*las montañas

We spent a couple days and a night up with our neighbors at their cabin in the mountains. It was so fun and refreshing to be up in such an amazingly beautiful place with such good friends. We almost didn't go as I thought I was sick, but are SO glad we did. Things have been awful stressful with Vera's continuing sleep disaster-phase and it was therapeutic to be there in the quiet, green [do you know how much rain we've had in the last month??] mountains. Thank you B, J & G!

I'm going to have a hard time choosing just a few photos, so here we go:

::vera looooves graham; given his look here, not so sure what he thinks :) ::

::board games and wine.. [..ah and a darn good gin+tonic too]::

::brrrrr::


::afternoon thunderstorms on our way out::

*el mercado

Finally the first Farmers' Market of the Summer! We rode our bikes which was fun and so Farmer's Market, if you know what I mean :) It sprinkled a bit on us riding home.. which thankfully wasn't a few hours later during the most enormous downpour/thunderstorm ever.

... a happy Vera in action:

*a good update too - Ben texted me at work that the night went "really well!" Yay :) She fell asleep on his lap reading stories and stayed asleep as he laid her down. Big sigh of relief for a cry-free night - thank you LORD.

*randoms

Some random pictures from happy parts of our day. It was a rough one... though it started out well and happy, everything fell apart when naptime failed. I just came home from work to find a note from Ben: "It was a bad night, I'll explain in the morning." I hope this phase is over soon :( Please continue to remind me that everything is a phase. Because though I admit it afterward, I can't help but be afraid this is the way things are. Oh the things you didn't expect about raising a child... ANYway, the happy moments:

like momma like daughter: breakfast - peanut butter straight from the jar:

little climber. you should see how proud + pleased she is that she can get forks + pooses (spoons) out of the drawer all by herself:

This newly hand-me-downed bow stayed in her hair for a record 15 minutes:

...another not-captured moment was seeing how happy she was to see her friend Jack and his mommy at story time this morning :)

*

Ben took Vera on a nap-specific drive today. I have always been greatly opposed to these, but she needs the sleep so so badly this week. When she woke up they explored a bit up in the Uinta mountains and Ben said it was absolutely beautiful. The rest and activity did her good - she only cried 45 minutes at bedtime tonight. Believe me, considering the last week this is good. Also, I just posted something but since I started it like a month ago it doesn't appear at the top of my page. Anyone know how to fix that? Anyway, click here to see it.

*los piecitos

Our neighbor painted Vera's toes the other day. I'm sad to have missed it - Ben said she was sooo happy, the kind where she tries her hardest not to smile :)

*work notes

So I've been officially working for just a few weeks now. I obviously can't go straight to bed when I get home, so here are some random thoughts:

*I am learning so much! It didn't take long for me to feel confident in being able to explain the difference in types of risotto rice, how the lamb sweetbreads are prepared, who provides the mirasol peppers, how he makes this, how I wish my mom prepared cauliflower like this, how easy to drink this one wine is, how the only thing I wouldn't order for myself are the raw scallops...

*I have been reminded of my love for 1) whipped cream [we have a rosemary whipped cream on a dessert and I got to try a spoonful. I was thinking to myself as I have often in the past, "I LOVE WHIPPED CREAM" when my boss came up to reprimand me for not clearing some plates - :) ] and 2) deep fried risotto cakes, similar to arancini. Ours are topped with lemon-preserved mascarpone and baby arugula. I could eat them all day. 3) arugula salads.

*My boss is a *&%$. I've never had a boss like this.

*I had a couple tonight from Guadalajara and they insisted that I conduct the whole service in Spanish - even describing the cheeses and all dishes: made my day.

*I miss Ben and Vera. She took the first weeks of training well, but now she sees me getting my black pants and top on and starts to loooose it. I think of them often during my shift and say a little prayer for them. I didn't realize how much 4 nights a week away from home would be and I don't like it.

*los elefantes

We went to the zoo this morning with Stella - meeting her aunt there. Both girls were so cute, excited and well-behaved. Half the excitement for Vera was telling whoever was nearby what was going on: Crocodile sleepit! Elephant eatit [it=ing]! Mommy! Baby!

