The Laugh/Cry

Thought that I had better get this baby posted before I forgot and left it out.

Here are the Norr's after a fine feed at Fredricos' Pizza. I have many fond memories of ham and cheese salads and sausage on pizza from this long standing establishment. It's the only place in the world that I have Thousand Island dressing on my salads.

We are off to see Bryan Regan at the Ellen Eccles Theater. (Saturday, Feb 2oth) I left with no makeup because I cried it all down my face and into the tissues that were in each fist. The laughing felt SO good.

Let me just also put in here that I am about to cry becuase this rotten website never posts my posts correctly! Spacing folks, spacing! I swear I don't write in one big blob.

Good Morning

Saturday morning I couldn't sleep in (which is rare!) because it was so light outside. The sun wasn't up but it was so white that my curtains couldn't keep out the mornings' glory. So I tied up my boots and but on a beanie and went outside to shovel. I spent at least 45 minutes at my neighbor Marie's house and I only finished her walk and half the driveway. 14" Whew! Good times.

It was so still and beautiful. Everything looked pure and perfect.

I am pretty sure that I was the only one out in the whole neighborhood for at least and hour and a half. Like I said, a rare day. They come along, these up before everyone else's, but not too often. I do so enjoy the feeling! I'll try to remember that next time I am lying between the sheets and thinking to myself that there is nothing so wonderful as is my bed.

Carpet in the play room today - pics to follow soon.

Sarah Anne Norr Grange

My mother is working on typing up a journal that belonged to my Great-grandmother, Phyllis Eliason Germer. She is my Mothers' Mothers' Mother. Phyllis kept a faithful record of dates and times, but very little about herself. She wrote mostly about what her husband was doing, and the weather. My mom says that she was very shy. From her journal I can learn about what she did, but not really who she was.

And so, with that on my brain I have decided to write about each member of my little family. As individuals. So that someday we might be known, not just as dates and times, but as souls. I begin with myself. (Just so you know, this took me a long time. I thought that I would be the easiest subject. I kept reconsidering what to put about myself, and if that thing was what I am really about. Finally settled on the truth - or most of it. )

MY STATS:

Birthday: March 21, 1985 - Tremonton Hospital, almost in the waiting room.

Height: 5'5" - just right next to DJ in heels.

Weight: 130 - give or take a few depending on the season.

Eyes: blue

Hair: blond - a little less so with each child, gets lighter in the sunshine.

Complexion: fair - burns easily, tans occasionally, very clear

MY FAVORITES:

Things to do: ski, run, decorate, sew, take long hot baths, climb into clean fresh sheets, sleep in, go on dates with my hubby, read to my babies, read to myself, (novels, magazines, scriptures) shop for new shoes, have bunco parties with my friends, shovel snow after a big blizzard, paint things, look at paint/ fabric samples. (You think I am joking? This is where I get my Zen!) be by myself for a while - with no noise, blast the radio when I drive, stay up late and watch chick flicks whilst DJ sleeps with his head on my lap, watch storms roll over the Wellsvilles, hang out with my Mom and sisters, give my girls things.

Food: pasta, pork of any kind, home-made marinara sauce, fresh bread, grapefruit, crispy tart apples, anything with pumpkin in it, anything with chocolate, real lemonade, Junior Mints, carrots, green beans, zucchini, Petite Bacon Wrapped Sirloin and mushrooms from The CopperMill, BREAKFAST FOOD, smoothies, whole milk, (but I mostly drink 1%, still love the thick rich milk of my dairy farm youth) tacos, Tillamock cheese, cold shrimp, raspberry jam. This list could go on and on . . .

