31 FLAVORS

31 years ago and handsome youngster graced the world with his awesomeness.

Today he is the Baskin Robbins age of 31!

I couldn't be happier that this man is in my life and cannot wait to share the events of LARSFEST with you. The celebration has only begun. More posts to follow will unfold the surprises that await the birthday boy.

(I would share, but I am keeping a tight lip on everything from every soul, no one not even my parents know. I have to be secretive because Lars is really good at figuring out surprises.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARS!

Vacation

We are in Utah for the next 10 days.

We were gonna leave on Thursday morning, but then my manager meeting on Wednesday evening got cancelled. Seeing as how we were already packed we got off work early and hit the road. We made killer time and beat all the bad traffic. We made more pit stops than usual so I could use the potty and stretch my legs. We could have driven all the way through to arrive at my parents by 2 am but decided to spend the night in St. George to relax and goof off. I slept in the most comfy bed ever and woke up to waffles. Thanks Marriott, I love being apart of your rewards program. On the way up we stopped at Cove Fort and took a long tour of the historic site.

It was actually pretty cool so check it out. We pass it all the time on this yearly trip, finally we stopped and it was worth the time.

The closer we got to our destination the more construction we encountered. It was like proceeding deeper into a dark cave that gets uglier and uglier. Since I have been living in California I have become more patient with traffic and stupid drivers, but no state has ever had construction like Utah. They have a saying here, "There are two seasons, winter and construction." It is the truth. I just don't get it. Half of the construction they are doing is on roads that just got done with a previous construction job 1-2 years ago, some roads are on their 4th face lift. I find it a little short sighted that they keep messing with things that from where I stand seem fine and wish that they would just invest more into expanding their Trax system. I am probably not allowed to really complain about it thought because I don't live and pay taxes here. It is a little annoying but I will get over it. I am just glad to be hanging out with my family and friends here.

So hooray for vacation and all that it will entail, construction and all.

Muppet Monday~Happy Birthday Jim!

There is so much Muppet Madness that I want to post, but I am slammed at work and getting ready for my upcoming vacation. I will posted an added special Muppet post this week once I get on vacation to make up for this shorten post.

Saturday was Jim Henson's 75th birthday. Google featured a special Doodle in his honor.

Here are a few articles about the doodle. I didn't have much time to play with it. But it sounds like it was awesome.

http://www.beatweek.com/news/9480-jim-henson-google-doodle-hidden-unused-muppet-animations-uncovered/

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-23/tech/tech_google-jim-henson_1_doodle-google-jim-henson?_s=PM:TECH

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2111825/Jim-Henson-Muppets-Google-Doodle-Lets-You-Become-the-Puppeteer

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Google

Cedar Chest of Memories

We inherited Lars' Mom's cedar chest many years ago. She left some of Lars's baby things in there for us to have when we had kids. We sifted through those recently and found some really cute vintage and handmade outfits that Lars wore when he was a baby.

Guest what this is?

It's a homemade Bjorn. Lars' Mom used to make and sell them. I asked her if she had the pattern so I can pass it on to a few friends but she wasn't sure where it ended up.

Modeling with a stuff toy will have to do for now, at least for a few more months :)

There are a ton of other cute clothes and blankets too. I think we might have to reenact some of Lars' old baby photos with our little guy since they will have shared clothing.

Cutest Story ever~When Lars saw the above vest he said that it was what he wore to church every Sunday for years. He was allowed to bring one small toy with him. He looked in the pocket and what did he find...

his one small toy. It was so darling that it was still there after all these years.

Muppet Monday-Movement

I am fascinated with the technology behind the Muppet's and how they are brought to life. It is not just one person but a team of people, from the actual puppeteers (in this case, muppeteers) to the voices and techies making one Muppet come to life. Here is a link to a break down of how it comes to life starting with the cosmetics and design all the way show time.

What's in a name?

