Happy b-day to Hattie and Me!

One of these days I'm going to learn how to not look like a dork in photos...

3/29/09

I'm still trying to recover from all the partying I've been doing this weekend...groan...

So last year, my niece Hattie made her entrance into the world the day after my birthday. Now we get to have two big shindigs in a row every year, because why not--It's fun! On Thursday I was awoken by a call from a florist who was at my door to deliver me a bouquet:

I was shocked. In the ten years Mark and I have basically been together, he's never done that before. He got a lot of brownie points for that. (OK, well, he's gotten me flowers from the grocery store before. But usually not without a lot of coercion from me...) Thank-you, dearest! He even got the afternoon off too so he could come home and take me out for Chinese food. Then I had a package and cards in the mail, presents from my family, and pizza and cake that night.

Of course Madelyn thought it was her birthday(s), too. She enjoys them more than almost anyone.

It was a pretty darn remarkable day. Let me send you to my mom and sister-in-law's blogs, who both did posts about me and said all sorts of nice things. Shucks... The only thing that was really missing (besides my brother Tyler--I'd better throw that in there or risk a snide comment) was my brother Kevin, but he was celebrating in my behalf at the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC on Time's Square. Really. He was on a business trip in Pennsylvania and decided to go up to New York for the evening. For his birthday, I think I'll go take a little trip to the Caribbean. It's only fair.

But let's face it, Hattie turning 1 is more exciting than me turning 28, so here's some photos of our resident cutie:


Hattie learned to walk "for reals" either on my b-day or the day before. (We'll just say it was on my b-day.) She had been taking 3-4 steps at a time for a few weeks, but all of a sudden she just took off. Kevin was gone, so he was surprised by this new development when he got back from his trip. She is just the most adorable little sweetie! I love that girl.

Kevin, in lieu of being present at my party, let me come upstairs for the over 4 hours it takes to watch the extended special edition of The Fellowship of the Ring on his giant screen with seat-shaking sound last night. I am still having a majestic music/expansive vistas/imminent peril/sweaty, scruffy, bloody, hunky men with swords hangover. I hope we can watch The Two Towers soon. Kick it up a notch with Faramir, Éomer, Gandalf the White and of course Éowyn. (LOTR kind of overtakes me about once a year--I'm about to start on the books again. So I'll be preoccupied for some time, in other words.)

Now, can somebody PLEASE tell me what's going on with this weather? My closet is in limbo because I don't know whether to have my short or long-sleeved shirts hanging there, and there's not enough room for both. Sheesh.

MARK HAS A JOB!!!

3/23/09

Forgive me for shouting, but MARK WILL SOON BE EMPLOYED! In a CAREER! A real, paying, bona fide career with a SALARY and BENEFITS and everything. WOO-HOOOOO!

He has been offered a permanent position as a Physician Assistant at Premier Pediatrics (click on link for website) in Cedar City, UT where he is currently doing his 8th and final rotation. His preceptor Dr. Dowse wasn't planning on hiring anyone right now, but he liked Mark so much and thought he'd be such a good fit for his practice that he didn't want to let him go. We love Dr. Dowse (he's been Madelyn's pediatrician since the day she was born) and he has an excellent office. We're so excited.

He'll start May 5th and it looks like he'll have every Monday off (!) and he'll work the night clinic every Wednesday. He'll work one Saturday a month and will be taking after-hour calls from parents with questions one week a month in addition to being on-call for the nursery at the hospital. He'll get quarterly bonuses after the first year, and his vacation time will increase to up to 4 weeks a year if he stays on for 3 years. We'll get health insurance, malpractice insurance, continuing education funding and money for a cell phone, and a signing bonus. (Wow, I'm enjoying having something to brag about...)

Hopefully he'll be full-time, which is 32 hours a week, and we'll find out his salary amount today or tomorrow. We will be moving to Cedar City 50 miles north sometime in May or June, and we'd like to get into a house if we can.

After over 7 years of going to school and never knowing if we'd see the end, the end is finally near. Just thought I'd share the good news!!!!!!!!!! So if you live in Cedar City and have kids age 0-18, he'll be accepting new patients in May. Just request PA Mark Yoder. :)

Maria's bridal portraits!