I feel best when: I take time to be grateful. I am sitting in Relief Society. I get done with a workout. I have a tidy house (doesn't have to be perfect, just tidy). DJ gets home from work. I look at family photos. I talk with friends. I write about my day and then recognize that good was done, and I do make a difference. I say a real prayer (not just the practiced kind). I snuggle my face into my babies and smell them, feel their hearts beating and know that they are mine always and that I love them, and am loved by them. I know I am needed by someone. I can do something to serve another. I fit in my skinny jeans. I make a great meal. I am dressed up to meet a client. I figure out something that DJ can't. I am patient with my children.

DREAMS:

I want to go back to school and study Architecture, alongside a more thorough history of Interior Design. Then I want to design the most beautiful homes the world shall ever know. Not the mansion types, just modest, lovely, timeless homes that people love to be in. I want to create homes that have classic scale and proportions, ageless appeal, modern amenities, well planned spaces. I want to bring loveliness back to the masses. Make grace and charm not just about the money that was spent but about the way one feels inside. To create plans that average families can afford, but with extraordinary looks, and livable space.

That is my big dream right now. Maybe it will change. I know that it is a 'someday' dream. But I cling to it. Talk about sweet. This is what my sleepless nights are made of; imagining these homes. And yes, of course I decorate them when they're done.

I dream of traveling the world and seeing the places that I read about in history books.

I dream of adventure! I can't quite decided what kind, just adventure - challenge. I want to do something big with my life. Be someone who makes a difference. Be someone who really lives, not just watches others live. How to do this. . . I don't know. But I hope that my life will hold something wonderful. Something extraordinary.

Right now I am also dreaming of another baby. Please Lord, please send me one.

SOME OTHER STUFF:

I hate bad manners, I hate dust. I hate loosing my cell phone. Those might be the only things I really hate, I do dislike a lot of stuff, buy lets focus on the love. I love dupioni silk and velvet. I love cows. I have a weakness for ducks, but elephants have been my favorite animal since I was a little girl. I like a lamps. I like empty notebooks and new pens, especially the sharpie marker variety. I just got a set of 11 colors and I can't find enough things to write upon. I love furniture and real patina. I love diamonds and pearls.

Funny things I do: whenever a camera is in my face, I give a 'cheese". It can't be helped, it's genetic. My mother and grandmother before me have the same disease. I really am quiet normal, but in front of a camera my smile is not. Blah! The two photos of me above are rare gems, not just because I am alone but because I don't look like a total idiot.

I might have to have DJ do a little posting here. I am sure that I have several other quirks that should be documented but I can't think of any right now. Oh, except my tendency to ramble on.

Holy Crow - this is getting long. Quite enough about me.

Later.

Some White Stuff

Tuesday evening after Boot Camp I went running in a t-shirt and shorts, the moon was so bright I could see my shadow and the stars were extra brilliant and twinkly. Wednesday me and the girls aired out the house again and played in the yard. Then guess what? Wednesday evening we got 10'' of snow in just a few hours! It was incredible. The storm rolled in all dark and boiling, with wind and sleet and the whole bit. I loved it!

We almost got stuck coming up the drive, bald tires are to blame. Good thing DJ was behind the wheel. He can maneuver his way out of anything. Or up anything, or around or through. I would have abandon the car down by the park and walked up to the house. We are getting new tires this evening.

Talia is concerned about what season we are in. She keeps asking when we can play at the park again. I let her wear shorts and a tee the first three days of the week. Now it's boots and a scarf with everything. This photo of her is from the last big snow. I still can't find my camera. I had better get my hands on it before the Bryan Regan show tomorrow. DJ and I have been looking forward to this for almost 3 months, (I bought tickets online in November. He sold out 4 shows in just 45 minutes.) and I want a good mug shot of the two of us to commemorate the event. One like this, it's our favorite kind.

Spent the last several days in the basement prepping the play room for paint. My fingers are raw from all the caulking. I shall never be a painter. Wait, I shall never be a "prep-er." I quite enjoy the actually rolling on of the color. My Dad is coming today with his neighbors paint gun and we are going to blast on the primer, and then do doors and trim. Pretty excited about that part. Then I shall apply Ralph Laurens' Barn Owl White to the walls. It's the most wonderful butter -like color. Talia was all for pink and purple stripes, with Tinkerbells painted around the window, but I feel there will be enough chaos down there without the walls screaming at you. So soothing butter it shall be.

