Autumn Day-God gives many gifts today

Do you know that primary song? It is a goody. Taught to me by the one and only Roz Hall.

We love the fall. Except for the whole getting cold thing. But you can't help but love the falling leaves and Halloween and looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

News around our house:

-Felicity has a broken leg (trampoline) and has a hard splint thing on for two weeks. She is a trooper. She has had many accidents lately. You can see the scrape on her chin from when she crashed and fell into the couch-biting into her lip and scraping part of her face off. Now she also has a giant blood blister on her finger. I am feeling pretty bad for her lately-but she is happy enough and loves to be a monster and scare you. It's pretty darn cute.
-The Yankees won the world series! Yahoo. I guess Kurt growing out his beard and me growing out my leg hair really did the trick. What can we say, we are fans that bring good luck!
-Halloween was awesome-lots of parties. Felicity was Dorothy and we were the scarecrow and the tinman. I found this picture that she took of herself. There is no

other description but to say that she looks stoned. I'm sorry.

There's just not.It made me laugh.

At the church party. I did not win anything in the chili cookoff. Boo.

I was in charge of the kids fishing game. It was pretty awesome.

Happy girl.

The Radmall Clan at Aunt Annies Halloween party

That's us folks

Cute cousins

Who knew Kurt would gladly receie a toddler sized dress for his birthday?

But he did and he loves to let Felicity wear it every game day.

Thanks Tom and TeriAnn for our fun trip to Hee Haw Farms.

We went on TWO hayrides this season. What could be better?

No more spring blossoms around here...

Better get some autumn leaves up on our background Kurtie Bird.

Long time, no see. There are really no good excuses-we have just been busy and lazy. But-just to catch you up-these are some of the things we have done since we last talked.



-Went to Yellowstone with Kurt's family. It was awesome. We saw lots of cool scenery and cool animals. Felicity liked to yell MOOO to the buffalo.

-Went to California for Kurt's brother's wedding reception. Aaron and Jeanette looked handsome and beautiful respectively and the reception was fun. We also got to spend some time with Jana and Wes and my cousins the Thorntons and all of their new babies. The trip was great except for Felicity's demeanor on the way home. Boo

-After the trip to CA we took away the binky. Yep-the green thing that was constantly in Felicity's little pie hole. Gone. It was hard for a few days-but we did it and I am proud!

-Kurt's sister Christie, her husband Brandon and daughter Addison got sealed in August. It was such a great day and we are so happy for them. Man-Addie had everyone in tears when she was brought in in her darling white dress, sweater and bow. After the sealing she said, "Mom, I'm in the temple!" What a great thing.

Kurt had his Birthday in September and we had a good time camping and celebrating with our families. Both of our parents celebrated 30 years this year. Congrats!We also celebrated both of our dad's birthdays in Sept.

I have been busy seeing lots of new doctors, trying new medications, getting a little swimming in (thanks Christie) and going to physical therapy. Trying to get my bod feeling better. I have some tests coming up in January and we'll see how things are going.

Felicity is starting to talk and it's pretty darling. She will copy almost any word you say and her favorite phrases are "I did it!" and "I got it!" Pretty fitting for such an independent, stubborn little thing. Gee, I wonder where she gets that. She is obsessed with buckling things lately. Carseats, strollers, her doggy backpack, my swim bag. She loves to do it over and over with a proud, "I did it!" Yes, she continues to run me ragged and drive me crazy sometimes, but it's all worth it.

I guess I will post pictures another time. The one hour napper just woke up.

bride, the brush, and bigos

Yes, that's right. Kelli is wearing her wedding dress. It's been 3 years and 3 months, and she can slip right into that thing. Felicity, your mom is as beautiful as ever. We sure are lucky!

We went camping the Friday before my birthday with the Woffindens. My family joined us for one tasty dinner. Thanks for spending that evening with us, everyone. You sure mean a lot to us. We love you!

Last, but not least, for this post - Kelli made me bigos for my birthday. This is a stew that I had a lot of in Poland. This version has cabbage, sauerkraut, bacon, sausage, and pork loin among other things. Throw in a few slices of rye bread and I was in heaven. Thanks, Kelli.

The Radmalls are alive and well, even if our blog is not...What can we say? We've been busy.

Anger. Rising.

Why? Why does everything noisy happen during nap time? I know there is no way to fix it and not everyone plans their day around nap time, but it's so dang frustrating!

