Oh Ma Baby

Alabama is fun. Marie and I enjoyed the zoo last week with the other families that are here.

Alabama is a lot more fun the second time around. Still not much to do, but Brett enjoys his work days and we like just hanging out. Which is good lately because...

Marie is sick this weekend.

Oh my little baby.

Of course we don't want her to be sick, but the plus side is that she enjoys being inside the house more. She will just lie in her bed and whisper to herself.

No Georgia this weekend. Just lots of nose-wiping and playing Burger Time.

http://www.addictinggames.com/burgertime

The above version seems to be alot easier than the one on our "Vii." That's right we have a Vii and not a Wii. It has six Wii-like games and 111 old arcade games on it. I asked the guy selling it if it was going to break or if it had a warranty, and he laughed and said, "No, just a silly game" in his best Pakistani accent.... or his only Pakistani accent. And in my best Idaho/Valley Girl accent I said, "Ah whatever" and proceeded to buy it.

We have made it outside a little bit though. Maxwell has a great set up for little kids and young families.

She is already good at making friends.

She is big enough for this swing, I promise.

Who is that guy?

In other news, Cassie & John (my brother in law) said I could make their cake. Now if she changes her mind at any point I will not feel bad. I'm a busy mom and I have plenty of things I can do- however, if things really work out that I can make her cake, I'm pretty stoked.

This was my first cake that I had to bake and decorate. (The very first cake was my brothers and I just decorated most of it). Maybe you can tell this cake is leaning. I felt so bad! But it didn't tip and the bride seemed to like it!

I can't wait for Cassie to tell me what kind of cake she wants. I've been doing some research for her....

If she wants to "geek out" I guess I can make it happen....

But something like this would be fun.

But if it turns out she wants a life sized sculpture of a black lady... I can do that.

Rhode Island Roadhouse

Some friends asked if we wanted to go out to dinner with them. Rachel said we would if 1) they pick the place because we can't handle that type of pressure, and 2) if I was back from raquetball in time. Heroically, I returned right before the buzzer sounded. I was sweaty, with red spotches all over my face so I hurried and jumped in the shower. The shower was too short and didn't take, Costanza style. But whatever, I can handle a red face and occasional beads of sweat.

So we met up with them and asked where they wanted to go. They said Texas Roadhouse. I checked the date to see if it was either mine or Rachel's birthday. It wasn't, but we said would go anyway.

Rachel got the pulled pork. Big mistake. Maybe it tasted fine and all, but unless your a gerbil it's not going to fill you up. It's called, at least hide all that white space on the plate with a giant leaf or some celery or something. So the teaching point from this post is to get steak or ribs (possibly chicken).

The last thing Rachel said to me before we fell asleep last night was, "I can't believe I went to Texas Roadhouse and got pulled pork, plus the bread they brought was...." Then I fell asleep.

A Post About Halloween

I'll never forget my first Christmas in Emmett. No snow and warm enough that there were flies buzzing around. There was a thin layer of snow this year though, but things have changed. Jesse has his own family and so do I. But I'm glad I got to show Marie her cool uncles. Marcus is home from Peru and he always makes things fun. He's just so darn cool. And I hate just saying that because no one can really know how cool he is just by me saying that, but he is. Take my word for it. We like having him home.

My mother decorated this perfect tree and Marie loved it! Martha Stewart, eat your heart out!

My mother also painted this picture of "Tucker Barn."
It's a barn in Moscow off of the Pullman Highway. For those of you who don't know it's the first place Brett and I went after we decided we were going to "be together for reals and probably get married someday." Or at least, I decided that.
(Side note: John is engaged. Hopefully you didn't hear it here first, hopefully you heard it first on facebook. )
I will take close up pictures and post them so everyone can see how crazy talented my mom is. This is the first piece she has ever considered "finished" which is funny because she's painted so many amazing things like scenery for church functions, random works of art, and paintings of people. So I'm pretty lucky. Brett loves this more than anything I could have thought of. I can't wait to put it up in my living room! I hope she will do portraits of all the places we have lived. Hmmm... speaking of my living room. I hope I haven't gotten robbed since I've been gone.



The scene at the cabin. No void of snow here.

Being cute with Grandma Millburn





As promised. Who is this cool guy? A Ronald prodigy I suppose. I've noticed that Ron teases Matt the most out of all his sons. Matt is definitely the one I laugh the most with (note: not "at"). So I always thought Ron teased him because he could take a joke, but now I wonder if it's because Ron is most like Matt. I don't know, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

crimson tide

We made it to Alabama. Cross-country driving, Chevy Chase style. We were racing cross country with the Smiths. I think we won. We had pit-stops in Albuquerque and Little Rock, and boring scenery in New Mexico. At least mix in some cacti like Arizona does.

Marie has been eating a lot. I think she has just hit the stage where all she'll do is eat. I think it coincided with us finally giving her food. Crazy how that works. In this picture she's showing off her handlebar-applesauce moustache.

Most embarrassing Mormon? Harry Reid or Julie from Real World? Talk amongst yourselves.

New Year Resolutions

We're here in Draper at Brett's Dads. Time is flying and soon we'll be on the road to Blababama.
I have no pictures except for what's on Ron's computer. Blessing in disguise.

