Olympus High School Class of 2000 Alumni Website

It has been a great spring! I’m finally starting to feel a bit better and we’re all excited for the adventures that summer has to bring!

Read more here:
Meanwhile…

Read more here:
Popeye's Orange Julius

Read more here:
Love is Giving Yourself Yummy Food to Eat!

- All the holiday celebrating. I love it! I’m the kind of girl who loves the anticipation part of the celebrations.
- My little sister got engaged to an awesome guy last night- big time congratulations!
- I get to sing tomorrow in church…and I’m looking forward to it!
- A relaxed husband (he’s been doing a zillion-piece puzzle today and believe it or not- that is relaxing to him!)
- A cheerful daughter
- Going to a concert tonight with family and friends
- A headache free week
- Eating pomegranates
- Cedar being adopted- yay!
- No pressure to try new recipes until the new year. I’m sticking with old favorites until January- it makes meal planning a cinch.
- Lyvia singing her version of Jingle Bells and Bear Hunt
- I got a fun, quick mystery read at the library. I can’t wait to get some reading time in over the holiday!
- Getting good sleep
- Frosting cookies with the fam. As you can see by this picture of Lyvia- lots of the frosting ended up in her mouth!
- Wrapping up all the presents. Yes, I love it. I think I may have been a gift-wrapper in another life…so if you need any help, drop by!

Now if I could just get some snow, and I’m talking lots of it, I think winter happiness would be complete!

Read more here:
good things

I’m playing a bit of catch-up tonight, posting about some of our holiday happenings as well as some random pictures in between. Let’s start with Halloween. Are there any other moms in the world that have to bribe their kids to dress up for school and trick-or-treating? Neither of my kids wanted to and both shed the majority of their costumes with the first few minutes. Nevertheless, we perservered.

We colored some pumpkins. Chase participated by sitting on the table and watching…

Nick, hard at work…

The finished result…

Love this silly boy…

Halloween…

Nick, the cowboy, would not wear cowboy boots or chaps…

Trick-or-treating with the neighborhood crew…

I love this picture…look at that Nick –

Nick loves creating things with his blocks and legos…

We took a quick trip to UT over Thanksgiving. My cute mom made Indian necklaces and headbands with the boys on Thanksgiving day before the big feast…

Cute Jack…

The finished project…

Why do my children never have pants on?

But at least they have undies on! Isn’t this the cutest little naked Indian you’ve ever seen?!

The “babies” with Uncle Daniel…

I think the boys watched ‘Polar Express’ once a day, on whatever screen they could. Combining trains and Christmas…brilliant!

Aunt Marsy (such a thoughtful, helpful, beautiful, fun Aunt and sister) with Nicky-boy…

Nick and Jack…non-stop fun, adventures, pretending, trains, and laughter…

Chase fell asleep on the way home from church last week, normal occurence. What wasn’t normal was that he didn’t wake up when Brad got him out of the car, carried him inside, and put him on the couch!

I asked Nick to gently and nicely wake him up and he did just that. He’s a great big brother…

Chase LOVES to throw things. Toys, household item, and especially FOOD. Messes like this are a normal occurence around here. And I really wish he would keep a bib on…

We had Nick’s friend, Julia, over the other day. Julia asked if I would paint her nails and I jumped at the chance. Nick watched sheepishly for a bit and then HE jumped at the chance when I offered to paint his. It lasted for about 5 seconds before he asked me to take it off, but still a Kodak moment.

This past weekend we took the kids to the ‘Polar Express’ event that our library does every year. They read the book, then load us up on this bus and take us to Santa’s workshop where the kids get to visit Santa and pick out a toy. My kids love this book and were very excited. But they do not like Santa. Nick insisted on seeing him so that he could tell him what he wants for Christmas (Geotrax), but wouldn’t sit on his lap or look at him.

