Still have internet

Since our internet hasn't gotten canceled yet, I figured I should keep trying to blog.

This morning, we went to the dog park and Sage got to swing for a few minutes.  Here's the video:  https://qik.com/video/13692159.  (not sure how to embed it in the blog)

Keene was sick last weekend.  He had some kind of stomach/digestive issues.  He got super dehydrated and had a fever and the runs.  It got so bad that blood was coming out.  We got him in at the vet (a friend of ours who is a great vet) at the Cottonwood Animal Hospital.  They ended up keeping him for 2 days on i.v.'s.  He came home on Sunday evening and was pretty mellow.  But now, he's back to normal, he's jumping off the walls, etc.  It was scary to see him so sick, but we're glad that he's back to normal.

I made bread again.  I used this recipe from Amy Thompsen.  The only thing I did different is use maple syrup instead of honey, since Sage is still in the No Honey phase.  This is what she looks like, right before she feeds the bread to Keene.  :)

hello readers, all 5 of you.  it's time for my quarterly post.  finally, you say.  but, nothing super exciting.  just thought i'd put up a few thoughts.

the tasty thai, the little thai restaurant on the corner, is great.  we went there tonight with our friends, jess and ashlee anderson.  steve took some pregnancy photos of them (ashlee is due in 2 days), so they bought us dinner.  my, i love green curry.  i love curry, really, of any sort.  and that coconut milk soup (can't remember the thai name).  oooooh.  so good.

i made bread, three loaves within 5 days.  two white bread loaves and one whole wheat.  the white ones i tried first.  they turned out pretty good.  a bit dense, but tasty.  then, on tuesday, i did the wheat one.  but, i got even more adventurous, because i first ground up the wheat berries into flour, then made the bread.  and guess what, it's edible.  even good.  steve likes it.  next is tortillas.

fall is here, the leaves are turning orange.  it's pretty.

sage stands up on her own all the time now.  we're just waiting for those first steps.  also, today, for the first time, she tried to expand her palette, by testing out keene's dog food.  she choked on 2 pieces, but i had to wrestle the third one out of her mouth.  oh, and she blew spit bubbles all over her face today for the first time.  but, she wiped it away before i could get a picture.

we got our 4runner back today, after it being dead and in the shop for over a week.  many dollars later, it's great to have stella back.  she really is a great car.  268,000 miles and still rollin.

lindsay, not sure if you'll ever have time to read my blog again, but i've been thinking about you.  congrats and good luck.  being a mom is a trip (good and stressful, but mostly good).

ok, off to get the bike and trailer ready for a bike ride with julie tomorrow along the jordan river parkway.  sage will love it.  she loves the bike trailer.  i will love it.  i love bikes.  and bike trailer.  and spending time being active.  and being with good friends.

sorry, no pictures.  i'll try for that soon.  although no promises, we're cancelling the internet here at the house, soon.  experiments in doing more and being better.

Anniversary

Thursday was our anniversary.  4 years.  So cool.  We took off work Thursday and Friday, because we were going to go camping in the Uintahs, but then we decided that it would be tons of work and we'd rather be more relaxed.  So, Thursday we had real Belgian Waffles from Bruges' Waffles and Frites.

Then home for a bit for Sage's nap, then off to do a couple errands, including picking up our vegetable order from Liberty Heights Fresh.  I'll do a review of that experience soon, next week is our last.

Then to REI for a little purchase for Sage.  Then off to Park City.  That's where we went on our honeymoon.  Fun times.  It was a pretty relaxed time strolling Main Street.  We went to a number of galleries, our favorite was one that had just opened up that day, The Rodney Lough Gallery.  His website doesn't show off his work the best, but wow, he's got some beautiful work.  Then dinner, not impressive, I chose the place and was bummed out.  Oh well, the waffles earlier were great, so that's all that mattered.  

Then a nice drive down the canyon back to Salt Lake, then drove around town and talked about goals for the next year (we do a yearly theme for our marriage) and watched an amazing sunset.  The theme for this year is Be Simple, Be Healthy.  And the first item of business is to learn to live on a schedule (mostly just morning and night routines) and after we get that mastered, we'll move onto physical health, financial health, spiritual health, social health and intellectual health.  But, we're not going to even try and tackle them all together, but just one little thing for 30 days, then the next.  

