Broken record

Right now I feel like every other blog post for the rest of my life is going to say something to the effect of "Hey, we've been super busy living life, it's super awesome and exhausting, here's some pictures." And I only have one kid! Unless I can count two dogs and two cats as like 3/4 of a kid; or at least as a annoying nephew or someone who I don't like most of the time. I understand now why my mom had a one cat and one dog rule. THAT was being generous!

But listen, we've been super busy living life, so here's some pictures:

If Nic is home, you can bet money that Norah is standing on his chest and "bouncing!," which is more like having a 28-pound kettle bell hurling itself at his gut. Way fun to watch, but we do not "bounce" on Mom.

Did you notice the for sale sign in the first picture? Our house if totally for sale, but it's totally not going to sell for what we want it to. We put it on the market to see what would happen. If it does sell, we'd like to move to the Millcreek/Holladay/Sugarhouse area. But I have already cried a couple times at the thought of moving, which leaves Nic wondering what in the world is wrong with me. You see, I have a hard time making friends and I have really good friends who live about 100 feet from my house, so why would I want to change that? I could go on and on but then you would be right there with Nic wondering what is wrong with her? Here is Norah with the neighbors in a wagon we got when the three of us ditched the husbands and kids to go garage-saleing and subsequently filled up Nic's entire truck bed with treasures. Why would I want to change this?

We also love the parks all around our house.

Nic is currently obsessed with fishing. Like get-up-at-3-a.m.-and-drive-to-the-lake obsessed. For Memorial Day he agreed to leave at 7:30 a.m., so we agreed to be present. On our way to the mountains, we discovered that Norah gets car sick, which is why she's wearing a jacket, gloves, boots, and shorts. I'm impressed that I even remembered to pack another set of clothes.

Easter

On a lighter note, Easter happened, which was actually more like three days of Norah eating more candy than she's ever had in her entire life to date. The weekend proved to me, yet again, how blessed we are to have such an amazing support system. For example:

What kid coloring Easter eggs has the complete attention of six adults? Seriously. I hope it doesn't go to her head--but then again I kind of do. Not to get too serious again, but there is just so much in her life that I won't be able to control. She will, however, always know that she is loved.

And we love her even though she can be a giant turd, as evidenced by Nic's fist shaking. She really likes telling everyone "No!" and "Mine!"

She even stared down my dad. Apparently he was doing it wrong.

A lot of our time was spent re-dyeing eggs. It went like this: Drop egg in dye, get spoon, lift egg out immediately while shouting "Get it get it get it get it get it!" Repeat. And repeat. And repeat again and again.

When it was time to go, we could not get her to let go of the paints and brush she was using. She clutched onto them the whole way home and ended up going to bed with them still in her baby death grip. I think she had a good time.

Eagle Mountain city had an egg hunt that began and ended in about five minutes. But check out this Easter baby mullet:

We also had an egg hunt at Grandma Stewart's with Norah's cousins. And you know what is so awesome? Norah is finally at an age where we can go to Grandma's house and she will actually play with all these cousins she's lucky to have. It really is the best thing ever.

Here they are on the hunt:

Showing Dad her spoils:

Still excited to show Mom:

About the thing I learned from opening my mouth when I shouldn't have

You've probably never noticed, but on the About Me section of my blog I've given myself a Grand Canyon-sized disclaimer about how I really can't (read: won't) blog about "the really good stuff." Truth is, I usually do write about the good stuff--at least most of the sort-of-interesting-to-people-who-know-me stuff. At very least my daughter is cute and my family can come here to see the latest pictures of her adorableness.

What I can't (i.e., won't) blog about so far has been much more personal. Stuff like, oh, I don't know, the fact that I haven't been to church since Norah was blessed. Yep, I just put that out there and, nope, still not ready to talk about it.

But I relearned something this weekend. And even though I can't really share, I still want to share. See, I thought that I knew how to be the bigger person. Ever heard the quote "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle"? I thought I was all over that shit. Like, "Oh, you don't think someone should be able to marry whomever they want? What if that person was your child? What if that person was you?" Or, "Who am I to say what I would do if I were destitute? I would probably do whatever it took to get into the U.S. too."

Bam! I'm so not judgmental.

And then I got offended.

And then I started judging.

And then Nic got involved.

And now more people are involved.

And now we have a family member who isn't speaking to any of us.

So that "hard battle" I was supposed to be aware that everyone is fighting, was just made a lot harder for a lot of people because I felt like I needed to make myself heard.

Now, I realize that family drama does not begin or end with me, but if I could just put this out there to anyone who has managed to read this far: Be kind, people! Everyone you know if fighting a hard battle.

...

And lest you get distracted by my little church disclosure there at the beginning, look! Adorable pictures of Norah!

My mom and dad were kind enough to watch the babe while Nic and I were in Las Vegas for the weekend. These are two of the pictures I was sent. See if you can tell which one was titled "Like Grandma" and which one is "Like Grandpa."

