Chef Messy

in other news...

You're going to see this one and decide, if you hadn't already, that we are crazy people.

Here we go again! I am still in a bit of shock. Because, seriously, who would have ever, ever, ever have predicted that I would have four kids. Furthermore, who would have ever predicted that three of these kids would come within a span of less than four years. I'm predicting wild times at my house.

I'm past the danger zone, pretty much. I know anything can always happen, any time, but I always feel like I can finally breathe after seeing the ultrasound and knowing that all of the parts are where they are supposed to be. I am always still sort of amazed if my babies stick, if you know what I mean. I don't even know what it would be like to just enjoy a pregnancy, without all of the worry, without constantly checking for signs that something has gone wrong. I'm so glad nothing has gone wrong. SO glad.

Speaking of parts, or lack thereof, it's a girl, proving that I have no mother's intuition whatsoever, because I was nearly certain it was a boy. Jonah wants to name her Basicle, Blist, or Comee. I think we will not be doing that fun thing where you let the siblings pick a name! Matt seems unsure about having yet another sibling added to the mix (I don't think he's ever quite gotten over the end of his reign as All-Powerful Only Child), but I'm sure he will be incredibly helpful. Sofie has no idea what's going on, but loves to poke me in the belly at random times and remind me that it's a baby. Thanks, Sofie. Got it.

As for me, I'm excited. Looking forward to another newborn (LOVE newborns!). Also terrified. There are all kinds of things that I feel like I am relatively competent at, but momhood isn't exactly one of them. I love my kids, and I can even say that I enjoy them, but most of the time I feel like I have NO idea what I am doing. We've had a chaotic year, and we are only just now adjusting to some relative calm, so I'm sure that's part of it, but still... Being a mom to three kids is really hard sometimes. I am so hopelessly clueless about momhood under the current scenario, so I worry a bit about how this is all going to go. I'm sure there will be a lot of muddling through and wondering how those put-together moms pull it off. I like to tell myself that even the put-together moms probably feel like they have NO idea what they are doing.

So, anyway, that's the latest! It's been a big year with lots of big changes and big news. It needed a little cherry on top.

sofia at 18 months

will totally run from you with impressive speed if she has something she isn't supposed to have or if she is doing something she's not supposed to be doing.

is clingy in the mornings. wants "uppy!"

is much less quiet than she used to be.

loves dolls. sleeps with about six of them.

loves to sing abc's. can also sing parts of a particularly inappropriate song of "the doors."

is a bit fiesty with Jonah. will scream at him if he so much as looks at her when she's playing with her toys (or his toys, for that matter).

still isn't especially cuddly, but gives good hugs.

likes her daddy best.

loves shoes, loves hair pretties, loves cute dresses and all things girly, but has this hilarious, crusty old man laugh.

loves to dance, especially on the table. especially with no shirt. we are a bit concerned about this.

copies everything her brothers do.

wants to be in the middle of whatever anyone is doing. tells you she is going to "help."

while I clean up one mess, she will make four. I have decided, based on this math, that it is pointless to clean while she is awake.

will not let anyone feed her, ever. wants to do everything "'self."

is at my favorite age. this has been my favorite age with every kid, and she is no exception. I watch her, completely fascinated, all day long, every day. It's like having my own personal wildlife show.

is not talking as much as her brothers did at this age but seems to be catching up quickly.

is, however, very good at words such as "cookie," "treat," and "cupcake!!!"

is very aware that grandpa never comes without cookies.

thinks all animals say "meow."

had a very easy transition into nursery at church. Is happy as long as nobody steals her baby (the same ugly baby every week, wrapped in a nappy old blanket).

is so different from her brothers.

is so completely adorable and funny. I can't imagine life without her.

photo update, part II

When someone in your family runs for office, every event becomes a campaign event.

This summer we got chickens!

We also bought this adorable chicken-eating dog.

This little entrepreneur started a wildly popular lemonade stand at the local farmer's market...

...where he earned enough money to buy a bike.

That time I canned 100 bottles of peaches in a kitchen with no counters...

 

 

hello? anyone out there?

I have rewritten about ten sentences since I sat down here. What do you say after a six month break? (OK, who are we kidding, I've posted once since last March!) I had a good friend who, while pestering me about when I was going to start writing again, said I should not worry about catching up. But, you know? How can you not?

On the other hand, we've had a big year. It has been a big adventure. There's no way I'm going to get it all down here.

Instead, a highlight reel. And I'll do my best to fill you in on the rest as I go along.

So, the three major year's events:

1. Ryan got a new job!

Things learned in the process: Campaigning is for the birds. Politics are ridiculous. But if you want to move to a new town and get to know a lot of great people, running for office is the way to go.

