Bowling, horses, tinkerbell dance off and the princess

Sounds like the title of one exciting children's book, no? The Hymii's have had some fun adventures these past few weeks, here are some of them:

• Grace experienced bowling for the first time with her Friend Miss Star and what would bowling be without the occasional lipstick refresh (see bottom left pic for demonstration). I guess you have to have mad hops in the sport of bowling as well.
  
  
• Daddy and Grace made muffins one morning, daddy even let her dress him up with a pretty headband, what a sport!
  


• We have discovered princess's in our home which ups the already existing diva factor! The jewelery of choice happened to be earrings, when they are on we have to fling our head and hair just so. We are still working on our natural Princess smiles ~almost there.





• Oh and did we mention horses? Yes, Grace loves horses, apparently she told us so (direct quote) "I always loved horses mommy, I told you this for three days". Some friends of ours have two horses and a mule, we couldn't get Grace off them. Russ and I experienced a fun tantrum trying to pull her off which required us to exercise our newly found "love and logic" parenting skills, I think we passed.



• One pic that is our favorite and happens more regularly than not in our home is the shopping cart pile up of dolls. Maybe one day Grace will make a run for the Tijuana border with a small pickup truck packed with furniture, I suppose these are her practice years. In case some of you don't understand this comment, there are Hispanics that come to the states , pick up a ton of furniture and haul it down to the border to sell I presume. These trucks are packed to the hilt and are really impressive to see. Google it I am sure you won't be disappointed.
  


• Last but not least Grace loves classical music these days and what would classical music be without dressing up like Tinkerbell and having a dance off with mommy. Fortunately no demo pic of mommy but one from Miss Grace taking the appropriate final pose at the end of her beautiful dance.
  

Life Lessons

Well, we learned two important lessons this week:

Lesson #1: When you go on a short business trip and only take one change of clothes, be sure to check with your boss before packing to avoid this...

I can't tell you how many people asked if this was the "Ross, Dixon & Bell uniform" during the dinner we attended. On a more positive note, it does make your boss think that you really admire him and want to be like him in every way.

Lesson #2: Don't underestimate your kid's deductive reasoning powers. As we try to teach our little one about Heaven, we made a comment last night about living with Heavenly Father. Gracie raised both hands in the air and responded, "I want to live with Heavenly Father. I'm going to get hit by a car and live with Him!!" Freaky, right? Well, turns out that earlier that day, Tommi and Grace were out and about and Grace started to venture toward the road. Tommi had said something like, "Gracie, you need to hold Mommy's hand when we get near the road. I don't want you to get hit by a car. If you do, you can't live with Mommy & Daddy anymore--you have to go live with Heavenly Father."

Guess we need to be a bit more careful about how we phrase things, huh?

Hawaii

I finally was able to scratch Hawaii off of my life list of places to see!! Russ and I went minus the little one and we had so much fun! I came back freakishly tan and Russ with his Irish skin sought out the shade. Here is a list of a few things we experienced and or appreciated~

• Sleep~ (first thing on the list)! We were able to sleep in, no late night water or bathroom calls from the little miss. Ahhhhhh



• Road to Hana~If any of you have done this you will know what I mean when I say "AMAZING"! Please go experience this drive for yourself I promise you won't be disappointed. On this drive you can stop at numerous waterfalls and not one was disappointing. We were offered some "Maui Wowie" TWICE! We decided that this was either very common or we looked really uptight.



• Snorkeling with the Turtles~ Although they were sparse it was still really amazing to see them so closely.



• Learning to Surf~ We learned with the MTV "Living Lahina" cast. I loved this show when it was on because these guys are truly funny and super dumb! They were so awesome and easy to learn from. My back, shoulders and arms were on fire by day's end. I can see how this becomes an addiction for most, I will for sure be back in the ocean to learn more once it warms up!
  
