TWENTY SIX

When I was younger I thought that when I turned 26th on the 26th day of April it would be THE BEST DAY EVER. It was going to be this incredible apex that would stop time with its awesomeness - I could not wait. So the day finally arrived yesterday and at my imaginary (and extra materialistic) birthday party I received the following gifts:

CAKE STAND

CHICAGO PRINT (although THIS ONE is kind of awesome)

ILLUMINATED GLOBE

SCHWINN BIKE (WITH BASKET)

VINTAGE ALTON, IL MAP PRINT

FIRST EDITION "ANNE OF GREEN GABLES"

AND A PLANE TICKET TO PARIS

(Had I imagined these gifts when I was 8 the list would read more like: a trampoline, Braves puffy Starter jacket, Lisa Frank stickers, and a pet dolphin.)

Well, time didn't stop and the above gifts were not actually given, but that does not negate the awesomeness that was my actual real birthday where husband took me out for a lovely meal, a trip to Barnes and Noble and then home for Bostom Cream Pie. I also received some pretty fantastic real gifts. It was a good day.

The huge tapered candles were the only ones on hand. Thank you to everyone for the goodies and the kind birthday wishes. My imaginary birthday party would have also included all of you.

CURRENTLY LISTENING

I claim that the first album I bought was:



But it was actually the second album I bought, this was my first:



And I can still listen to this album start to finish, it's so good. Does anyone have a clearer, purer voice than Allison Krauss? Love her.

Well, it appears I have come full circle. Recently I have been mildly obsessed with the blue grassy Mumford & Sons and while there is shockingly little written about them online I have deduced that they are British, one of the band members is named Country, and they often play with Laura Marling (also a mild obsession). As far as I can tell they haven't produced an actual physical album, but you can download their music here.

My favorites: My Heart Told My Hand, Roll Away Your Stone, Feel The Tide, Awake My Soul, The Cave, White Blank Page

They also do a mean Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

Have a listen and fall in love.

THE MILKMAN, THE PAPERBOY, EVENING TV

Our friend Brett commented that in our banner Brad looks exactly like Will Forte from SNL. I guess I can kind of see it. Brad’s nose does look inexplicably pointy in that picture. This would be Brad if he was feeling especially dapper and drinking Martinelli's.

Also, last week my visiting teachers commented that Brad looks like Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison) from Twilight. I don't really see that one - Brad does have yellowish eyes, the forehead, and THE EYE BROWS (mentioned in this post and this post, I guess they are kind of the mascot of this blog). This is the picture they saw:


I just wasted 15 mins of my life google imaging "Edward Cullen Smile" and "Robert Pattinson Teeth" because this kid does not take happy pictures. Sheesh, you've got a cushy life, buck up.


So Brad gets a witty comedian and a vampire. I, on the other hand, grew up hearing that I looked like Stephanie Tanner. Yes, the same classy lady who was addicted to heroine and has recently had her child taken away. I should probably just confess now that in third grade I actually kind of loved this, Full House was my favorite show. But sometime before middle school it lost its cool factor. Even when I lived in Japan, 12ish years ago, people who barely spoke English would stop and point to me saying: “Ste-fah-nee, Foo Howss”. Embarrassing.

The majority of my old photos are still in Utah at my Mom's house, but I managed to find this winner of me at 13. Yes that is a Beauty and the Beast poster, and yes that is a daisy print bed spread. I was pretty awesome. (My head looks weirdly large, I promise there is a shadow.)

"How Rude!" in all her head-banded glory.

Another unexplainable trend is that I constantly have total strangers telling me, “You look just like my best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend… who passed out at 31 Flavors last night”. What do you say to that? “Thanks? I hope she’s a hot chick with a killer sense of style?” I probably get it a few times a year, but when I worked at Einstein’s Bagels in college I heard it about five times a week. Apparently, little S. Tanner grew up just a little faceless.

TECHNOLOGY

[image via allposters.com]

[So as to protect innocent parties I will leave this purposely vague.]

Yesterday I was preparing to teach a class of young girls the history of a particular religious book of songs. I went to a room where volunteers assist in letting us check-out books, pictures, TVs… anything that will help us with our lesson. I asked one of the elderly volunteers if I could check-out a CD of the songs recorded from said religious book. The perfectly sweet woman said, “Of course!” and proceeded to hand me a cassette tape. I thought her advanced maturity had affected her hearing so I repeated clearly and loudly, “Oh no, I ACTUALLY NEED A CD.” With a confused look she came back a few minutes later with a different cassette tape. I wasn’t sure how to proceed without offending her so I apologetically explained, “I’m looking for a compact disc, this is a cassette tape, what I need plays in a CD player?” She then waived the cassette around and said “This won’t play in a CD player?” To which I sweetly smiled and said “No, it’s flat and round?” Confusion. “Is it okay if I come in there and see?” She kindly obliged and I quickly found tucked next to the cassettes an entire row of CDs labeled accordingly. I mocked her same confusion for a few seconds and then, “Oh, here they are. This CD will work perfectly, thank you so much for your help.” She smiled and said, “I’m glad you found them, I would have never figured that one out.” I then went and taught my class the history of a book made in 1835 using my new fangled technology.

