Skidattle to Seattle

I have been pondering the many lifestyle changes a child will bring. Many friends have offered varying candid advice about this very thing, and while everyone seems to have their own little "thing" that rocked their world when kids arived on the scene, every single person mentions how easy traveling was pre-kiddos.

For this reason, we have decided to "babymoon" in Seattle in July. We wanted to go somewhere besides our usual SoCal getaway and somewhere that was relatively close since we only have 4 days to jam this thing in.

I have only been to the rainy city for a quick day trip, but I have heard mostly great things all around. I am soliciting you all for any suggestions on cool things to do/places to see & eat. Let's be honest, I'm mostly concerned about the latter since I will be pleasantly plump with child by this time.

Jessica, please do not suggest driving to Forks to see where Bella and Edward met.

Mu husband has a mistress. Her name is music.

He could spend all day with her if it were up to him, but luckily he knows who # 1 is.

He is so extremely open-minded about so many different styles and genres of music, in fact he started guest blogging on this music blog. However, he will not recognize a single country artist or song as quality music. He literally despises it all. With a passion actually.

I rounded up one of my best cowgirls to go to the Ketih Urban concert with me last week since Niels can't help himself but mock this picture everytime it comes up from shuffle on my iPod. Granted the man has a better frosted weave than I do ...



Niels also hates the fact that I have kind of, sorta have a secret crush on Tim McGraw. This just made it all the more amusing when I found out recently that they share the same birthday - May 1st. Coincidence? I think not.

Sappy

I'm not usually a mushy/sappy person, but with the recent surge of hormones racing through my body I can't really help that I got choked up today ...

• Watching the Today show and saw footage of a 11 year-old girl embracing her family after being lost in an alligator ridden swamp for 4 days.


• Driving to work when I looked back over my shoulder to my typically empty back seat. I suddeny pictured a little car seat back there and got all misty-eyed. I'm riduculous.


• Thinking about my best friend's daughter turning 13 yesterday. Where did time go? I am old!


• Looking at Noelle's birth/hospital pictures of her new son.


• Looking at Jessica's new blog header with her family and her itty bitty Conner on her shoulder. So precious. I miss them so much.


• Realizing my phone has been textless and quiet all week because Shea is still in Brazil.


• And on a superficial note: I got choked up when my button popped on my favorite work pants. I guess it's time to do that silly rubber band trick.

3

This year...

1. We are celebrating our 3rd anniversary

2. Niels starts his 3rd year of school.

3. We are adding a 3rd member to our family.

They say good things happen in three's.

I'm a believer.

Dogs, snails and puppy dog tails

You have all heard about my fabulous nieces and the girly sleep overs.

After eleven years of dress-up, hair bows and lip gloss ... it looks like I am going to have to add some trucks, legos and tools to the toy box. Look who decided to rock our world.

Introducing the first nephew/grandson im my family:



Baby Aidan

Looking forward to trying to figure out this whole boy thing.

Swanky

Bob hair, feathers, lace, flapper dress, pearls, hats, vests, smokes, speakeasies & mobs.

I'm sure you have been asked at some point in your life the question of where you would go if you could time travel. I think it would be awesome to revisit the 20s; sans the whole depression part.

We went to a roaring 20s themed murder mystery party this month with Niels' dental crew gang. We were slightly skeptical since we have never been to one of these shindigs before. We thought it could either be very corny or pretty awesome depending on the spectrum of participation from all the "characters".

I'm thinking that I could pull off a platinum bob ....

"Kitty Cocktail" and "Cy Ramsey"


Needless to say there were no lame among us and it was swanky good time.

My Lucky Charms

I love being an aunt in case you didn't know.

My girls came over for a sleepover last week. We are thrilled that my sister recently started letting Avery, the hilarious and ever so micheivious 2 year-old, join her older sisters in all the fun. We made homeade pizzas, went to Yogurtland and Uncle Niels read bedtime stories.

After a late night of good times and an early start to the day at 6:15 am (for some reason they cannot sleep in at our house) I decided to go mess up my sister's kitchen and bake some St.Patty's rainbow cupcakes. Or, "nupcakes" as Avery calls them.

They were super easy and they loved them. Really you could do them for any holiday and just change up the colors.

Pre-term

While my given name is Susan, if you know me well enough hopefully you would agree that I am very much not a Susan, and a complete Susie.

I often question if Susie will become too juvenile of a name at a certain age. Something seems weird about a 70 year-old Susie. I don't know why I fuss over it so much. But I will argue that the Susie to Susan jump is far more life-changing than say Mike to Michael or Matt to Matthew. I don't know why, it just is.

I had a brief experience last week that almost forced me into pre-term Susan before I was ready to go there and age myself 20 years.