I say this because we live in a condo and there are sometimes noisy things going on that I can't control. Usually it is really quiet and we love living here but today i want to go rip someone's leaf blower off of their back! There is a new dog somewhere in the neighborhood that LOVES to bark at all hours .Grrr. The garbage truck woke Felicity up this morning at 6:40 thank you very much-now the lawn guys woke her up in the middle of nap time. Luckily after 10 minutes of letting her cry, she went back to sleep. But I swear they are just making circles around our building with their mowers and blowers and edger thingies. Why can't she be a heavy sleeper like her daddy? Oh wait, then when she grows up she won't hear her own baby cry in the middle of the night. . .

The ramblings of an inmate

Lately, Felicity has been asking to get into her crib during the day. Mostly she just wants to play ring around the rosies with herself and "all fall down" on the soft mattress. I love hearing her start to talk. She is trying to copy things that I say. Yesterday I said "crap" as my car door softly brushed (don't worry, I wiped away the mark with my spit) our neighbors car. And yes, she then tried to say crap. The time has come to clean up my mouth (Orbitz?). My daughter is now understanding what I say and copying me. Today I sneezed twice in a row and both times she said her little version of "bless you". Too cute.

p.s. My sister had a baby girl and I got to cut the cord! Yahoo. I love little Molly Kay and as some of you know, I love to be present for delivery. Invite me to yours.

p.p.s Jillian-it's "he and I" not "him and I". Some of you know what I'm talking about. So many weeks of the same grammatical error, over and over. I cracked up because Reid made the same mistake during his going home limo rant. I guess they were a perfect pair.

p.p.p.s I know I probably make tons of mistakes on this blog. Apostrophes, quotation marks, commas, spelling and all. I told Kurt not to correct it for me. He and his journalism degree would offend me and make me feel stupid. So forgive me for being a hypocrite of types and criticizing Jillian the cute little Canadian.

Venting/Ranting

Today my child is driving me crazy. It's just one of those days. I have cried twice.These are some of the things that have led to my lunacy:

*Felicity woke up at 6:30 instead of 8:00
*She grabbed my spoon and tried to feed my cereal to her baby doll (it was kind of cute actually)-then she proceeded to put her babies blanket in my bowl-sloshing milk on my lap.
*Even though I put on Beauty and the Beast, she quickly found me trying to take a shower and insisted on getting in. Then of course she wanted to get out. Then she peed on the floor.
*She wanted to brush her teeth-instead of letting me help her she grabbed the toothbrush end and got her berry blue toothpaste all over her hand
*She unrolled half of a roll of toilet paper. Now I have to put it in a bag by the side of the sink and use it like that. Frugality and all.
*I was trying to take some Tylenol and the lid wasn't on tight-so the bottle dropped, spilling the glass of water and the Tylenol into a medicinal mess-wasting about 30 caplets. No-I did not try to dry them out and save them.
*I needed Tylenol because I had minor "surgery" on my toe yesterday-ingrown toenail stuff. Gross I know. At least Felicity hasn't stepped on it as many times as she did yesterday.
*I don't know what else-but it just seems like there were a million things that went wrong this morning. Of course there were the usual battles of diaper changes, getting dressed, combing her hair. ANYTHING that I want her to do is just so so tragic to her.
*And to top it all off, we are out of otter pops.

Now, I know that she is just a baby and almost anything naughty that she does is because I have enabled her to do so, by eating breakfast on the couch and such. But it's still frustrating-it's not like I'm leaving her on her own so I can eat bon bon's, I'm just trying to shower and get ready. I swear, there is nothing in this house that will hold her attention for more than two minutes. I think It's time for a toy swap or something. Just needed to vent.

The Forf

Felicity loves to play on the trampoline with cousin Addison
Two crazy girls

Four girls (one in TeriAnn's tummy!) playing in the water

Felicity loved the parade!

Sam and Felicity sitting with Bogo AKA Grandpa Woff

I'd bet a large sum that Felicity is eating something

Momma and Baby Girl

A cool little airplane

My brother Blake and his cute girlfriend Allison.

They are the sacrificing souls who went and camped out for our parade spot at 4 am. Thank you!

There was a pinata for Max's Birthday.

This is Addison hoarding candy in her skirt. So funny.

Yahoo! Dulces!

Addie and Felicity "playing" croquet

What can I say, she's a helper. OK. Not really, but she's cute

"He makes me melt like a popsicle on the Forf of July..." Name that movie!

There are many things that I need to blog about but I wanted to put some pictures up to let you know that we had an AWESOME fourth of July. We always do. We were lucky enough to spend time with both of our families-we enjoyed the parade, a bbq, a birthday celebration, golfing (Kurt) and fireworks of course. Hope you all had a great fourth. I for one am so grateful to live in this country and for all of the men and women who sacrifice to keep us free and safe. Thank you!

