Back to school

Today I went to an elementary school in Salt Lake to give an illustration presentation to their 2nd graders like I did last year. (it's Brandon's mom's class) I think this year was more interesting than last year because we involved the kids more. After telling about becoming an illustrator and giving them drawing and painting tips, I did a painting demonstration while some of them practiced drawing and some of the other kids could look through books I've done and my massive sketchbook pile.
Since Brandon skipped work today he came along and the kids asked him lots of hilarious questions. They mostly asked me about the books I brought, but they told me many random things. I think every 2nd grader in there had a relative that is an artist and they all told me about them. One kid came up to me at the end just to tell me how excited he was to go home and play his xbox. They were an entertaining bunch.

Bravo!

One thing I forgot to mention about the ballet was the program. I was reading over some things after I got home since I didn't get a chance to while we were there. There were 10 instructions for enjoying the ballet. It was mostly things like turning off your cell phone and not talking during the performances. The best one said that you should clap at performances you really enjoy, or yell bravo. I don't think I've ever yelled bravo before, I think it would have been pretty fun. If I had only known.

The Ballet Report

Unfortunately, things did not work out as we planned. Brandon was really sick with the flu or something else that makes all your food come back up. He was really miserable all day so I ended up recruiting an old roommate to go to the ballet with me. It was so fun, and really beautiful performances.
One of the funny highlights was when I was waiting in the bathroom line at intermission that went way out the door. I asked one of the ushers walking by if there were any other bathrooms and she told me this was my best bet. She looked down at my large belly and said, but I can just take you to the front of the line if you need it. It was really tempting, an offer I've never had before - front of the bathroom line! I said I would survive though and waited my turn.
When we were walking back to the car we were chatting while we waited for the light to change and this guy in front of us was smoking. I was a little disgusted, but figured the light would change in a second. He kept looking back at me, and then as we were walking across the street he informed me that if someone is smoking around me I should tell them to "*%&$@# put it out", and then he chucked his cigarette into the street. I thanked him. I don't know if I will take his advice word for word, but I do try to avoid cigarette smoke as much as possible.
Of course, when I got home Brandon wanted me to reenact the show. I did my best to demonstrate some of the moves. It was pretty pathetic of course, but I think he got the general idea.

Mirror & Feet

I've been telling Brandon for a long time that we need a full length mirror. It's one of those things you don't fully appreciate until you don't have one. I could never tell how well my shoes went with my outfit because all the mirrors in our apartment only let me see to my waist, unless I stand on the coffee table or something, which isn't the safest idea.
The other day I tried to buy a mirror at Lowe's because they were cheap, but after pulling a few off the shelf I realized all of them were curved so that I looked a little squashed & a lot rounder than I am. Not just a little pregnancy round, but I'm in a fun house kind of round. I didn't think that would be good for my self esteem to look at frequently, even if it let me see my whole outfit, shoes included.
Lucky for me, yesterday Brandon brought home a new mirror. I was really glad to have it, and even more so now that I realize it is slightly bent the other way because I've never looked so tall & awesome in a mirror before. It's great. I don't care if it isn't accurate. I think everyone should have a mirror that makes them look a little bit better than they really are, because let's face it, everyone is too hard on themselves for the way they look anyways.

the Friday surprise

Brandon and I have talked about going on some really cool dates while it is still simple and doesn't require a babysitter to do so. I have tried to get Brandon to go to a BYU ballet event all semester and we always seem to be doing something else instead. However, Brandon surprised me yesterday with tickets for us to go see Ballet West on Friday! He actually meant to surprise me on Friday, but I happened to be the one that went through the mail yesterday and opened the artix envelope. I'm really excited. If I didn't have a giant belly holding me down I would probably be doing a lot of twirls and leaps around the apartment the next few days. I might have to settle for walking around on my tip toes with a little bit of prancing and lots of arm swirls.

New stuff for us

Remember how I wanted a new couch? Here's the slip cover I found on sale. I love it:
After months of looking in stores and online we finally found this really great deal for a crib and the mattress came with it too. This is both of us trying to use the timer feature on our camera to get both of us to fit in the picture, with the crib, that's why we are hunched over and look a little awkward.
My awesome friends and family threw me an awesome baby shower, with awesome presents and awesome food. So now we are a little more prepared for the baby.

Baby Projects

Brandon did a wonderful job putting together the new dresser that we got for the baby. It was more complicated and time consuming than he expected, but he did great. And I think it may be the beginning of many more projects to come as we put together a crib, stroller, swing, etc...
Maybe they should have included baby gear set up in that prenatal class we went to. I think it would have been more helpful than that video we watched of all those ladies giving birth. It was pretty intense and all I could think about was labor for the rest of the night. Brandon said I was even whimpering in my sleep. They showed way more than I'll ever see at my own baby's delivery. As Michael Scott would say: TMI.

The Mold

Here is our once awesome knife set that I really liked. However, due to unfortunate events of getting our counter top really wet and not realizing it was soaking our knives, we seem to have some black stuff accumulated on the bottom of our knife container. We have a few options here, we could:

A. look up disinfecting mold online and find a thorough way to clean it off.
B. throw the wood block away, disinfect and keep the knifes.
C. have our neighbor's dog lick the black stuff to see if it really is poisonous or not.
D. pretend like we never noticed it and continue using the knives as always.
E. give the knives away as a lightly used wedding present.