I started a new job last month and I am obviously still acclimating to the office and my colleagues. My new bossman is a little intimidating. I'm sure that will change over time, but he called me into his office last week and the following conversation occurred, or something like unto it:

Boss: (In a slightly annoyed tone) “Please call IT today and have them change your name to Susan Jensen in the system. There is another Susie Jensen in the company directory that works in our Arizona division and it is causing problems when I try to email you. It will just be easier all-around if you go by Susan ... thanks.”

Silently I stood in front of him with my compliant, “yes sir”, “ jump how high?” new employee face, completely annoyed with "Arizona Susie." I processed my options and counter-offered the big guy.

Me: “Can I have IT try and hard-code my name somehow into your Outlook so you don’t have any problems? I’d really rather not go by Susan if at all possible.”

Needless to say Susie Jensen lives happily ever after. The end.

Tell me how you really feel . . .

I knew Niels didn't enjoy the smell of my nighttime lip balm, but I didn't realize the extent . . .

Groupie Love

We defrosted in southern California for the second week of Niels's break. The main catalyst for the trip was a "Home for the Holidays" reunion show for the band he played in during college, Orange Whip Groove.

Most of the fellas (well actually all of them) are from California, but they graciously allowed a Las Vegan in their circle to tickle the keys.

It was great to see the whole crew and hear about all the changes real life has brought in a short three years. For some, a few kids are now in the mix, coupled with some real jobs, and some are still living the grad school dream.



I wasn't really expecting much in terms of a turnout, but the venue was pretty awesome and there were over 100 people there. Not too shabby! It was fun to revert to the groupie days of following the band around for all their gigs. Nice work OWG!

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Roots

My roots run deep roots in Malad, Idaho. Having only spent the first four years of my life there, I don't remember nearly as much as my three older siblings do. But that's ok considering that I am the most normal of my kin since I lived the least amount of time there.

While the town doesn't mean a lot to many people, perhaps not even some it's residents . . . it is very symbolic to me. It is a heavy reminder of my amazing family roots, and of the wonderful times of my family before my dad passed away. Thoughts of "what if " flood my mind every time I visit . . . mostly what if we actually stayed and I grew up here?

While this is simply the only grocery store in the town to most, Thomas Market or Thomas Foodtown is the grocery store my grandfather built and operated. He passed the torch down to my uncle, and he recently sold it to his son (in the photo). It obviously has been updated over the years with all the bells and whistles. I sure hope the Walmart empire will never ruin this place.

Circa 1980s






Where else can you get "Ho-made" pie?


The legendary Malad Drive-in. It was closed the day we went and I had to forgo the iron port and cheese snack combo I had been dreaming of for weeks. Saddest. day. ever.





Our house. So crazy to me that I lived here since I obviously don't remember it at all.



My dad's resting place

Forgive the duplicity of this post me if you follow Jessica's blog.

My best friend is pretty much amazing for many reasons but mostly these three:

• She has 3 children and she is my age
• She is graduating with her masters degree in May
• She attended my wedding 7 days after giving birth AND slapped on a bridesmaid dress.

Well, I was lucky enough to go visit her and her fam last month to see her new baby boy, Conner. He is a miracle baby after spending nearly a month in the NICU with a few minor complications. He's a tiny man and I love him! I brought him a few 0-3 months outfits and I think they will fit around 9 months.

All gussied up for his blessing. So handsome.



Nothing like a frigid downtown Reno parade!







Cute lil' momma



Me and the Sadie lady


So maybe I get a little nervous when it snows really hard. Especially when I have to travel in it. And maybe I over-exaggerate a little when it comes to inclement weather. It stormed in Reno and I thought I was going to be snowed in for weeks. While I could think of worse things than being stuck with the bff, life goes on and a girls needs to get home. So when life deals me bad weather, I hire the local teenage potheads from her complex to shovel us out!

(Notice Jessica cheering them on the background.)

The downside of living with your dentist

A few nights ago Niels came in the bedroom to take a break from studying and I was already in bed with lights out just about to fall asleep. The following conversation followed:

Niels: Babe, are you asleep?
Me: Not yet . . .
Niels: Did you already get ready for bed?
Me: Yup
Niels: You brushed your teeth?
Me: Sure did. (did he really just ask that?)

3 minutes goes by as he starts his nighttime routine in the bathroom

Niels: What toothbrush did you use, honey? (I realize most people only have 2, but we usually have about 6 going at once)
Me: The electric one. Are you really checking the bristles to make sure they're wet? Like I'm 5 and lied to you about brushing my teeth? (Seriously?!!?)
Niels: Yup.
Me: Wow.

Tradition

Just in case you missed this beauty last year. Or perhaps you want to make it a tradition and watch it every year like us . . .

If you don't watch the whole thing, make sure to go to 3:20 -ish.

True Love

I spent 3 hours in his chair last week to see him practice what he preaches.



It was nice because I could give him honest feedback that most patients wouldn't, or I could just bite his hands when he hurt me. He has exceptional chair-side manner, but maybe I am biased.



He practiced this one about 8 times . . . good times.