some penny pics

this was taken a few weeks ago. i can't wait until max and penny are old enough to run around and play together. i never had cousins close by growing up and i'm excited for them to be buddies.

yes, penny's 7 1/2 months and i'm still washing her in her babytub in the kitchen sink. i could buy one of those chairs that sits them upright in the bathtub...but i don't wanna. it's so much easier and faster this way.

i've given her a bath nearly every day for 7 months and she still gets surprised every time i rinse her hair and water runs down her face.

penny's rediscovered her thumb recently and can put herself to sleep while sucking on it. she was on the floor and i was in the other room doing laundry or whatever and came back to find her totally asleep with her thumb in her mouth. it was so cute so natually i got out the camera and woke her up with the flash. i should probably stop her but i think it's so dang cute.

and this is also what i find when i come back in the room. i'll put her in the center of her blanket (where all her toys are clustered) and somehow she scoots completely off the blanket. not rolling, mind you, scooting. it's like a "fun" game that we play all day where i put her on the blanket and then she scoots off and then i put her back on, etc.

commercials

so, we kind of live in the stone age and don't have tivo (my phone doesn't even have a camera) and as such, i'm forced to watch a lot of commercials. since i can't fast forward every time another batch of commercials starts, the mute button has become my way of sticking it to the man. as in, i can see you but i can't hear you so half of your advertisement efforts are wasted. even so, i really appreciate the commercials that make an effort to be funny because if you have to watch them, they might as well be entertaining.

so in an attempt to find something to blog about, here's a list of my favorite commercial spokespeople that i graciously un-mute just about every time they come on. (keep in mind, in case you've actually read this far and have decided to keep on reading, that these are recent commercial spokespeople that i like and not over all time. otherwise i would've listed the geicho gecko because i think he's very charming with his british accent and good manners).

* this lady from ikea commercials
she just seems so cool and sassy, walkin' around talking to busy people in their kitchen but wait, they can't hear her. she reminds me of that lady from the matrix that wanted neo to bend spoons. at first, i thought this lady is kind of creepy. she's like a lady ghost. but then it's like she's their friend and offering them encouragement about their ikea kitchen so i'm like, okay she's cool.

* hungry monster from weight watchers
ha! i love this little orange monster. if you're trying to diet and a monster was the one responsible for food temptation, isn't this what he would look like? (and yes, it's a he). he's just always there in your office desk drawer or in the vending machine trying to get your attention with some doughnuts or chips. it's like, hey you can't tempt ME hungry monster but you can still be my friend because you seem pretty nice regardless.

* julia louis-dreyfuss in healthy choice
i just like julia louis-dreyfess anyways because i think she's pretty and funny, but these commercials about making commercials for healthy choice meals kinda make me laugh. it's like she knows we're all thinking, oh, great another celebrity is hawking a random product (i.e. frozen health food meals) in a shameless attempt to get a fatty paycheck but she's all like guess what viewers, i totally get you but i'm gonna make fun of myself AND still get a fatty paycheck at the same time. nice.

* this lady in progressive insurance commercials
the first time i saw this lady with a "customer" i was like whoa, she is really excited about getting this customer some good insurance. AND, she's happy and funny and doesn't care who knows it and i love her black hair, cat eyeliner and red lipstick.

* pink-hair lady from esurance
(this was the least skanky picture i could find. she's quite saucy with her skintight black catsuits). she's hot and has pink hair and fights villains - sort of. who wouldn't want to buy online insurance from her?

so, yes this is a very sad blog post. i'm sitting in my pajamas with lil' penny on my lap blogging about commercials and it's almost lunchtime. well whatevs - you caught me corporate america with your clever marketing schemes and your repetative air time. it's not like i'm buying these products, i just appreciate a good commercial that's funny now and then.

(oh, and by the way, i HATE you mac commercials. you are sooo annoying - seriously, get a new type of commercial. why don't you just take a break from your white backgrounds and young guy vs. old guy unfunny comparisons and go hang out with a prius and some vitamin water.)

7 months!

see penny? this is how you look at the camera and smile.

yay! we're outside! the snow is finally gone and it's starting to warm up. penny wasn't really a fan of looking up for the camera despite my best efforts, so most of the shots are her looking down. i still think they're cute though. (thanks for the cute hair clips tami! i love 'em).

7 month stats:

* sits up for about 5 seconds without help (hence the bumbo use again).
* finally rolling over but doesn't like to because she gets stuck on her stomach and whines.
* eats her rice mush pretty good and has gained a bit more weight because of it (doesn't her face look a teensy bit chubbier?).
* sleeps 10-11 hours a night. score!
* still super cuddley and thinks that our arms exist only to hold her.
* blows raspberries like it's her job.
* loves music and does a little wriggly dance with her shoulders and bobs her head. i LOVE it - it makes me laugh every time.

easter

for easter this year we drove up with paul's parents to visit paul's brother's family in northern california (12 hour drive - blech). wes and tami have 2 little kids, makayla (5) and evan (2), and we had such a good time hanging out with them.

penny with her easter loot (thanks grammie larsen).

dying easter eggs with evan and makayla.

paul made a penny egg. i think she likes it.

on saturday we took a day trip to see some ginormous redwood trees. because i thought we were taking a break from the utah snow and coming to sunny california, i only packed flats and sandals. surprise surprise there's snow on the ground and it's freezing. so paul and i took some pictures with this big ol' stump and headed back to the car with penny while the others explored.



i wasn't quite prepared for the cold weather for penny so here's our little "boy" wearing evan's beanie and all bundled up.

penny had such a good time chillin with her cousins. she was always smiling whenever they played with her.

penny just watched makayla and evan chase after eggs this year but i'm looking forward to taking some pictures of her doing the hunting next year. thanks for having us wes and tami!

adam lambert, you're my hero.

ok, i think it’s time to confess my obsession with adam lambert.