  
• Car accident~ Yes we were rear-ended while we were there. Russ and I were at a dead stop and got hit by this poor lady who was going about 30. All I could say was "Holy hell" when it happened. This poor lady had the sadest story, she was there to spread her son's ashes who had commited suicide three months earlier. To make the story worse it was her only child. By the end of the ordeal I was in full blown water works and ready to pay for the damages to the cars myself. The blessing ... I have a new friend named Diana and I hope she comes to SD to visit me soon. Oh and did I mention we opted out on the rental insurance, gulp! Here is where you can call us idiots, luckily her insurance covered everything so we don't even have to worry, even if it didn't our our own car insurance would have but no thank you.



• Shave Ice or is it Shaved Ice ?~ My mind-boggling question on the trip was whether it is pronounced Shaved Ice or Shave Ice. Here in the "Main land" it is commonly called shaved ice not in Maui though every where we went we saw signs for shave ice. Things like that irritate me not sure why? Please clear this up for me someone ... anyone.
  

A shout out to Grammy for making this all possible by coming down to SD and watching the Misses despite the fact that she just had surgery a week prior to coming down. We truly appreciate you and love you!! Thanks for making it so comfortable leaving our little one for the first time!!!

Russ and I decided that Hawaii is a must every year, it was such a relaxing place to be!!

released ...

I was released from my calling yesterday. I have to be honest and say that a part of me was relieved ... at first, but as it sunk in I realized how much I am going to miss this calling in particular. I know that it was busy and required me to be there every Sunday and Wednesday. I know that it was super challenging and emotionally draining at times BUT it certainly was the funnest time I have had in a calling. The YW's president is one of the funnest, most giving people I have ever met I have found such a wonderful friendship in her!! The girls were nothing short of amazing, they are up against so much more than I ever was and in spite of that they are still very positive and a joy to be around!!

I will miss this calling for sure! I don't think we realize how blessed we are to be called to serve and help others! Magnify what you are called to do , sink yourself into it I promise you will learn so much about yourself and others!

Growing Up

It seems every time I turn around Grace has gotten bigger, she speaks in complete sentences for the most part, my assistance is no longer need at the potty and has been replaced with her announcement that she will be going and or has finished going. Grace can find the nursery on her own at church and doesn't need me to walk her in, I fear I embarrass her by walking there. Our newly found trick is her ability to get in and out of the jeep on her own oh and taking off her seat belt (gulp). I think really the only thing she needs me for physically is to get her "Milky". Don't get me wrong there are still moments of needing mom such as reading time, breakfast, lunch and dinner and the occasional quarter needed at the gum ball machine. I always laughed and shrugged off the comment from parents about how fast they grow up and to savor every moment and so here I find myself repeating the words to all of you. I have a kid not a baby, where does the time go?

Mary Poppins has nothing on Daddy ... as far as kite flying goes

Lets go fly a kite was the song that sung in Gracies heart (I am sure) the day daddy took her to the toy store, picked out the best little mermaid / belle kite and bolted to the park to give it a whirl. Grace is a huge Mary Poppins fan, no other compares, that is until Daddy stole the show and showed Grace how it is truly done. It took a little bit of trial and error before we realized we must go against the wind not with it to get the kite up, we are so smart!! Grace wouldn't let any of us hold onto the kite not even when she wanted to meet new friends at the park and not even to take a picture. Side note: yes that is a leotard she has on, all this took place after dance class. Here are some pics that some friends of ours took of Daddy and Gracie!

Grace Phrases ...

Those of you with children probably have compiled a list in your head and or on paper of the many funny things or daily phrases your children say. I was thinking of a few of my Gracie favorites today and would love to share them:

• "I'm to big." this is said when she can't reach things.




• "I am very, very busy." everything is "very, very" to being tired, to being hungry the list goes on.



• "CVDVD"s", this is meant to be DVD's

• "Uh, coldie." she says this when she is cold.



• "Muwkie" = Milk



• "I'm angry, stop talking to you mom." need I explain this one?




• "Oh yeah, wahoo, shake your booty, oh yeah!" Celebratory song ... dance inlcuded.



• "Good morning Mommy, what you dreamin?" every morning we ask eachother about our dreams, she always says shamu. I say daddy and a maide, this is an ethier or, certainly not the two together ha, ha, ha.



• "I'm not a cutie, I'm Gracie Hymas!" When ever I say she is cute, or my baby, or grumpy yada, yada, yada (sinfeld tribute) she say's this.




