Crushing on ...

Bret & Jemaine of Flight of the Conchords. Ryan and I went to their SLC concert/show last week and it was great. They are seriously some of the funniest people out there. Arj (Dave from pawn shop on FotC) was their opening act and was pretty funny. We were on the exact center of the front row in the 3rd tier balcony. Surprisingly, they were pretty decent seats.

 

They played songs from season 2 (sugalumps, carol brown, too many dicks on the dance floor, hurt feelings, etc) a couple songs we didn't know, and a couple songs from season 1 (the humans are dead, mutha' uckas, business time, alby the racist dragon, Bowie, most beautiful girl). I was hoping for more from season 1, but I won't complain. It was a blast seeing them perform live. Their stage setup is minimal (as you can see from the picture & video I took). The best was when they got up and started dancing while singing sugalumps. As we were driving home I asked Ryan, "If you had to crush on one of them, who would it be?" We both had the same answer: each rocks for different reasons, but in the end Jemaine beat out Bret, but just barely, and I do mean barely (his deep voice gave him that extra edge). We got a killer screenprint poster and some fun magnets for the kids (yes, my kids are deeply engrained in FotC and love the Mermaid song). I was hoping for an awesome wolf, eagle, or bear tee (ode to Brett's fab wardrobe) but alas the shirts were super (and I do me SUPER) lame. So, would I go again? In a HEARTBEAT!!!  Nextime maybe I'll be the girl that Bret tries to pull up onstage during Sugalumps, or the girl who Jemaine does an aerial kick over her head. Oh, sigh.

I have to say that going to dinner at Red Rock Brewery and then hitting the show reminded me of when Ryan and I were dating. We both used to live downtown (just 1 1/2 blocks from each other) and we loved it there. How fun it was to be in walking distance of so many great places to eat, to shop, and just stroll. I'll admit, sometimes I miss living downtown and I wonder what life would be like today if we had bought the darling 3 bedroom, 3rd floor apartment we had looked at off south temple and 800 east instead of the house in Sugarhouse when we first got married. 

A HUGE thanks to my brother Ben and his fiance Karen for watching the kids for us. It's always nice to have a night out with the hubby and remember why I fell in love with him in the first place. I definitely can't wait for our trip (sans kids) to Chicago in a few weeks.

On a final note, Ryan and I decided to come up with our fave FotC songs as we disagreed with alist that was posted online somewhere. If you are familiar with FotC this list will make sense, if not, then you NEED to become a fan. What are your fave FotC songs/sketches. 

Our TOP 10 ... ok 12 - so hard to choose:

• If you're into it
  
• Mermaids
• Foux du Fafa
• Hiphopopotamus
• Carol Brown
• Hurt Feelings
  
• the Humans are Dead / Robots (ryan's cell ringtone)
• Business Time
• Bret, you got it going in on
• K.I.S.S.I.N.G (a kiss is not a contract)
• Bowie
• Most beautiful girl

So for other FotC fans out there, what are your faves? 

Also, if you like Jemaine, you have to see Eagle vs. Shark and Tongan Ninja. Both are worth the watch, especially Eagle vs. Shark.

Thankful Thursday

Yeah, I've slacked on my Thankful Thursday's ... deal with it :)

     1. Girls who apparently potty train themselves (more below)

     2. the smell of a fresh cut lawn - mowed by me

     3. sunny but cool days that let us enjoy being outside without breaking a sweat (except when mowing the lawn)

     4. bounce houses to help pass the evening away

     5. a husband who stayed up past midnight watching The Curious Case of Benjamin  Button with me, and didn't mock me when I cried thru most of it, and well after it was over while I lay in bed.

To elaborate on #1 ... I came in from mowing the lawn this morning to find Berlin diaperless (she LOVES taking off her diaper and being naked). I panic and check her bum for poo and ask where her diaper is. She says, "I poo in my green potty." Huh? I check her potty in the bathroom and sure enough there is a good pee in it (she uses the term poo to refer to both pee & poop). We celebrate, give hugs & kisses, and cheer. I think for a fleeting moment that yay - maybe she's ready. Then I remember our long & awful (and still ongoing) potty training experience with Finley and bring myself back to reality and think, now way, she's got atleast another year before she's ready. Not even 15 minutes later she comes over to me and says, "I poo-ing!" and then runs to her potty. She takes off her diaper and goes pee - AGAIN! Twice in one morning? Hooray for us!!! So we set up a new Strawberry Shortcake sticker chart, put 2 stickers on it and she got to pick a treat out of the potty jar.  If this continues & sticks, I'll be the happiest mom alive! I might even consider having a 3rd child! Or not :)

