaps I am wrong.

Her new favorite food is cheese toast (or cheese-its as we called them growing up)

She likes her rocking horse, and is very cute when she is on it as she tries to get it to go back and forth

She really is just the greatest thing that happened to Ben and I, and we are so grateful to have her in our lives!!!!! We love you, Audra!!!

I LOVE America!

Last night I had one of the greatest experiences of my life. I got to go to Invesco Field and hear Barack Obama give his acceptance speech and it was the most exhilirating, exciting, historical, momentous moments of my life. It certainly wasn't just the speech- which by itself was unbelievable- but the entire experience- begining with the LONG line to get in: Seriously, it took about 2 hours to get in- I have never seen such a thing! The line was backed up for miles, the lightrail wouldn't even take us to the Invesco stop but rather to the stop before- we were told the crowds were too big to go all the way and the line was backed up to the Auraria stop anyway. The line was back even farther than that!! It was insane!!!!

Then seeing all of the protestors:

I thought this one was hilarious, because I am pretty sure Jesus loves all of us, and we don't have to "earn" his love- his Grace, perhaps, but certainly not His love!

Then I got to eat disgusting American food:

This was NOT my favorite part of the night- I am not a hot dog fan- but I didn't want to wait the 15 minutes for the pizza to finish cooking. The lines for food actually were not that bad, but concessions food is never going to be great!

Here is a picture of me waiting for everything to begin- not the best seats, but definitely good enough! The way the credentials were handed out, I only got one, so Ben wasn't able to go with me, which we were both really sad about- I would have loved to be able to have experienced this with him, but at least he got to see it on TV.

Then, they had a TON of fantastic speakers and performers. Sheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder sang. Then the son and daughter of Martin Luther King spoke- seriously, when will I ever get to be in the vicinity of such amazing people again? Some of the best speakers were the governors of Virginia and New Mexico.

I tried to find as many "stars" as I could. Ben said it was ok if I kissed Ben Affleck (but nobody else- just him), so I kept trying to find him but never could. I didn't see any stars, though apparently several were there including Oprah. Oh, Shawn Johnson (olympic gymnast) gave the Pledge of Allegiance and Jennifer Hudson sang the national anthem (she has an AMAZING voice!!! She is on the jumbotron picture above) and so that was pretty cool, too. They handed out flags to everyone, and it was really cool to see 80,000 flags waving at Invesco. The Fourth of July has always been my favorite holiday, and this year we missed it because Aud was sick, so this kind-of made up for it. We are so blessed to live in such a great country!Then, of course, the keynote speaker- Barack Obama. Of course, he gave one of the most sincere, honest, riveting, unbelievable speeches I have ever heard- but that wasn't a surprise- public speaking is definitely one of his greatest talents. I think I missed half of his speech, however, because we were all hollering so much! It was hard not to, the excitement was so great. It was seriously was one of the most memorable and almost spiritual experiences of my life. I know that sounds strange, but the only thing I can compare it to is listening to the Prophet live. Now, I am not comparing Obama to Hinckley, but the atmosphere is similar- like something so special is going on that you will remember it the rest of your life. It was indescribable. I really think he is an amazing man- and leader. In fact, he has the exact same amount of experience as Abraham Lincoln- two terms as a Illinois senator- before he became president, and he turned out ok! Really, truly, I know some of you will never vote for Obama, and that's ok- that's what a democracy is all about, differences of opinions- but if you are unsure, I would strongly encourage you to do some good research to figure out what he is all about. I think you will be impressed with what you find!

And for those of you who just think I am a "flaming liberal," here is a picture for you to chew on:

I'll let you decide who I enjoyed listening to more!

She's Just So Cute

Ben bought Audra this baseball cap and she just looked so cute in it I had to take a picture! We had just come in from a walk to the mailbox, and she knows she needs to take her shoes off when she comes inside. This is the progression of her taking her shoes off:

At this point, she always get a little stuck- she can't quite actually get the shoe off after she unvelcroes, so she kind of swings her leg around hoping it will fall off until Ben or I eventually intervene.
Now she is ready to run around the house, getting into everything- her favorite thing to do!
What a cutie!

Critiques- SPOILER ALERT

Three posts in one day- WHEW! I guess I need a house to unpack or something...