• And I can't really make out any of the words but on a typical day Grace loves to sing and it is usually about numbers, shamu, or going to the potty or any combination of the three. She belts them out, kind of funny when it is at the grocery store and people are watching.
  

I could go on forever, there are so many funny things she says in the day. I may add to the list when my memory is serving me better.

Guess Whose Birthday It Is...

So it turns out that February 26th was a pretty cool day in history. On February 26th, the following people were born:

• a German king (Wenceslas, 1361--yes, as in "Good King Wenceslas looked down...");
• the developer of the greatest invention of all time, dry cereal (John Harvey Kellogg, 1852--shout out to Kellogg's Foot Loops and Frosted Flakes);
• a famed French writer (Victor Hugo, 1802--don't deny that you don't tear up when you hear "Bring Him Home" from Hugo's Les Miserables);
• a famed German clothing designer (Levi Strauss, 1829--I still can't believe that a kid from my high school class, Brandon Vest, named his son after Mr. Strauss); and
• several famous singers (Mr. Johnny Cash, 1932--one of Tommi's favorite people in the music business; Michael Bolton, 1953--Tommi sported a Bolton hairdo at 10 yrs old; and Corrine Bailey Rae, 1979--whose "Like a Star" is one of those that you can't get out of your head even though you don't know any other words than "Just like a start that hmmm the sky, just like a hmmm that hmmm hmmm hmmm...").

There were also some pretty significant historical events that took place on Feb. 26th:

• 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from the island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France;
• 1952: Winston Churchill announces that Britain has developed its own atomic bomb;
• 1991: Gulf War--Iraq leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait; and
• 1993: The first World Trade Center Bombing--a bomb explodes in the garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.

But, of course, to me the most significant of all these events took place on a cold February morning in 1976 at Cottonwood Hospital when Tommi Jean Peterson came into the world (TJ's birth certificate confirms it indeed was Cottonwood, though her mother still insists Tommi was born at St. Marks). So last night was the 32nd anniversary of Tommi's birth, but this blog entry will be the final reference to her birthday, since Tommi has now decided that she will no longer allow a number/age to be associated with her birthday. From now on, February 26th will simply be known as a day to celebrate Tommi (you know, "Tommi Day," just like Mother's Day, Memorial Day or Arbor Day).

Yoga ... not just for sissy hippy freaks

I have taken up Yoga and I love it!! I didn't think I would like it since I am by nature a very busy and fidgity person. My idea of yoga was that I would go and relax and feel spirtually uplifed I suppose. I guess in some sense you are very relaxed ... by the end of class ... but during you are truly working out your body. My muscles are tight and sore the next day. I think this is the way you are suppose to work your body, it is so natural and it just puts everything back in line. I sleep better and I just deal with the day a lot better.

I haven't mastered any of the poses, well I take that back I am a natural at child pose. However all the other poses require the teacher to come over and make me a model of what not to do. My downward facing dog should be V shaped and I manage to make a U. I have come to realize how truly inflexible I am. I am not giving up until I can touch my toes.

If you need incentive to go here it is, go with the hopes that someone falls out of the difficult poses. I witnessed a friend fall out of crow pose and it was by far the best laugh I have had in a very long time. Side note: crow pose is super difficult so I take my hat off to her for doing it. I am sorry to my friend for laughing so hard and/or mentioning it here on my blog ... BUT thanks for the laugh. For instructions on Crow pose see pic above.

Hinckley ... only prophet I have known!!

This evening we received the sad news that President Hinckley passed away. He has been the only prophet I have only known as I have only been a part of this church for 12 years. I am saddened by the news, he always seemed to be talking directly to me when giving his conference talks--I can only imgine how the rest of you felt. I am sure the heavens rejoiced to receive him home. We too should rejoice as well, as we were able to be a part of one of the most influential, caring prophets and, I believe, the most loved. He will be missed, and has left some huge shoes to fill.

Russ got the assignment to tell Gracie what happened. Her response was, "I want to die too, and live with Jesus and Brother Hinckley in Heaven!"