I will use them to illustrate our weekend.

We spent the weekend at the Parrydise cabin. It was much fun, but I noticed being inside was much more fun when I had little Marie to play with.
Mike, Steph and the kids came up. We'll be caravanning to the East with them. Good times are bound to be had.
The Smith quote of the week would be from Jorja (age 6?)
Me: Did you miss us?
Jorja: (shakes her head) No
Me: We'll we missed you!
Jorja: I know.
Spencer and Ange have cute kids. Ella has grown so much and is a chatty girl.


Matt came up with Spencer's family. He is turning in to a regular Ron. I asked if he would hold a sleeping Marie and several minutes later he was asleep with her in his arms. I will post a picture later.


John came up with Ron. Ironically, even though I am on Ron's computer, I can't find just a single picture of him. You will have to use your imagination. John had to work and only stayed a day. Ron, being the future Apostle he is, drove up with him late Friday night and drove back late Saturday night. I won't mention the car accident they got in, but I will mention that John is now in Ohio seeing his girly friend. I would post what I know about her but considering she is friends with every Millburn, Jex & Parry relation on Facebook I don't think I need to. However, I will say I like her, and she has the Rachel & Marie stamp of approval. I won't go on because Brett specifically told me, " You can't be the reason they break up." There is a warning if I ever heard one.


We went skiing last night with Matt. (Apparently his mission picture is the only up to date pic on this computer also). Ron was so kind to babysit Marie. I suppose he'll be translated soon. Skiing was fun, and I was the very last off the mountain at 9pm. Marie kicked it with Ron & Max for 6 hours and I wasn't a bit worried about her. Ron has a little experience with kids so I did not fret. However, my main goal was to not break my neck so Marie would still have a mom. I succeeded.


This trip went along with one of my New Year's Resolutions to be a better wife, and a happier mom. Brett and I had a good time together and when I got back I felt recharged and ready to mommy again.
So what are you're resolutions for the new year?



I'm gonna usher in the new year by stating my resolutions online. Maybe I will keep them that way!

Spiritual: Read that BOOK! Every single diddley darn day! 5-15min a day. I can do that!
“I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to that counsel. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness.” (Marion G. Romney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1960, pp. 110–13.)

Intellectual: Read the following books: Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (recommended by my Dad), "Leadership and Self Deception" recommended by Ron, and Elmo's Home Run (recommended by Marie).

Physical: Oye, this is the hard one. Do I tell the world my goals or keep them to myself and not feel bad if I don't achieve them? Umm no, I will. As said in my favorite movie "You need only to believe to achieve- that rhymes, unintentional." Goal: achieve BMI weight. Good 'nough.

Family: Love Brett, Love Marie. Sounds good.

Anyone else got any good gaols? (see if I spell it wrong someone might comment and eventually someone will share a goal. Or gaol.

update for the sake of an update

Who doesn't update their blog say, "aye." Aye.

I also heard an "aye" from Matt, Avery, and especially from the Blue Triangle. Check that one out. Last updated, one year ago. In fact, yesterday was the one year anniversary since Maysen last posted. So she loses. Unless this is "hearts", in which case she won because she "shot the moon."

We're now in Emmett. We drove here with no incidents. Unless you want to count the sewage leak by the broken elevator as an incident. But we won't.

Marie loves all the attention from Grandma and Grandpa. She shows that pleasure by blowing bubbles with her slobber. She maybe hates her uncles, but we're not sure yet.

Speaking of hated uncles, I visited Skye and Larkin last week. Skye is a funny combo between being super talkative and super shy. It's almost like those two traits can't be combined into one person, but Skye pulls it off. She's very cute and even put Mike into timeout because he threw a toy at her and hit her in the head. I know. Yeah, he did. I know.

Speaking of toys that can be thrown, I got Skye this kaleidoscope. It was pretty and red and shiny, with this liquid ooze that oozes threw the screen and has a compass that tells time. Skye liked it and would carry it around, and when she did throw it, it was only accidentally. Every morning I wake up wondering if Skye still likes it. I'm sure she does because it was pretty awesome. Skye is basically terrified of me...until I leave the room. As soon as I left the room she would talk and talk and ask me all sorts of questions and tell me all of her ideas. If I answered them, she became terrified again. I guess its almost like the Invisible Boy from Mystery Men where he is only invisible if absolutely nobody is looking at him, and if anybody looks at him, he becomes visible again. And it's probably not too much like that, but my point is, everybody should go back and watch that movie because its funny. Take me for example, I watched it yesterday. Mama pajama.

And Larkin is also an awesome niece. She is a baby and wasn't even scared of me. In fact, she seems to be a perfect baby who is always happy and laughing at everything. So it was fun to see Mike and Christen in their Richmond habitat. I even saw Mike in his white dentist coat and Oakley microscope glasses. I "helped" him with a patient. I won't tell you her name, because that would be a breach of the dentist-client relationship. So for our purposes I'll just call her snaggletooth. You should have seen the crap that Mike was scraping out of there. Giant gobs of chicken mcnugget meat, I guess. Plus, the worst part is that when she left Mike forgot to give her her free toothbrush.