Busy-ish

There has been so much going on around here, but then again kind of nothing at all. More than ever, I've been finding that the whole business of simply living our lives is exhausting. Exhausting. I keep wanting to catch up on my blog, but then it seems more important to watch Norah dance around in her hand-me-down superhero costume yelling "Awesome!"  for hours.

The Answer: Nic

The Question: Who in the world can break their back THREE times and only be aware of it once?

And have you heard the story about the one time when he knew he broke his back?

The only reason Nic ever got good grades was to get a free ski pass to The Canyons. So of course on the first jump of the first run of the season during his junior year, he missed the landing and came crashing down, resulting in a compound fracture in his arm/wrist and a broken back. The rest of the story as I've heard it is that his brother Justin was focusing on the bones sticking out of Nic's arm, but to give a better idea of what the problem really was, Nic whipped his limp, dangling hand back and forth, saying, "This? This doesn't hurt. My back hurts!" Oh, and do you want to know what Justin did? He picked Nic up and tried to crack his back. And it gets worse. After that, Nic proceeded to snowboard ALL THE WAY DOWN THE MOUNTAIN with a broken back.

It's a wonder he can even walk.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when the chiropractor looked at Nic's X-rays and informed him that he has broken his back not just that once, but TWO OTHER TIMES. Nic had no idea. The only way he could explain it to me was, "I told you I have a high tolerance for pain."

It's a wonder we haven't put him down.

So, now. Now it's something like ten years later and Nic is officially the "worst 29 year old" his chiropractor has ever seen. But there is some good news: Although he has three bulging discs in his lower back, they have not herniated, which means he doesn't have to have surgery. He just has to have three different chiropractic treatments three times a week for the next two months, followed by less frequent visits for, like, eternity.

One bulging disc is bad. Imagine three.

When I tell people that a big reason why I work is for the insurance, I should reference this. I could also reference any one of the six major surgeries Nic has had in our past six years of marriage. I've written about a few of them here, here, and here. I didn't even mention last September's ankle surgery; the one where he was in a walking cast for six weeks. Seriously guys, we have to have insurance.

"You ruined everything in the nicest way"

This is only three minutes of what went on for over an hour. Such excitement rarely happens at bedtime, but if you ever meet Norah at 6 a.m., you will be overcome with jealously and also a little angry that someone can be so happy just to be awake.

Norah is this tiny, amazing person who lives in my house and demands all of my attention. And I made her. No, seriously. This will continue to blow my mind until the end of time. I am also still taken back by how much I like her. Like, I knew I would love her and stuff, but I, like, like like her.

I read this blog recently simply because the graph is hilarious. (You know, for the children.) But the whole thing made me want to stand up at work and give this guy an Amen! Because what Norah is giving back to me is the first years of my life. Every morning it's either me or Nic who is saying that we'd just like to feel as good as Norah for just one morning of our lives. But we totally did, we just forgot what it's like. Norah is reminding us how awesome it is to be alive each day. And, you guys, it is so incredibly, amazingly, awesomely awesome.

She really has ruined everything in the nicest way.

A few faves

I haven't been blogging a lot lately for many reasons, one of which is because I've been too busy reading other people's blogs. You guys, other people are so entertaining and it doesn't take any of my brainpower to read how awesome they are. Best of all, at the end of the year many shared their favorites from 2011. Favorite books, movies, TV shows--you know the drill. Made me think about my top picks, which brings you this not-at-all-comprehensive list of my absolute favorites from last year, in no particular order:

If you haven't read Bossypants, READ BOSSYPANTS. Actually, listen to Bossypants because Tina Fey narrates. True story: Her rules of improvisation totally changed my world view.

If my mom or mother-in-law were to ever watch this movie, I would deny its existence. But since I'm pretty sure neither of them will ever see it, Bridesmaids was my favorite movie of the year. Another true story: This movie nearly made me pee my pants.

Webster's word of the year was "pragmatic." Mine was "hangry." It's a combination of hungry and angry that I experience almost daily. Jessica suggested that we print out a bunch of these cards and hand them out to people we've wronged as a result of hanger. I owe Nic an entire stack.

My new celebrity crush came to my attention because of my second favorite movie of the year, 50/50. Oh, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, you are nerdy and adorable, just like I like 'em.

Nic also has a new favorite celeb worth mentioning: Emma Stone. This is a HUGE improvement from Megan Fox, his previous pick. Am I right?

The most listened-to album in our house was Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons. It's folksy and delightful and is something that both Nic and I can agree on.

Because this is my list of whatever I want, I get to have a favorite medical procedure--and this year I choose the colonoscopy. This unpleasant procedure made it possible for my mom to be around for many more years. And you guys, I need her.

I'll end with my favorite picture from this year. This image captures exactly how I feel about Norah and how I always hope we will see each other. I kind of wish that I could bottle this moment and live in it forever.