The “train” ride over…

Chase sat like this on Santa’s lap the whole time. And you can’t tell in this picture, but Santa looked like Dumbledore.
On Sunday church was cancelled (ice storm) so Nick and I made gingerbread cookies while Brad and Chase took afternoon naps. This is something my mom always did with us, and it’s been fun to carry on traditions. Nick loves to cook and help in the kitchen…

Nick stole the camera and took some pictures of his own…

Chase helped when he woke up…

Some of the finished product — yummy!

Merry Christmas!

Read more here:
Yes, we do celebrate the holidays…

Lyvia @ 2 years old:
- an excellent watercolor painter, as of late
- swimming is still a favorite
- eating lots of “trees”, berries, Cheerios, bananas, and Popsicles
- loves puzzles and going to the library
- likes to say, “Mom (or Dad) you are funny” or “You are a silly pants!”

Baby Girl Jones @ 23 weeks:
- kicking mom. a lot.
- looking healthy and growing strong according to the ultrasounds
- must love green apples with caramel, chicken, Grape Nuts and cauliflower

Jason @ 30 years old:
- a die-hard basketball fan and player
- organized
- getting back into scouting, he’s the Scoutmaster again
- loves to eat ribs
- comic book aficionado

Bryttin @ 27 years old:
- scrapbooking up a storm lately
- making bread today
- loves to eat… yeah, just loves to eat.
- swimming at the pool felt great today
- enjoying motherhood

Read more here:
and so lately…

It’s time again to step back and take a look at the big picture…

I got a comment yesterday from Brady and at first I thought it was a spam comment because it was on a really old post, but when I read it I found that it actually offered some pretty good advice:

Carly, I love the way you write. It’s a very compelling style…but listen to what Penelope Trunk says: good blogs have themes. Now that your wedding theme is mostly over with, are you blogging about the newlywed experience? about how weird it is to not know what your next bold move is? clarifying a theme for yourself will make the blog better, imho.

This is a good point. This blog has turned into sort of a free-for-all about whatever I’m thinking when I get up in the morning and it’s making it harder to read AND harder for me to post.

That comment also says a mouthful about my life right now. What is this about? What is my focus? Should I be spending all my time job hunting? Should I be working on my writing because I have the opportunity to do so? Should I be trying to sell things on Etsy to contribute to the family income? Should I be working out for six hours a day?

The reality is that I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing and I don’t know what my goals are right now. It’s the weirdest, haziest time I’ve ever had in my life. For once, nobody is pushing me or expecting me to do anything and, as a result, I’m in limbo, caught between 20 different paths.

When I was still in Ohio, I wrote about the person that I wanted to be. Now that I’m here and two months have gone by, it’s probably a good time to check in on my progress:

25 Things that My Ideal Self Will Do (posted 08/13/09):

1. Get back into photography and take it seriously. (I’ve added the three photo blogs to my website and I’m trying to take a camera wherever I go. My photography blog is also slowly getting off the ground, although I need to add a lot to my portfolio.)
2. Get back into charcoal portraits. (I’m trying to get Kyle to take a night charcoal class with me at the U extension, but he’s on the fence about drawing live nude models. If he doesn’t end up coming, I’ll probably hit the class anyway next January.)
3. Write things that have nothing to do with blogging, journaling, or academics. (I’ve been writing more fiction, but nothing yet that I’m willing to hang my hat on.)
4. Make her own clothing. (Haven’t started, haven’t done anything. Haven’t even sewn on buttons or repaired seams since I moved here.)
5. Read library books and buy old editions from secondhand stores. (I’ve been reading up a storm, but I haven’t gotten my library card yet. I admit to being addicted to Amazon because I like getting stuff in the mail…)
6. Buy and redesign secondhand furniture. (Ha ha. Yeah, that’s not going to happen until we have somewhere to put it. I can only imagine my parents reaction if I showed up with a dining room set that needed a second life.)
7. Use public transportation on a regular basis. (I don’t go anywhere, but I’ve got Kyle taking TRAX at least once a week.)
8. Attend community events, especially the arts. (Nothing so far, but I’m hopeful.)
9. Not tempt herself by having cable. (Failing miserably and enjoying the 900 channels available in this house.)
10. Go to church at least twice a month. (Rocking this goal! I think we actually found a Methodist church last Sunday that we’re going to stick to for a while.)
11. Put real effort into collecting family history. (Did it and found out that Kyle’s ancestory stretches back into Sweden, 800 A.D.)
12. Run my own business. (I’m working on it, but not ready yet.)
13. Shop local, especially the farmer’s markets. (Shopping local, but I haven’t made it to the Saturday morning farmer’s market yet.)
14. Be involved in social groups formed around common interests. (Nothing, but I plan on it.)
15. Mentor a child or find another way to give back. (Nothing yet.)
16. Brush up my Spanish and start learning French. (Haven’t done a thing.)
17. Surprise friends and family with mail. (I plan on it, but haven’t yet.)
18. Handmake presents and other items. (Christmas is coming…)
19. Wear my favorite perfume every day. (I’m at about 50%)
20. Buy really fun socks and wear them without embarrassment. (Not yet.)
21. Paint my nails. (Totally painted and gorgeous.)
22. Take day trips with my husband whenever we can. (Not yet, but we get around.)
23. Learn to play the guitar. (Haven’t even tried to start.)
24. Kick ass at Tomb Raider without feeling like a teenage boy. (Nope. Nada.)
25. Listen to my folk music (even though nobody else does) and lose track of MTV’s hottest. (Totally not happening. My last iTunes purchases included Beyonce, Chris Brown, and the cast of Glee)

I think that’s what this blog is about…that fight to become better at all of the mundane parts that make up my currently inconsequential life. I know that that’s about the most amorphous goal I could be working towards, but it’s the thread that’s holding it all together. I just need to keep myself on that focus whenever I feel like blogging about my thoughts on the history of cheese.

And if you’re wondering about life as a newlywed or unemployment or all of those other concrete things I could be blogging about, here is an update:

LIFE AS A NEWLYWED: I love my husband and I love being married more than I’ve ever loved anything I’ve ever done. Being in our late-twenties and living with my parents is not always great, but it’s good more often than not. We’ve spent a lot of time with my family and we really make an effort at saving time for ourselves and keeping our relationship as our big priority. We’ve been looking at houses and talking about the future, including moving towards getting pregnant, but we don’t have any definite plans to change anything right now.

UNEMPLOYMENT: So much harder than you’d think! I have days where I get really depressed about not having anywhere to go or anyone to see and I’ve applied for a few jobs in the hopes that something good will happen. The reality is that I’m still being very picky about where I’m applying to and if I don’t think that I’m going to love the job and completely dominate it, I haven’t been applying. Whether I’ll get less picky as time goes on remains to be seen. At the moment, I’m still optomistic that the right opportunity will find me.

WEIGHT LOSS: I started a diet blog and I’m putting a lot of energy towards fitness as my new project. It’s hard, because everything about my weight is depressing and thinking about it really takes energy, but I’m really, really trying and it’s starting to pay off. I’m hoping that this is the time in my life where I’ll turn things around for good!

Read more here:
It's time again to step back and take a look at the big

- Speaking of groovy- I never feel as great about my body than when I’m pregnant. I mean, besides the sick-i-ness, pregnancy is pretty awesome. My hormones start working the way they should, I have no guilt about what I eat or weigh, my body image is positive, and I feel like I’m doing what I was designed to do. I’m starting to feel the reassuring flutters of a baby doing acrobatics in my belly- which I totally love. The sickness is waning and my energy is coming back full steam. This is a totally different pregnancy than Lyv, which makes many believe that it’s a boy, but we’ll be finding out at the end of the month for sure. All I know is, I’m actually enjoying pregnancy this time around!

- Speaking of enjoyment- is it wrong to feel really excited that one of your neighbors is moving? My c-razy neighbor (the one that wants me to train our dogs not to look at her through the chain-link fence) has put her house up for sale. It’s a good thing. Now if a family who mows their lawn moves in next door- this good news will continue on!

