My Guitar Hero

Ben is a boy of great passion. He loves to love things. One of his current loves, among pirates, superheroes and any type of vehicle, is guitars. He loves guitars. Ben has used a pair of kitchen tongs, a whisk, a broom, a spatula, and for several days, a guitar shaped, musical toy as a guitar.

Here he is playing the broom as a guitar and singing a song he wrote. Before he started he said, "This goes out to all the ladies out there." Sam is keeping the beat by slamming his car onto his tray.

He also has a singing style which sounds a lot like heavy metal and involves a whole lot of screeching. I prefer the more soulful music myself. Sam plays as well. They'll get together and Ben will play the broom and Sam will play the plunger, or vice versa, and they will make some good music together. They're thinking they'll start booking some gigs after they spend some time in Europe finding themselves and fine-tuning their sound.

A Story of Hair

*Warning* - this is all about hair and hair related topics, there are no cute pictures of little boys, only an okay picture of me. Consider yourself warned.

This is the new cut. I like it. (It took 13 pictures to get one where I didn't have my eyes partially closed or wasn't blurry because I was laughing. Zach said I was doing it on purpose, but I wasn't. Subconscious defense mechanism? I'll let you be the judge. Mostly because I don't want to be)

I got my hair cut last week. It's a good cut. It was a birthday present from my Mom & Dad (Thanks, guys!) but I had just got my hair cut when they gave it to me, so I waited until now. It was at a swanky-type salon where half the salon is all rustic, like it was a 19th century brewery the day before, and the other half looks like a Tibetan monastery where the monks really, really like lemon slices in their water. Ya, know, the kind of salon where you feel like you should dress up to go there. I know I did, and I still looked kinda shabby.

Anyway, enough description. The cut is lovely, and the lady did a nice job, especially considering the list of demands that I gave her. I'm not really sure what the hair dryer/curling iron status is going to be over the summer, and I don't really want to buy one, because even if I do, I'll probably only actually "do" my hair a couple of days a week. I'm a hair minimalist. Or, at least I am right now. So, she cut it and put some magic, fancy hair cream in it, that I intended on buying, but it was $23, and I would rather put that money toward something cool and Spanish. But I'm totally for receiving gifts, so if anyone is in the giving mood, please feel free. Please. So, with the magic hair cream and a diffuser my hair curled up like crazy and looked fabulous. I, of course, do not have the gift of the stylist, so I didn't manage to get that curl when I did it myself the next day, and today, when I took the picture, I actually flattened it a bit, but I still like the look.

Anyway, that's enough of that. The reason I am bringing this up at all is because when I went to pay they asked if I wanted to give a gratuity. I loathe this question, because I really, genuinely do not want to give a gratuity. I just paid for the cut. Right? But I have no idea how this whole stylist/hair salon relationship works and who gets what, and I thought it was a good cut and I am a bit of a pushover, if the truth is told, so I left her three dollars. But, when I got out of the salon, walking the I-just-got-a-new-hair-cut-and-totally-love-it walk, that involves a whole lot of head tossing and lingering in front of shop window's reflections, and running fingers through hair, I noticed that she had mischarged me for the gratuity! Oh no! Instead of $3 she had put in $10. And I'm really not that generous. At all. I gave them a call, because I was already in the car and at a different locale and gas is expensive around here. They figured it out right away and canceled that ticket and got my card number to recharge me and I happily continued home to play with my hair for three hours.

A few days later, I realized that I had left my phone out in the car. When I finally got around to going out and getting it, there were 12 missed calls! "What?" thought I. They were all from this poor woman at the salon, who wrote the card number down wrong, and it wouldn't go through. So, they didn't have the money, because they had canceled that ticket, and they didn't have the right card number, and all they had was a cell, that no one was answering. What would you think? She was clearly panicking, thinking I was some crook or something. She sounded pretty desperate in the fifth message.

And I was soooooooooo tempted. I cannot tell you. Get thee behind me awesome (possibly free) haircut.

Luckily/Unfortunately, I do have something of a conscience. I called her back and straightened the whole thing out and all was well. And I still have a good hair cut out of the whole thing too. I mean, I like it.

But if I ever turn to a life of crime, the salons of the world better watch out.

A Plethura of Topics: Swimsuits, Little Swimmers, and Books.

