Only Nice Guys Sing Christmas Classics

**Christmas music is playing on Pandora and a classic carol came on.**

Jacob: Mom, who is singing this?

Me: I'm not sure honey, but it sounds like a country singer. . . . I'm gonna guess its Randy Travis.

Sophie, from across the room: (emphatically) MOM! This is not Travis. . . . This is a nice guy.

Ho ho ho and he he he!

Christmas Wishin'

Today,Jacob said in a sincere and eager voice, full of confidence and hope: Mom, if we all pitch in our money and if we ask his parents first, can we give Elliot a dog for Christmas?

I tried to let him down easy.

TopTenREVIEWS

Ya ya YA, we're all REEEAAL impressed Angela had a perfect baby girl. The Miracle of Life is old hat these days, but the INTERNET, now THAT is uncharted territory!

My first videos from TopTenREVIEWS.com are up. Here are two links.

I’ll be honest, they’re not my absolute best work. I need to smile more and put more energy into these. I think that’s why they hired me in the first place, after seeing the OraBrush ads.

Also, these videos are motivation for me to work out and focus on my posture. My shape is getting less flattering all the time.

Jokes aside, really excited to have Angela, Brian, and Jane all doing well, and excited to have Jane here. Something to be especially thankful for around this time of year.

Baby Jane

A professional photographer came through yesterday to take a picture of the baby. Here's a link to the shot of her. Thanks everyone!
http://www.utahportraits.com/hospital/index.php?action=view&BabyID=111909jge

The pictures you DIDN"T see.

So, I wanted to talk you about number 3. I've been looking at pictures of him lately thinking "He's so cute!" You see, I have a little confession. Sometimes I wasn't so sure how this kid was going to turn out (see images below) He was such a "chubby" boy that he pretty much could not move until he was 8 months old. In fact, at his 3 month appointment my Dr. told me that "he had an increased risk of obesity in adulthood"

....What? The kid is 3 months old. He is on a strict diet of his mother's milk, and that's it. Should I be watering it down? The Dr. pretty much just shrugged his shoulders and said he just wanted to pass the info along, that's all. But now, looking at these pictures of him at three months I can see how one might look at him and think obesity. Poor guy.



People often ask if the baby in the Puj Tub images is my son and I smile politely and say it's the son of a friend. My babies aren't exactly "poster child" material (just ask my Dr.) But Oh, how I love to kiss those cheeks (or is it his chin? I can't tell!)Thankfully it's all worked out and he is such a charmer these days (see video below). And as far as him not moving until he was 8 months old? Well, he makes up for it now. You can almost guarantee Sterling will be sitting on top of the counter, kitchen table, Piano, etc. He's like a cat, always has to be sitting on something.






In other news, I have made a change to my hair routine....gasp! I recently made a purchase during my 6:30 am pajama pilates session. Yes, that's right folks, I bought something off of an infomercial....gasp! (No Richard, it was not "Learn to Play the Piano like a Pro...in 3 Days!" Or a diamond saphire ring, Nancy ) I was quite embarrassed to be making the call, kept looking over my shoulder just to make sure neither Ben or the kids was watching me dial-up Guthy Reinker. It is a cleansing conditioner that eliminates the shampoo process.

I LOVE IT!!!!
Can you tell how soft and supple my hair is? I honestly can tell a major difference.

And yes Travis, my curly hair is natural. Especially now that I put "sweet almond mint" on it.

I have always been so skeptical of infomercials, they just always seem to be an impulse buy. But I've changed my mind! And as soon as my Ab Flyer Pro gets here I will have the hardest abs on the block!!! Just kidding Ben :) And I can defiantly see a need for this on days that I didn't get enough sleep.



One more thing, Puj is doing a HUGE giveaway to people with Babies and who write to a blog regularly. Find-out more info here

Remind Me

I was thinking the other day about how I like scary movies and haunted houses and Halloween in general. I wondered why. I mean, fear is an unpleasant sensation, so why did I take a Horror Film class?

I decided I like these things because they're an opportunity to face irrational fears head-on. And I think part of the reason I want to do that is because I was so often scared when I was a kid.

So my question is this: Was I scared a lot as a kid? Did I seem like a particularly frightened little boy?

Just curious. Happy Halloween. If you need me, I'll be watching Poltergeist or checking out the local haunted houses.

Remembering the Words

Sometimes it astounds me how articulate my 2 almost 3 year old is. I love having conversations with her as I learn so much about how the world works to a child. Often when she is supposed to be going to sleep, she wanders out to find me saying, in a sleepy, confused voice, “Mama, I can’t remember the words.” She is processing the days events, all the newness that she took in and when she can’t remember a new word she encountered that day, it bothers her.