-Speaking of good news, Halloween is here! My friend Becah used to say she loved this time of year because it smells like burnt pumpkin. You know, from all the jack-o-lanterns? But I love it for: autumn in general, candy on sale, cute kid’s costumes, apples with caramel, cold weather, fall leaves, afternoon walks, soup for dinner, decorations, books from the library, trick-or-treating, sugar cookies with orange frosting, pumpkin pancakes, candles, and craft projects.

-Speaking of spooky (like Halloween), there is nothing that creeps me out more than mice. Well, any rodent for that matter- gerbils, hamsters, ferrets and bats included. (I take that back- I have nothing against chipmunks and squirrels, but all other rodents are creepy. I also don’t like small birds, like parakeets, crawling on me. I think it’s the little talons or something. Sick.) They are great and fine to have out in the world- just don’t come into my house/personal space. The other day in the car, Jason was driving and his shoe was a little wet and kept squeaking on the pedals. I just about had a mini heart attack in the car that one of my biggest fears was happening: I’m in an enclosed space (usually a car) and there is a mouse running around, squeaking and I can’t get away for some reason. Jason laughed at me.

-Speaking of Jason laughing at me, he tries to cover it up- but I know he is doing it. For example- there is a specific way that I like to have my pillows arranged to sleep on. (Yes, I have more than one pillow.) So every night, I fluff and stack them to my satisfaction while he guffaws and tries to blame it on an episode of The Office that is on. “No honey, I’m not laughing at you- Dwight said something funny!” Yeah, right.

Read more here:
feeling groovy

Are you like me? Do you think that in 21st century America it’s reasonable for all undergraduates to wear deodorant? You do? Good, I knew you were like me.

Tragically, not everyone is like us.

I boarded the shuttle on campus today, headed home after another hard day’s work at the library, set to take my board exam tomorrow. Nothing like a relaxing drive through La Jolla to calm the nerves, I thought. Unfortunately, approximately 3700 other people also thought a shuttle ride sounded good, and I soon found myself standing wall-to-wall among them.

At this point, I would like to publicly say that whoever invented the handrails for use by standing passengers is a real piece of crap. I’m sure he thought he was doing us all a favor, but in reality he screwed up big time. I say “he” because I’m sure it was a man who invented these blasted things — no woman would possibly have invented something with such smelly consequences. It would be much better if we all just stood, arms at our sides, and played one big game of “jello” around every turn.

So there I am, about to asphyxiate at any moment under the horrific stench. I see a girl sitting nearby, with a look on her face like she just stepped in feces. Poor soul, she probably won’t make it out alive. Do I do the gallant thing, and cover up her nose with my own shirt before she passes out? Do I kick open the emergency hatch and lead us all to freedom? And what in the heck IS THAT SMELL.

Well, I decided to just endure. I hope it’s okay for ophthalmologists to be hard of smelling, because I think I sustained permanent damage. And if I didn’t, I’ll self-inflict it before I board the shuttle the next time.

P.S.

Here’s a photo of something my “baby” made last week.

Read more here:
A Chicken in Every Pot and a Deodorant Under Every Arm

Carnies. Circus folk. Nomads, you know. Small hands. Smell like cabbage. ~ Austin Powers

Last weekend, my family went to the Utah State Fair.

I have great memories of the Utah State Fair. No, you don’t even understand. GREAT memories. Memories that are intense in their greatness. The fair was all entertainment and sweet foods and interesting booths and cute animals and exciting shows…I loved everything about it, from the music of the carnival rides to the smell of the sheep pen.

But alas, one of of us has changed. And I don’t think it was me.

The fair seemed a lot smaller this year. As in, half the size of the old fair. The carnies seemed harsh and abrasive and all of the booths were for bizarre religious groups or home remedies that don’t make any sense. The animals seemed worn out and the fruit was all bruised. Even the quilts were underwhelming and I maintain a really low standard of expectation for quilts.

Mom and Lonnie surveying the wilted-but-award-winning vegetables.

