Take the children bowling, take them bowling...

Here's an embarrasingly late update on Beth's fun birthday party. What do you do when your daughter wants to invite 13 kids to her birthday party? Move to a secondary location.

Aw, Beth. Thank you for avoiding Birthday Brat syndrome.

Almost a strike!

What would a bowling party be without a perfectly ghetto bowling cake (isn't that redundant?).

Emma and her cute cousins.
Beth raked in some good loot, including a cute Webkinz from her friend Brittany.

I Dreamed a Dream

If any of you have dreams unrealized, or think you're too old or plain to achieve anything, watch this. Susan Boyle is an unemployed, average-looking, middle-aged woman who lives alone with her cats. She's never been married, never been kissed. But she did something truly amazing. She got up in front of hundreds of skeptics and sang something so touching and brave. 

Watch it, and then get to work on those dreams.

Susan Boyle sings I Dreamed a Dream.

An Artistic Diversion

I'm taking a break from food today to tell you about an amazing artist and designer: my brother Clark Chamberlain.

Clark is not your run-of-the-mill graphic designer. He has such a breadth of experience--it will amaze you what he can do. I've included about .01% of his work below. To check out his full portfolio, click the link below.

Portfolio Home Page

Clark's email: clark.chamberlain@gmail.com

Logos and Graphic Design

(Click to enlarge.)



He did an amazing custom family tree for our family. Does your family want one?

Stage Events

Ever wonder why the Conference Center looks so amazing?

Or why a special event looks so good?

Concept Art and Illustration

Clark is one of the few designers that can actually illustrate. He's a classically trained artist that knows his stuff.

Retail Environments

Clark has done some really unique store environments.

Float Design

Ever wonder who does those cool floats in the Days of 47 Parade?

So Long Guiding Light

So all I do now is sit around and eat bon bons and play on the internet all day. Well not really, but in the wake of the recent news that Guiding Light will be cancelled, it has occurred to me that the blogging is the new soap opera. Our precious time has moved from the tv screen to the internet screen, seeking out and writing our own soap opera lives. 

I haven't watched soaps for years, but Guiding Light has sentimental value. You see, Guiding Light is my mom's show. All through the 70's and 80's we witnessed the ups and downs of their sordid lives. Roger is having an affair with Mindy? Scandalous! When will Josh and Reva get together (again!)? Beth: Get some self esteem! Gus and Harley, Blake, Alan-Michael and Eleni getting married in Greece!

She'll never admit to watching it, but I'll ask her on occasion, "So, how are Reva and Josh?", and she'll give me a full update. We have good memories of watching GL. When I was younger, I don't remember it much. I do remember another soap called The Edge of Night. I remember being freaked out by that dark skyline and the announcer saying:

"Welcome to Theee Eeeeeeeedge...of Night!"

Briefly, I was unfaithful to Days of Our Lives in the mid 80's, but Guiding Light has been our constant. I remember many quiet lunches spent with my mom, chowing down on a Lynn Wilson burrito with ketchup and a diet Coke, catching a few minutes of GL before I had to run back to school.

Anyway, the timing of all of this is funny because I've had promptings that I need to curtail the online activities and spend more time on things that really matter. I figure that I'd better get a jump on Conference Weekend repentance and renewal and compel myself to get my priorities straight.  

The Iron Maiden

I'm not a runner, but I have a rich fantasy where I am one. I've been training to run in the Wasatch Back, this summer. It's a 180-mile team relay that takes place over two days. My participation garnered a confidence-boosting eyebrow raise from my doctor last week. Thanks, doc! Admittedly, training has been a lot more difficult than I imagined, but by darn I'm going to do this thing.

I don't attend the church of Oprah, but she has endorsed the Enell Sports Bra, and if Oprah loves it, and I mean she's pretty generous in the curve department, then maybe I should give it a shot. The bra is $64. So I waited, and put it off, and otherwise stayed in denial.

 

Then at the gym I had an epiphany. I was slogging along on the treadmill and I'm surround by the beautiful exercisers. You know the type. Glistening, tanned, and toned. Pastel spandex short-shorts and matching bra/top. Blonde ponytail bouncing to the beat of her pastel ipod. Meanwhile I'm chugging away with my ghetto t-shirt, red face, white legs and yoga capris. I'm sweating profusely and my hair is soaked through, and I'm adjusting my pathetic bras (Yes, bras. You women know what I mean.) I'm thinking, maybe I could change just a couple of small things. How about some cute exercise clothes? How about that cool bra?

So I get the bra. Yes, in this economy. I'm a size 1. This thrills me. I have never been a size 1, not even when I was 1. So thank you, Enell, for using small numbers and not some other humiliating sizing like: queen, ample, clydesdale, plus, husky,  or heiffer. 

