I strayed . . . And paid

I'm talking about makeup here, so don't get ahead of yourself. I have been using Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals for over ten years. I was introduced to it by my then boyfriend, now husband's aunt, who was a big player in the great company. I have been a faithful user over all these years and have always loved how it felt, how it covered, and the natural aspect of it. My one complaint has always been the lasting factor. I would apply it and catch a glimpse of myself an hour later and wonder if I ever put it on to begin with. This has almost always been the case for me for eye shadows, blush, etc. Not sure what it is about my skin. I even have tried primers to no avail. So when I ran out a couple weeks ago, and while deciding what makeup direction to take next, I picked up a thing of Maybelline's Dream Matte Mouse at Target, thinking maybe a liquid would last longer on my skin. And while the coverage and lasting power is great, my face has completely broken out. I always knew that Bare Minerals is so natural and gentle that you can sleep in it, but never really realized how kind it has been to my skin until I strayed. Sorry BE, now I know that natural is best. Now if I can just get some tips to get the fresh face look all day and I'll never think about straying again. Any ideas?

Life's a Beach

You wouldn't know it now (rain, rain go away), but the end of January and early February were just beautiful. It was beginning to feel like springtime, and the trees thought so too (I'll have to photograph some of the blooming foliage around here), but mother nature has thrown a harsh reminder at us here in Cali that it is still winter. I guess we deserve it, seeing as how the rest of the country has been hit with winter hard this year. I'm just glad we took advantage when we did and made a trip to Santa Cruz a few weeks back. I guess I finally feel like a true Cali girl in that I now live about twenty minutes from the beach. People seem to just assume growing up in California that you go to the beach all the time. I only went when on camping vacations or on Disneyland trips. Now I'm sure we will be frequent beach goers; besides being gorgeous and a serene place to pass some time, Bentley was really into playing in the sand and scouting out cool washed-up treasures. Life is good!

I Love . . .

the gospel. my husband. my son. my sister. my parent's. my in laws. my family. my friends. mac and cheese. snuggling. going on walks. holding babies. looking at photos. love notes. gummy candy. going to the movies. ben's dancing. james' hand holding. vacations. donuts. reminiscing. party planning. reading to Ben. answered prayers. making play dough sculptures. teasing my husband. making Ben laugh. my car. my new Nike running pants (motivation). my cute home. my amazing ward. the smell of pine trees. watching movies in bed with Ben. a clean home. a fully stocked fridge and pantry. mrs. myers cleaning products. unanswered prayers. ben's bedtime routine. laughing with james about all the funny things ben's does. a day like valentines day when i get to think about all the things i love.

Two and a Half

Ben is a little over two and a half now (even though he insists he's "just two, Mom"), and is doing something new almost every day it seems. I want to record down his latest and greatest so I can best as possible capture his two and a half-year-old cuteness, I'm just going to skip the bad stuff (I don't want to remember that).

(Background: Ben's legal name is James Bentley Greene). But don't try to call him anything except Ben. He's adamant about it. We have tried to explain to him many times that his full name is James Bentley Greene, at which he usually laughs and points to Daddy. When I asked him the other day if he knew what his real name was, he very confidently announced, "Bentley."

Ben has been repeating prayers (we say a line and he repeats it) for some time now, but just this last week has started to say a full blown prayer all on his own, and it is completely heart-melting. He still needs assistance with beginning with "dear, Heavenly Father," but continues his sweet prayer unassisted. This is how they typically go: "thank you my day, my family, my Bastian (the little boy I nanny for, Sebastian). Thank you my food (and sometimes he goes on to say thank you my cereal, my spoon, etc). Have a good night (asking that he has a good night), my bed. Name, Jia (Jesus) Christ, amen! (He says the amen with great enthusiasm). Makes me feel like I'm doing something right.

When I ask Ben for kisses he gives me one kiss on each cheek, accompanied with a lot of loud smacking, which usually leave both my cheeks wet.

