Christmas Morning

Chistmas video 1 from Michael Martin on Vimeo.


Michael gets the credit for this post--all I had to do was copy and paste; thanks Michael! I know, I am not so good at posting regularly (sorry Molly). I will resolve to do better in 2009. Happy New Year everyone!

Pioneer Day Owie

Leo & I went to the Pioneer Day parade on the 24th of July. Claudia was at Girl Scout Camp, Caleb slept in, Michael was in Singapore, so it was just me and my baby boy with my next door neighbor Carolyn on her friend's porch right on the parade route. So, Leo, being a typical three-year-old, found a box to fall OFF of and construction staples to fall ON to -- the only debris on the entire porch, of course! (Proper English conversation with self: ...box off which to fall...staples on which to fall...???) I had to tote him about 8 blocks to the car so I could drive him up to Primary Children's Hospital. The ER was empty, so we got right in, and Dr. Eric and Dr. Soprano fixed us all up like new. Leo did great and hardly cried. The cut was shallow but long, so they used a skin adhesive product--glue, basically--instead of stitches, which Leo would have to have been sedated to receive. Leo got a big kick out of getting his bandage changed every day and walking around showing of his "owie." I took the pics with my cell phone, so they aren't the greatest...

-Before glue-

-After glue-
-All better-

Hippie Offers to Get Me High!

My hippie (one of the original hippies!) hostess, Ramona, was sitting with me on her back deck on The Farm just before the shuttle came to get me to take me to the airport in Nashville. I was teasing her a bit about the "herb" smell in the house for a few nights in a row. She laughed and said she didn't think we could smell it, and then she told me she had some "really good stuff" and asked me if I wanted some right then--offered to get me high before my flight! It kinda would've made the whole Farm experience complete, huh? Too bad I don't smoke pot...

The Farm

Summertown, TN, August 3-9, 2008

I was privileged to spend a week on The Farm, home of Ina May Gaskin, author of Spiritual Midwifery, first published in 1975 or so, and in it's fourth edition today. She's also written a great book called Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, which I think every woman thinking about having a baby should read. I took a Midwife's Assistant Workshop there with 14 other fabulous women from around the country and Canada. I was the only one that traveled from West of the Mississippi. I'm feeling very energized and excited about taking on more responsibility with the births at the birth center here in Salt Lake City. The Farm is like Mecca for those of us that call ourselves Birth Junkies with pride!

Okay, so maybe it's really lazy of me, but I uploaded a bunch of pictures from the week to my Facebook page, and it's just quicker to post the link here for you. If you're not familiar with Facebook already, click on the first picture to see it larger and then click "next" to see each picture, some with captions beneath:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5651&l=5782c&id=1019891512

To learn more about The Farm (which offers much more than midwifery stuff--it's pretty much full of aging hippies and some young families into environmentalism, alternative agriculture, eco-building, etc...) or Ina May Gaskin, here are some other interesting links:

http://www.inamay.com/
http://www.thefarm.org/

Who Doesn't Love a Sucker?

Leo has recently discovered the joys of lollipops. I love how the simple things in life bring him such joy!

Oh! Check out the link on the website Daddy does for Leo about their trip to the Southwest: http://www.myboyleo.com/

I have some Leo-speak to share. Some of all ya'll might not care about this, but I have to write it down somewhere, and since I SUCK at scrapbooking and journaling , it's going here:

I "YUZZZ" you! = I love you!

"I want to sit by on you." = I want to sit on your lap.

"FOP IT!" = Stop it!

"Fuzzy Juice" = Soda (I hate that he's discovered soda...)

"Bee Bird" = Sesame Street

"Woody" = Toy Story

"Sanks" = Thanks

"Come inna kitchen" = I'm hungry, feed me!

"Paw-bleh-bluh" = Popsicle

"Fee-ship" = Spaceship

"Gubs" = Playdough (???)

"Fop fopping it at me!" = Stop looking at me and leave me alone!