2. Remember this farm shack? As it turns out, we were right--it really does need torn down. Not only are the floors sinking and the walls caving in (which we knew to begin with), it is also full of toxic mold, dysfunctional plumbing, and spiders. Which we didn't know about. Nevertheless, it was home for ten months.

It did not grow on me.

3. In the meantime, we built a new house and moved in last month. I feel like I'm on vacation. I keep waiting for the management to decide we are squatters and come kick us out, and then I remember, "Wait, this is MY vacation house!"

It's undecorated, and there are still a few minor things that aren't finished, but I am extremely happy to be in it. I am a very spoiled girl. I'll throw out some photos in a future post.

And for the rest of this update, six months worth of iPhone photos, part I...

Jonah is very happy to be living in a place where we can have kitties.

One from the "back yard."

From my kitchen window...

Our boys camped on the floor the whole time we were in the old house. They are VERY happy to be in real beds again, but they have definitely been troopers!

Lots of sports over the summer!

Also lots of unsuccessful fishing. We have yet to catch one!

One lonely pelican, just a short walk from our house.

Trying to make the house fun, at least.

Celebrating our 10th anniversary!

Good times. To be continued.

 

 

well, if it wasn't obvious...

I wanted to pop in and say hello, for those who were wondering if we've dropped off of the face of the planet.

And, in some ways, it feels like we have.  Life is 100% different for us than it was a few months ago.  We are learning to FISH!!! (I still will not put a live worm on a hook, nor have we actually caught anything, but I digress...)  Country life is AMAZING.  Even the old house is turning out to be a better situation than I was anticipating, though I am losing the war against bugs and critters.  Luckily, the new house is coming up quickly, and none of the spiders will be invited to that housewarming.  It's going to be awesome.  I'm insanely excited about it.

Campaigning is... well... still completely out of our comfort zone.  Fortunately, people are incredibly nice here, so that makes it easier.  We are making a lot of new friends, and being involved in this has generally been a growing experience for both of us.  It is going to be a tough race, though.  We are running against some tough things...  An opponent who wears neon green to every event (therefore, you can't miss him) and doesn't hesitate to take unfair jabs.  A very biased newspaper.  Etc.  Politics are not fun.  I am becoming much more sympathetic of people who have to do this for their entire careers, on a much larger scale than what we have to deal with.

Other than that, I am busier than I have ever been in my life, which is actually only part of the reason I am absent here.  Also, my internet connection is spotty at best.  There are many joys to country living.  Great internet speeds are not one of them.  But that's not really completely it, either. 

I've mostly felt like we needed to be a little less... well... public, what with the situation we are in and the things we have going on.  It was fun to have all of the recent publicity, but I also feel like Chef Messy has outgrown what I had originally intended it to be.  I love blog pals and regular readers and being connected to old friends as we've all moved on with life and spread out.  I don't, however, know how I feel about the thousands of page views coming from news shows and Pinterest and online magazines, not to mention the amount of spam that comes with that.  So, the ceasing of blogging has sort of been intentional.  I have so many important things I need to focus on right now.  I really need to let a few things go.  Especially things that have gotten bigger than I intended for them to get!

But I'm not done blogging forever, I don't think.  I want to pick it back up when life settles down a little bit and things feel a little less haphazard.  Most likely, I will be moving this whole operation to a freebie blog service and giving it a new name and a new look and a new focus.  It just feels like it's time for that, you know?  We're in a new home, in a new town, with a COMPLETELY different lifestyle than we've ever had before, and with a whole lot of new adventures headed our way.  So, I hope my true blog friends, whoever is left after this crazy break, will follow me on over.  I will keep you updated on wherever that is.  (I'm leaning toward Blogger, which seems to have improved immensely in the years since I started blogging.  Any input there?)  In any case, I will keep this blog up and running for the time being in case there are any recipes or whatever that anyone wants to snatch from the archives.  It will go away at some point, but I need to make some Blurb books before I pull the plug!

In any case, whether you follow me to a new blog or not, and you have been around a while, thank you for following our lives over the past few years, for taking an interest in what we are doing and who we are, for leaving comments and sending emails, for all of those things.  It has been fun to be a part of the blogging community, even during those times when I'm only involved sporadically.

Take care.

Kim

saturday stitching

I love this sort of little project. Hope you are enjoying your Saturday!

P.S. Ryan tells me this looks more like a turkey than a peacock.  Hmmm....

little spring break trip hipstamatic photo dump

Just so you can see what we've been up to...

We took Grandpa for birthday pie.

We checked out the new City Creek mall in SLC (where Kim spent way too much money on cute little things for Sofia from H&M).

We ate treats at Kneaders.