Ben's favorite past time is running. All throughout the day he tells us he's "practicing," starts at the end of the hall and counts down from three, usually not in the correct order, and with a "set, go" he's off down the hall and into the living area where he ends at the refrigerator and makes his way back. The process then repeats, and repeats; you get the idea. At the mall we let him out of his stroller (when it's not overcrowded) and just let him run. He moves his little legs as fast as they can and sets off down the mall. We are never far behind, because face it, he's not too fast. We have been deciding what activity we are going to sign him up at the rec. center this summer; they have toddler soccer, tennis, and martial arts classes. I turned and asked James at the mall last night as my child was running down the aisles dodging some amused, some annoyed shoppers, "I wonder if they have track and field?"

We are well into potty training mode and it is going surprisingly well. Without going into a big soapbox about what techniques I'm using, I just want to record a few funny details about the first few weeks with an almost-pottytrained little boy. He really wants to stand up just like Daddy. He got his chance when at Panda Express this weekend, the girl's room was occupado and of course he couldn't wait, so I took him into the men's bathroom (single stall mind you) and let him have a go at the urinal (it was just short enough for him to reach). He enjoys a good pee in nature (what is one to do when at a bathroom-less park or driving in the car and he says he has to pee, which means he has to pee RIGHT NOW). It's a nice perk about having a boy. He could care less sitting in soaked drawers. He doesn't even alert me to when he has had an accident. I mean seriously Ben... that's gross. He looks completelyadorable in underwear, and I am on the hunt for little boxer briefs!

My child is finally out of my bed and into his own toddler bed. While he still does not remain in his bed throughout the whole night on most nights, he goes to bed without a hitch. I feel like a more normal human being again. I have my nights back.

And I will end it with a segment of Ben Say's the Darndest Things:" When he finally caves into one of my demands after some resistance he will turn to me and say "fine, Mom." (insert attitude and annoyance). When we were in L.A. right after Christmas on our trip to Dinseyland, James got very ill one night and threw up in the hotel shower. Since then Ben is a little preoccupied with throw up. He often tells me, "Daddy threw up in shower" (oh and by the way when reading these you have to take a slight pause in between words for longer sentences, to really get the Ben effect), or "I threw up, (longer pause) yes-ter-day." He likes saying "yes-ter-day," and while he has an understanding that it describes time in some matter, has no actual concept of it's meaning. When we asked him who he wanted to say the prayer, :he kept repeating "Daddy say prayer, yes-ter-day," to which James kept responding "okay, so Mommy will say the prayer tonight," completely working Ben up in frustration, and Mommy too because I knew he was just messing with him, and I wanted to just get him to sleep already! Since six-months-old Ben has had occassional potty-issues (aka constipation). Regular milk really makes him "go" lets say (which is why he drinks soy), so when his tummy is hurting or his bottom (because of harder stool-- TMI?) I give him some normal milk for relieve. He has gotten the idea mixed up with just milk in general, so when he wants some milk, especially chocolate milk, he tells me either a) "my tummy hurts," or b) "my butt hurts." Usually it's b very loudly, and usually in public. : )

P.S. Those are playdough sunglass made by yours truly. They were pretty awesome, for the two minutes they lasted.

2010- That's a Wrap!

JANUARY

We celebrated New Years in Vegas visiting Nana and attending a Joh

n Mayer concert.

James began his insurance licensing process, I continued working for my Father-in-Law, and Ben spent his days with either his Mimi (my mom), or his GG (James' mom).

FEBRUARY

James passed the first of three licensing exams. I turned a quarter of a century old.

MARCH

I don't really remember March to be quite honest.

APRIL

James graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Economics. The whole family flew out to Utah in support of him. It was nice to see Utah again after having moved backed home to California six months earlier. It will always be my second home. So proud of James and SO happy to be done with school!

MAY

I think we celebrated Easter in May, or was it April?? Well, here's a cute pic of Ben from Easter either way.

