all new things

A lot of new things have happened around here. I thought I'd post a couple of pictures to demonstrate.

We finally stripped the wallpaper and painted our study. Room #2 is finished!

As you can see, the study has both raspberry and white paint. It's fun.

Here's finished room #3. We stripped the bathroom wallpaper and painted most of the room white, with one wall painted blue (as reflected in the mirror above). At first, we painted the accent wall light yellow, because I told J it would look "fun" and "cheerful." However, as an art historian, I have the problem of always trying to contextualize colors and give them different associations. And when the bathroom was finished with its yellow wall, I didn't think at all about cheery, fun things. All I could think about was urine. Perhaps that's something appropriate to think about when inside a bathroom (ha!) but I couldn't handle it. We repainted it the next day with the new color. Thankfully, this color blue does not suggest any type of bodily fluid to me.

And room #4. We're not completely in love with the color we ended up with (we hoped for a slightly darker shade of brown), but it's probably for the best. This lighter color really brightens up our already-dark bedroom. With the completion of this room, all of our painting and wallpaper stripping finally ended! Hooray!

We have new flowers in the kitchen. It's winter outside, but definitely spring inside.

Sam also is trying out new things. Lately, he's insisted on sleeping on his stomach (which is a big surprise, since he has almost always hated "tummy time" until now).

Sam's new pastime involves giving "Papal blessings" to other people (and to himself in the mirror) with three extended fingers.

He also likes looking at things from a new perspective...

...and wearing new clothes (thanks, B and JR!).

Lately, Sam likes to sing along with whatever I happen to be singing. I think this clip is so funny; he swivels his little toy pig towards his mouth like its a mic. I think we've got an aspiring lounge singer on our hands.

new LOST blog

My friends and I are starting up a LOST blog so we can jot down our thoughts about the show. If you are a LOSTie, feel free to visit the site and comment!

squints, teeth, and bed hair

Last night, during dinner, Sam discovered squinting. Before I put him down for bed, we had several of rounds of silent squints at each other. I finally pulled out the camera to try and capture one:

This is the best one that I got, and it's really more of a pre-squint than a squint.

Most of my pictures don't even have squints. As soon as I would whip out the camera, and his expression would immediately change to a quizzical, "what are you doing?" look.

And then he just started to get annoyed. I like this picture, though, because you can see his first two teeth!

I got out the camera again this morning because Sam woke up with his first case of bed hair. I guess his hair is long enough to get really mussed up. Instead of capturing the bed hair, though, I ended up photographing a lot of squints (and jumps too, which account for the blurry images!).

And, in case you're interested, I did get a couple of bed hair shots too:

American Idol and LOST

As I've mentioned before, we didn't have a TV in our old house...but my friends did! About this time last year, I started to walk down the street to my friend Shauna's house to watch American Idol each week. Shauna is a singer like me, and it was really fun to watch the show with someone who knew something about vocal technique, pitch, correct breathing, and the formation of phrases. Shauna's sister Shelby, another singer, would often watch with us too.

So, American Idol started up again last night. It's still fun to watch, but I missed being able to critique the auditions with other people who can sing. Perhaps I'll intermittently leave some AI thoughts on here as the season goes on.

Did anyone else watch this week? What did you think of the singers? One auditioner that stood out to me was Stevie, the girl who sang "At Last" (the Etta James song). I felt like she had some great control over her voice; I liked her lower register quite a bit, even though I felt like she didn't follow through with her sound on a couple of notes. Overall, though, I was impressed with her. I also liked Lil Rounds, the girl who sang at the end of tonight's show.

Before the season began, when I read that there would be a new judge, I was a little skeptical. Why would another judge be necessary? Is this just supposed to imbue Simon with more power since he will be the tiebreaker? After watching though, I think I'm really going to like Kara Dioguardi. I have a feeling that she will give more substantial, useful feedback than Paula (like that's going to be difficult, though!) and Randy.

So, last year I would go to Shauna's house on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to watch AI, and then on Thursdays J and I would watch LOST at Ixoj's house. I'm really excited for the LOST premiere next week! Right now there are sneak peeks of the upcoming premiere on the LOST homepage. Are there any things that people are hoping to see or discover in this season? I'm curious to find out if Jin is still alive. I also wonder if Daniel will ever need to use Desmond as his "constant."

J and I just started watching LOST last season; we've sent the past year watching the rest of the seasons online to fill in the gaps. Lostpedia.com has also been a helpful resource. My favorite things on Lostpedia are the whisper transcripts. Very cool - but a little eerie. And my favorite character? Probs Mr. Eko. I really wish he would come back to the show.

So, this post makes it seem like I watch a lot of TV now. I really don't. Really. But I might be watching a bit more...at least for this season!

photography of sammy davis, jr.