*fame

On another note, Ben made it on our local news last night! Woohooo! Here's the link. You can also see a glimpse of SamWard [my dad] holding a coffee cup in the background - and all of happens to be right in front of my new workplace :)

*

We're in the middle of a couple of really rough days. Out of the blue she won't go to sleep at bedtime, wakes up for hours at night and won't take a nap without an hour+ fight. She's totally fine right up until I go to put her in her crib - which just 3 days ago she would ask to sit and play in. Yesterday she was literally falling apart all day - that combined with the heartbreak of hearing your child cry and cry and cry and being stressed with an all-of-a-sudden overloaded schedule has got me pretty down and stressed.

It's easy to just walk to the park and do the same old route, but thankfully today I had another idea. I hitched up the trailer to my bike and we went out for some Italian ice. No matter Vera found it too cold and preferred the pretzels - the beautifully thunder-clouded day and fresh air did us both some good. After we stopped by Great Harvest where the kind cashier let me take a loaf of bread for free since I didn't have enough. On the way home we stopped at the park and Vera went down the slide to her heart's content. Our troubles aren't over as I'm hearing her upstairs whimper Daddydaddydaddydadadaddy dooowwwwwn! but I was so thankful for a good afternoon. Pray with me for little V to feel safe and know she can just fall asleep...

*las frases

A sampling of the "sentences" we're hearing lately:

"star. eatit [she can't say -ing]. mouth. six four four six." [eating all of Stella's star puffs the other day]

"Desta. chew. hurt. cry." [this was one of her first conversations with me a couple months ago after Stella choked a bit on her dry cereal. Vera brings this up at least every other day.]

"all-clea(n). sharp. dang(er)ous." [cheese grater on the floor]

"yucky bug. table. clean. auntie." [she brings this one up a lot too. there was a cockroach in a restaurant in NYC - they need to clean. auntie J was there.]

"bye! store. church" [she's always pretending to go bye-bye. church, store and park are the places she knows to go.]

"ba ba ba ba, elmo [i think she was singing elmo's world here]. piglet. mommy. bag, coat." [I have nooo idea]

*play dough

I just found these pictures in an old file and it made me laugh to remember. Back in November our friends gave us some homemade play dough . I was so excited to have her try it out.. however, she would NOT even touch it and cowered as far into the bookcase as she could. Sadly I think the video was lost when Ben's Mac crashed. Anyway it was hilarious. I wonder what she'd think of it now?

*casi dos años

At just 2 months short of a year, Vera knows all her colors, is going through a picky-eater stage where I'm always a little nervous if she'll eat what I put in front of her [unless it's yogurt, a popsicle, ice cream or strawberries], can say her abc's up to d :) and can identify a handful of letters like C for cat, M for Mommy, D for Daddy, A for apple & Amelia, , etc. She loves rainbows, baby ducks+geese, dogs, coloring, cooking and helping in the yard. She is napping again at least an hour every day - yay! and sleeps really well at night. I'd say this is an extra fun stage, especially being able to have mini-conversations :)

Just the other day I tried to teach her her full name [your 2 were too cute, jenny :)]. In the car this morning out of the blue she started saying it - so cute. She even put together "Mommy Cater" on her own, though she seems to have already forgotten:

*foto de la familia

...Central Park...

*memorial day

We had a lovely little picnic and playtime today at Red Butte Gardens. The weather has been just perfect and we're savoring every moment before it gets scorching hot...

*Nueva York

We had such a great time in New York with Ben's family!!! I have always always wanted to go. Our stay was way too short, however, and I never really had a bearing of where exactly I was, what direction was what, what neighborhood has what feel, etc. It was a good little overview though, and I can't wait to go back someday :) It was definitely very distinct from the other big cities I've visited and I would so love to get to know it! At one point I had taken Vera out of a restaurant to walk on the sidewalk and I pretended that I was blending in: just another resident of the West Village [I confess, I always like to imagine I'm a local... :)]


Vera was a little star - going to bed super late, surviving on mostly milk, ice cream and yogurt, skipping naps [making her tired enough to sleep through diaper/PJ changes!!] and all the while happy and easy-going and so excited to be with her auntie, uncles and Lola + Poppop [still not sure what she'll eventually call him...]. Really it is so fun now how she knows who people are and can anticipate things. The very first morning she raised her head and seeing Lola and Matty through the door lit up in the sweetest, biggest smile. Throughout the day she'd go up to Ben's mom and just say "Hi Lola!" - it was so cute.