JUNE

Ben turned two in June and I planned a great Dr. Seuss party. I obsess over party-planning and basically have his third birthday well in the works. A lot of friends and family were there and Ben had a blast opening presents and eating all the sweets.

JULY

On July 17th the newest member of the family was born, Dylan Patrick. After years of infertility and failed IVF's with a surrogate, James' Aunt Staci and Uncle Tom adopted their beautiful baby boy. Ben absolutely adores "baby Dylan," and I know they will grow up to be great friends.

AUGUST

James carrer path took a turn as we decided that insurance was not the best fit and he began his new position as an ADR for ArcSight in Cupertino. Shortly after getting hired, ArcSight was bought out by HP. James is enjoying his job and is having GREAT success. I'm so proud of him and we are enjoying life in the tech world of Silicon Valley.

SEPTEMBER

I got a new car! A 2010 Kia Soul Limited Edition. It has four doors (almost the best part of all); after 2.5 years of heaving a baby into the back seat of a 2 door coupe, you'd understand. I love my car.

OCTOBER

On October 15th we moved out of the parent's house and into this little place in Los Gatos, CA (interior pics to come).

James turned the big 26 and as usual had his little freakout (I thought that aging freaked women out the most). We celebrated with an intimate Switchfoot concert in Santa Cruz.

We went with a magician theme this year for Halloween. James the magician, myself, the magician's assistant, and Ben, the rabbit out of the hat.

NOVEMBER

We celebrated Thanksgiving and enjoyed getting settled into our new home and exploring the new home town.

DECEMBER

Christmas was very fun with Bentley this year. He was very into Santa Clause and his little heart's desire was earphones and a phone. Santa delivered with Skull Candy- Paul Frank earphones, and James' old iPhone, encased in a new ifrogz skin and loaded with kid-friendly apps and music.

The day after Christmas we drove down to L.A. for Ben's first trip to Disneyland. It was extremely crowded, but the holiday decor was beautiful. Ben loved the characters and went on lots of rides, with no fear. Can't wait to go again when he's a little bigger, it's a little less crowded, and we feel a LOT better (James and I both got pneumonia).

New Years Resolution

I was reading this great blog, when something she said really struck me. She was talking about how she has always been a journal keeping person, and how she had stacks of journals completely filled with the meaningful events of her life. However, she said that she regrets not keeping a better record of the little things. The things that make up her family at a certain given point in time. The small, seemingly insignificant day-to-day stuff that can be forgotten so easily. When I realized that I forget how mine and James' life was (other than the major things: our jobs at the time, where we lived, etc.) pre Bentley, and even how our life functioned day-to-day with Ben, both in school, with very little money at our disposal, I realized that she was really on to something. These are the things I want to record. The big stuff we will remember, because they are well . . . big things. But it's the little things that make up the fibers of our life and weave together to form OUR big picture. So, before I post a wrap up of our year in 2010 (since the last time I posted was Easter, I do have a lot of catching up to do), I am going to copy this wise lady's idea and provide our family's "snapshot."

It's funny how Ben pronounces what as "vhat," so clearly knows his v sound, yet pronounces movie as "moomie."

Speaking of, my kid has become a moomie junkie. His favorites are Shrek and Toy Story (any of the trilogy will do).

James gets to work by 6 a.m. So understandably when he comes home from work at lunch (we live about ten minutes from his office), he takes a quick nap. However, he literally sits up on the bed, three pillows propped under him, and naps for about thirty minutes. I guess he doesn't want to get too comfortable.

Rolling out my garbage cans to the curb every Wednesday evening makes me feel like a real adult (being a wife and mother didn't really do that for me)!

Saturday morning means donuts for our little family. We do walk there (maybe a five minute trek), so that makes me feel a little less guilty.

When we had the convenience of living with my parents, James and I were great about a weekly Friday date night (never had that luxury in Utah with no family and no money), and we think it's really important. Our funnest date night? A one night camping trip. And if garbage cans make me feel like an adult, I can't imagine how I feel when we finally breakdown and start paying for a sitter (we are missing date night since we moved, so it may be soon).