3/19/09

Behold my sister Maria, the blushing bride-to-be. You can go ahead and be disgusted by how beautiful she is. Some girls just have it all, you know? Click to enlarge.



































Sorry about the multitude of pictures, but these were the ones I narrowed down from the 108 I took. (She's going to need a lot of wall space in her apartment, especially since her engagement pictures, portraits with Shay and actual wedding pictures have yet to be taken...)

The orchard we used is owned by the church and is just down the road here in Hurricane. It's known as the Welfare Orchard and they grow peaches and apricots there. We were expecting a lot more blossoms, but strong winds took most of them off the trees just a few days previously (grumble) but it still turned out OK.

The large field with the mountain views was a spot that I just HAD to use, even if there was an electric fence around it. When we got there to take the pictures, we were rather alarmed that the owners of the field, a wizened looking, rather country-bumpkinish older couple, were out on their back porch and saw us a couple hundred yards away, obviously about to trespass. They started hollering about the fence (which consists of one wire about two feet off the ground, and we were just going to hop over it). Us girls (me, Maria and my sister Meg) were embarrassed and were about to leave, but then my dad went over and talked to them, and they were friendly and let us come drive to the back of their house and just go in the field through the actual entrance. Imagine! They had a bunch of cows, horses and chickens and they said we could go out and take pictures by their outhouse. Uh...no thanks. I wish you could see the color of the red sandstone mountain against the purple of Pine Valley Mountain, but it was the wrong time of day. Oh, well.

Maria said she always wanted pictures of her "gallivanting" around in a field in her wedding dress, so gallivant she did.

Oh, and she let me design and make her bouquet. I used silk white and pink hydrangeas, white sweet peas and apple blossoms, pink crab apple blossoms and chartreuse green Chinese snowball viburnum. Very springy, if I do say so. I'm glad she'll have these pictures to remember this special time in her life. Let me know what you think of them!

Stuff I'm into right now

3/15/09

Lately I've had blogging conundrums, but then it dawned on me that I should record the things that I'm grateful for, have been obsessing about, and/or have generally been taking up my time.



Cute sandal season at Target! (Hey, I didn't say they were deep, existential things...)


It's a really good album. Taylor Swift (and her hair) have spent 11 consecutive weeks at #1 and Fearless has already gone triple platinum. We're rather fond of this teeny bopper here at our house.


So I watched it twice this week and dreamt about it even more. So what. You must give the movie proper time to appreciate the witty dialogue and try to decide whether you think Mr. Darcy is handsome and why on earth they made Keira Knightly look so darn grubby and plain (well, not in the above picture, but for 97% of the movie). I'm guessing her incandescence would have blinded everyone had she been looking like her normal gorgeous self. Oh, yes, and the director had a desire for things to look "real." Psh.


And on the same note (young actresses with high cheekbones and thick eyebrows), I got Funny Face from Netflix and am also planning on watching it a second time today. What's not to love? Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, singing and dancing all over Paris and a to-die-for wardrobe by Givenchy! Next I'm going to get Roman Holiday and My Fair Lady.

Question: Why is the sublime Audrey always paired with ugly old trolls (in comparison) to be her love interests?? I guess Gregory Peck is an exception, but still.


Chinese food. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...... I'm thinking I need to figure out how to make fried rice so I'll always have a constant supply.


Spring blossoms. I love the colors, the smell, the fact that their arrival means winter is over, and their general girlishness.


OK, I love my family, too. (especially Tyler--there, are you happy? Haha.) The picture of the big Dodge truck and exhaust pipe represent my brother Kevin. That's Maria launching Madelyn into the air on the "tramp" just outside.

Speaking of spring blossoms and Maria, we have plans to go take some of her bridal portraits in a big flowering orchard tomorrow. I'll give you a sneak peak soon....

PS. You should try listing the things you're grateful for sometime. It helps take your mind off your everyday blahs.

PPS. My b-day is in 11 days! You can go ahead and get my presents and cards in the mail so I'll get them in time. ;)