Simple Pleasures

There are a lot of wonderful things on this world, and I love so many of them. I'm grateful for so many small and simple things that make my life so full and that make me smile every time. I thought that I would share some of them with you. A few of them may seem odd, but I love them just the same.

1. Kennedy's Smile - I know that this one is obvious, but I can't help it. My heart melts every time I see it. She is so sweet and she knows who I am now, which I just love. Even when I get frustrated because she won't sleep or won't let me put her down, all she has to do is smile and coo at me and I'm back to my normal mommy self.

2. When Brett comes home from work - This is one of my favorite times of day. Brett works very hard, and it will be even harder when school starts again. I love spending time with him and am always so glad when daddy comes home.
3. Cherry Limeades - Here's where we start veering from the obvious. I love cherry limeades from Sonic. They make my day. I have tried strawberry limeades and cranberry limeades, but nothing compares with the cherry. It is so tart and sweet and they give me cherries in it. Yum!

4. Grandma Emigh's Coffee Cake - Ever since I was little I looked forward to having coffee cake after opening presents on Christmas morning. Grandma would always make two cakes: one with nuts for everyone else, and one without nuts for me. It is still one of my very favorite comfort foods, and I usually get a craving sometime around June or July to have some. I usually eat 75% of it by myself.

5. Duck Bums - Ok, let me explain. Have you ever been around ducks when they put their heads all the way under water and their bums go in the air? It is so dang cute. I love when they do this! They were even doing it at Lagoon when we went a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't pay attention to the ride we were on because I was trying to see the ducks.

6. Disneyland and DisneyWorld - I hate that I can't go more often. This is where I will always choose to go. This is where we went for my high school graduation, as well as for our honeymoon. I always have a great time and feel so good when I am there.
7. LOST - I get so incredibly excited when LOST comes on. It is the best show ever. It is the only show that I have ever watched where I actually get upset if I miss an episode, that's how bad it is. If you haven't started watching it, you should. But be warned - it is highly addictive.
8. Cooking - I love to try new, different, and intricate recipes. I tried my hand at lasagna the other night and it was a success. I love using new ingredients and going shopping for them. I love cookbooks and kitchen gadgets and am a frequent guest at Williams-Sonoma. I watch cooking shows and go to cooking classes. Basically I am obsessed. I make a huge mess in the kitchen most of the time, but it is so worth it. I'm even starting to experiment with my own recipes in hopes of publishing a cookbook through lulu.com.
9. Good books that I can't put down - I haven't had much time to read until a few months ago, and I have been loving it! I just love books, and I always have. I don't know that Brett is very happy about it because he feels like he has lost his wife, but I am so excited that I've actually been able to enjoy reading again.

10. When Lucy sleeps with me - I love Lucy. She is the best kitty I could have ever asked for. I love it when she cuddles with me, when she meows at me, says please, steals my food, and announces her presence when I walk into a room. She brings so much joy into my life and is a great part of our family.

11. Salami and Brie sandwiches on French bread - I love this sandwich because it reminds me of being in Europe, especially Paris. I used to eat this all the time when I was in the Netherlands, along with grapefruit Fanta and Lion bars (neither of which are available in the US). One of my favorite memories is of buying a very similar sandwich, sitting outside Sainte-Chapelle in the cool weather of October in Paris, seeing Notre Dame in the background, and watching the people go by and the light get scattered by the trees. This picture is of Sainte-Chapelle. Isn't it beautiful?

12. Sunrises in the mountains - We went camping a few weeks ago, and even though I often complain about camping, there is one thing that I love. When I wake up early in the morning, it is so beautiful. The light is gorgeous, the world is quiet and cool, and a great breakfast is on the way. I love just putting on a sweatshirt and taking a walk in the early morning. It is always so much better when camping than near home where the cars often ruin it.

These are only a few of the small things that I love. What are some of your small and simple pleasures?

US Men's Swimming Relay

Brett and I have been watching the Olympics a lot. We have seen quite a few events so far and are having a great time cheering on Team USA. We are particularly interested in basketball (especially since Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer are playing) and in swimming and diving events.

We were watching coverage late last night trying to catch Michael Phelps and the men's relay. We had heard that the French were saying that they would smash the Americans, and obviously we wanted to show them who's boss. We were on the edge of our seats as we watched the race. Watch it on that link. You won't be sorry. It was the most incredible race that I have ever seen. Even Australia, who got the bronze, smashed the world record. We were so excited that Michael Phelps' dream to get 8 gold medals is still alive.