A couple of cool Hinckley quotes:

“This is my prayer for all of us—'Lord, increase our faith.' Increase our faith to bridge the chasms of uncertainty and doubt. . . . Grant us faith to look beyond the problems of the moment to the miracles of the future. . . . Give us faith to do what is right and let the consequence follow.”
"Prevention is better than cure."

As some of you know Grace loves to read her "bookies", a friend of mine let me borrow her daughters "my Reverance book". It is this cute little book with a variety of pictures of the temple, jesus, prophets, 13 articles of faith, family pics and of children with Christ etc. etc. etc.. Next to the pictures there are scpritures that correspond to the pic., it's use is mainly for reverant sacrament entertainment. These are the cutest books, I love them! Well long story short I caught Grace reading her's yesterday and thought a few of you would enjoy it. Listen closely ...

If you want a book or information on the book go to www.the handcartco.com.

You can lead a toddler to the potty but you can't make em go!

Day One of Potty training, Teachers log:

I have bought the necessary tools for potty training. My list consists of Six pairs of princess/pokadot/striped underwear, one pack of princess huggies pull up diapers, play dough, markers, DVDs to watch and lots of potty books. What will I do with the items besides the obvious ones you ask? Well we are camping out at home for four days or five or six, however long it takes to get this thing done so we need lots of entertainment and activities to do as we sit here anticipating the next potty break. I hear the best thing to do is to stay at home, close to a potty and let them run around in the big girl underwear until they get it. I am shooting for a four day max training camp , we will see what the little Ms. has in store for me. Wish me luck!

to be continued...

Follow up to day one: SHE WENT POTTY IN THE BIG GIRL POTTY!!! AHHHHH, I feel so accomplished as a mother. We did the potty dance, which consisted of a lot of booty shaking in a circular motion (Russ taught me that move). We high fived and then called dad with joy in our voices!!! I am so pumped! Day two here we come!

Day Two: Totally deflated! UGH. Not once has she gone in the potty and it is now 3:50. She has gone potty alright, just not in the designated area. I am going to keep it real for you future potty trainers, this is not as easy as it had presented itself to be. I am not giving up though, I am in it for the long haul or until I have pulled out all of my hair with frustration.
End of day two: Not one potty incident to report, just a whole lot of frustration. I now it is only day two really day one of a full day of potty training but it is hard business. One: you get cooped up being home all day. Two: you would think it would be a simple task, take them to the potty sit em down, they go pee. Not in the least bit, it goes more like this,put them on the potty they refuse to bend their legs to sit while screaming in your ear, I don't force it but then she runs to the corner of the room and pees. Deflation. Hopefully tomorrow will be bring a turn of events.

Day Four: As you can see I skipped a day, day three was actually pretty good because I had Russ here to encourage both Grace and I. I have to say having your spouse near by to back you up and encourage you makes a world of difference. We revamped the program, instead of running around and just letting her pee until she hates the feeling of being wet we decided to remind her every fifteen to twenty minutes that she needs to go. Grace sat on the potty I would about 70% of the day on Saturday, ugh. We have only had one accident since Friday though!! I have had to remind her like every hour that she needs to go potty, we aren't to the point where she tells us BUT at least she is going "in" the potty. Books and play dough have been my biggest tool and saving grace. I realize now that we still have some days left ahead of us in the whole process, we are getting there though and that's all that matters.

I hope this particular entry helps future potty trainers know that it is a time consuming often times frustrating task, however, it is so rewarding to watch your child accomplish this goal. Grace is excited, surprised and proud every time she hears herself going potty. My advise at the end of the day is; GOOD LUCK, stay sane and try and have fun with it!!!

Juno, Best Movie Ever!!

Just go see the movie, my review would do it no justice. For now I have sampled a few one liners from the movie that I found quote worthy, best movie I've seen hands down~

"As far as boyfriends go, Paulie Bleeker is totally boss. He is the cheese to my macaroni. "

"You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events."

"That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet. "

Juno MacGuff:Uh, dad?
Mac MacGuff: Yeah?
Juno MacGuff: Either I just wet my pants... or...
Mac MacGuff: "Or"...?
Juno MacGuff: Or... THUNDERCATS ARE GO!