We took a ride on the Trax (Jonah has been pestering me to do this for over a year!)

We went to see if everyone had abandoned the Gateway in favor of City Creek.  They had.  (Sad. Hoping it can stay afloat!)

Some of us had a little snooze while everyone else shopped.

Ryan and I abandoned the small people with a kind auntie and partied hard at the An Horse/Nada Surf show...

...where we discovered that Nada Surf has picked up a few members of Calexico for their tour!  Calexico plus Nada Surf!  I 100% approve of this merger.

We swam in the hotel swimming pool.

(Cutest little swimmer ever in her new H&M swimsuit, plus one sexy bicep right there.)

We ate overpriced but very tasty waffles at Bruge's.

And we played around with the camera when we were supposed to be taking naps!

ottobre ice pops dress

I made Sofie a little something.

I've tried to get a better photo than this, but six-month-olds are just too floppy and squishy to model dresses.  Oh, well.  I love the Lisette print, and isn't it great that baby sewing usually takes less than a yard?  The pattern, by the way, is the "Country Mouse" dress from the Autumn 2011 issue of Ottobre magazine.  The bloomers came from Lotta Jansdotter's baby book, and I want to make dozens more of them.

 

plans

So, hanging out in the cowboy bachelor pad has made us realize the necessity of figuring out a more suitable abode, ASAP.  The necessity of saying "OK.  Full steam ahead."  I'm not really a full-steam-ahead sort of girl.  I like to agonize over little pointless decisions, so you can imagine the heartburn I'm having about all of this.  Building a house?  Choosing the plans?  Picking where it goes?  Deciding which trees to chop?  What?

And then there's our Pocatello house.  Sell?  Rent?  Even just the cleaning involved to be ready for either option is overwhelming to me.  I can't even get my laundry done and I'm supposed to have this place ready to sell?  Seriously?

And yet, I'm excited.  We've been meeting the neighbors, the new church social network, and they are the nicest people ever.  Matt has been meeting the kids his age, in particular, another eight-year-old boy (which he's excited about) and an eight-year-old girl ("It's complicated..." he says) in his church class.  We've been traipsing around the property, plotting out where things will go, spotting owls, talking about alpaca and chickens (or not), imagining the possibilities...

In some ways, it seems so perfect that I'm just certain something will go wrong.

Well... There was this...

We had picked out the perfect spot and planned to cut a path in through the brambles from the main road.  Then we drove to the other side of the bramble patch and found this.

I called my dad up.  "Dad," I said.  This behemoth on the side of the road.  What is it?  It's ugly.  Mom and Jen both agree.  Please tell me I can get rid of it."

"Dear," he said.  "That is the irrigation well for the whole farm.  The entire female population of this family might vote that it's ugly, but my vote trumps all.  The pump has to stay."

Well, then.  Ruin my fun.

Maybe we can build a nice hedge?

So, anyway.  Plans.

Back yard.  Dad says that he can't move the pump, but he can at least haul some of the random farm junk behind the barn.  These trees are gorgeous in the summer.

Side yard (where the driveway will go.)

Front yard bramble patch.  Ryan's got the machete out (any good excuse to use the machete...), we've recruited some of the farm guys to help, and we will probably start chopping through this mess tomorrow.    I'm thinking I should go out and supervise this project.  The men on the farm (Dad!) can get a little chop-happy.  (See that owl in there?  I love owls.)

This is where my imaginary alpaca will go.  And my imaginary soccer field.  And my imaginary fire pit.  And my imaginary teepee.

And some randoms...

Mangy.

Even though my dad refuses to move the behemoth, he continues to be the most generous man on the planet and bought me an iPhone last week.  And I've never had an iPhone before, so I am really excited about this, which is probably obvious here.  Instagram really is as fun as they said it was.

i do love this pattern

Another set of Amy Butler Kimono PJs.  I made these before Christmas, but she's just grown into them, and she will probably wear them three times before she grows right back out of them.  Ah, they do grow too quickly, don't they?  And not just for sewing purposes. 

How many sets of these PJS have I made by now?  Seven?  Can't remember.  Anyway, it's a great pattern.  My only issue is that I always have to shorten the arms a bit.  This time, I decided to just keep it all one print, rather than adding contrasting bits.  It's different.  I like it.

Must go.  Jonah has climbed something and gotten himself stuck again.  I can hear him wailing from the other room.  Mom to the rescue...

life with jonah

I've had a lot of "those" days lately.  You know the ones.  The days where you spin wheels all day long, where you don't even have time to catch a breath or visit the ladies' room.  The days where you sink into a chair in exhaustion at 11:30 p.m., survey the world around you, and think, "Why don't I have any more to show for my day than THIS?"

