Let's talk about me for a minute...

Well baby Q is becoming quite the fun and crazy toddler, but I am loving it. I love the interactions I have with her. The conversations, the laughter, the play, the cuddles, and of course the kisses. Q has always being a touchy feely baby, and things haven't changed in toddlerhood. she loves to sit as close as she can to me, she loves to touch me, to snuggle with me. and I love it to. (most of the time). Even when I am trying to work she wants to sit on my lap or sit in a chair right next to me. so we've basically come full circle from her newborn days of coming with me to the office and sleeping my lap while I worked.

She is becoming so funny, and whether it's nature or nuture this girl is becoming more and more like me each day. She loves to dance. she loves to laugh. she quotes movies as we are watching them. she sings to songs (even if she doesn't know the words), she loves naps, she really getting into books, and loves her shows. 

She even has to put on her "glasses" whenever I have mine on. 

She's my mini-me. I love it. 

Q's hair is even growing in a bit, and getting longer, although her hair is soooooooo super curly that you probably can't tell the length unless you play with it. I've been putting her hair in mulitple ponytails lately, and I think it's so cute. although you will never see beads in her hair (not a fan), I think this look is so cute.

This what it looks like when I take it out....and make it into a funky mowhawk. 

Q has always had some issues with her lungs. She had RSV as a kid, And whenever she gets sick it always goes into a nasty cough. But with our move to Utah, and the new elements, it triggered a mild case of asthma. So once a day we have to do this little breathing treatment and if she's having a bad coughing attack or wheezing we have to do a different treatment every 4-6 hours. Q does pretty well with it. I just let her sit in her chair by the tv and she watched a show, while the treatment is going. but she does look pretty pathetic though. 

Top 5 favorite movie quotes from Q:

1) "to infinity and beyond"

2)"there's a snake in my boots"

3)"I love kung fu"

4)"fistpump"

5)"what?????" in a high pitched voice ala: despicable me

but no movie gets quoted more than Annie. The girl is obsessed. she loves it. she quotes it throughout the movie. Loves to talk about it. Loves explaining what is happening through each scene. Just loves it. In fact, whenever she is trying to call me from afar(or anybody for that matter) she calls out like Annie calls for Sandy. she cups her mouth her two hands and yells out "sandy! come here sandy, come her sandy. good job Sandy!". I need to video it, cause it's the cutest thing ever. Annie was the first musical I ever went to. My mom took me for my 6th birthday, so it holds a special place in my heart and I love that Q took to it so quickly. 

But Q loves lots of movies. she really does. here are a list of the common ones that get chosen by her to watch. 

gnomeo and juliet

alvin and the chipmunks: the squeakuel

astro boy

american tail

american tail: fieval goes west

beauty and the beast

despicable me

megamind

princess and the frog

cloudy with a chance of meatballs

aladdin (she LOVES this one)

little mermaid (in fact all food must be cut up so she can eat it with a dinglehopper)

toy story(1,2,3)

Tarzan (we rented this from the library and couple days ago, and have watched it 5 times already)

Sometimes a few random ones make their way back into the rotation, the common alternates right now are:

alpha and omega

a bug's life

the incredibles

monsters vs aliens

monsters inc

shrek (any of them)

Here are a list of the shows that she loves, the list is expanding which is good. variety is good for this mother. 

jake and the neverland pirates (Q loves the whole pirate thing)

berenstain bears

bubble guppies

dora

diego

team umizoomi

yo gabba gabba

blues clues

the wiggles

strawberry shortcake

mikey mouse clubhouse

super why!

A couple other funny things to note about Q:

1) she treats inanimate objects like they are real. I'm hoping it's just a overactive imagination and not something to worry about. hahaha. but seriously, she will tattle on the table for hurting her, put her dolls or animals in time or to sleep, tells me something is being "mean" if a toy isn't working properly. Oh and often toys, utensils, dolls, etc have a crab in them that comes out and bites her ear. This happens multiple times during the day. weird? maybe. Cute. yes, for now. 

2)and although she LOVES her babies, and loves to feed them, hold them, put them to bed, carry them around, snuggle them...basically treat them like real people, she has yet to give any names to any of them. Not a one. they are all just "baby".