One of my favorite Rat Pack singers is Sammy Davis, Jr. Not only is he a great singer and dancer, but he can do particularly good impersonations. (And no, we didn't name our son Samuel David after Sammy Davis!)

This is a really fun television clip that shows Davis' talent at impersonating singers and Hollywood stars. His impersonation of Jerry Lewis is pretty spot-on! I love his Jimmy Stewart impersonation too - it's almost disconcerting to hear Jimmy Stewart's voice coming out of someone else's mouth!


Last week my sister C let me borrow her copy of Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr. I didn't know this before, but Sammy Davis, Jr. was an avid photographer. This book by Burt Boyer is filled with photographs that Davis took at different parties, film sets, and public gatherings (e.g., one of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches). There are candid photographs of several celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, and Jacqueline Kennedy. Some of the photographs are quite artsy too, particularly ones of city life that were taken when Davis was on tour. The book also contains commentary by Boyer (a life-long friend of Davis) and also some excerpts from Davis' autobiographies (which Boyer and his wife co-authored with Davis). I think it's a really fun book - it's interesting to see the world of Sammy Davis, Jr. through his camera lens.

two Christmases

I arrived back in Seattle yesterday. Part of me feels guilty for leaving, since I'm sure that I could still be helpful. At the same time though, there are various reasons why it is good for me to be back home. I plan on going back to Utah and helping out again when my siblings are on Spring Break; I may go out even before then, if I am needed.

Sam was a big hit on the trip; he made his rounds and got to spend time with everyone. My sister L absolutely loved being around him and helping out with everything (although her help with changing dirty diapers was sometimes counter-productive). She loved to sing "You Are My Sunshine" to Sam, and pretty much sang it incessantly for a few days. I must have really been affected (or annoyed?) by all of the singing; last night J said that I was talking in my sleep, telling L to be quiet!

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Sam as Rudolph

Sam didn't mind that he didn't have presents to open Christmas morning - he was more interested in the ribbons decorating the packages than in the presents themselves.

L showing off her newly-painted fingernails

Since Sam and I left Seattle before we could even open our presents, we had a mini-Christmas last night. Here's Sam's big present:


J and I always have made fun of "themed" baby toys that have loud colors and designs. What baby is going to care about whether its toys have a rainforest theme, a jungle theme, or a safari theme? Honestly, such busy and loud decorations make me feel kinda stressed out. However, this exersaucer decorated with farm animals was infinitely cheaper than any of the other ones, and it isn't as busy as some of the other ones out there. So, we broke down and got it. Sam likes it so much that I think it will be a stress reliever for me, despite the bright colors.

Some things J and I got for Christmas:

- A book on Caravaggio (me).
- A book on Bernini (me).
- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (me).
- The Dark Knight Batman film (J).
- iTouch iPod (J).

It was kind of fun to have two Christmases. Maybe we'll have to do that again another year, provided that J and I don't have to be apart again!

asking for prayers

I don't tend to write extremely personal things on my blog, and I suppose that even the following excerpt from an email doesn't really delve into my own emotions at this time. I feel too emotionally drained and physically exhausted to even try to express any of that right now. I did, however, want to let people know about what is going on in my life right now. Here is an excerpt of an email I just wrote:

As you may have heard, I rushed to Utah on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with my family after hearing very sad news about my mom. We found out on the 23rd that my mom has colon cancer - and the cancer has spread to her pelvis and liver. It appears that a large tumor in her ovary slightly shifted last week; it was the pain from that slight shift that caused my mom to go to the hospital and get checked out. We are at least glad about that - if my mom hadn't felt that pain, we might have not found out about the cancer until it was too late.

It appears that my mom has had cancer for years and years. It is listed as Stage IV, which is the highest level of classification in regards to cancer progression. She will likely start chemotherapy on Wednesday, although my mom and dad are still busy trying to consult with other doctors to get second opinions regarding the option of surgery. I'm not sure if the doctors have given my mom a time frame (I don't know if she would tell us if she did get one), but I do know they have recommended that she write her will. She has received several priesthood blessings, and the one last night blessed her with the gift of healing, although we know that this blessing must also be in accordance with God's will. We all have felt comfort by the Spirit though, which is helping us at this time. We are also exercising our faith and not giving up hope.

I am glad I've been able to be with the family and help out. Sam has cheered everyone up and I know he has been a happy distraction for my mom. My mom told V that this past Christmas was the best one our family has ever had - she felt like we were all unified and connected as a family unit.

I don't know how long I'll be in Utah; I assume I will be here until the end of this week. Please keep my mom and family in your prayers. I will send an update on my mom's situation when I have another free moment.

My second cousin is setting up a blog which will give people updates on my mom's condition. Once that gets set-up, I'll pass along the link and information.