* disclaimers:
1. if you don’t like american idol, you should probably just skip this. and if you don’t like adam lambert, you should REALLY just skip this.
2. yes, i am a happily married woman but i’m allowed to have a teensy crush on adam lambert, right?
3. these are just the ramblings of a slightly obsessed fan so feel free to make of fun of me. it don’t matter because i’m convinced adam is the bee’s knees.

so i’ve gotten really into american idol this season and as you reality tv junkies know, that means you get really involved with the contestants.

from the minute i saw adam at the first audition i was like WOW. he’s been my favorite from day one and i get super excited every time he’s onstage. i would really love for him to win and this is why:

1. THE BOY CAN SING. his vocal range is killer. he can sing ANYthing. he can take any song and make it his own.
2. i love his stage presence. when he did “black and white” for his first song, i got tingles. (see disclaimer: insert mocking laughter here). i was grinning and clapping the whole time he was singing, i don’t know why. i just knew that i really REALLY liked him.
3. and then i did what i‘ve never done before: i got out my phone at the end of the show and voted for him. yes, just like every other brainwashed american idol watcher, i actually put in a call to vote….twice.
4. bring on the eyeliner and black nail polish. green day does it, so why not adam? and randy travis really needs to get over seeing boys with black nail polish. get with the NOW!
5. he’s playing it smart. when the judges called him out for his kinda weird rendition of “ring of fire” (i loved his originality but i never like it when any of the contestants reach out to the camera or stare into it trying to look hot…and he does that sometimes but i don’t care because he’s adam!) and then he was almost in the bottom three, the very next week he wiped off all the makeup and sported a suit and pompadour in tribute to "tracks of my tears". he showed he can be as crazy original as you like but that he can also strip it down and give you a bare, honest performance. i LOVED the “tracks of my tears” performance he did – very tingly-inducing. and then the next night, he was back to his messy black hair and eyeliner ways to show he just changed his look for the song.
6. he’s an amazing theatre singer. most of his hype was centered on the fact that he was the understudy for fiyero in the LA-based “wicked” but he was also in the play version of the 10 commandments (val kilmer played moses – random!). he plays one of the pharoh’s slaves and sings this song that totally shows off his amazing skills. see it here (just wait for the second half of the song, it KILLS). even if you don’t like adam lambert, it’s worth it to see val kilmer in moses garb - hiLARious.
7. he’s so versatile it kills me. every week he serves up something different and i’m always friggin excited to see what he does next.
8. he’s hot (i love you paul). he’s like an emo elvis with really white teeth. i love it!
9. if you’re an american idol fan, i’m sure you’ve seen online rumors and interviews and videos about adam being gay blah blah blah who cares. he could be a billy goat and i would still love him. i think he’s the most interesting and unique contestant this show’s ever had (see reason # 3: he made a non-voter vote) and i think the judges realize that, too.
10. i love his attitude. every time the judges give him criticism, he just nods and takes it and doesn’t try to argue (i HATE when contestants do that – it’s like just shut up and take it because arguing only makes you look stupid). when he does interviews he just answers honestly and respectfully. he talks about how he was a struggling theatre actor for a while and how it really humbled him and made him strive harder to differentiate himself from the rest of the pack in order to snag a role. and oh my gosh did you see him last wednesday on the results night when he helped lil rounds down off the chairs where they sat awaiting the results? it was so cute to see him hold out his hand for her and then guide her down – SO CUTE.

and if all this doesn't have you convinced, see his tears for fears performance last night of "mad world" here. LOVED IT.

yes, i realize this was a loooong post. all right, go ahead and laugh. i know, it’s weird for a mormon stay-at-home mom to get so obsessed with this guy and i know it's only reality tv but come on, we all have hobbies, right? (sorry people who only look at this blog to see pictures of penny. please don’t think i’m too weird.)

penny pics

i don't have anything to blog about really but here's some cute recent pictures of penny.

i just love watching her grab things. she LOVES her little hairbrush, i don't know why. maybe because it's easy to grip and has tickly bristles on it.

paul is very proud of the fact that he can peel a clementine in one whole peel. bright orange clementine peel = new toy for penny.

and i am proud to announce that penny is FINALLY eating rice cereal. i kept force feeding her every night for two weeks and then finally last week something clicked in her little penny brain. she started opening her mouth when the spoon came near and now just gulps down the mush. yay!