Besides quoting movies Q is also saying so really funny stuff, and with her cute voice it just makes me laugh

1) when she says "oh my gosh" it has a slight boston accent to it. makes me smile

2)"im so sorry", said with a frown and the saddest voice ever.....the girl is gonna be a great actress

3)"i'm not listening". apparently I scold her a bit for not paying attention to what I am saying cause often times, when she hears a certain "i'm getting frustrated" tone in my voice she will be quick to point out "i'm not listening". it makes me less stressed instantly.

4)she often asks tons of questions like "what are they doing?"  or "what's happening"...and really she knows the answer, that is just her cue for me to ask her the same question back and she tells me the answer. what a crazy kid.

I've mentioned that Q loves to dance, and I am so excited for her to start her preschool in the fall cause it is combined with dancing and singing as well. I just like to call it Fame preschool cause it makes me smile. But I think she is just gonna love it. She's expanding her dance moves and I've been working on her dance face. She now knows to smile the whole time she's dancing and not stick her tongue out. Her newest move is this bend over, touch the ground, and shake her booty in the air while singing "shake your booty, shake your booty". not quite sure where she learned this, and yes it could be a little weird in a few years, but it makes me laugh now. She also loves trying to do the dance moves the chippette's do in "the squeakuel", especially the "single ladies" musical number. If she can get those down, I will die with happiness! Again, I will try and get video of her dancing soon. 

oh and Q is potty trained. it took a tough week of potty training boot camp, where we honestly did not leave the house. But it happened. I didn't know if it would, even into day 4, but she soon picked it up and is doing well. She still has a hard time telling others (not me) that she has to go, and often gets distracted with playing with others that she doesn't tell me in time, but hopefully that will change before preschool starts.  She still has to wear a pull up at night, cause the girl is such a hard sleeper that she wasn't waking up at all in the night, and peeing the bed. so we'll work on that as the months go on. But she did it. So thanks to everybody who gave me advice before and especially during the process...it totally helped.

Well that's life in Q's world. She's becoming such a big girl

 (and if you read and cared about any of that, I love you)

Reunited and it feels so good...

It was a last minute decision to drive up to Idaho spend a day with Kim's crew, then drive up with her and Elsie to visit Jared's crew, but it was the perfect trip and I was so glad we did it. Q and I needed a break from Utah, and break from each other, and to see everyone (even Mitch), and just hang out, was a just a dream. We ate some delicious food, spent time in the sun, played with family, spent time with Mitch, laughed, talked, and just had some good quality family time.

We made up this bowling game down the slip and slide...

Cousins,cheeto's and sun time...

Q couldn't get enough of Mitch. It's so cute to me. These kids see him a few times a year, but they all love him and don't leave him alone this minute they see him.

After swimming and snack time Q was out. Like seriously out like a light. She slept in the sun forever, and then I moved her inside with us, and she laid on the floor amid the noise and commotion for a couple hours the girl loves her sleep.

Jared brought home these little bags from work that had suckers, stickers, crayons, and some tattoos in them. The Kids got to work tattin themselves. 

 I told you Q loved her Uncle Mitch

 We were sure sad Aaron couldn't be there. But we had a great time

 yep, Jared got all the girls to do "guns". nice jared. nice.

Q giving her Uncle JJ some head love...yeah it hurts. 

Oh how I love my family.

Who can say If I´ve been changed for the better but because I knew you i´ve been changed for good

So, I have a late entry for my birthday blog from Emily. I could of just added it to the end of the last blog entry but I think it gives a good little update on her as well as praise me. hahaha. So I am making it it's own blog post. 

My Dearest An-G,

 

I realize more and more everyday that living with you was the greatest preparation ever for where I´m at now..... SO in true Angie fashion I now present....

 

Top 5 Lessons Learned from Angie:

 

1) Remember that one time when I thought you were crazy for making toast in the oven, and I thought huh... I´ll never have to do that..... uh yeah guess who makes toast in a gas stove every morning........This Girl!

 

2) Remember that one time when you told me I needed to take shorter showers? So..... first day in the Brasil MTC and what was I told ``Please Limit your showers to 3 minutes`` I thought to myself..... wowzers! What happened to the 2 song rule?

 

3) Every P-day sister Risnemay and I have to clean the house before we can leave to go shopping and use the computers... although we had much more awesome tunes to clean to on Saturdays when we cleaned, it still reminds me of that time, and makes me gratefull I did that in advance so it wouldn´t seem like such torture!