James claims that I am the best microwave heater-upper there is. Whether it be his frozen chimichangas or leftover meatloaf; he praises how perfectly heated it is . . . I think he's just lazy myself :-)

Ben thinks it's a crack up to call his Daddy, "James," and for some odd reason, his Mommy, "Mamot." I have no clue!

We have finally implemented a successful bedtime routine for Ben. 7:15 Bath time with California Baby Calming Aromatheraphy Bubble Bath, 7:45 One episode in Mommy and Daddy's bed of show of choice (usually Caillou), 8:10 Ben calls in Daddy (usually from the living room) to say prayers and read three verses of scripture (we are trying to focus on consistency, rather than quantity). Followed by nigh-night kisses and hugs from Daddy. 8:20 Ben chooses two books for me to read. His favorites are "I'll Love You Forever" and "The Potty Book for Boys." 8:35 I turn on his Homedics Sound Spa, tuned to "ocean" and project lighted image directly above his bed. I lay on his floor right next to his opened door (we are going to be phasing this step out soon), and usually within five minutes once the heavy breathing has begun, I crawl out and close the door behind me.

We walk everywhere, because almost everything is in walking distance: parks, the library, restaurants, shops, and Walgreens. I bought a middle of the road (as far as price is concerned) Joovy stroller, which James hates and reminds me of it every time we walk. The front wheels are a little messed up and I just need to go to the store to see if they can dig me up a copy of my receipt so I cam email it to this lady at Joovy so she can send me new wheels (yah, I really need to get on that). Anyways, we love walking around our new home town (it's probably the most appealing thing about our town to me). And we have our best conversations on those walks.

Whenever music comes on the TV via a commercial or whatever, Ben just has to get up and get his groove on. His dancing is a mix between Elaine on Seinfeld and Kevin James in the movie Hitch. It's hilarious! I'll post a video once I catch him in action.

Every Tuesday my Dad, Ben's "Papa" and my Grandpa, Ben's "Papa Ron" come and visit us. We have developed a routine: first Vasona Park, followed by lunch at Hobees, where Ben always orders the Mickey Mouse "PanPans" (pancakes) and "orange ju." A most excellent tradition!

Well, that's all I have so far. I plan on revisiting this "snapshot" of our family often. Because these are the things I don't ever want to forget.

Please give me some love (aka comment) if you are reading this and care. While I want to do this for my own journal keeping, it is motivating to know that someone out there is reading :-)

Easter

A few days before Easter we decorated eggs with my parents. It was the simpliest egg dye kit I have ever used, and the results were really pretty. All you do is drip a few drops of the dye, and then roll the egg around in your plastic gloved hand until the dye completely covers the eggs. Bentley was afraid of putting the gloves on, so just sat on the table and watched.

On Saturday James and I took Bentley to our gym for an Easter breakfast and egg hunt. It was outside and we didn't dress warm enough for the windy morning. Bentley barely ate his pancakes (his favorite) because he was shivering with cold. So we asked one of the ladies working the event, when the egg hunt and activites started? She told us at eleven (two hours away). We drove to the Greene's to watch conference, planning on coming back just before eleven. When we got there, we saw kids leaving in the parking lot, baskets full of eggs. Turns out they started at 10:30. I was a little upset to say the least! They offered to throw some plastic eggs on the lawn for Bentley, but whats the point of that. We just took him home and did that. I really wanted him to run around with other kids. Oh well, next year.

On Easter Sunday, Bentley must have sensed it was a holiday, and woke everyone up promptly at seven. He was excited when he got down stairs and found three baskets full of goodies (from his parents, grandparents, and great grandma). He went straight for the candy of course. Don't you love his hair?

Later that day we went to the Greene's to watch General Conference and enjoy a yummy brunch and dinner. And that was our Easter. I love th holdiays with my son, and know they will get even more enjoyable as he grows.