Iris at 19 months

I cannot believe Iris is already 19 months! Where has the time gone? I haven't posted just about her in a while, so I thought I'd catch you all up on her goings on.



She loves to play with her toys, books, and babies. Sometimes just climbing into the toy box is all the entertainment she needs.


She's a pickier eater than she used to be, which can be frustrating. Riley got finicky about food around 18 months, and has never stopped, so at least I know what's in store for us.


She and Riley get along really well, for the most part. Riley is pretty patient with her, and Iris loves to tag along. She doesn't seem content to let Riley cause all the mayhem, and is now our Troublemaker-In-Training.



She's talking more and more these days, and can say about 20 words (at the last count). She's climbing everywhere and into everything. Keeps me on my toes.



She loves books, and can be occupied with a stack of books while I cook dinner or try to clean. If I'm very quick, I may even get a whole room done before she finishes and comes to undo my work. Dear girl.


She is so sweet, and if caught in the right mood, will cuddle-- that's the time my love for her is an almost physical ache in my heart. She's added so much to our family, and we can't imagine how we got along without her.

Iris Helena-- we love you!

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

While it's horribly embarrassing, I just have to write about my experience last night. And I need to provide some background. So there's a relatively new dessert cafe open in Orem, called The Chocolate. It's on State Street by Classic Skating, in one of those old houses converted to a store. It shares a building with a photography studio. It's amazing. Eric and I went there a few weeks ago at the end of a date, and it was... wow. Delicious. And mostly reasonably priced. As Eric and I waited for our treats, we crossed into the studio area, to use the bathrooms. There we found pictures on the wall (obviously) and felt free to criticize. I really didn't care for most of them. On our way out, I noticed a sign that said Ladies Night at The Chocolate is on Wednesdays. Open an hour later and free milk all around. Huzzah!

Fast forward to last night (Wednesday). I had Stephanie and Alyssa over to watch a movie, and when Eric got home earlier than usual, we realized there was still time for us to make it to Ladies Night. Huzzah again! Off we went, and again, as we waited for our treats, we went over by the bathrooms to look at the pictures. I can't lie-- I took them there just to show them the pictures I didn't like. Mean, mean, mean. As we turned the corner, one of us joked about how horrible it would be if the photographer was around to hear us. And then we (mostly Alyssa and I, Stephanie was nice) proceeded to make fun of these pictures. Not horribly, I guess, but certainly not nice. I began to feel uneasy, like someone was watching me. Sure enough, I turned around to see a man on a couch at the other end of the room, mostly in the shadows. Wow. We stuttered out some apologies, and tried to get away, but not before he could say something like, "Oh, so you don't like them? Let's see some of your pictures." Wow. I was mortified. Beyond mortified. And I also just felt bad.

So we hid out upstairs and ate our treats, not having the courage to go downstairs in case we were to see him again. But then the cashier guy brought us up three tarts, and told us they were from the photographer, who said not to worry about it, and that there were no hard feelings. He was concerned he might have been rude, and hadn't meant to be. Wow again. Could I have felt any worse? I think not. We continued to be hideously embarrassed for a few minutes, until the photographer himself came upstairs. I wanted to sink right through the floor. But he was amazingly professional. He said not to worry about it, and he knew he had to have thick skin to be in a business like his, etc. We were able to apologize again, and chatted for a few minutes, friendly as anything. I was very, very impressed. He was quite professional. So, shout out to Studio 216 in Orem. It's not my cup o' tea, but I really respect that guy.

Now all I need to do is work up enough guts to go in there again to drop off the "sorry" note I wrote this morning when I had a guilty conscience, so I won't feel banned from my new favorite place.

Oh, and never do that again.

Riley's 5th birthday... better late than never

Happy Birthday Riley! February 22nd

We actually had the party on her birthday, and I've been meaning to post about it ever since. It was a lot of fun... mostly. First we did a pinata, which everyone except Riley seemed to enjoy.

She took one whack at it....


...and spent the rest of the time up our apple tree.


Oh well. She liked getting all the candy after I finally broke it on the tree. These new pinatas are a little too sturdy for kids.


Then we had cupcakes and ice cream. Yes, she's plugging her ears while we sing to her.


Then presents. She, of course, enjoyed this!


Then bowling. She took her first two turns, and then ran around like a dog the rest of the time. Why does she look so scared, you ask? It's her new picture face.


We had her family party the next Sunday, and had a lot of fun there, as well. Thank you so much, Lad and Liz, for giving her a weapon.

Liz and Lad

Hello, I'm back. I survived my mega-month. It all turned out great. Liz is married. It's still weird, and (no matter how much I like Lad) a little sad to say that. I know I ruined the dream when I married Eric, but we were going to be Thelma and Louise, and now we can't. Men. Bah.

As far as men go, Lad is great, and perfect for Liz. I, of course, cried most of the way through the ceremony, and when Liz said her part, I gave an audible sob, which Liz mistook for a laugh, and glanced over her shoulder to see who it was. Kind of embarrassing. Eric took the pictures, so I don't have anything to show you. I just got on Adobe to try to get one or two converted to a pdf so I could post them. But then the percentages started changing, and I panicked and got off quick. What are the percentages even for? I'll post them when Eric gets them to me, and I make no promises on when that will be. So, in the meantime, you'll have to take my word for it that it was amazingly beautiful.

And a huge special thanks to my pseudo-nanny, Stephanie. She agreed to take on the job all day Friday and part of the day Saturday so I could concentrate on the details. Wow- huge job. Thanks very, very much!

March won't be very exciting by comparison, but I do have a sister turning 30 and a brother turning 20. Kind of big birthdays. I want to do something nice- any ideas? And we also have our anniversary... I also need ideas for that.