I wanted to give my opinions on some books I have recently read- both from Stephanie Meyers (I know you are all shocked that I have an opinion:))

Breaking Dawn (if you haven't read these books yet, you may not want to read these critiques- that is my fair warning!!!) Pros:

1. I really liked the ending- it didn't try to set up for a sequel which was nice

2. Total mind candy, fast, easy read

3. For a better part of the book it kept you wanting to keep reading- not the whole time, but most of the time

Cons:

1. I hated Edward always calling her "love"- I don't know why, but everytime he did, I wanted to vomit

2. I HATED the way Bella became obsessed with sex- it was like that was all Bella could concentrate on- how wonderful it was, etc. and when 16-year-old girls read this, they will think, "oh, sex must be really special, I am so excited to have it with my 16-year-old boyfriend, I just can't wait

3. It does bother me that Bella will give up everything- college, mortality, her family, everything for this guy she is "SOOOO" in love with at age 17. Here's why: I taught high school for 5 years, and EVERY girl thought they were "SOOOO" in love with their boyfriend, and freshmen girls honestly thought their freshman boyfriend was "the one" and therefore it was ok to have sex with them, etc. While Edward and Bella remain chaste until their very young marriage, it glorifies giving up all for love when you are a teenager. Unfortunately, many young girls do and they end up pregnant without a daddy for their baby and little hope for a happy future

4. Along with #3, it glorifies having a baby at a super young age. Again, I am looking at this from a mother of a daughter who I don't want being pregnant at age 16, and I don't want her to idolize somebody who is able to find such great happiness NOT going to college, NOT ever seeing her mother again, having a baby at a very young age, and getting married in lieu of fulfilling her life's ambitions.

5. I HATED that Jacob imprinted on a vampire (ok, I guess she was only half-vampire). I thought that was totally way out of character and not something that was congruent with the rest of the story, though I do realize it made for better story telling at the end to have the pack in line with the Cullens.

Overall: An enjoyable read, but I am very uncertain as to whether or not I want Audra to read the series when she is a teenager- I really don't think Bella is somebody I want her to idolize

The Host

Pros:

1. Again, mind candy

2. Great theories, and I am not a big fan of sci-fi, but I still found the idea of the book quite compelling

Cons:

1. Way too long- I really think she could have taken out about 20 chapters and been fine

2. I HATED HATED HATED HATED HATED (did I mention hated?) the epilogue and continued epilogue- I thought all she was trying to do was set the book up for a sequel and it totally detracted from the books actual ending, which was actually quite good

3. I don't know how she distinguished this as an "adult" book- not that I wanted sex or anything, but her writing was the exact same style as the Twilight series, and the topic in this book was no more adult than a human drinking blood to feed her baby

4. Even though her theories were great, I don't think she utilized them to the full potential

Overall: Again, it was an OK book, but not one I will read again

I would really LOVE to hear all of your thoughts on these books, especially if you disagree with me!!! I know many of you have read them, so let me know what you think!

Sorry I Am Bringing This Up Again

I can't believe I didn't think of this before in my previous rant, but I looked it up and found a picture of ALL of Obama's plane, and it indeed DOES have an American flag. So, he did take it off of the tail, but it IS on the plane (wow, that really makes the e-mails I got the absolutely most retarded things I have ever gotten in my life...)

But I did read an interesting article in the paper- what if McCain chooses Romney as a running mate? I actually think that would be a really smart move on his part- than I am certain McCain would win the western states (CO, NM, NV, UT- though UT is a given anyway). That could really make for an interesting race, and I think people would be really excited about having somebody who knows A LOT about money and the economy. Could be interesting!

The First of Many

This is probably not the most exciting news of the world, but Ben got to mow the lawn for the first time this last weekend. He has been excited to have a yard to take care of, and our yard is pretty small so it only takes about 20 minutes to mow. You'll notice we got an old fashioned reel mower- no gas, no spark plugs, no electricity- just good old fashioned pushing. People told us not to get one because they are so tough to work, etc- NOT SO! This thing is awesome- you feel like you are pushing air! They are a ton cheaper and super easy to work, so if you are in the market for a new mower, we would highly recommend this type! Even I am willing to go mow the lawn with this, and that is saying a lot, because I defintely believe that mowing the lawn is Ben's job. Sexist? Perhaps, but hey- I make dinner every night.

This is Audra looking out the window (this is HER window- she can stand here and look outside for hours) watching Daddy cut the grass. What a sweet girl!