It bothers me that she is growing so fast and I know that if I don’t write these things down, the day will soon come when I “can’t remember the words” to the stories that right now make up our every day life.. . . So here’s some Sophie stories from today, the little things I don't want to forget.

Today we were coming home from Costco and Sophie told me she wanted some gum. I didn’t mind giving her some, but I was behind the wheel so I needed to stall. We played a game that went like this. . .

Me: Do you chew gum with you nose?

Sophie: No.

Me: Do you chew gum with your eyes?

Sophie: No.

Me: Do you chew gum your ears?

Sophie: No.

Starting to run out of body parts so I got creative. . .

Do you chew gum with a dragon?

No.

(Somehow when this next one came out of my mouth I suspected her answer would finally change)

Do you chew gum with a fairy princess?

She paused and then a resounding “YES!”

*************

Rushing home from Costco I had this crazy hair brained scheme that I could dash into Deseret Book and finally pick up the picture I’ve been wanting for Sophie’s bedroom. She has a picture of the Savior placed close to the head of her bed, down at more of a child’s eye level and I explain to her that he is watching over her. I have wanted to replace it with this Greg Olsen work, since I know she will think it is a picture of her.

As we pulled up to the store, Sophie said, “are we here to get my picture?” “Yes,” I said, “It is a picture of you with Jesus.” “I like Jesus,” she said, “He is my favorite boy. . .that I’ve never met.” We ran in side. . .and I knew that it was Ladies Night there, but I’d forgotten that that means the line to purchase your goods meanders all the way out the door. Drats. We’ll have to pick this up another time. I scrambled and put Sophie back in the car and told her we would have to get it later. She was not happy that we were leaving the store without Jesus and when we pulled up in the house, she stayed inside the car, sweetly insisting that she would just wait there until we could go back to the store to get Jesus.

We’ll make that trip back soon, kiddo, I promise.

Good News

Willford Brimley did not give me Diabeetus!

iGo Web Ad

This is the ad that Andrew Bagley had me come shoot about a month ago in Tempe.

It's a flash video without any real embedding options, so go on over to the iGo.com website to check it out. I'm on the third line, the "Laptop Charger" spots.

There wasn't a lot of wiggle room on the script. When I wanted to get creative with it, the director reigned me back in. My apologies if it's bland, unfortunately that seems to be what they were going for.

Puj Global

I just got back from the ABC show in Las Vegas and wanted to share some pictures with everyone. Our concept was to keep the booth very clean and white, like the Puj Tub. It worked great. We stood out quite a bit compared to all the other booths that were full of color and images. I can't take full credit for the booth design, Ben came up with the white idea. But I can be held resposible for the cool wall along the back. It was two weeks before the show and we needed something that was light-weight and easy to ship. Why not boxes I said. It worked! People kept mentioning how much they loved it.


It was so overwheming to see peoples response to Puj and the Puj Tub. In sports terms I believe they call it a home-run. The best part was Ben & I got to share in the success together. The last 3+ years working on Puj is paying off.
Ben flew straight to Germany for another conference to meet with Distributors all over the world. He just called and had good news to report, Puj is going to be Global really soon. They all want it!

One of my favorite parts was meeting the personalities behind some really great brands like Fleurville, Skip Hop, Orbit Strollers, Bugaboo, See Kai Run, Boon, JJ Cole, etc.

My friend Dianna came along to help, and we could not have done it all without her. She was amazing, and quite the sales woman I might add.

I got all choaked up when I saw my company name (that I created) and address printed on the first box of Tubs we received from our manufacturer.

He's 1, and super fun!

The whole family agrees, things just wouldn't be the same without Sterling!

He's walking/climbing. I've found him on the barstools, at the bathroom sink brushing teeth, on top of the table, loves the piano, and standing on top of everything....just like a cat!

We love you dearly Sterling.

Happy Birthday!

Outta State Friends: You Don't Miss This

Last night I printed out a couple of papers from my computer. I picked up the two sheets and was reading my document. Done with page one, turn to page two. . . and WHOA!!! There's a piece of scorpion pincher arm sitting right in the middle of my page. Hurl paper and pincher arm to the floor in terror. Gather my thoughts and nod my head agreeing with the truth that has just entered my mind. Where there are pincher arms, there are nasty bodies and worse, nasty tails. Cringe.

So we get the black light flash light, turn off all overhead lights and examine my printer. Yep, there's the rest of that nasty creature, stuck in my printer gears. We cut its tail off with some scissors and then extracted the rest of him.

Why do these creatures exist? Just so I can better understand the nature of evil. I don't like evil one bit.