Jake (who lives with us) and Randy examining the seeds of mutant sunflowers.

I don’t know if it’s the economy or the particular day that we went or if the fair was always underwhelming and I just didn’t notice until now. We actually had a pretty good time, but that was mainly due to the company and not the event.

Randy agitating the fish that are the reason Kyle doesn’t want to swim in Utah.

I will say this: we enjoyed the alligator show. I don’t know what was going on with the rest of the fair, but god bless those two 30-40 something year old men and their little 8 foot alligator. It was entertaining, funny, and exciting…and all thanks to Kyle, who likes to drag me to shows put on by middle aged men who are doing things that I find embarrassing and horrifying but which always pleasantly surprise me in the end. Good call, babe!

I think state fairs need to make a comeback. Get some new entertainment, lose the creepy side shows, and have booths that feature all of those cool informercial things as well as things like Apple iMacs and themed children’s furniture…you know, stuff that screams awesomeness.

I wonder if I could find work as a state-fair-makeover-artist? I have some money making ideas right here…

Read more here:
Carnies. Circus folk. Nomads, you know. Small hands. Smell

This is a blurry picture but it shows his new haircut. I almost cried when it happened because I LOVE his long fluffy hair. It was an accident. Here are some of his friends he sees and plays with at the Library when we go for story time.

Here is Logan soaking up all the books he can at once! He loves books!

This is our other friend Gabrielle from church that we see every week. She is only a day older than Logan and soo cute!!! We went to story time today and afterwards hung out in the baby section of the library where they had these little rocking chairs!!

Read more here:
Random Pictures

Read more here:
Walking with his Walker

We’re actually moving. Thank you, sweet heaven, we are actually moving. As of Thursday night, we will no longer be in Columbus.

Mind you, I’m still sad about leaving Ohio. I will miss it a ton and I’m going to homesick for Columbus for a pretty long time. But I am so ready to not be in this furniture-less apartment, where I don’t buy groceries because I don’t know if we’ll be here to eat them. I’m ready to see my clothes (currently in Utah) and my books (currently in Utah) and, oh yeah, my family (currently in Utah).

I’m also really looking forward to the drive. It’s not the most scenic of routes, but I love being in the car with Kyle and this will be about 30 hours worth of being in the car with Kyle to look forward to. I’m hoping we even have time for a few pit stops to see some friends…

Right now, I’m trying to prepare for the trip. In addition to packing everything up to get it ready to go, I’m thinking of things that we might need. We have a small cooler, so some water and veggies make sense…and I got some books on cd from the library that I can burn…and we have an atlas and our AAA membership…what am I forgetting?

I feel like I should be buying spare wagon wheels and bags of flour and cases of iodine…

Read more here:
Wagons West

• I’ve been laughing with/at Lyvia as she is discovering the ability to take off various articles of clothing. She is great at shoes and jackets, but now is expanding her repitoire to shorts, t-shirts and her pink swim suit.
• I’m yearning for peach season.
• Lots of yard/deck stuff has been happening and only more is expected. But my patio furniture is now a beautiful blue, thanks to 6 cans of spray paint.
• I’m convinced that PBS Kids and Winnie the Pooh have made it possible for me to shower everyday for the past year. So I say, thank you.
• We’ve been doing a lot of swimming at the pool. Lyv is getting so brave with the slides and fountains. Plus- mom is getting a little braver at letting Lyv do her own thing. (Putting her in a neon yellow life-jacket helps, too.) She likes the shallow end where she can touch all by herself and also likes to get down on her belly and splash in the water.
• I’ve always known that a library card is a very awesome thing- but it has been reaffirmed to me as of late. Books, movies, music, story time, art projects, cultural activities- our library rocks.
• We’re excited to be heading up to our cabin. Lyv is especially thrilled. She keeps telling me about feeding the “chippys” (chipmunks) some peanuts, swimming at the “dirt” (sand at the lake) and getting “riche” (licorice) from her Grandpa Great. She also names all the people who will be coming with us- and is very disappointed when I tell her that our friend’s baby Penelope will not be there.
• Enjoying the book Hero’s Song. I have the next one in the series on my nightstand ready to go. Anyone have a good one to add to my reading lineup?
• Did I mention I’ve been craving peaches?