Roo is on my chair clamoring for attention. She's pulling/ fluffing my hair and saying "Mommy, oh! Mommy oh!" Time to end.

Someday

Today is a "someday."

(You know, when you move for the third time in a year and a half and you have a brand new baby and all the relatives are hauling boxes into the basement that still has tools and construction debris all over the place and lots of other dirty stuff, and all the boxes go into a corner, jumbled and dusty and full of you have no idea what. . . and you say to yourself, "Self, someday I'll come down here and sort through all these blessings and organize them into groups and nice boxes and label everything and then re stack it nicely." That kind of someday.)

Well, it came today, along with Valentines' Day. There was such beautiful sunshine this morning. We had a record high, like almost 60 I think! Me and the girls aired out the house and cleaned every room, then swept the garage, pulled the Christmas tree out of the mud and stood up up next to the fence so it could have some dignity, and played with the sidewalk chalk. But even all that goodness did not make a "someday."

Some days are the ones that you mean to have for a very long time, but they rarely come because they are always rescheduled so that other important things can have a day. They usually require unsavory labor of some kind. The day comes when you finally look into the eye of the beast and say, "bring it!" Then you actually do what it is that you had intended to do when you first said "Someday I'll. . . ."

DJ has spent the last few evenings doing the finish work in our north east bedroom downstairs. It is the only one that we had sheet rocked and taped with the rest of the house. The original intention for this room was for it to house goods, (Remember the before mentioned pile of important stuff?), so that when we did wood projects in the basement they would remain dust free. I don't know why it never had a single box stacked in it.

I have decreed that it shall make a smashing "Toy Room." Oh! How I have dreamed of sending the the little tornado girls down to play in their own make-whatever-mess-you-like, because-I-don't-have-to-clean-it-up-place." I know that I will be cleaning it every now and again, but at least it won't be necessary to reach T's windows for bedtime. With all the excitement over a toy room filling my head I recognized also that a someday was looming. I could not bear passing by the "storage" spot on a regular basis with it in a state of crazy. Or, (shudder) sending little play date friends and their parents (shudder) to this room.

And so. . . it was accomplished. At least 5 hours it took me tackle it all. I feel so alive! Dusty, achy, and down two lovely fingernails, but alive. I get a special thrill when I throw things away. And sort, and stack and label. I am pretty sure I get that from my dad. Cleaning is like, good medicine. Organization is so sweet. DJ hates it. He is a bit of hoarder, also like his father. He likes to know where things are because that is where he last put it down. In fact he was peeved that I swept up his broken shims.

All differences aside, the basement looks magnificent. DJ really did a job on the closet shelves and trim. The man can really hang a nice door. He is a super hubby, mess included. I let the girls play around this evening in their stocking feet because I swept so thoroughly. (I am worried about the amount of dust I must have inhaled.) They of course, LOVE it down there, even when daddy is using the saw.

I wish that I could post a pic of the "someday" feat. But I cannot find the camera. I took it to our ward Valentine dinner Saturday, but I know that it got home because I shot a good one of T yesterday wearing my dress shirt and scarf. She was "modeling" my work wear. Talia doesn't dress up, she models.

Happy Someday!

Sarah Grange

P.S. Oh, and Valentines! We ate pink, white and red peanut butter M&M's all day. The BEST. DJ and the girls brought home roses for me on Friday evening, I've enjoyed them all weekend. The holiday did not go by unnoticed in our house, but romance between DJ and I is most often expressed in the completing of a project. He builds, I sweep. We are so in love!

Oh' Mexico

Do you think it's about time to see some Mexico pics? You know, cause it's February and the tan is officially gone, so is most of the sand from the laundry . . . I'm craving a taco.