You can bet that we will continue to keep our eye on Michael Phelps. We are also so excited to watch the steeplechase because we know someone who is competing! His name is Josh McAdams (you can see him on Home Depot commercials during the Olympics) and he went to church with us up until a few months ago. He is sponsored by New Balance and we can't wait until he runs to see how he does! We even saw him in the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremonies!

So good luck Josh, Michael, Deron, Carlos and the rest of Team USA! Make us proud!

Super Baby!

Brett, who often fashions himself a cape with his towel, did the same for Kennedy last night.  She had woken up from a late nape and was getting burped when I looked over and saw her flying in the air, cape and all.

She did look awfully cute as a super hero.  I may have to think about that for Halloween.  Except I think the naked baby routine might be a little bit cold for October.  I thought that it fit the Super Baby theme very well though.  They are always wearing underwear outside their clothes.

This picture has nothing to do with being Super Baby, but I did think it was super cute.  I had to put it on here because I realized that I hadn't put any good Kennedy pictures up in a while.

And now for something completely different...I'm almost done with school!  Well, on campus school anyway.  I only have one paper, one class, and one final to go before I am done with campus forever!  Yay!

Lions and Tigers and Dinosaurs, Oh My!

Yesterday we took a trip to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving point with the whole Waddoups clan, including Boston.  None of us had ever been there before, so we knew we were in for a treat.  Here we are (Brett is being eaten of course) at the entrance.

There were some seriously amazing exhibits there and we would highly recommend it.  (For those of you around here, admission is only $2 on Tuesdays in August.)  I always forget how huge the dinosaur bones are.  One of the cooler things that they had was a room titled "Our Universe Begins".  It is a room full of stars and nothing else.  It feels like you are walking through space.  It was really interesting to feel that way.  One of the more fun aspects of this museum is that it is kid friendly like no other.  There were so many hands on exhibits, including a water area where you could practice erosion and a real dino dig at the end.  Here is the dinosaur that Brett attempted to make.

We had to get a family picture in front of the Triceratops since it was our favorite dinosaur when we were little.  Brett's favorite animal now is a rhino, which is very similar and more in line than mine.  Why do I like giraffes?  Witness the useless things on the tops of their heads.  Plus I got to kiss one.  I'll find the picture and put it on here.  The museum didn't end with dinosaurs either.  They had some other really cool bones, like a mammoth (as well as a bunch of people trying to kill it, looking like they were losing).  We had a great time, even though it kind of messed up Kennedy's awesome schedule that she was putting herself on.  We also broke down and bought her a really cute book called The Ravenous Beast.  It's adorable.

PS - Here is a picture of my uncle Scott and cousin Orion holding the real Olympic torch.  They live in Beijing and have tickets to a couple of the events.

Digging for Gold at Lagoon

Brett's work decided to reward his department by having a party at Lagoon yesterday. (For those of you who don't know, Lagoon is the theme park just north of Salt Lake.) We were really excited, especially since being pregnant severely limited my roller coaster riding, and I had never been to Lagoon. So we drove down to Santaquin and dropped Kennedy off at Grandma Lee's and headed up north for some fun.

I decided that I wanted to warm up to the bigger roller coasters since it had been a while since I had been on a real one. We went on the haunted house ride first, and I am embarrassed to say that as badly done as it was I actually did get startled by one of the little things that popped out at me. I hate when they do that. After that we headed over to the little white wooden roller coaster that was built in 1921. We waited in line for about 5 minutes (no kidding, there was no line) and headed to the front car to wait our turn. As I was looking around, I noticed something funny about one of the ride operators that was standing literally 2 feet from me.
I am not kidding. This kid, who was probably about 17 was sitting there with his finger almost all the way up his nose. He then proceeded to take his finger out, look at it, stick it back in, look at it again, and then eat it! I almost threw up. Especially since I was about to go on a rickety wooden roller coaster. We were cracking up about this until later.

We got in line for The Spider much later that day, and having forgotton about the earlier nose picking incident, we were horrified to see that the ride operator was picking his nose. In broad daylight. In front of hundreds of people. We were laughing so hard about it, and we were beginning to think that it must be a requirement that you pick your nose while working at Lagoon.

I know that you will think that I am making it up when I tell you that as we were leaving the park, the boy working the exit had his finger so far up his nose that we couldn't see it anymore. Needless to say, we discovered that Lagoon = nose picking. Watch out the next time you go.