"Oh, and she inexplicably mails me a cactus every Valentine's Day. And I'm like, "Thanks a heap coyote ugly. This cactus-gram stings even worse than your abandonment."

"I could so go for like a huge cookie right now, with like, a lamb kabob simultaneously.

Juno MacGuff: Wow your shorts are like especially gold today.
Paulie Bleeker: My mom uses color safe bleach.
Juno MacGuff: Go Carol.

Given up the Sauce

I sat down to write out my new years reso's and a lot of them are hefty but the one I would like to make mention of ... the one I am most proud of and sad about is ... NO MORE Coca Cola. Yes you heard it here, I am giving up the sauce!! I think my fellow coke drinkers will be largely disappointed however I am most excited to relay the message to my good pal, healthy nut extraordinaire ... Jaime Boyce. The big drive to give up the sauce is this new cook book I found called Eat Clean. I suggest you get it, it has some pretty yummy recipes, trust me when I say that because I have the taste buds of a two year old. Funny when you give up something, you begin to realize how much you craved it and needed it. I went to the store today and saw a can of coke in the coolers and there it sat in it's pretty red can, dripping condensation, calling out my name. I managed to go to the next check out clerks line who's cooler only had water and energy drinks. I picked up a bottle water and turned my back on the coke. I was proud and sad. I don't think I need to check into rehab just yet, I just figured I should give it up before my husband has to call the tv show "intervention" (quality tv by the way) to come in and clean me up. I hope you all follow through with your new years resolutions and that 2008 is productive and meaningful!

I Would Never Survive in Kenya

In preparation for this blog entry, I decided to read up on some friends' blogs (many of which can be found in the "Playmates" links to the right)... After a careful review, I have determined that I have neither the talent nor the time to provide any witty commentary. So I'll leave that stuff for my sweet wife.

Anyway, Oct. 5th was the St. George Marathon, and I was a somewhat willing participant. Though my slender build and long stride may have you fooled, I am definitely not a runner. However, long hours behind a desk at work, coupled with a not-so-healthy diet of Coke and various chocolate treats, helped me to realize that getting into shape was going to require something drastic. So, with the mutual promise of my friend, neighbor, and fellow EQ-presidency member Resh Jefferies (who is in much better shape than I but needed a stress reliever from school), we decided to sign up for, what we in the business like to call it, the STG. OK, truth is that I don't know if anyone in the business calls it that, but that's the symbol on their website. Once I had made the commitment, my brother-in-law Trevor also decided to run with us. Now, Trevor is a runner, a former collegiate star who could qualify for Boston on two-weeks training. So I was certain at first that Trevor running circles around me would be some sort of attempt at male dominance in the family--but Trevor's quite a humble guy, and I realized later that running with me was the only way he was able to convince my sister to let him run yet another race.

Well, training certainly had its ups and downs as I struggled with bouts of dehydration, bloody nipples (see excellent post below), and overall laziness. But in the end, waking up at 5:30 am most Saturdays for the past few months wasn't bad at all, and turned out to be some nice quality time swapping stories with a good friend. As for the marathon itself, it was much colder than expected. Somewhere around 35 degrees to start, & I don't think I could feel my toes till mile 3. Fortunately, a trip by Trevor to the D.I. the day before provided me not only very fashionable attire (black beanie, red-white-blue sweatshirt, and olive green sweat pants), but helped me stay somewhat warm as well. Of course, the adrenaline rush and a little hip-hop on the old iPod helped as well. I wish I had some great story to tell about my determination and will to overcome all obstacles. But for the most part, I just ran along at my usual pace, getting more and more tired as the miles wore on, till near the end all I wanted to do was lay down on the lushious green grass on the front lawns of all the homes I was passing by. What kept me going, you ask? A few things: 1) not wanting to look like a wimp in front of all the onlookers; 2) a determination not to waste three months of getting up early on Saturdays just because I was a little exhausted now; and, most importantly 3) knowing that my biggest fan, Tommi, was waiting for me at the finish line.

In the end, I finished in 4 hrs & 40 min, a mere hour & one-half after Trevor. But I'm still proud of the accomplishment, & may even try it again some day. One more thing to check off of life's "To Do" list. A trip to Italy's next, right Tommi?!