Don't go shopping

I've recently been to some furniture stores, sometimes looking for cribs, other times helping Hazel pick out things, and it has had some bad side effects. I've always been grateful for the hand-me-down plaid couches we were given, but they are a bit on the grungy side. After seeing so many soft, beautiful, plush couches, it's been engraved in my mind how scratchy, and ugly our couches are. I was content with them for so long, but after seeing what else is out there it's hard to not want something better. Shopping can be such a bad idea. I guess it's not practical for us to go purchase a new couch right now, but I have been searching around for a decent, yet low priced slip cover. They're not ideal, but at least a step up?

Another illustration creation

I just got some books in the mail from Cedar Fort yesterday. I'm guessing they'll be in LDS bookstores soon. Check it out:

Our growing boy

My belly is getting large enough now that people aren't afraid to ask when I'm due. It's great to feel him kick around and sometimes I'll tell Brandon that he is kicking like crazy and Brandon always says, "He wants to come out now! He's ready!" to which I respond " absolutely not! He has to grow more." And Brandon says something like "okay, he'll wait. But he's really excited to come out." We have our first prenatal class tonight, so we can realize even more how little we know about this whole birthing thing.

Provo Hosting Plans

My brother and sister are coming tomorrow to visit for the weekend. We're really excited to run around and have some family fun time. We have a list of ideas of things to do, like Park City, museums, sporting events. Does anyone know of some other fun events going on in the area this weekend? Has anyone had out of town visitors impressed with anything specific in Provo? We're thinking they'll really like Jdawgs and Costa Vida, some of our favorites places that are not found in Puyallup. (Seattle area) As much as I love the Bean Museum, I don't know if they'll be very excited about that.

The Stroller Search

There's a lot of equipment that is required, or just very helpful, for a baby. It's overwhelming to figure out what to buy. We've looked around at different strollers and I think I've figured out the one that will work best for us. It's a jogging stroller, because I plan to go back to my old ways of running a lot and I don't think those plastic wheels on other strollers would last very long. However, most jogging strollers you can't put infants in them, which means it wouldn't be helpful this summer. So this stroller looks like the best I've found so far. It even has a cool triangle handle. If any of you have stroller experience and would like to offer any insights on whether or not this is a good choice, we'd love to hear it. For further details go here.

A special check

I just received my very first royalty check! It was for a project I did over a year ago. So it takes some patience, but I'm so happy to see that this whole royalty system actually works!

Improper chewing?

There must be something wrong with the way I chew. It's the only explanation. I had a crown put on my back molar a year and a half ago, it fell out and I had to get it replaced (#2) then it fell out and again so I went to a different dentist and had it replaced again (#3), all within a couple months. So at least this crown lasted awhile, but I thought these things are suppose to be permanent fixtures? They're not. I went to floss my teeth last night and noticed a chunk of the crown had chipped off. So now I'm getting crown #4 on this tooth. The other times I at least noticed it fall off while I was eating. Not this time, I apparently ate it. I don't think it can make it's way into the placenta, and I really hope not too, because I don't think consuming metal is good for a baby. I know they always give instructions at the dentist office on how to brush, but maybe this time they can teach me how to chew without loosing teeth.

March Beginnings

I just filled out my first bracket today. Basketball has become a much larger part of my life in the past year and a half. Of course, I still have no idea what I'm doing. I figure I'm going to be watching a lot of basketball and I might as well have a reason to cheer for someone. I actually chose the same final match as Brandon, Texas and North Carolina, with Carolina winning it. That's probably because we watched a UNC game last week and they looked like a great team, and Texas was random. So we'll see what happens. I threw in a bunch of upsets, so hopefully some of those underdogs do better than expected.

Good food

Usually I only go to campus if I need to do some scanning or printing, etc. Every now and then I feel like eating a delicious wrap and nothing is as good as the chicken taco wrap they sell in the Cougareat. So occasionally when I want to go out to eat for dinner, that's where I go, the Cougareat. It's kind of like going to the mall just to eat in the food court. Does anyone else like to do that?

St. Patty's

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I haven't thought of any creative green things to celebrate this big significant holiday. I figure I'll try to bake something with green food coloring later. Any suggestions of what works well? We could eat green jell-o and salad for dinner? Maybe I'll just dye the milk green, or would that look rotten?

Coming soon...

I just received a couple of these banks I illustrated in the mail today. They even come with a little lock and key for it. So when you're browsing in bookstores that have LDS stuff, you might see my merchandise! And if you know any little kids who need a practical birthday present or even an Easter present, you might want to keep these little babies in mind. Or if you're not that great with money, you might want to consider one for yourself.

Mountain Lion Kid

What's with this kid on the news who got attacked by a mountain lion and he barely even has scratches from his head being chewed on? He just held still? First of all, I don't know how you could do that, and second of all, that sign we saw at Mount Rainier National Park clearly stated that if you were attacked by a mountain lion to fight back vigorously. So which is it? Hold still? Or fight back with all you've got? I'm so confused. I just don't know what I'm going to do if I get attacked by a mountain lion this week.