"DaddyMichael" or "MichaelDaddy" = Daddy

"Foochies" = Smoochies

"Fah-Bob" = Spongebob (*sigh*--with older sibs, it was inevitable)

"Seewee" = silly

"Cry-wing" = crying

Claudia's Last Day at Whittier Elementary

I love this picture! Claudia took my camera to school during the last week to take pics of all her friends, but of course I like this one best! Her last day at Whittier Elementary was June 5th, 2008. She's off to be a 7th grader at Hillside Junior High this Autumn.

With her good friend Taysia Jackson. They will be hanging out at Lagoon together alot this summer.

Proud mama, indifferent brother!


Proud papa, goofy brother...

The teacher, Mr. Johnson

The friends

Caleb's Last Day at Spectrum Academy

Caleb's last day of 8th grade was June 2, 2008.

Caleb with most of his class, L to R:

-Caitlin, Taylor, Stefan, Miss Lee, Caleb, Cameron, Carrie-

Watch out high school, here we come--yikes!

His good friends Alex & Kevin are not pictured.

Caleb with Miss Lee. She was the Assistant Teacher, Mrs. Poole (Athena) was not there the last day.

My very handsome son looking his most enthused in front of his class poster. His picture is in the lower R corner--true to form he refused to wear the grad gown, preferring instead to show off his "pull my finger" shirt (sigh). He will be attending City Academy in downtown Salt Lake City this Autumn as a Freshman. I hope he will show a little more enthusiasm!

Last Days at Murray Library

My last day as a librarian was May 24th, 2008.

My first day at Birth & Family Place as a facilitator/birth assistant/administrative assistant/midwifery student was May 27th, 2008.

The Dragon Persia & Baby Raja that hang over the story circle at Murray Library. They were created by an artist who is now in jail for killing her husband. After he was dead she tied a chain aroung him and dragged his body out of the house with her Jeep! Good story, eh?!

The lovely Raquel and I hung out Tuesday nights and did the Jammy Time storytime together; mostly we enjoyed catching up on each other's lives!

This is LeGrand, one of my most favorite humans on the planet, not to mention at the Library.

My Fabulous Co-workers from l-r: me, Teresa, Joe & Ellen (the head honcho, who has the enitre children's collection cataloged right in her brain!). They made the library a true pleasure.

I first met Marilyn in the Children's Dept., she is now the Young Adult librarian and an amazing woman.

Traci and baby Curtis. Traci works very part-time in the kids dept., and is our director's right hand. She LeGrand, and Danny (below) have been at the library since they were in high school!

Danny is a favorite with library patrons and moonlights as a rock star.

Doing my last storytime! Leo is right in front of the flannel board looking straight at the camera.

Poop in the Potty!

Daddy helped Leo call from Albuquerque, NM yesterday afternoon to tell me (quite unintelligibly!) that he pooped in the potty for the very first time--Yay Leo! As those of you that have potty-trained a kid knows (or those of you dreading it, like me), this is a BIG deal!

Leo was sooo cute on the phone; even though it was hard to understand him, he got his message across by enthusiasm alone. I gotta say, it won't break my heart if he comes home from this trip with daddy completely potty-trained. Are you reading this, Michael???

Trip to Lava

Taking the waters in Lava Hot Springs was not on top of Leo's list, but I sure enjoyed it (sorry about the swimsuit pic!). This was just a few days after Leo's birthday, and when asked how old he was, his answer was "I 25." There was a group of older women--probably in their 50's-- in the little private pool, and I asked him how old they were, he told all of them they were 25, too--he was their hero for the day!

Leo's Actual Birthday

This picture was taken two days after the birthday party, on the day he actually turned three. When Leo walked in to the living room and saw that all his latex balloons had "wilted" he said, "AWWW, my party is falling!"