Because we only have a little over two weeks till we depart and because I am a terrible time manager I'm turning this into a catch all for the several posts that I have been meaning to put up here for the past few days but haven't. This is mostly due to the fact that I have been sorting through old pack rat papers, running after my little terrible two's times two, and packing up boxes and writing the word "Books" so many times that I start to wonder if that is actually how it is spelt. It looks wrong after a while. Has that happened to anyone else?

So, first of all to answer the question that is plaguing everyone's lives, I did pick out a swim suit. This is the chosen one from Modbe:



And it finally came yesterday! Hurray! And it looks incredibly cute. There is some really nice detailing in the front, and there is a tie to pull everything together in the back. But, I should say, that I was expecting there would be less cleavage from a company whose thing is modesty. I guess it is unavoidable.

Zach says he really likes the swimsuit.

This is the bottom that I ordered from them. But they accidentally sent me the brown skirt instead. Hmm... I was kinda ticked at first, but I tried it on and it looked pretty good. Usually I don't like these things, because it just looks like you've got something to hide, like tying a sweatshirt around your waist (which I have done, I'll admit it), but after I tried on the bathing suit with just undies to simulate a bikini bottom, I remembered that I did, in fact, have a whole lot to hide.


So, maybe the skirt was a blessing; a strange gift from God, who knew that there was no way that I was going to be comfortable wearing something like the bikini bottoms around actual people. Real people! I must have been temporarily insane. Yes... temporarily...

All the same, there are no actual bottoms in the skirt, something Zach and I pondered about while I was searching, so I do need something under there. I was thinking about these from Target:

I have a faux tortoise shell bracelet that could pull this all together like freakin' kismet! Or I could just get a regular black or brown bottom. What think ye?

Oh, I should note that I called Modbe, and they were going to exchange them and pay for shipping and everything, so they're cool.

Ok, now that you are all off the edges of your collective seats, I wanted to tell you a story about two little fish named Ben and Sam. After dealing with the boys for a particularly hard morning (in one 24 hour period they broke the tops off of my new calla lilies, broke a dish, tore something down from their ceiling, had several fights, had several hugs and kisses, climbed onto the table, and probably some other things that I have since repressed and may remember again someday in therapy) I decided to let them go out in their kiddie pool from last year. This is the boys and their cousin Jackson last May in the kiddie pool:

Ben, Jackson, and Sam - May 2007

And this is them this year in their kiddie pool:

Ben and Sam - May 2008

How on earth did they get this big? They only eat stuff they find on the floor! And dirt. Also, I think that this pool sprung a leak. But ever since this, all they think about is going back out and playing in the water. They'll go to the door and say, "wa-er. wa-er. wa-er! WA-ER!!" because they love playing in the water so much and because they can't really say their t's yet. So, I'm thinking maybe we should get them a bigger swimming area, like, say, the ocean! In about two weeks, we are going to be living a few minutes walk from the beach and if I didn't have a million things to do and a 15 hour plane ride to look forward too, I would be totally freaking out.

Luckily, I do have a 1,000,003 things to do, so I'll freak out when we get there. I really have to get going. Maybe I can get my list down to 1,000,002 by the end of the day. Maybe.

Update 5/26/08 - After some traumatic changing room experiences, I ended up just getting some plain, black bottoms from Old Navy, because the bottoms from Target looked tragic.

A Fair is a Veritable Smorgasbord

Well, actually, it was technically a carnival, but I couldn't resist using the quote. Yes, that's right folks, there was a spring carnival in our neighborhood this weekend. And it was awesome. There were pony rides, a petting zoo, a train ride, snow cones, face painting, a magic show, and games. We didn't get to most of the stuff, because the boys were fixated on certain elements. Like the balloons. I helped our neighbor carry over a ton of balloons and then handed them out to kids. It was oddly fun. But it took me forever to get the strings untangled and then I was left with about five yellow balloons. I guess yellow is the odd color out.

After unloading my balloons, the boys spotted the train, which was basically a lawn mower with a train built around it The boys were cryin' and wailing as we waited in line to get on. They just couldn't wait! Then we sat down and Sam seemed to start to think better of this whole train thing.

Sam and Zach

Thirty seconds after this picture was taken the engine started and Sam started crying at the top of his lungs. Apparently he just wanted to touch the train, not actually be in it, but we were already moving and the ride was only about 2 minutes, so he just cried the whole time. Sorry to the people around us. But not to the people who complained about the noise from the train because they were still sleeping. It was noon after all.

