Random Pictures of Random Events

So I (Alison) always start out events with good intentions and take pictures of random things in the beginning planning for it to lead into a really great blog. Then my enthusiasm wears out or i forget my camera and I'm left with a few random pictures that need more than a thousand written words to explain them. So here's a few random pictures with a few more words of what we've been up to...

My grandparents in Utah have tons of old clothes in their basement, but have had renters down there for years. Troy has never been down there until we went down there for my Grandpa's funeral and BOY did he find a treasure trove. He had so much fun.

HE made ME try on clothes until all hours of the night. This jumpsuit was one of our favorites. Orange. Jumpsuit. What more could a girl need?

These are my siblings in the quartet (a quintet with two violas is awkward, so I opted out). They played "Danny Boy" at the funeral-one of Grandpa's favorites. Actually there were six musical numbers in all and they were all Grandpa's favorite- That was even narrowing it down. Like I said, I take random pictures surrounding an event but I'm not very good at taking pictures at an event and I didn't get any pictures of the actual funeral. I thought it might be wierd or disrespectful. I don't know. It was a very sweet and sad event... and rainy.

For the Record, Troy and I DO go on dates sometimes. We like to go out to eat. Troy likes Chinese food. This new place in town was edible. It was an overload of chinese flavor and I highly recommend eating Ice-cream when you finish up here to settle your stomach

Troy was working outside and Rocky was watching him. It was so fun. Rocky thought it was cool that he was the same height as dad.

I just love this picture. That's a shirt stuck on his head and he is thrilled to be walking around like a big kid.

Baby's First Easter

It was Rockwell's first Easter. I made him an Easter basket and bought him a new spring outfit (why should girls have all the fun?) We tried really hard but we barely made it through church that day because there's nothing like church to give Rocky the opportunity of showing LOTS of personality (that's what a very nice lady in my ward calls it and i think i'm going to

use it from now on). But what we did catch was very sweet. We had a feast dinner at Alison's Parent's house and then went and visited Troy's parents. Sadly Rockwell's Easter basket did not get filled this year (I didn't think he would mind... I don't know...) but we got some (not so great) pictures of him. He didn't want to sit still...

For the first time in 2 years I got to die easter eggs! Notice all the men ditched us. Well too bad for them we still had a great time and made B-E-A-Utiful eggs.

Another FFF

Huzzah! Fridays are Fabulous. Did you know there were 3 Friday the 13th s in 2009? Apparently that is unusual. Also hippos sweat pink in hot weather. Ew. Amazing what you can google, eh?

Troy: Growing up it was not unusual for Troy and his younger brother to dig holes in the back yard, fill them with water, then put the dirt back in, and climb in themselves with their toys. Fun! The only way they got permission to do this was to willingly submit to his mom's hosing down at the end, which was notoriously harsh and cold.

Alie: has a fear of anything catastrophic happening while she's on the toilet. Well, what would you do if a tornado plowed through your house while you were sitting on the "John"?

Rockwell: Doesn't cry when balloons pop, even if he's right near by. Alie was sitting on the floor with him blowing one up and it popped right by him. All he did was look somewhat confused. Later another one popped (cheap balloons) and same thing. It doesn't really phase him.

Good Ol'e Gramps

My (Alison) Grandpa passed away recently. He taught me to waterski when I was 10. He taught me how to dance at least twice. He took me on motorbike rides. He gave me big slobbery kisses on my cheek that I always wiped away. He made me sit on his lap when he dressed up as Santa with a crooked beard and made me kiss his cheek. He took me to McDonalds when my parents never would. He played racquetball with me. He came to my soccer game and always, up until the last time he saw me, told me how much he liked watching me play. He made me sing for my breakfast- literally-and during breakfast or even lunch. He smelled of McDonald's coffee. He could swear like a sailor and not even know he'd done it. He told me to always do my best. He told me not to run yellow lights. He drove across the entire country with me and my family. He loved me and made me feel special. He was a good grandpa and I loved him. I miss my grandpa.

FFF

Happy Friday everyone! I was going to make a nice dinner for Troy but then I realized it's FRIDAY and we're having pizza. What is it about the end of the week that makes us crave pizza? hmmm...probably good advertising. Well, here goes our second weekly fun fact friday (cue: trumpet fanfare)


Troy: has beautiful long dark eyelashes. When he was 7 or 8 this became a problem for him when the college students from the ward his dad was bishop was always commented on how "pretty" they were. So he took matters into his own hands, went into the bathroom and cut them off (possibly he did it with fingernail clippers). Ha! Problem solved.