Let me say it was beyond awkward to not make her feel bad or talk down to her; because it’s not that she’s senile or blind. She’s just a part of a different generation that isn’t familiar with technology that first became available in 1982. Mind boggling. It makes me wonder what future technology I’ll fail to grasp.

I just wish I could be there when someone shows her an IPod.

EASTER '09

We have really enjoyed being a short 4 hours from Brad’s side of the family and we usually coordinate our visits with Brad’s sister, Ginger, who has six kids. It definitely keeps things interesting and usually means Brad’s mom doesn’t leave the kitchen for three straight days. When we left this last time I told Brad that it feels like we arrive, we eat, and then we leave. That might have something to do with the fact that besides the excellent home cooking we also have to make at least a few trips to Portillos. That’s a lot of food to fit in to 48 hours.

Somewhere between all the food we watched movies, had an Easter egg hunt, an Easter basket hunt (Brad had to ask his Dad for a hint), visited with friends and neighbors, went to Ikea (bought a coffee table, our last piece of furniture needed), went to Super Target (incredibly they don’t have Supers in St. Louis), and went to stake conference. Sheesh. Here is a round up of the pictures.

******

Cooper was our youngest hunter, but he caught on quick.

Poor Grace had a cast and sling on one arm, but she still found all ten eggs.

Each time Cassidy and Grace saw each other they would each smile and say "GrAAAAAce!" and "CassidYYYYY!". I'm going to start expressing my joy to see someone in this way.

Brad and I hid about 100 eggs but the hard ones were hidden in the back yard for the big kids (8 years old and up). If you look closely you can see a yellow egg perched on the base of the lamp, suprisingly they didn't find the obvious ones, we had to give them some big clues.

The big kids.

Spencer racing for the next egg. The first 5 minutes looked like this and then it was a lot of begging Brad and I to give them hints.

Portillos. Mmmmm. I'm a snob and pretty much don't eat hamburgers from anywhere else (unless I'm on the west coast for In-N-Out or in Utah for Burger Supreme or...).

Brad's highschool friends. The one on the right is getting married in May so many thanks to Todd for an excuse for another trip to Naperville in six weeks.

Brad's neighbor's dog, Lily. She is the best pug ever. Look at the squishy face!

Our sister-in-law just got a new cat and Brad pretends to not like them, but this little gal curled up on his lap and fell asleep. Even if you hate cats how can you not love a kitty?

Ella in her new Easter dress. Impossibly cute! I just want to kiss those cheeks.

PERSPECTIVE

Brad and I just realized last night that we have spent more money for his first two semesters at dental school then someone does for entire undergraduate education at BYU. So when he is done with his program we will have spent as much money as a four child family spends to send all their kids to college. Yikesabee! I think we better insure Brad’s hands. Have I ever blogged about how I have reoccurring dreams that Brad loses his hands in freak accidents? I do. All. The. Time. Football injury, car crash, lawn mowing, severe burns, terrorist attack… I live a stressful dream life.

YEAH, LIKE I WASN'T GOING TO BUY IT

*** I only saw it once in the theater and I don't know if it was the second viewing or the smaller screen but it was MUCH better than I remembered. Don't worry, I've already listened to the commentary with Robert, Kristen and the director. Rob is actually hilarious so that alone was worth the purchase.

*** Yes Jen, I could actually hear your eyes rolling all the way here in Illinois.

I DON'T DO APRIL FOOLS

BUT! if you feel the need to laugh you should probably take a moment to read this blog: Stuff White People Like. I ran it by Brad and he agrees that it isn't offensive, so I apologize if anyone else thinks otherwise. It’s written as a fake informative guide for a non-white person and explains various “white” phenomenons such as:

Ugly Sweater Parties
Organic Food
Daily Show/ Colbert Report
Arrested Development
Self Aware Hip Hop References
Apple Products
Threatening to Move to Canada
Non Profit Organizations
Gifted Children
80’s night
Indie Music
Vintage

And his list of 123 only gets better and more amusingly accurate… I now officially feel like a stereotype. Go have a read.

PS - the reason I don't do April Fools is that Brad and I became officially engaged exactly two years ago today so it feels more sentimental than anyting but more importantly I haven't thought of a truly clever joke to play on him yet. One of these years though...