What's the Happs?

Well-I have been too pooped to blog-so I will mush everything together.

I am pooped because I am teaching swimming lessons in the morning at my parents. It is a good way to earn some extra money-but it wears me out. The last time I did it was when i was pregnant and I would take a 3 or 4 hour nap afterward. I don't exactly have that luxury now-but I do nap while Felicity does-it is usually an hour and half but it's better than nothing. Some friends in the ward are watching Felicity in the mornings. It's hard to drop her off-I am feeling some sympathy for all you working moms out there.

We celebrated my birthday, my mom's birthday and our anniversary. I was super duper lucky this year. I spent my birthday in Las Vegas with college bffs Jana and Rischel. They planned the whole thing, treated me to hotels and flew in to meet me there for 3 days of relaxation. It was a.maze.ing. We slept in, stayed up late, read magazines by the pool and ate and ate and ate. It was so relaxing and such a good little trip. It's too bad that on the last night there someone broke my driver's window and stole our GPS. But that's just part of life. Someone else's agency affecting my life in a negative way. Oh well.

We went to dinner and bowling for my mom's birthday. It was fun and I didn't even come in last. Second to last. But-I'm cool with that. Some people are bowlers, some people are mini golfers.

The terrible twos have come to our house early. Felicity has her sweet moments and it's fun listening to her learn to talk, but she sure throws a lot of tantrums. She's a pretty aggressive little thing.

Life is good-and it's nice to finally see the sun and use one of my few talents-getting tan. Even with spf 50 these swimming lessons are doing their usual damage. Happy Summer to you all!

I wrote this post a week ago-but didn't post it because I was too lazy to post pictures. Still too lazy. Soon.

one year wiser

Happy birthday, sweetheart! We love you so much!

What I'm reading

I really liked this one...

Ug! So much for my resolution for more frequent posting. But guess what? I don't really care. There is no Quota. This is for me. And if I have something to say-I will find time to say it. I don't know who I'm talking back to right now... Forgive my rebellious attitude about my self imposed goal.

Anyway-it's almost summer and we have been swimming a couple of times. Starting next Monday I will be teaching swimming lessons in the morning. I hope all goes well. I like doing it and I like being in the sun. I just hope Felicity fares well with all of the baby sitting and late naps. Nursery in a couple of weeks. So. Excited.

Anyway-I just thought I'd let you all know what I'm reading. Most of you know I love to read. I read mostly junior fiction (it's easy to get through-entertaining-sometimes meaningful and it's what made me fall in love with reading) and board books. Know those ones by heart. Felicity and I hit up the library almost every week and although she never sits on my lap during lap time, we get new books and have fun.

So I got curious the other day and looked up a list of the Newberry award winners to see how many of them I have read. Then I remembered that my good friend's mom offered her kids some large amount of money to read all of the Newberry award winners ($500?). I don't know if any of her kids did it, but I decided I would. And no, I am not going to ask her for the money.

So that's what I have been reading. Newberry Award winners from 1922 to the present. Some of the really old ones are hard to get through and about dolls and stuff. I have to say, I like the newer ones. I was going to post a list of the ones I have read, but that is on the other computer, so you will just have to wait. If you want to read some Junior Fiction now-go read something by Jerry Spinelli, Richard Peck, Lois Lowry, Gary Paulsen or Blue Balliet. Those are some of my favorites. Happy Reading!

Thoughts on Motherhood

Funny faces

Felicity used to be puny (sp?)

I know this post is a week late, but I needed this time to really think about motherhood instead of cards, gifts, and yummy food. Don't get me wrong, Mother's Day was amazing. We got to spend time with both families and give and receive great words of appreciation. I had a great day. Kurt was more helpful than usual (which I thought was impossible-he always helps me a lot) and he didn't have extra meetings-yeah!

Yesterday I was getting my hair cut while pouring over US Weekly ( I know it's dumb-but that's what I love to do when I get my haircut-don't even try to talk to me girl-I love an hour of silence). But it wasn't silent, because the girl next to me was a talker, which was fine but I couldn't help overhearing their conversation. She recently had a baby and was telling her stylist about how she is from California and it's funny in Utah because you don't feel special when you are pregnant or having a baby-because literally EVERYBODY'S DOING IT. When you are in other states and people see your baby they are always going Lady Gaga over you and your bundle of joy. In Utah, nobody cares. When you walk into a store every other person you see either has kids with them or a baby bump, or both.

Even though I have had this same thought on more than one occasion and experienced it myself (taking a 5 month old to a Padres game-we have never had so much attention for being a cute little family) for some reason I sort of resented this girl saying it (probably because although I agreed with her, she was kind of annoying).

