hilton head

After depleting our bank account to move to the West coast last Saturday, we got on another plane two days later and flew to the East coast to spend Thanksgiving with J's family. We had a great time riding bikes on the beach (the sand was firm enough to support the bikes along the shore!), seeing dolphins swim in the ocean, watching beautiful sunsets, and eating lots of good food. It was a lot of fun.

What wasn't fun, however, was getting to South Carolina. I have never had such a stressful journey. Since this is a season of gratitude, however, I thought that I would focus on the positive aspects of the the trip back East. Therefore, I am grateful that:

- I have awesome in-laws who went to bought me some clothes when they heard that we forgot to put my suitcase in the car before we went to the airport. (J and I both thought that the other person had loaded the suitcase in the trunk. When we went out the door, I was too busy organizing Sam's processional of baby paraphernalia into the back seat to notice that I didn't have my own things.) Luckily, I have a very observant and tasteful mother-in-law who knew exactly what kinds of shirts I would like to wear.

- There was a washer and dryer in our condo, so I was able to wash my clothes and underwear every day. Phew. I'm glad I didn't have to stink all week long.

- We were able to make both connecting flights, albeit that we were the last ones on the plane both times.

- Although I have a low milk supply, I was able to nurse Sam on the plane since his bottles and formula were also left at home. Although he was still ravenously hungry, at least he didn't perish mid-air.

- The flight stewardess offered to carry my belongings to my seat, since I was having a difficult time cleaning up Sam's explosive diaper while cramped in the airplane's restroom. Really, she was just trying to get me to sit down so that we could take off (the whole airplane was waiting for me and my poopy baby), but it was still nice of her to carry the bag.

- I noticed that J grabbed the wrong boarding pass when he left the Chicago security gate to go and find formula. Since I didn't have my phone (yep, left it in Seattle too!), I couldn't reach him to let him know of the switchup. I'm glad that he saw me waving his boarding pass at the other end of the security gate when he returned with formula in tow, and I am also grateful that a security guard picked up the pass from me and brought it to J.

- We found a baby bottle in the Seattle airport and formula in the Chicago airport. Although it would have been nice to have gotten things before the final connecting flight to Savannah/Hilton Head, at least we got it. Poor Sam, he drank 12 ounces as soon as we offered him the bottle. He was so so hun-ga-ree.

- My in-laws offered to come and pick us up from the Savannah airport. Initially, we were going to wait an hour or so for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to arrive on a later flight. However, we were both so frazzled that it was really nice to just leave and not wait around the airport any longer.

- My mother-in-law does a good job of taking pictures at family vacations, so even though the camera was left at home, I know that I will be able to get copies of the pictures from her.

Despite the horrible onset to this trip, everything else went smoothly and carefree-ly. It was so nice to have a vacation inbetween the chaos of moving out and moving in. It was fun to see all of J's family too. This definitely will be a Thanksgiving to remember.

move, moving, moved

Well, we arrived in Seattle last night. Everything went relatively well (although this kept us on the freeway for quite a while). I'm not really in the mood to recount details though. Besides, the details are not terribly interesting. The point is: we made it here.

I thought I'd post a couple pictures of our old house, family, and friends - just to help alleviate future nostalgic longings. Maybe I've been reading Goodnight Moon too much to Sam; I spent the last few days saying "goodbye" to things in my head the same way that the bunny wishes objects goodnight in the book:

Goodbye blue door.

Goodbye garden. Goodbye plants struggling to grow in the garden.

Goodbye kitchen.

Goodbye French doors.

Goodbye flag. Goodbye grocery store.

Goodbye treehouse.

Goodbye swing.

Goodbye little sister.

Goodbye mes amies.

my YouTube dreams have come true!

To see the new Monty Python channel, click here.

sam's new tricks

Sam has learned a couple of new tricks lately, such as smacking his lips together. He also is starting to "get" the "peek-a-boo" game. I've included some video clips below to showcase these newfound skills.

As you can see from this picture, Sam also likes to suck on his sweatshirt zipper. I guess J used to suck on the strings of his hooded sweatshirt when he was younger - maybe sweatshirt sucking is genetic?



Some awesome lip-smacking skills



Playing "peek-a-boo"

church choir

Since we are moving, this means that last Sunday I held the final rehearsal as choir director of my church choir. In some ways, I have loved being choir director since I got to superimpose my musical preferences on the ears of the congregation. Over the past two and a half years, the choir has sung Renaissance choral music, John Rutter, traditional French Christmas carols ("Whence is the Goodly Fragrance Flowing?") and some of the lesser-known hymns. It's been really fun. Furthermore, I made sure that the choir has never sang any Mormon pop/EFY songs that contain ridiculous over-extended metaphors about candles, bridges, stormy seas, lighthouses, or seashores. Hooray for good music instead! At the same time, however, directing the choir has been rather stressful and difficult. I thought I would list some of the things I have learned during my time as choir director:

• Make sure that the person chosen as choir accompanist really knows how to play the piano.
• Practice with the choir accompanist before he/she comes to rehearsal for the first time.
• If necessary, play the piano accompaniment for the accompanist either before or during the rehearsal.
  
• Never expect the choir to sound like the Cambridge Singers.
• Do not let people perform with the choir who have never come to rehearsal. (We practiced a Thomas Tallis piece for three months and I made the mistake of letting someone sing with us during the final performance. I didn't know how to turn her down. Anyhow, she came in one beat too early on a verse, and it through the whole choir off for the rest of the song. When singing Renaissance choral music, one faulty musical entrance can ruin the whole song. And, well, the performance was ruined. After we toiled on the same song for three months.)
• You will never be able to convince the people who actually know how to sing to join the choir.
• You will never be able to convince the people who actually play the piano to be the choir accompanist.
  