If you are also having a lot of "those" days lately, I'd be willing to place bets on whether or not you have a two-year-old living at your house.  I'd be willing to predict that you do.

And I'd also be willing to bet that you, like me, spend a disproportional amount of your day chasing said two-year-old out of nonsense, or cleaning his disproportional number of messes, or rescuing him from high places that he should not be (which, of course, he only realizes when he is stuck at the top of said high place).

But, oh, it's a funny age, isn't it?  In spite of the trouble that this one causes me, I spend at least half the day laughing.  (I spend the other half of the day swearing, but that's beside the point.)

Here are a few recent Jonah adventures...

This morning, Jonah wandered into my room, very dramatically holding his belly and moaning, and announced, "Mommmmmy.  I feel yuuuuuuucky."  I said, "Oh, yeah?  You feeling sick?"

"Yeeeeeaaaaah.  I need a treat!"

Indeed.

He's also very into "helping" lately.  I can't keep him out of the dishwasher, for instance.  I'm sure you can imagine how terribly helpful this is.  Incidentally, these tongs are singing, "Happy Birthday."  Every day is Jonah's birthday.  I dare you to try and convince him otherwise.

All of Jonah's vocabulary has started rhyming with "Sofia," which he pronounces SOF-ia (kindof like MAF-ia).  Ryan is Daddia.  I am Mommia.  When he wants a drink, he is thirstia.  When life is good, we are happia.  He sounded like a little Guido to begin with, and now this.

At least once a day, the phone, or the keys, or a tool will disappear.  The only information we get on this is, "I take it!!!"  We have learned the trick to finding lost items is to pretend we are two feet tall and lacking any logic skills.

Last month, I gave Jonah a piece of grapefruit from a sample cart at Costco.  He spit it at the sample cart lady and announced, "Not a fan."  I tried to at least wait until we had turned around to start laughing hysterically.

Several weeks ago, I walked into my bathroom to find two inches of water on the floor.  Captain Jonah was desperately bailing water out of the bathtub and yelling, "I'm sinking!  I'm sinking!!!!"

So, yes.  I laugh.  I laugh all day long.  Because, seriously, what else can you do?

some news that proves the universe takes me seriously (sometimes) in its own funny way

Synchronicity is a funny thing, isn't it?  You might remember when I wrote last Summer about wishing we could live in Neely.

Well, we've had an interesting development since the last time I mentioned Neely...

(Can I tell you how much I love that he shares this space with "These boots are made for DANCING!!!"  I am totally going to that.)

A little geography background for nonlocals...  Neely is located in Power County, where, incidentally, I was born.  I've always liked, when I fill out various forms, that I could say I was born in Power.  POWER!!!!  (We have fun where we can.)  So, anyway, Ryan will be running for County Prosecutor on the Republican Party ticket.  Those lucky Republicans.  They now have the best-looking candidate ever.  I wholeheartedly endorse his good-looking candidacy.

Anyway, this means several things for our family.

First of all.  Remember this lovely?  All of those things I said about how the floor is sinking and the walls might cave in?  Irrelevant.  Because now this is where we get to live!

On the plus side, the yard is still the best yard on the planet.  And we can go four-wheeling every day!  (My kids are all over any plan that involves more four-wheeling.)  And there aren't REALLY snakes.  There just USED to be snakes.  And once I buy a gigantic cat to live on my porch, even the hypothetical snakes will be long gone.  Only the snakes in my imagination will remain...

We don't have a strategy for getting rid of the ghosts.

I always loved a good adventure...

We are hoping, at some point, to build a newer house somewhere on the property, but for now, we are figuring out ways to make the old cowboy bachelor pad work.

The second thing...

I really like politics.  Ryan and I both spent a lot of time volunteering for various campaigns when we were Poli Sci students at USU.  And, you know, campaigning is fun when you are behind the scenes.  But, I have to admit, this is slightly out of our comfort zone.  We aren't used to being noticed or making speeches.  We are behind-the-scenes sort of people.  At the same time, it's exciting.  We have already made new friends.  We are going to get to know so many new people.  There's always the possibility that Ryan won't win (though how anyone could NOT vote for someone as good-looking as Ryan is completely beyond me...), but if he does, he has so many ideas for what he can do to help the community.  It's exciting to think that he might be in a position where he can make a difference, do some good.  One way or another, we will grow from this, and that is always a great thing.

I have to laugh, though.  Six months ago I announced to the universe, "Hey, universe. I want to live in Neely."  And, now , here we are.  Exciting times.

How many times did I say excited or exciting in this post?  I don't even want to know.  Well, wish us luck with this!  It's a big life change, but we are looking ahead with great optimism and ... um ... excitement!