So-here's my rumination on that.

Just because everybody's doing it, it doesn't make it less special. Truly. I don't know that there a many things in life that this holds true for, but it's true about motherhood. Even if every friend of yours from high school, college or in your ward is having a baby, it doesn't make your experience any less special. And those that love you will feel the same way. It's amazing to me how sincerely excited I get when a friend, sister or acquaintance tells me they're pregnant. I get weepy. I CARE. Sincerely care-even if I don't know you that well. I want to talk with you about heartburn, otter pops, night sweats, pitting edema, colic, nursing shields and what books you have read. I want to tell you that having a newborn was probably the hardest 3 months of my life and it's ok if you feel like you're going crazy and then feel tremendous guilt about that. That's normal. I went off on a tangent here...

I guess what I am trying to say is that even though women have been doing it for hundreds and hundreds of years-it's still a miracle every time. Even though it's scientifically how our species procreates and survives-it's more than that. It will change you (obviously) and your life forever. No one can tell you how much of a sacrifice and a joy it will be. It is such a miracle that we are able to be parents on this earth. Whether it's by delivering a child ourselves, or by adoption or fostering or mentoring-it feels amazing to teach a child, to love a child.

I grew up in Provo and I now live in Orem and I have never felt like a lemming-or a boring Utah Mormon. Yes, my hair may have been bad in elementary school pictures (whose wasn't-it was the 80's), but I know that just because I may not be completely in style and maybe my hair is now a mom bob and maybe I am a country bumpkin to many -I like myself, and I like living here and I know I'm not vanilla or tofu and I LOVE being a mom. There have been times when I've felt like just part of the herd; go to college, be a teacher, get married, have a baby, stop working etc.. But guess what? I love it. It's hard but I love it. And I think I love it because I know it's what Heavenly Father wants for me.

So-to all you mothers out there-I know you get bored sometimes, get frustrated, feel left out of the working world, feel unappreciated, feel dowdy-but I saw you at Target yesterday and just because you've got a 2 year old and one on the way and Old Navy Jeans-I know you're not a lemming. I know you give your everything to those kids so they can grow strong and smart and feel loved. I know you once had hobbies and won awards or got scholarships and looked good in a swimsuit. I know you've got personality. Most of you.I guess it's taken me a lot of words to say that Just because everybody's doing it, it doesn't make it less special. I'm proud of you-and your stretch marks.

To be a loser...

I don't have very much time and there are a million things I could post about, but I just have to make a quick comment.

Biggest Loser Finale. Seriously. Amazing.

Kurt and I have been watching on and off for the past little while and we were rooting for Mike the teenager. I can't believe the top three contestants were in such close competition. It was a difference of 5 pounds or something. And for prize money of 250 thou. I would have been p.o'd if I lost by so little.

I just can't believe how much weight those people lost. I can't believe it's even possible! I know they're working out 12 hours a day and it's not reality, but still-I seriously can't believe it. Where does all of the skin go?

I also think that the pound for pound challenge is a great idea-that for all of the weight viewers lose they donate the same poundage of food to the food banks. I thought it was touching. Like Jack Sprat or something.

I just think it's an amazing thing. It's not just about being skinny. These people can now do things they never could, stop taking multiple medications, play with their kids and feel good about themselves. Eyes watered at my house (ok just mine)

I loved seeing all of the past contestants in their fancy clothes. They looked so amazing. Could you believe Jerry? The old dude who won the at home challenge and won 100 thousand dollars? And Nicole, wearing a size 8 wedding gown? You go girl. Amazing.

p.s.-I know where some of the skin goes...There were more flabby arms than a R.S general broadcast.

p.p.s Anyone else sick of these "big" shows being so drawn out. I don't want to watch a tv show for 2 or 3 hours. I can't believe they are just sticking one show in their whole prime time slot. Guess it's working though. I am a sucker and I know I will get sucked into the long drawn out Bachelorette episodes.. Yeah!

Doggies and Nap Time

So, Kurt and I have rented a few movies lately, one of which being Marley and Me. I actually liked it. It was a little slow, but there were some things I really liked.

#1-It was wholesome and clean as far as I remember.

#2-I liked seeing Jennifer Aniston in a "mommy" role. I don't really know what's going on with her in real life, but I think she's having a baby, am I right? I thought her acting was pretty good. Can't help liking her.

#3-Owen Wilson is kind of a cutie. Anything with him in it reminds me of my brother Brett who likes him a lot and has imitated him on more than one occasion.