But enough about balloons and trains, lets get down to the brass tacks: the Fire Truck. That's right folks, there was a full blown, true to life, actual fire truck at the carnival. Now, I've mentioned before that the boys are very boyesque in the extreme love of cars, planes, trains, dirt, balls, construction equipment, and guitars (that's a new passion), but the fire truck is the Crème de la Crème of the boyhood universe. And here it was!

Half of Ben, behind that other guy under the red balloon, as Ben attempts to run into the fire truck.

Ben, was so, so, so excited! He kept trying to run right in there, saying "my turn! my turn!" He actually started on the passenger side and decided that that wasn't the way to go, since his ultimate goal was to drive the truck, not just ride in it. So he ran around to the other side, where there was a much longer line and he had to wait. And cry as he waited.

But finally, he got in there. Look at this happy little boy! It was just a dream come true.
Here he is asking for us to close the door, so he can really experience this moment. The extremely nice fireman obliged. (Notice the red eyes, that's from crying).

Ben, living the dream.

Of course, there was a line and eventually Ben had to come out. Or rather, the beautiful, perfect dream was ripped from his loving hands and killed in front of his tearful eyes. It was gut wrenching, really. And Ben cried and cried and cried.

So, while Ben is crying, let's talk about Sam. He was much more entertained by the exterior of the firetruck. Especially the water.

Sam just loves to get wet.

Here Sam is trying to fill his new, fireman's hat with water. I think he must have gotten this idea from another kid, but I was soothing a hysterical Ben at the time, so I'm not quite sure.

Zach managed to coax Sam into the truck, and look how sweet and happy he looks! All day we were asking them if they saw a firetruck and they got all happy and excited and make firetruck noises, which sound a whole lot like screaming banshees, but in a really, really cute way.

Oh, and we managed to score some extra firefighter hats after the truck left. Sweet.

Fun with Cousins

We got to spend the day with Vanessa and Paul yesterday, and the boys got to play with their cousins, Asher and Madeleine. It was good fun. All the boys had to struggle with whose matchbox cars were whose, and there were some tears and scuffles over that, but otherwise they got along swimmingly.

Sam, Asher, and Ben watering one of the plants growing in our backyard. Zach showed Asher how to do this and he was very diligent about getting them well soaked.

Asher and Ben. You may notice that Ben's hair is all wet and matted, he had just woken up from a nap and we are going through something of a heatwave. And we don't have air conditioning, so it gets pretty hot in our house. Even with three fans going.

In fact, it was getting hot enough that Asher wanted his shirt off. I think he also wanted to show off his awesome abs to his cousins. He's been workin' out.

Ben said, "oh ya? check these babies out!" and took his shirt off too. He didn't even pretend that it was because of the heat. Sam, always the modest one, said that he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by revealing his amazing pecs, so he just kept his shirt on.

Later we headed up to campus to give them the tour. Here are the kids climbing around on the statues. Don't worry, they're copies.

They thought one of the statues looked like Jesus and said so. It was pretty adorable.

This is lil' Madeleine. She is so adorable; friendly and smiley. And did I mention photogenic?

She's got Vanessa's big, blue eyes. Isn't she a sweetie?

We thought we would try and get a photo of all the kids. We sat them down on the ground and tried to take a photo as quickly as possible. This was the result.

Sam was trying to get up and run around, which he had done by the time the photo had been taken. Asher had Maddie on his lap and fell over backwards and was trying to sit up again as Maddie started to fall sideways. Ben grabbed a handful of dirt and mulch from the plants behind him and threw it just as I took the picture.

I think it turned out pretty wonderfully.

Thanks to Vanessa and Paul for including us in their travel plans! It was so much fun to see you guys. And thanks for the pizza! You guys rock.

Mother's Day Revisited

I'm sure they tried. Really, really hard. But the flowers just looked so awesome and they probably flew so well. And then they discovered that there was water in the vase as well, and thought it would be good to put there hands in and shake the water off all over the table. So, here is what is left of mother's day.

If I could figure out a way to never use the bathroom while the boys are awake, I think I could solve these problems.

¡Viva la Revolución!