Read more here:
around here lately…

Ready for the randomness?

-The kids in my neighborhood have been playing “night games” every night this week. But not the night games of my youth like Kick the Can, Sardines, Tag and Hide & Seek. These are more like “ride-our-bikes-up-and-down-the-street-as-fast-as-we-can-and-try-to-jump-off-random-chunks-of-wood-or-rock” or “a-football/basketball/rugby-type-game-played-in-the-middle-of-the-street-so-we-have-to-head-dive-into-the-lawn-everytime-a-car-drives-by”. To each his own, I guess. At leas they are having fun!

-I’ve been adding more and more books to my “to read” list. It is getting a little ridiculous! The list sort of has a mind of it’s own. The thing is- I rarely take it to the library and actually get the books on my list. I usually just find something there that looks great or is by an author that I’ve heard good things about and check that out! Then more and more books keep piling up on my list. Oh dear.

-Lyvia has been saying the cutest things lately, that sound so grown-up.
Things like: “Don’t worry, Momma.”
“I’ll help you, Tato Head.” then gives him a kiss
when the phone rings- “I’m coming!”
while piling plastic animals in her truck- “You can fit, fish.”
“I love you, Daddy!” while waving her hand with the sign
“Cute hair, Mom.” This doesn’t mean I have cute hair, it means she wants me to make her hair “cute” by putting piggy tails in!

-A bit of belated advice: Do not watch a TV show entitled “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant”, no matter how late it is or bored you are. It’s like a train wreck.

-I think I overuse the word “amazing”. I should reserve this word for things that are truly amazing. Otherwise, “amazing” will just become like an overused antibiotic and have no real value or meaning. I will reserve my use of “amazing” to keep the integrity of the awe that the word should inspire. Come to think of it, I could do the same thing for the exclamation point. We’ll see…

-Lyvia and I saw a deer on our walk this morning. She was nibbling leaves or fruit off of trees in an orchard right by our house. I was surprised to see the deer but Lyvia thought it was so cool and kept throwing the deer kisses. Neat!

Read more here:
Hello Wednesday.

Happy 6 year anniversary

We took this for Matt for Fathers Day

Liv and I watching the light show at the freemont experience

You would think with a baby I would have so much to blog about! Or maybe I do but so much less time!

Olivia is 3 1/2 months old now and is in full swing teething! we can see the tops of her teeth just under the gums! This (hopefully) explains her fits where she seems like she is in pain! So ambesol and baby tylenol are my new best friends! She loves frozen teething rings but isn’t old enough to hold it in her mouth and she gets mad when I stop holding it for her!! She is amazing and giggled on Monday it was the best thing I have ever heard! She has the biggest most beautiful smile that just melts my heart everytime! She LOVES to watch T.V. so I rented some videos from the library called Learn To Read Before You Walk– I guess if she is going to watch T.V. it might as be something educational!

I am really enjoying being home with her and just learning to manage the house and cooking and all the joys that come to being a stay at home mom. This month I am going to get my dream business started so watch for my new blog and posts on facebook! I really hope it will work out for me!

We went Mesquite/Vegas over Fathers day weekend with Matt’s parents we had a great time and it was nice to get away! I was able to see Nick and Lizz and the kids before they left on their camping trip! I am super greatful for the time I was able to spend with them!!

For those of you who do not know Kobe is having a bone marrow transplant in August and he was granted a wish through the Make A Wish foundation and late July the whole Kirk family will be going on an amazing vacation to Disneyworld in Florida!! We are all so excited for them!!! Please keep them in your prayers there is a lot to still work out for the BMT and this is the miracle Kobe needs!!

I think that is all for now!

Love to all

Read more here:
I fail with this blog…