Anyway, some highlights. I wish my pictures were better, but you get the idea [maybe Matty can send me some of his always amazing shots?]:

...walking, one of my favorite things about a big city:


...Central Park - to always hear so much about it and finally get to experience it:



...Metropolitan Museum of Art. I couldn't believe how well little V behaved herself. She spent most of her time with Mike and Rosie and apparently she loved pointing out all the horseys. My favorites were the Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh and whatever you call it post-Modern pieces by Jackson Pollock (sp), Lichtenstein, etc. I love seeing things that I remember learning about in my one college art history class. I also loved the whole medieval armor/swords. You kind of come to think they were just a fabrication of Monty Python or The Sword and the Stone, but they're not!




The food! We had some delicious meals, always so much fun with Ben's family [well mine too], as they all know and love to eat good food and share a meal together. We had Argentinean, Greek, Jewish deli fare and an extra special Italian meal at L'Artusi - tho' I still wish I ordered what Ben did :)

Jessie and Ben's adorable tiny apartment. If I could hire a personal interior designer/stylist/buyer it would be her!

...the taxi rides! except the one where we accidentally left a backpack and never to be seen again laptop. oops - part of the experience?

...and I didn't get any pictures on my camera, but... seeing Jessie graduate from such a prestigious, demanding program at Columbia!!

*el jardín

We got home from New York City [!] last night. I'll post pictures/stories later, but will share now that we came home to a blooming garden. Irises and peonies and wildflowers are blooming and there's tons of cilantro and parsley. The beets [yes, rivaling Shrute Farms] are almost ready to harvest - maybe we can do it early and have fashionably baby ones.

I've never been successful with cilantro before, and am so happy to have so much! While it lasts this recipe is going to be a staple. So so good and addicting - I got it from chowhound.com.

Cilantro Rice

for each cup of rice - any type:

cook with 1 tsp salt, then add following, pureed:

2/3 C cilantro

1/3 C chopped onion

1/4 C scallions

1 jalapeño (I did half and it was fine for Vera)

1 Tb. lime juice

1.5 tsp. olive oil.

*cien años

My Grandpa JohnD would have been 100 tomorrow. He passed away a few years ago and it still makes me teary remembering him. Living near him and my Grandma was an extremely special and I think formative part of my childhood. I took these pictures [of pictures] last time I was home - they are just exactly how I remember him... always with his cowboy hat and boots, dusty jeans and pearl snap buttons. I loved riding with him in the old yellow Scout, and later the succession of F150s, down to the fields or corral - I still vividly remember the dusty sagebrush smell and the scratchy seat covers, the tic-tacs in the glove compartment, making conversation about the horses or the river or stories from before. For some reason I always remember too how he would wiggle his ears and when you came close to see he'd give a little jump and scare the bejezus out of you :)

I was able to see him just a week before he died. He had been fairly invalid for a while, with Alzheimer's and then cancer. My mom and I stood by his bed - still at home looking out over the beautiful valley - and just held his hand. My mom told him he was a wonderful father and grandfather, and I remember a look of lucidity crossed his face and he said in his familiar voice, "why I didn't know that!" - makes me cry just thinking of it now. Anyway, we miss you Grandpa! I will make sure my children know their Grandparents like I did.

[p.s. happy birthday to you too ecw-g!]

*sacando fotos

I don't know why I loved this tonight.. I guess just more proof that we no longer have a baby, but a little girl who has ideas and communicates them. So she first wanted a picture with Bunny - she saw the camera in our room, said "picture? Ubba-ubba?", ran to get Bunny and posed:

...then she wanted a picture with Bunny while sitting on Lamb [I can't stop laughing at this one]:

...then she wanted to take a picture of her kitchen, after which she 'showed' the picture to the kitchen and said "see?"