Did I mention we drug Sage along with us.  Quite fun.  We love having such a cute, fun little girl to hang out with and watch as she smiles at everything and belly laughs.  

Oh, and did I mention that we saw David Boreanaz (Special Agent Seely Booth) from Bones, playing basketball with his kids and wife.  Cool to see a star and to see him doing something cool, family time.  

We think family time is pretty cool these days.  New and fun activity.  Highly recommend it.  

Soap Nuts?

I know you all think I'm over the top sometimes with my earthy-ness.  But, that's why you love me, right?


I just ran across this thing called Soap Nuts, which are little nuts that are like laundry detergent.  The testimonials are raving, so I'm wondering if any of you have tried them out?  I'm curious.  Some people even use them with their cloth diapers, which makes me think they must be amazing.

Any thoughts?

Gilgal and other photos

Have you seen this before?  What is it?  Where is it?  Who did this?

Well, just take a little visit down to the Gilgal park, just east of Trolley Square, and yes, you'll get to see the Joseph Smith sphinx.

The park is a sculpture garden full of Mormon based sculptures by a man who really loved big rocks and his faith.  The Joseph Smith sphinx is the most popular/famous piece in the garden, but there are lots of others.  It's actually a cool place to see, albeit a bit strange.

Gilgal Garden

Happy Easter, belated

here are some great pictures of sage, looking a bit too much like an easter egg herself.  she had a fun easter time, mostly spending it with family.  and she got a new/first swimsuit, to celebrate the springtime.  

Calf Creek Falls

For Steve's birthday, he wanted to do something fun and active.  So, we went to Calf Creek Falls, down in the wonderful Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  We took the whole crew down, including the Babcocks (well, really they met us there and had an awesome campsite waiting for us).

It was a fast trip, but fun.  It was Sage's first time in the backpack.  She really seemed to like it.  I liked the workout I got by carrying her, which was awesome, but still not as heavy as Steve's camera gear.  :)

The hike was nice.  Not too hot.  The huge canyon walls were beautiful to look at.  And, there were a number of people hiking, including lots of kids.  So cool to see people out hiking and enjoying nature, instead of cooped up at home in front of a screen (like me right now).

Favorite quote of the trip, given to us by our campsite neighbors.

"Can you keep your campfire smoke in your own campsite?"

ok, lots of photos of me.  it's because steve has the camera.  

This last photo was taken at a place called Devil's Garden.  It's about 10-12 miles down the Hole in the Rock Road.  Fun place to see cool sandstone formations and cute little girls named Sage.

Livin' on the edge

Steve, Sage, Julie and me went rappelling a few weeks ago.  Here's the pics.

are you nervous?  don't be.  she's tied in.  not sure if you can see on the photo below, but the chariot is hooked into the climbing anchors.  and she's strapped in the chariot.  and really, it looks a lot scarier than it is.

and she's so excited to be outside.

and now that i've made you question are parenting.  no, sage didn't actually rappel down, we drove the chariot back down the trail.  she just had to watch from the top.  

Sage, the cute one in the family

This is her first time swinging.  Overall, she liked it!

Tummy time.  Usually shared with some furry friends, like Reyah or Keene.

Sage has lots of cute moments.  We try to either just appreciate them, or even better, appreciate and capture on camera.  I'll keep trying to post them as I get my hands of the pictures.

Antelope Island

So, a couple months ago, Steve and I decided to get out of our apartment and go see something different.  So, we drove up to Antelope Island (it's one of the islands in the middle of the Great Salt Lake).  I grew up staring at it each night (amazing sunsets on the lake with that island in the middle), but had never been there.  It's an interesting place.  Here are some of the pics.

There are a lot of buffalo on Antelope Island.  Here are some more:

and even a few left over from the 2002 Winter Olympics:

And a couple of Sage and her parents.  

We had a nice day.  Beautiful sunset, chilly wind, wild animals (lots of birds there, too), happy Sage, happy Steve and Kj.

Famous

Ok, not totally famous.  But, here's a fun link to a friend who did a blog post about Steve.