• There will always be at least one person in the choir who can only sing LOUDLY. And flat.
• You can try to teach the choir about enunciation and pronunciation (in an effort to help soften the hard Utah accent), but it just won't work. Even if most of the choir does it, the effect will be ruined by the same LOUD singer. Bless her heart.
  
• Do not order Christmas music from Best in Music. It will never arrive.
• Only 25% of the choir will come to rehearsal on a consistent basis. Consequently, you will spend two out of three weeks reviewing the same music for people who weren't at the previous rehearsal.
• Bringing treats to choir will not increase attendance.
  

If I'm ever the choir director again, I know that there are some things that I would do differently. I definitely have had a love-hate relationship with this calling. Last Sunday, after rehearsal was over, I was sad that I wouldn't be around to hear the performance of our totally awesome Christmas music. At the same time, though, I have never breathed a bigger sigh of relief.

katie and haylie

One of my best friends since high school came to visit this past weekend. Katie lives in Germany, but she is in the States now for a vacation. Originally, we were going to get together in December, but when Katie found out that we are moving she changed her travel plans to spend a day with us. It was a nice for me to take a break from packing! It was also really fun to meet Haylie, Katie's little baby girl that was born three weeks after Sam. Katie and I are already devising an arranged marriage between the two. Here are a couple of pics from the weekend:

Okay, so maybe it wasn't love at first sight for Sam or Haylie. They still have at least 20+ years to grow attached to each other, right? (Note the moving boxes in the background!)

Our brothers came by to visit too. This is the first time Scott met his niece.



By the end of the visit, I think that Sam and Haylie started to warm up to each other. Maybe this arranged marriage has potential. They are kinda-sorta holding hands in this picture. However, I don't think Haylie realized that Sam was putting the moves on her when this picture was taken...

Thanks for coming to visit, Friend!

where i voted today

I bet this is the only time in my life that I will have voted with an elk peering over my booth. Taxidermy museum + early morning = no waiting in line at the polls

surprise!

So, J just got offered his dream job as the junior designer here. Okay, his real dream job would be at the Tate Modern or the MOMA, but the SAM is a close third. So, we're moving. To Seattle. In two and a half weeks.

I know, I know, we're crazy!

We are thrilled that J gets this chance to work in the museum industry. Plus, since the museum is in Seattle, J is really excited at the chance to contribute to the community and city that he loves. He's wanted to do museum design for a while, but he got discouraged this summer after applying to several museums and never even getting called for an interview. And then, this job at the SAM just fell into his lap.

When we went up to Seattle this past August, a BYU grad offered to introduce J to the creative director of the SAM. J was excited to have this person as a contact, and went to the meeting with no expectations (J had actually called the SAM a few months prior to see if they were hiring any designers, and at the time they weren't). This director really liked J's work, and basically spent a good hour explaining to J why he should come work for the SAM. J was floored. The director said that he would be in touch with J - and we basically have been waiting, white-knuckled and with bated breath, to hear about this position for the past two months. (This explains all of my ambiguous "status updates" on Facebook about waiting, right?)

So, J was offered the job on Thursday. He starts the beginning of December, so we're going to move up to Seattle before Thanksgiving. Yikes!

The only downside to the job is that it is a major pay cut from what J is making now. So, we're going to be poor. Like, really poor. But hey, I figure that if we're going to be poor, this is the time to do it. J is going to want to try his hand in the museum industry sometime, and it's probably better to be poor with a small baby than to be poor with a kindergartener, right? And who knows? I might like being poor. I've been conjuring up a lot of romantic ideas about poverty: we can wear patched-up clothing and huddle under the blankets together to try and get warm. I even told J that I could get a job as a laundress like Charlie's mother (in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and wash laundry in a large vat of steaming water. We're going to be living in the house that J grew up in, so I've envisioned that I'll put my vat in the living room, next to the grand piano. Yesterday I began to perfect my rendition of "Cheer up, Charlie." It'll be awesome. You'll wish that I did your laundry.

I'm a little nervous about moving across the country, but I'm happy that J's family is there. And one of my best friends from high school lives there too, which makes me reeeeeally happy. And my aunt lives in Portland, which isn't too far away...

Yippee!

the autumn leaves

One of the things I love about Utah is the brilliant fall leaves. I spend a good deal of the fall months enjoying the leaves and I have the jazz standard "Autumn Leaves" stuck in my head for at least one hour every day. Sam and I have been taking lots of walks in the afternoon and looking at all of the beautiful colors. I also realized that walking with a baby in autumn has its advantages; one can make extra-satisfying crunches in the dry leaves with the help of a stroller.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

The other week we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to look at all of the leaves. The whole mountain seemed like it was ablaze in a carpet of yellows, oranges, and reds. I think the Wasatch Front during the fall season is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

However, I am reminded each year of how difficult the fall season is for the perfectionist. It is impossible to rake up every single leaf off of one's lawn. Aargh! I feel like I have to stand on guard, rake in hand, to catch any leaf that make try to sneak its way to the ground.

This picture of our backyard was taken this morning, just about a day after I had raked the leaves into five nice little piles. Now I can't even spot where my piles are/were located! I think I might go crazy!

There definitely are disadvantages to being a perfectionist.