I shall not attempt to catalogue all of the events for you. Lets let the photos do most of the talking shall we?

I really am the best at "dribble castles." I really get my Zen on while building one. The sand was so perfect! Talia wore her big Hollywood sunglasses everywhere. Roo was mostly topless (spf 50), and in Heaven!

We saw lots of dolphins too, jumping and twirling, but my camera is standard issue and I never got a good shot. Yes, that is a Stingray! Some local dudes were catching them in a T-shirt and then letting them swim around in shallow pools for the kids to see. I am a kid! My new sundress was purchased from a beach vendor, as well as those authentic Porche sunglasses.

Ruby, my sunshine! She fell asleep under the umbrella a few times. Wrapped in a towel and in a little hole, like a turtle. Bus fair was about 80 Pesos. We camped about 15 minutes North of Mazatlan so we got to ride the bus whenever we felt like a Taco, or some shopping. I prayed a lot on that bus! (The girls did not want anything to do with their car seats when we got home.)

Speaking of turtles . . . see that sweet little thing? One morning there was a new batch on their way to the sea. They were all over the beach. I wanted to keep one. But Utah is a little dry.

Congrats Deven and Kaylee on the engagement! (And for making such rad sand man.)

Bar none, the best part about our Christmas vacation was being with this desperado, and the two little chikas we have together. 2 whole weeks of uninterupted us time! A close second would be the boogie boarding, and warm sand. Fresh fruit, then Sunsets. (Oh, and escamochas, and tacos.) Coming home was really sweet.

The Goings On

DJ took the girls with him to Home Depot this morning. This is what they came home with, as well as popcorn and a soda apiece. The aprons are fabulous. We painted the wee shelves pink and put Valentine stickers all over them.

I was supposed to be hosting a little "party" this morning while the lovies were out. No one showed. Except Jamie and Reese P. (THANKS GIRLS!) It was a low moment. I hate sale parties so much more now . . . and that is saying something. But the house looked really great.

Especially this little number. One of my KSL finds. Do you love? I LOVE. Missing a little golden slipper on the front feet, but the cute gal I bought it from in SLC is looking for one. She has a big box full of furniture legs. How cool is that? The color that my new end table is wearing makes me so happy. Spunk. That is not the color name, but that's what it's all about.

This last one here is a little taste of the "before." Roo is so into her Winnie the Pooh, can you tell?

I have new hair, as of last Wednesday. I had spring fever and asked for sunshine in a bottle! Sarah Hernandez at Studio 170 has done my 'do' for about 6 years. I trust her totally. She did wonders for me with tinfoil and bleach. I am light about 5 inches of hair.

Ike and Jen are home from BYU and this evening we are going all out together to celebrate our Daddy's birthday. (Yea, I still call him that. I am almost 26.) I am pretty sure he is 52. I LOVE YOU DAD! We are going to Texas Road House. No one is allowed to even breath the word "birthday" around a waiter. He would rather have boils than sit on the saddle and be sung to. Ha!

Super Bowl party tomorrow at Mom's. We Norr's don't really care about the game, our gathering is about the food.

Angel Cake

While I dressed and prettied yesterday, Ruby played in the shower and unloaded my drawers. She made nice little item family groups along the tub rim. Clever little tart! Have you ever seen a more angelic child? Last night was her first for sleeping "through" since her cold started last week, (and I suspect a new tooth is about to make an appearance) so this morning she seemed all the more cherubic to me! A good eight to ten hours of uninterrupted sack time sure make ones family easier to love.

This is what was going on around my kitchen island this afternoon. We 3rd Ward Webelos scouts are doing the Craftsman pin. Normally this involves hammers and scrap wood. It is WAY to cold out right now, even in the garage, and no ten year year old shall cross my threshhold with a hammer, so I opted for something that we could craft indoors. Cake!

Yes, those are monsters and frog gummies right alongside the Valentine sprinkles.