 

4) remember how you always took the stairs at work at thus inspired me to do the same, well...... AT the MTC it´s forbidden to use the elevator unless transporting luggage, and hauling my trash up 3 or 4 flights of stairs was ROUGH! but thankfully the temptation to use the elevator was curbed, because now instead of having Angie judge I would have God judging me ( truthfully though as far as rule breaking goes, both wraths I fear about the same!)

 

5) I pretty well make an idiot out of myself everyday, but the sting of laughter over my mishaps is nothing, because you´ve been making fun of me for the past 8 or 9 years we´ve known eachother!

 

 

So pretty much I owe you big time, being my friend has caused you to excercise much patience, and step outside of yourself a lot I´m sure, but I´m thankful for you and the impact you´ve had on my life everyday, you´ve taught me sooooo much! I don´t know how they managed to do it, but I feel like the song ``for Good`` was written just for us. ``´Who can say If I´ve been changed for the better but because I knew you i´ve been changed for good`` Truer words were never spoken!

 

I love and miss you A TON!!!! I hope your birthday is crap because I don´t want to miss out! Just kidding I hope your day is the Bees Knees...just like you!

 

 

Love, Sister Em

I get by with a little help from my friends..

I'll admit there have been times in the last couple of months that I have questioned my choice to move, and most of that is because my social life has been somewhat lacking. how does one make new friends as an adult?

I did have a good group of friends back in Moses, but I have to keep reminding myself that most of them moved on as well so it was time to leave, but I don't have many people to hang out with here, and times do get a little lonely. It's a lot of me and Q time, and it has been great, but every once in a while a girl needs some adult interaction.

I WAS able to go out with a few friends for my birthday. Well it was mostly my friend Tamu and everyone from her salon. But they are all cool, and it was super fun. We went out to dinner, hit up a club, then hit up a 24 hour diner joint until about 2:30 in the morning. It was a super funny night, but getting up the next morning to take care of Q was less than awesome. I took no pictures of that night (someone else did, and I have yet to get the pictures) but I did get this one inside the club.

Me and Tamu June 18 2011

I also attended this "white party" with the ladies a few weekends ago. It was less than awesome (it definitely did not live up to the same level as P Diddy's famous annual "white parties" that he throws in Miami)but it was good to get out for a little bit. Plus I did get to participate in a authentic "soul train" line  so that was super fun.

One weekend we headed up to Park City to watch an independent film that Tamu's youngest son Elijah had a bit part in that was premiering at a small film festival there. Without popcorn to entertain her,  Q lasted about 20 minutes and then I had to take her home. I didn't even get to see Elijah in the film, but the movie was super weird and from what everybody else told me I didn't miss anything. 

 Can you find me in this picture? hahaha. I am glowing.

I like it when the girls stop by.. In the summer

Q and I are the proud owners of the season pass of all passes for Utah County. which means it adds just another fun thing for us to do. We hit the seven peaks water park every few days and both Q and I just love it. We have our little routine that we do every time. First we hit up the the tadpole area, where Q has no fear about climbing up the steps and going down the slides by herself. It is so cute to watch. She loves giving the lifeguards high fives before she makes her way down the slide, and the smile that awaits me as I wait at the bottom to catch her, is just so funny. We play in that area for a bit, then we grab our little kid boat floatie and go around the the lazy river a few thousand times. Q floats in her boat pointing out all the leaves she sees, and I walk beside her collecting the leaves and putting them in her boat. if I wasn't getting an amazing tan while doing this, I would consider this the most mundane thing ever, but it's pretty fun.
Then we take a little break. Q gets her cheetos from the gift shop, then we hit up the grill and get out fries and large water. Then we sit on the towels, getting some sun on my legs, watch all the people, and eat our snacks. After that, we take the boat into the wave pool, where after about 20 minutes Q usually falls asleep. I bring her back to our towels, and she takes a little nap while I get some sun, or I put her in the stroller, pack up our things, and go home where we both can take a nap. Yeah it's a tough life we have.

One day we also hit up the Lehi Trafalga. so fun. Q may be less than 36" but with the afro she is tall enough to ride most of the rides, and she thought it was so fun. 

 yep, yet another carousel.

 They also have this cool mini bowling area, that is just so fun for Q. She played two whole games and would have played more but it was time to go.

We definitely have to go back.....soon....