#5-I liked that it painted a somewhat realistic picture of marriage and family-it's not easy-but it's worth it. I thought the movie was kind of ambivalent about where it wanted to go with that-if you watched it as a single adult, it could probably make you not want to get married, have children or a get a dog. But, since I'm a cheerleader for marriage and children-I took the message to be that people (and animals) aren't perfect, life is hard, but it's worth forging those relationships. There were some cheesy parts of course, but it wasn't all syrupy sweet.

Other thoughts:

*We never had a dog growing up and I have never had much of a desire to own one, so I don't really "get" the dog thing which is the whole basis of the movie. It was somewhat touching in that aspect-but I'm sure it would be more moving to anyone who has loved a four legged friend.

* I liked when Owen Wilson said something to the effect of, "I had a fight with my wife-you mend it, you don't end it." Loved that message.

* I thought the argument between the parents was very realistic and easy to identify with. New baby-stressed out parents-mom is a little cuckoo-dad's not sure if he wants to come in the house. Dog is making everything 10x harder. He accuses her of being depressed, she says she isn't depressed, just overwhelmed. She calls him a jerk. I'm sorry-but how many new moms and dad's haven't been there. Am I right?

*Which brings me to my last point. For those of you who have seen it-do you remember when Marley gets excited about the garbage truck or something and wakes up the kids who have just been napping? OOoh-that part makes me mad! Honestly makes me not want to have a dog. I never thought I would be so dang uptight about napping or sleep schedules, but I am. Once you have a kid-sleep is like air, like water, like heat-it is so so essential for everyone in the home to get some, but so hard to grasp onto. You need enough. At the right time. Or life can be horrible, right? I guess I'm going off because today is one of those bad napping days.

-So, Felicity is finally taking a nap and the little dog that lives below us started barking. And he wouldn't stop! Anger- like fire began rising in my chest! I've never been mad at that dog before, which is funny, because Kurt is always mad when he barks, even if it's only for a second. But, when you've had a bad napping day and baby girl finally stops making noises in her crib and you aren't even going to run the dryer or make a phone call or use the microwave because she might wake up, and a little doggy starts barking-momma wants to rip his head off. So that is what urged me to write this post. It reminded me of the movie. Good news-Felicity didn't wake up and the doggie's daddy pulled him inside and made him stop barking at our older neighbor who is sweet, but takes a looong time to walk to her car.

Duckies

Can you see the bread? Felicity didn't want to feed the ducks-every time we gave her a little piece of bread, she ate it. Predictable. Good thing I didn't bring moldy bread. Is it bad to feed moldy bread to ducks? I think I remember doing it as a kid. Sorry duckies.

These pictures are not too exciting-I tried to take a video and it didn't really turn out-but you have to know that Felicity was thrilled to see ducks in real life! I don't know if she has ever seen ducks before, but I know we haven't purposefully taken her to see them -so this was the big event. Kurt called and invited us to the duck pond for his lunch break. What a thoughtful dad. Felicity loved all of the ducks and ducklings (they were really darling) and I don't think she noticed them, but there were cool turtles there too. The ducks are really used to people (being located on a certain, not to be named, University campus) and they let you get pretty close. Felicity has been saying "Quack, Quack" for a while now so it was fun to see her chasing them around and calling to them in their own language.

She is getting so smart and understands so much of what we say to her. She can say quack quack, woof woof, mmm for a cow sound, a whiny noise for a cat, caw caw for any birds, and can growl for a lion or a pig. She is also a fan of saying uh-oh, pointing to everyone's pictures on the fridge and calling her dad Ma Ma. We keep trying to correct her, but to her, Kurt is Ma Ma and she loves him. I know she'll get it right someday.

Largest Dinosaur Museum in the World!

Felicity "digging" for fossils.
She does this with her arms when she is really excited.

This is her little protective apron for playing in the water/sand exhibit. She was a little small for all of that business and wasn't too interested surprisingly enough.

Such an innocent face...

Uncle Seth and Grandpa Radmall

The "build a dinosaur" room

Very excited to be playing with her cousin Max.

This is her with her mouth full of candy which was provided by Seth. Brought for the very purpose of enticing Felicity to be his best friend for the day. It worked pretty well.

Uncle Seth and Uncle Bryan

That Dinosaur behind us was unbelievably huge!

Largest Dinosaur Museum in the World. At least that's what I read on the billboard.

I finally went to the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum. I've always wanted to go, but haven't had a reason.

Thanks to an invite from the Radmalls, Felicity and I got to go check it out with most of the family who was on spring break. I got two new pennies for my smashed penny collection and Felicity really enjoyed the whole experience. I thought the museum was great-really interesting. Perfect for an 8 year old boy, but pretty awesome for anyone else too.