Sunny Januarys

Las Vegas Januarys are the best. There is no greater way to spend your Saturday mornings than tennis at the park.

Angus had a heart attack every time the net separated him from Maddie. He may be the cutest dog, but not necessarily the smartest dog. He never quite realized that he could just walk AROUND the net.

Maddie had "Dress Up As Your Favorite Book Character Day" at her school. I can't even tell you how excited I was that she chose Fancy Nancy. I think we did a pretty darn good job of matching her.

As promised, there are lots of pictures of Angus on the blog. Here he is in his doggy carseat. I love that Josh drives Maddie to school and then when he drops her off, he is just a guy driving around with his dog in a car seat. I'm sure he never imagined himself as "that guy." :o)

Angus hating his winter coat. I knew I would never be the person who buys clothes for their dog, but my sister bought this for him. And I couldn't resist putting it on him. But I promise, with all my heart, and with all seriousness, that I will never be the kind of person who takes their dog on a walk in a dog stroller. Cross my heart.

Another reason why Vegas is awesome in the summer: You can go sledding in a tshirt. Summerlin has a "Snow Day" every January, where they cover the hill in a park with snow and let the kids come sliding. Maddie loved it because she got to play in the snow. I didn't hate it because it was 60 degrees and sunny outside.

In Vitro

I don't know if I actually remembered to tell anyone, but I am in the middle of another invitro treatment. 13 shots and counting. I feel the need to tell people because (1) I need to explain the weight gain/breakouts/sleepiness/moodiness, etc.; (2) Everyone always asks; and (3) I believe in the power of prayer and positive thoughts. So send some my way.

And of course, since it is me, there was a complication. When they were looking at the lining of the uterus they found two bands of scar tissue that were likely created by my D&C after my miscarriage. So yesterday, I went in and they put me under anesthesia and took them out. It wasn't a big deal except that they had to try to find a vein THREE times for my IV. I freaking hate being a human pin cushion. When Maddie came home from school yesterday and I was in bed, I told her that they made my stomach healthy because it makes it more likely that I can get pregnant with a healthy baby. And she said, "Why didn't they just try that years ago?!" My poor little confused Maddie. :o)

I've never felt more ready to be pregnant and have a little person. Let's hope that's a sign of an impending successful pregnancy!

Before (Gasp!) and After (Exhale!)

I love great before and after pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot to take before pictures of the rest of my house, but I did grab some of the powder room. It was the most disgusting thing ever. (No offense to the lady who designed it and the lady who paid for it to be that way. And no offense to my mother and Josh, who actually, somehow, liked the before.) I hated it. It looked like a pepto bismol colored 18th century whorehouse bathroom. Let's just say it wasn't my style. (Are those seriously tassels on the lights?!?)

The problem with buying a house now versus the last time we bought a house is that you actually have to have money down. A lot of money down. So bathrooms that are this ugly have to stay that ugly for a while, and then you can just slowly pick and choose little things to change and buy one piece of furniture at a time. My house is definitely not done being converted into my style, but I would say it's about 80%. Not bad. Not bad.

I still need to buy and change the sink basin to something more modern, but with the new modern style fixtures I suddenly don't hate the washstand anymore. In fact, I think it's kind of cool.

P.S. I got some of my ideas from my interior designer cousin Emily Tingey. Check her out: http://www.keenondesign.blogspot.com/

P.P.S. This painting is from my OTHER talented and artistic cousin McKenna Zohner. I loved the simplicity and colors of it, and it inspired the color palette of the bathroom.

Aloooooooha!!!

Happy Ten Year anniversary to us! Due to work schedules, we weren't able to REALLY celebrate our decade until this last week. We spent a week doing this:

And this:

And we had a very romantic beach dinner doing this:

That's pretty much all the pictures I have from that week. It was the laziest and most wonderful week. :o) Then we planned to fly Maddie over and spend some time with her at the Disney hotel because I got an awesome discount with my travel agent card. It's a kids' dream. Big kids and little kids of all ages.

My favorite thing there is this little magical tour of the hotel. Maddie and I did it on our last night there and we both loved it. When you get there some day, don't miss it.

There are also water slides and kids activities and safe snorkeling, etc. Here are Maddie and I modeling our same hairstyle/flower in our hair. I love having a mini-me.

I also took her to BYU Hawaii and showed her where "Mom went to college." She was absolutely shocked when she saw the inside of the dorm room. "But it's only the size of my bathroom!" I know Maddie. I know.

Then we went to The Polynesian Cultural Center next door. I told her how I got to dance there with my Tahitian dance club and her eyes got big. I don't know if she realized that I used to be a "person" long before I was her mom. I think the PCC is the best family place to go in all of Hawaii.

We saw some other well known Hawaii sights as we drove around the island.

And we did a lot more of this. Pretty much every day. It was awesome.

And Maddie added a few more freckles. Man, I love her freckles.

Introducing Mr. Angus Harris

Maddie is sweet. Most of the time. There is definitely an evil side of her. That's why she asked Santa for a dog this year. Because she knows that her mom and dad are NOT dog people. Blah. Disgusting. Ick. But Santa always comes through!

And I'll just tell you now, that I'm in love. LOOK AT THIS FACE!!! You know how people with new babies are obsessed with sharing pictures of their new babies? Well, that's kind of how I'm going to be. Sorry about that. And yes, he will probably be in our Christmas card pictures too. Sorry about that also.

Yeah, yeah, I know he's not a baby. But don't tell him that! He loves being the baby in the family and following his "big sister" Maddie everywhere she goes.

P.S. Yes - he was named after THAT Angus. Hence, the plaid/schoolboy collar.

Christmas 2011

Mother/Daughter Date Night - "The Nutcracker" ballet and super fancy dinner. I loved it!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care. I loved having so much family here for Christmas this year.

Josh read "The Grinch"

We checked the Santa radar just about every fifteen minutes.

We had a Tingey family nativity with two VERY fancy angels.

We put out carrots for the reindeer.

Um....I mean....We put out carrots for sneaky-sneak-Bennett.

And we made Christmas brownies - and licked the spoons clean.