Leo's Birthday Celebration

Leo is all ready for "Weo's Party," cheesy smile and all. We celebrated Sunday, May 25th, 2008 with a small gathering of family and friends. Thank You to everyone who came!

Pictures from the family weekend that are not on any of the sister's blogs!

Stale blogs suck! (Sorry, mine gets that way often.) Here are some pics you won't have seen in the sister circle of blogs...

Molly modeling my spectacles--even though she's hot, they still look better on me!

Luke & Maren on Molly's front lawn, the beautiful Mt. Timpanogos at sunset in the background.

My Chemical Romance

L-R: Caleb, Claudia, Claudia's friend Alex, family friend Ashton. Happy girls, grouchy boys! I took the kids to see My Chemical Romance April 11th at Saltair. It was a great show! Claudia got to be front row where she could gaze at her idols, Frankie & Gerard, while I hung back with the boys where it wasn't quite so intense.

Leo's Carpark

Another pic taken with my cell phone. I just got a new camera, but haven't figured out how to use it yet! One of Leo's favorite activities is to gather up every vehicle in the house and line them in rows. Hey, you know, whatever keeps 'em busy!

Sparkly Shoes

Claudia and I went to Payless to look for shoes (gotta love Payless for kids!) and Leo fell in love with the pretty, sparkly girl's shoes! He didn't want any boring camo "crocs"--you can see their toes peeking up into the bottom of the pic--he wanted the "sparkly shoes!" He would put his fingers up in front of his face a waggle them around when he said "sparkly." He really wanted to take home some rainbow crocs, but his big sis said they were too girly, so we got some black champions that he is fine with now, but he still talks about the "pretty sparkly shoes!" He was so cute I had to get a pic with my phone! Love that stage where little boys want the fancy girl stuff!

I'm a Slacker

I've just been taking the latest tour of all my sisters' blogs and I'm officially WAY behind. I'll get my butt in gear and start posting some pics here SOON...

My Firstborn Turns 14!

Wow, 14 years sure has a way of speeding past...

We celebrated over a weekend with Lasertag, cake, shopping for video games, and Caleb's favorite (not) -- attending a human sexuality class (you know, the kind not available here in good ol'Utah public schools!) through the Unitarian Church on the evening of his birthday--he was not pleased with me, that's for sure! By the looks of these pictures, tho, I think he'll forgive me!

Our Favorite Cat

Yes, we play favorites at our house! We love our Ray Ray kitty, also known as Raymond. We also have a fluffy white cat named Maddie Mae and an all-black "ghost kitty" name Kleo that won't let us touch her. But Ray Ray loves us and crawls onto our laps (and our heads) whenever he wants--which is a lot!

What Caleb & Claudia did New Year's Eve

Caleb spent the night at friend Austin's house geeking out on video games, and Claudia went to a party/sleepover at friend Alex's house, and is joined by Sarah, & Brianne.

New Year's Eve 2007

We spent New Year's at Paul & Molly's house with their boys, Elise, Clay & Colin, Ma & Pa Costello. Michael, Leo & I were there too, but as you can tell, we weren't breaking out the cameras much that night--even though we had a really good time!

Ricki Lake's Film: The Business of Being Born

Birth: it's a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to examine and question the way American women have babies. The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal. Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?

Visit www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com for more information

Guitar Hero Leo

Michael is trying to make a rock-star out of our 2 1/2 year old! I think there is potential here...he's got the "thank you! thank you!" part down! Oh, and watch for the budding superpowers, too...

Family Togetherness on Christmas Day 2007

The Folks with most of their childrent and mom holding grandbaby Colin. We always have to take at least two pictures, since mom's eyes will invariably be in some not-all-the-way-open state... Love you mom!

5 of 7

Sorry girls, we are shiny--shoulda hit the powder room for a nose-powdering! In any case, I love these pics of us! L to R: Matt, 32; Molly, 28; me, 36; Elise, 24, and Luke, 30. We miss Caleen in Dallas and Maren in Las Vegas.