It takes about five minutes to put on. There are actual instructions on how to get it on. It has 10 hooks. Ten, ten hooks! Ah ah ah ah!

It's awesome. I'm flatter than Kansas. Watch out, blonde ponytail girl. I'm coming after you.

Jane the Destroyer

I feel like leaning my head out the window and screaming, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!".  Or is it "It's my money and I want it now!" Either one would work fine.

That's not what Jane's thinking. She's looking out the window and thinking, "The world is my oyster, man. I gotta get out there!"

I'm just going relay a little taste of the insanity that has become my daily life with Jane. Jane (bless her heart) has turned two. Over the past week, Jane has:

• broken my favorite mug, a dinner plate, a salad plate, and my favorite platter from grandma. 
  
• dumped out my wood floor cleaner into a huge puddle and sat in it (nice - I smell like oranges)
  
• pulled out Ed's beloved records from the cabinet and emptied many of them from their sleeves (I want daddy.... oh, here he comes!)
  
• has discovered how to climb up on the kitchen table. I left the room and returned to find her sitting on the laptop (feel the power of the internet!)
  
• has repeated tried to order AOL by reaching up and typing random keys on my desktop keyboard (it's a conspiracy!)
  
• learned that pulling random unseen items off the kitchen table is fun and exciting (what could it be? ketchup? mom's camera? a steak knife?)
• emptied out a laundry basked full of folded clothes
  
• ripped pages out of my scriptures
  
• ruined a half a box of Tampax by unwrapping them, disassembling them, and either chewing on them or dropping them in the toilet.
  

I needed to take a shower, but not wanting to risk another broken plate or injured child, I decided she could have a bath whilst I have a shower (we have a separate bath). 

During my shower she:

• emptied the shampoo bottle into the tub
  
• poured a cup of water onto the bathroom floor, and
  
• unrolled the roll of toiletpaper into the tub (and ate some, for good measure)
  

This newfound sense of adventure comes with a price. Jane has also:

• fallen off the step stool at least 3 times in the last week. The last time she gave herself a bloody nose
  
• pulled a small (nearly empty - don't call child protective services!) end table dresser onto her herself and cut her upper lip
  
• fallen down the stairs
  
• fallen off then kitchen chairs
  

In addition, here are some regular activities she does at least 3-4 times a day:

• "rearrange" our cd collection (love the clackety clack sound!)
  
• crawl over to the open dishwasher (hurry! it's still open!) and pull out the dirty cutlery to see if she can find any snacks.
  
• emptied out the newspaper recycle basket (ahhh, tearing paper...)
  
• empties out any cupboard, closet, purse, wallet, shoe basket, toy box, or sack. (I just love chewing on my mom's mp3 player!)
• play drums with all of my plastic bowls and storage containers
  
• wreak havoc with the television buttons (I know how to get mom off the couch!)
  
• rubs her eyes and hair every time I happen to feed her something containing tomato sauce (how else am I supposed to get in the bath and make a mess?)
  
  
• wakes up and cries the moment I put her in bed (must get into mom's bed, must get into mom's bed....)

It's a good thing Jane is just about the sweetest, mildest, cutest child you'll ever see on the face of this earth. I love you Jane, more than you'll ever know, but I'm so tired.

All the World's a Stage. I Need an Intermission.

Emma's been rehearsing long hours for the school musical Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood. The performance was a few nights ago and it was amazing. It was quite a site to see dozens of grade-school kids singing and dancing to some great choreography, to say nothing of the funny script.

Emma's role was a narrator, but she has a lot of lines and actually controlled the action with a fake "remote control". I'm so proud of Emma, who definitely has the "performance" gene from Ed's side of the family.

Emma also played her last Jr. Jazz basketball game last weekend. She has come so far and is a good competitor. (That must be from my side of the family. Rip her head off, Emma!) Her team won a majority of their games and did a great job on their last game.

(Would have won if the other team hadn't, well, cheated. It's so funny how all is fine and well until the mean girl from the other team starts getting rough and breaking rules and then the mommy bear claws come out and I start making plans to run them down in the parking lot in my white minivan. Glad to get that off my chest. I'm okay now.)

In the mean time, Ed and Beth had a daddy-daughter excursion to a U of U basketball game. They had a great time and we even won. Go Utes! 

Beth has also been swimming hard in the swim team's "pre-comp" program, which is like swim team with training wheels. Hopefully she'll get to participate in a swim meet soon, as she's anxious to start bringing home some ribbons. (That's my girl!)

Jane is doing great, and has decided that crawling is easier that walking. So while she can take steps, she needs to get a bit more confidence in herself before she starts walking all of the time. She also started a new "Play & Learn" preschool that is run through an early intervention program. So she gets to "play & learn" while mommy "shops & showers". It's a great arrangement.