Moab & Mother's Day Weekend

Ryan's Uncle Frieder (his mother's brother) was in town from Germany this past weekend. We had the opportunity to go to Moab and spend the weekend with him and with Ryan's sister Teresa (and her little fam). I haven't been to Moab in oh, 13 years and for Ryan it was even longer.  The weather was awesome - perfect for hiking. Saturday morning we did delicate arch, then ate lunch, then tackled 3 arches in Devil's Garden (landscape arch, pine tree arch, and tunnel arch). Finley was an awesome little hiker. Ryan only had to carry him a little bit here and there on Saturday.

After all the hiking on Saturday we went back to the town-home we rented and went swimming in the pool. It was the perfect way to end the day and gear up for Sunday. On Sunday we hiked to the Windows (North & South), Turret Arch, and finally Double arch. On Sunday Finley hiked the entire way without being carried. I was so proud of him.  

I am SOOOO glad that I got him (and Berlin) their own little camelback's. Finley loved it and I think it helped make all the hiking a bit more fun for him - and I loved not having to carry his water. I packed Berlin around the whole time. It was a great workout and wasn't that hard (she's barely 21 lbs), but I won't lie, my shoulders are a bit sore today after 2 days of hiking. Being in the pack she slept most of the time which was awkward at times as she would place her head right in the crook of my neck, making it a bit hard to hold my head up completely straight. Berlin of course would have prefered hiking all on her own, but after letting her walk for a bit I realized we'd be there all day & well into the night. 

Even though the trip wasn't for me, it was a great way to spend mother's day ... with Ryan and the kids. Now that we are home, we are all TIRED and taking athe day off to just relax at home. 

Lemon Skirt

I just love this Alexander Henry fabric. For some reason when I look at it, I think of retro kitchen towels & meyer lemon dish soap. I don't need kitchen towels, so instead I made a skirt out of it (cause you know, towels and skirts go hand in hand). This one isn't reversible and I made it a little smaller than than the rodeo one. Luckily her attitude today wasn't too sour - more sweet & sassy. My favorite part ... the 80's headband that she refuses to wear the normal way.

 
  

"alimento squisito" is Italian for ...

delicious food!

After a girl's night out last month to the Spaghetti Factory, I was inspired to make some felt pasta. My fave is the bowtie pasta. I used my Stampin' Up BigShot die cutter to cut scalloped circles out of the felt, then pinched the center and stitched. Wha la - literally.

The fettucini was super easy too, I just took 2 pieces of felt and stitched straight lines a 1/4" apart. Then cut in between the stiched lines (this just gives the fettucine more weight - you could just cut strips 1/4 inches apart if you like). Wha la ... la la!

The marinara sauce is just scraps of red felt from a Christmas Project (still unfinished of course) randomly stitched together.

Hungry yet?

punchline

Finn:   knock, knock.
Ry:    who's there?
Finn:   banana
Ry:   banana who?

Finn:   banana walking around!

*****     *****     *****     *****

Finn:   knock, knock.

Ry:    who's there?

Finn:   matato

Ry:   matato who?

Finn:   walking around!

Oh the joys of 4 year olds & knock-knock jokes that keep going, and going, and going .... until I think my brain is going to PoP!

Sewing Night prep

My good friend Mel and I are having our first sewing night this Thursday and I am SOOO excited! It's something we are going to do quarterly, so 4 times a year. Our first project is a reversible skirt for the girls. Because I'm miss cheapy pants and didn't want to buy a pattern, I decided to make a "trial" skirt this morning. You know, just to make sure that what I had in my head would make sense (and work) when teaching it. I had one kink, but other than that all went well. I am so excited to make some more!

Here's the end result, a fun western skirt for Boo (she calls it her yee-haw skirt) that's reversible. It's a little big, but not too much. So I guess she'll get 2 summers out of it! I am trying to decide if I should applique a tee or tank top with a rodeo bronco, paisley, etc. We'll see.

 

Notice the grumpy face - I had to bribe her with a sucker to get her to put on the skirt.