Progressive Pioneer

She is our friend Amy.  Steve and her husband, Clay, do scouts together.  Very like minded folk.  And fun to spend time with.  And their son, Sam, is a little genius.

Thanks, Amy, for sharing the good word on Steve's work!

sore handed, today.

i'm sore handed because i went climbing yesterday!  awesome!  first time rock climbing since before sage came. my forearms are telling me exactly how long it has been.  completely worth the pain.  plus, julie and i got in some good chatting time on the way to and from the gym.

here's a cute photo collage steve put together a bit ago.  it's on facebook, i'm sure you've all seen it.

so, part two of my thoughts about identity.

one side of the picture, that i already wrote about, is the sacrifice part. the other side i've been thinking about is the self absorbed side.  i mean, in my mind it seems like if i'm not focusing on sacrificing so much for everyone, then the other extreme is making my world totally all about me.  which is lame, too, i think.  i think it's easy to think about all the ways i can develop myself and my talents.  but, i worry that too much focus on those things takes away from the focus on others.  especially because i am a firm believer that serving others is a great way to  grasp some happiness.

another off-shoot from this thought is what to do with the things that you (well, me, i'm really talking about me)  just don't want to do.  you know, the boring, responsible stuff.  yes, i know we all need to do it, but sometimes i think that there should be a way around it all.  steve and i would love a machine that folds our laundry for us, since we both hate doing that.

how to enjoy life, get things done and not be entitled.

so, i'm on the search for the perfect balance of me-ness and family-ness.

anyone have any ideas on how to do that?  i'm specifically looking for thoughts about working or not (full or part time work).

caught, red handed

not left handed.  not right handed.  nor smurf-blue.  red.  i haven't posted in for-ev-ah.  i got accused yesterday for not posting since halloween.  and after a few moments of reading some great blogs by great friends, i decided to sit down and type out a few thoughts.

as life has done a complete 180 for me, i've been really contemplating many things.  the biggest one is my own identity and how it has changed or not with becoming a mom.  it started with a conversation with steve before new year's about resolutions.  now, if you don't know, steve and i love to set resolutions and goals and dreams (we do it twice a year because we like it so much).  steve was excitingly informing me of his new year's goals, dreams and ideas.  then he asked what i was looking forward to in the new year and what my goals were.  i sat there for a moment and then got sad, because i realized i had drawn a blank.

nothing.

nada.

ziltch.

that led us to a deep and ongoing conversation about identity and motherhood and cultural expectations.  i thought about long term goals.  the list used to be something like this, "school, work, fun, marriage, kids."  the list varied a bit over the years, but always ended with kids.  nothing after that.  so, what does a girl do being at the end of the list and only being 31?  for some reason i just never thought past it.  i think it's because i've never really considered myself grown up enough to even have kids.  i think i thought i'd figure it out when i got there.  well, here i am.  and yes, i'm trying to figure it out.

i don't have it totally figured, yet.  but, it's a work in progress.  part of the progress is just taking the time to write again.  hello.  here i am writing.  yes!  what i do have figured out is that my own identity, you know, the kjrstin that you all know, is very important for me to know, but also for my family.  how sad if sage had to grow up with a shadow of me, instead of the technicolor amazingness of kjrstin.  it's like never having the opportunity to taste dr.pepper/pepsi/coke made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.  so, i've decided to continue to develop myself and pursue things that make me happy.  that doesn't mean that i always put myself first.  there are those inherent sacrifices that come with motherhood/parenthood.  but, i can take the time to make sure i'm ok, too.

kjrstin, you're saying, of course you would do all these things.  they make so much sense.  yes, but, i think there are certain expectations that float around in society, that say that this isn't ok.  that you are a bad person/parent/mother if you don't put everyone else in the world first, before you're own needs.  ok, i'm not a phd, but i know there is just not enough time in the day for that.  these expectations are often unspoken or unarticulated, but they're out there.  and i decided to challenge them.  i want to be a mom on my terms.  i want to be myself on my terms.

this is just part 1 of my thoughts on the identity subject.  the post is too long already to type more.  next installment is about selfishness... how to balance my identity/wants/needs and still be a mom.

have thoughts about this topic?  post 'em in the comments, or fire me an email, or call to chat.  i'm pretty open to thinking and discussing these ideas.

and here's a face to love....