Alie: For 23 years of her life had all 4 grandparents alive and well, both sets having been married for over 50 years. What a legacy! What a rare opportunity and blessing to be able to have a relationship with all of them! This week her Grandpa Blake passed away and she will miss him.

Rockwell: has two teeth on the bottom and is quite proficient at using them to eat graham crackers. He is also fortunate enough to have all four of his wonderful grandparents in his life and even five great grandparents.

More Thoughts and Insights on my first 10 Months of Motherhood

I last shared my insights when Rockwell was four months old. I'm pretty sure all of you who have been mothers much longer than me will laugh at my insights. For me, though, it's still a whole new world, one I never thought would be so rewarding or so enjoyable and I'm learning so much as my baby grows (to tell the truth I was quite pessimistic when it came to having children before Rocky was born) So here are some more deep thoughts I've had recently concerning our new life (laugh if you want, I realize they are quite simple and silly):

-I was jogging at the BYUI Center indoor track yesterday and I passed two new mommies walking with their babies and i realized "Wow, I have more experience at parenting than someone in this world". I didn't mean it mean, but it was nice to see how far we'd come.

-After I had the previous thought i realized that though I had more experience I surely don't have enough experience to start giving new mothers advice. My only advice is to take fuzzy socks and chocolate in your hospital bag. Other than that I only know what works for me and my baby.

-The thought that followed that thought consisted of thinking how we're just doing what works for us and that is enough. When I have more kids we'll adjust and figure out what works then.

-As his personality is starting to show it strikes me that he's always had this personality and the more I learn of him the more the previous 10 months make sense (does that even make sense?) It's like he's waking up from a fog that protected him from learning too much too fast so his new little brain wouldn't explode, but he was always there. Not a new spirit, but a spirit just waiting until his body started letting him be more himself.

-I am SO much more comfortable with other kids now- especially little babies. I know to some people it comes so naturally and though they don't have kids of their own they never hesitate to borrow someone else's child. Not so with me. But now I know what is needed for the other mother and the baby. Still not 100% but getting there.

-I love him all the time. I'm liking him more and more every day. Some days I don't like him at all.

-I am so very grateful that I've been able to experience these first ten months with him. Babysitting has allowed me to be with him so much.

Imitation is the highest form of a compliment...

Soooo, our friend Nancy started doing Fun Fact Friday on her blog. It's been really fun to get to know fun little bits about her and her cute family. Then Audrey then Fred started doing it too in their own personalized ways, and I, too, think it's a pretty awesome idea. So with Nancy's forgiveness (because it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission) I would like to start doing this too. I can't guarantee I'll do it every Friday, or that it will always be interesting, but I'll try to make them as frequently and as un-boring as possible (in truth, we're not very exciting people). So, here goes nothing... our first ever Fun Fact Friday (FFF):

Troy: has held 8 jobs since coming home from his mission. It's been tough to find jobs conducive to his current student status. When we were dating I was always impressed with his ability to find jobs (or how they found him). The longest job he's held is his current one at Ace and he likes it so hopefully he can stay there for a while. What a blessing it has been for him to be able to work while going to school.

Alie: never tries cooking experiments (i.e. new recipes or made-up recipes) on friends until I've tested them on Troy first (usually at least twice). Well, maybe I have a couple times in the past. And it turned out badly so now I don't. If they pass his critical examination I get excited to share with other people. Maybe I'm a little bit of a show off...

Rockwell: would rather go hungry than drink his formula luke-warm. He will clamp his mouth shut and not drink another drop unless it is VERY-warm (seriously, sometimes I'm surprised how warm he likes it- almost hot). He sure knows how he likes things to be.

The Immortalization

This is the project we did for the drawing room under the department. So that means I didn't have to pay for it! the purpose was to have something more life like to draw. And so I can make cool masks for myself. The process was to use a skin safe silicone for the infant mold. Then attach floss across the transversal plane held onto the silicone by Vaseline to split the plaster just before it sets up completely. Then gypsum strips are placed for structure and strength for the mother mold. Note that a spine is formed over my nose to allow me to continue to breath while not compromising the structural integrity of the mother mold (plaster shell). After everything had set up, we cut on the seam of the infant mold and pulled it off. Even though I used a mold release on my skin, it still clung to it. Infact it took a lot of eyebrow and lash hairs off in the infant mold. I poured plaster into the mold after and the hairs came out on to the plaster mold giving it eyebrow and lashes, but i'll have to upload pictures of that later.