Well, kids, this is it. This is the Revolution. Actually, the full name is the BOB Revolution Duallie Stroller, and it's a beaut! I've been looking at double strollers since February in the hopes of finding a good stroller that could replace our old stroller, the Graco DuoGlider, which is getting quite difficult to push with fifty pounds of toddler in it. Actually, I didn't realize how hard it had become until we brought home the BOB. I nearly pushed the boys into the fence when I first got them in there because I was so used to having to use a lot of strength to move it. This little, lovely goes up curbs, turns on a dime, glides over bumpy side walk, and is crazy, awesome.

Luckily, we got it on sale. We decided to go ahead with it because we'll be saving money with the apartment deal, and because I spend way more time pushing the boys around in the stroller than we do in the car. Especially now that gas is so stinking expensive. We were genuinely excited to pay $3.99 a gallon the other day. Also, this is one of the only strollers that 99.8% of people genuinely love.


And we've been walking together as a family in the evenings to help get the boys ready for bed. Of course, we are usually more ready for bed than they are when we get home, but they have been sleeping better since we started doing it. We got it last Thursday and we've already walked it to campus several times, to the store two times, to the post office, to the train tracks, to the fountain (Ben likes the water), and to see the house that I wanted to show Zach, because it was so cool looking, but then couldn't find again.

Ben, asleep. Sam, awake.

You may be asking yourselves some questions about this purchase. I think I can preempt them:

Q: Are you guys crazy?
A: Oh my, yes.

Q: How does it handle?
A: Like a dream on crack.

Q: Does it fit through doorways?
A: Yes, most of them. It won't fit through our back door, because it's a slider, but it fits through our front door.

Q: Have you gotten stuck anywhere, what with it being a side-by-by?
A: No, there have been a couple of tight squeezes, but so far we are unhindered.

Q: Why didn't you get orange?
A: Because we felt blue was more classic, represented our alma mater (go BYU!) and would fade to a nicer color. And because there is not an orange stroller available in the entire state o' California. The closest one is in Seattle.

Q: Has it been pooped on?
A: Yes. Sam had a leaker.

Q: Has it been scratched?
A: Yes. I scratched it the first time I took it out.

Q: Have birds been landing strangely close to you today for some unknown reason?
A: Actually, yes. Several birds landed within feet of me, even though I was moving around and loading the boys into/out of the stroller. It was kinda cool and kinda odd. Very astute of you.

Q: Do the boys like to ride in it?
A: As much as they do any stroller. They fuss a little when we put them in, but then they're fine. We went to look at a plethura of strollers about a month ago. We spent about 45 minutes in the store and there was not one single stroller the boys wanted to get into. And they looked insulted when we suggested getting into the back of the Phil and Ted. So, I think this will end up being good.

Q: Are you still happy you bought it.
A: Yes, yes I am.

Mommy's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers, Mommy's, Moms, Mama, Grandmas, Grammie's, and those who will be one of these someday. It rocks to be a Mom.

These are my Mother's Day flowers from Zach and the boys. They also cleaned up the house, got me a Moleskine journal and some Spanish books. Oh, and an super, awesome amazing gift that I will tell you about on the morrow.

Hurray for Motherhood!

Church: The Play by Play

Sam - eating an apple slice, watching Pocoyo,
and waiting for Mommy and Daddy to be ready. Also storing
up energy to run around in church.

The minutes of our latest adventures in church-going. Enjoy:

11:25 - We usually get to church a few minutes early because it starts so late and we had church at 8/8:30/9 for so long that we feel like we have truly luxurious mornings. We don't, but it feels that way.
11:26 - Sam tries to run into the gym. Stopped by Mommy. Sammy is upset
11:27 - Get into chapel. Pick a spot on the end of one of the back pews for an easy escape route.
11:28 - Ben runs down the empty pew. Mommy follows and returns with Ben in tow.
11:29 - Ben runs down the empty pew. Mommy follows and returns with Ben in tow.
11:30 - Break out the quiet books. The boys take felt apples off tree and pretend to feed them to Daddy before putting them in the little basket.
11:33 - Church begins. The boys point out letters and numbers in the hymn book, shouting "B!" "6!" "S!" and so forth
11:34 - Sam sees another child with a car. Freaks out, repeating "Car! Car! Car!" This goes mostly unnoticed because the song is not over.
11:35 - The song is over. Sam's chant is now noticed.
11:36 - Calm boys down for prayer. Distract them with books and cars of their own.
11:45 - Sam notices the other car again. Begins car chant for the second time.
11:46 - Distract boys by pointing out the baby that is being blessed. They are temporarily distracted. They love babies.
11:50 - Another baby is being blessed. They are no longer distracted. Sam tries to wiggle out of the pew. Daddy catches him and distracts him with quiet book.
11:51 - Sam rips the starfish that comes out of the zippered whale's mouth in half (Sorry, Mom).
11:53 - Sam is out of patience with not getting the boy's car and begins to scream. Daddy and Sam leave the chapel.
11:54 - Ben notices that Daddy and Sam are gone. Is jealous. Wants to leave too.
11:55 - Mommy breaks out the Pez dispenser.
11:58 - Bread is passed. Ben is happy. Pez dispenser is whisked away.
12:02 - Ben notices clock across the room. Begins to shout "Clock!" Unfortunately, Ben does not have the "L" sound down quite yet. Ben is shouting "Cock! Cock! Cock!" across the quiet chapel.
12:03 - Mommy distracts Ben with promises of water. Suppresses laughter.
12:05 - Ben remembers Pez. Requests "cake" which is anything sweet. Except chocolate, which is "choc."
12:07 - Water arrives. Ben is distracted.
12:14 - Ben has sat quietly for several minutes now. Mommy is reassured that there is, in fact, a God in heaven.
12:17 - Daddy and Sam return.
12:18 - Ben and Sam chat incoherently about the time they spent apart. They think they are very funny.
12:19 - Ben tells Sam about the Pez. Sam finds it under his quiet book.
12:24 - Sam struggles to get the candy out. Whoever came up with Pez is a genius.
12:26 - Ben and Sam play with cars
12:28 - Sam asks for more candy.
12:30 - Sam asks for more candy.
12:32 - Sam asks for more candy. There is no more candy.
12:33 - Sam begins to freak out a little. Mommy decides this is the longest she has sat through church in several months and to not push her luck.
12:34 - Gather up quiet books, cars, and Pez dispenser. Leave sacrament meeting a mere 6 minutes early and head to the nursery to start setting up.

Ben - eating an apple slice, watching Pocoyo,
and waiting for Mommy and Daddy to be ready. They look
so calm, don't they? It's an illusion.

And that's about it folks. Are you tired? I was.

Beaches: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

So, after spending several weeks looking for an apartment in Girona, we finally found something. But not in Girona. It seems that it is much harder to find a place that will take a short term renter in Girona than Barcelona. And it was turning out to be kind of expensive. But thanks to luck and divine intervention we found a place that we will be able to get for a fabulous price, that will end up saving us a lot of money. One of Zach's professors is visiting from Girona, and he was able to find an apartment for us in Patjo d'Aro, (The Golden Beach, I think), which is a little under an hour away from Girona and right on the Costa Brava.

This is both fabulous and kinda bad news. We will be saving money, but we really have no idea what the apartment is like or how little boy friendly it is, and Patjo d'Aro is much more of a tourist area than the city of Girona. And now for the two edged sword: the Beach.

Apparently this apartment is minutes away from the beach. I love the ocean. I absolutely love it. Every time I'm at the beach I wonder why I ever leave it. I love the rushing water and the sand and the shells and the stones and the fish and the crabs and the sky and the seagulls and beach combing and basically everything about the ocean. Oh, except one thing, swimsuits. Well and sharks, but lets focus on swimsuits for now. I hate to be a stereotype, but I have never been very comfortable in swimsuits, and I since the boys I have only come across one situation in which a swimsuit is required, and that was up in the wilds of Maine and only my family was there. But this is altogether different.

If we were only going to be traveling to the coast a couple of times than I probably wouldn't even think about it. We probably wouldn't even get a chance to swim. But, we're only minutes from the beach and I honestly don't think, even with my complete dislike of the idea of myself and swim wear that I will be able to resist going swimming as often as possible. I love the ocean that much, people. Unless there are rumors of sharks in the waters. That would keep me out.

So, I need a new swimsuit. Because the old one requires safety pins to make it decent. So, I'm giving you some options here from the affordable to the absolutely not affordable. Let me know what you think.

Old Navy

Lands End -
yes it has a bottom

L.L.Bean

P.S. Why are swimsuits so expensive? Is it because people think that the more they pay for it the better they will look in it? I know I do.

P.P.S. I'm not limiting myself to these options, so if you come across another swimsuit that you think will make me look absolutely fabulous, then let me know, by all means.