Saturday magic

Stephen caught in a moment of deception

A few more photos

Orabrush

This is the commercial we shot for the tongue brush I mentioned at the family reunion. I'll be honest...I'm a little embarrassed of it, but hey, they were paying.



It mentions an "Uncle Steve", that was just in the script, it has NO reference to anybody in the family.

Enjoy.

Richard, this is for you

Toothpaste Squeezer for the OCD Miser



Couldn't help but think of Richard when I saw this.

Big Family Photo

Remember the email I sent out a while ago about getting a picture for FamilyLink.com to make a large, framed picture of? This is how it turned out. That's me holding it.

They made one for every employee and will be using them as promotional material.

I wish it could have been made after our most recent family reunion, but it's still good. Hope you like it.

37

Happy anniversary to Laurie and Pam and thank you for a fun getaway in the mountains!

Welcome Home Hair Do

After a long days drive back down to AZ, we have spent the evening unpacking, organizing, regrouping--all amidst keeping children fed and happy. (Challenging, yes, but its my job and I'm up for it). During all this putting away and organzing and keeping people happy I walked past a curious site. It looked like this:

Hmmmm. . . .
A chunk of brown hair on the floor--peripheral vision spies childrens' school scissors perched on the counter near by. My eyes flash across the room to my 2 year old and my suspicions are confirmed. Sophie has initiated herself into that classic young do it yourselfer's club. She had given herself her first hair cut. And as typical, it was bangs at the roots--front and center.

I questioned her about her newly acquired autonomous hair do: "Did you cut your hair?"

Her reply: "I had a bug. On my fever. I killed them. I cut it off with scissors. See!!" She runs to the chunk of hair still lying on the floor. Then she picks up the scissors: "These are BAD! BAD SCISSORS! I will give them to you. See?" She asks sweetly as she gives me the scissors and a huge smile crosses her face.

I know this club of young hair cutters all too well. . .I joined it when I was about 5. Like daughter like mother--I too cut my bangs at the root. I got grounded for 3 days as a result. But that wasn't the worst part of the punishment. The worst part was that mom decided I need to have all my hair cut short--boy style short--to have the bangs "blend in".

You want to know how I learned it was boy short? I took a picture into school the next year (hair now grown out a bit) and a girl told me upon seeing my picture, "That's not you! That's a boy!" Mortifying.

Canon Beach

No, not Mandy Cannon Beach....Canon Beach Oregon! Like in Goonies! This is the same beach the Goonies boys end up on at the end of the movie! So not only does Steven Spielberg love it, but the Richardsons' love it too! We were told that low tide on Wednesday was special because it was the lowest it's been in the past 200 years. I'm guessing no eye witnesses can verify that, but it was quite low non the less. There were lots of strange sea creatures to look at and poke with a stick. Better than an amusement park if you ask my boys. We all had a great time.This a collage the boys and I put together for Ben for father's day. As you can see we like a good adventure in our family.

We're excited to come have some adventures in Utah in a couple weeks. See you all soon!

Farmers, Forest Grove, Fathers & Sons + Fine Crafts

Walkers Preschool visited a local farm for their field-trip. It's called Bizi Farms. The farmers name is Bill and he takes us on a hayride around the farm to see the strawberries, raspberries, marionberries, blackberries, logan berries, tomatoes, rubarb, chickens, bees, geese, rabbits, goats, donkeys....you get the idea. It was really fun and we all got to tag along.
This is a leather purse I made myself recently. I know the pictures aren't great but you get the idea. I used a magnet for the closure and I encased it (the magnet) in leather and then glued it to the purse so there would be no stitch marks on the outside. It makes a good "thump" and not a "click" I'm not a fan of the "click"Ben + I rode our bikes to Forest Grove on Memorial Day. It's about a 60 mile ride and Ben's brother Travis came along. We started at our house and rode through downtown Portland, over the west hills and into farm country. Very pretty and yes Nancy, we wore our helmets. You can watch a quick video below.




We took a little trip to the beach with Marilyn and my sister-in-law Celeste. It was a perfect NorthWest beach day with slight cloud cover. Sterling couldn't get enough of the sand!
The boys got to enjoy Fathers + Sons last weekend. You can be assured it was full of adventures and good times. I heard Truman had quite a few "yucks" at the silly skits the first night. I love a child that is easily amused.



Nancy, I should have shown you this project when you were here. I've been needing a jewelry case. It was quite simple, no rulers or power tools just a rip saw, drill sand paper + router(okay, so I did use some power tools) And as you can see from the detail picture it's not perfect, but that's what gives it it's charm...right?