Lars and I want our babies name to be unique and special. We both have Danish blood and would like our kids to have Norwegian or Scandinavian names. Lars's own name is very unique. How many people do you know are names Lars that don't play the drums? We want our kids names to have special meaning behind them and give them a name that they cannot shortened into a nickname unless they earn themselves a nickname through their personality.

So our current pick for our son's name is:

Roan Barlow

pronounced Ro-uhn

Lars found that it means ancestor. We prefer the one syllable spelling too. I think it sounds very barbaric or viking/warrior like. This name just feels right like it would fit him and us. It is a Danish tradition to have your son's middle name be the mother's maiden name. Lars shares his father's middle name which is his mothers maiden name. Should we follow that tradition then his full name would be Roan Stark Barlow. Meaning ancestor to Stark and Barlow. I like how it sounds, but am still open to other ideas for middle names.

I have also considered ways to make fun of this name, there will always be a way to make fun of a name so unless it is really bad I really don't think we should care about getting around this.

Ways to make fun of this name:

Roan Roan Roan (put to the music rolling rolling rolling, roll'em in raw hide)

Roan Roan Microphone.

I am sure there is more but those were the ones I could think of that made me laugh out loud. What kind of a Mom am I? I am already laughing at my kids name. LOL.

Red Carpet

Life...I love it!

I am so grateful to so many people for so many things right now. Life is just feeling pretty dandy right now. Not everyday is a bed of roses for sure. Work still gets me frustrated and the amount of stupid drivers in the world is increasing by the minute it seems. However, there really isn't much to complain about and I am loving everything around me. Guess I just want to take sometime and sorta put a bunch of stuff out there that I have been thinking about.

First off, thank you to some awesome ladies for loaning me so many maternity clothes. They are so expensive but I haven't had to buy much thanks to you. Plus you all have some very very good taste so I feel like a runway model or like I am on the Red Carpet and the paparazzi are asking me who I am wearing and I say...Annalisa, Shawna, and Lori.

Yep. I look like a fabulous hot mama thanks to you.

Next up, thanks to all the ladies in our ward. I really like our stake. I have been in two wards in this stake and have gotten to know a lot of people. They are all great. I served in the Stake YW's Presidency for a year and loved it. So sad that calling is done for now, but look forward to the next great thing. I am a people person and just love to know people and have been able to in this stake. A week ago I attended my ward's book club. Probably one of the funniest nights ever. We laughed a lot and ate a lot of food and cooed over the babies and the cat in the room.

My family has been pretty cool lately too. Or at least I appreciate them more then I used to. I find myself calling my Mom more and more just to chat about lame stuff.

This little guy inside just makes me happy beyond belief. I can feel him move around now and I love it. I was at 18 weeks and sitting in Relief Society when suddenly I felt what is best described as strong bath bubble action. I knew it was him. Prior to that I kept thinking I was feeling him, but really I was reading into anything because I wanted to feel him. But when I felt that first action I just knew it was him. Since then it has gotten stronger and has changed from bubbles to flutters and some punches or jumping. The flutters tickle from time to time. One day Lars was in the other room and could hear me giggling from upstairs. He came to investigate and I put his hand on my belly, but of course he wouldn't move for Lars. But he was jumping around more wildly then I have ever felt. Since then whenever I feel him move for more than a minute I grab Lars' hand so he can feel. Success was made last night. We were watching a movie and Lars held his hand on my belly for about 5 minutes. Then suddenly he jumps and Lars gasps. He said he got punched in the palm of his hand. I think little Roan was giving him a high five. LOL. Anyway, I am super grateful I get to feel this guy moving because it brightens my day more and more.

We leave for Utah in less than two weeks. I am so pumped for a vacation. Plus I get to see my family and friends and the fall. I love the fall and watching the leaves change. That is one thing I truly miss. CA just keeps blossoming and stays green. At least the area we are in. With Fall arriving it means one of my most favorite holidays is coming...HALLOWEEN which also means pumpkim pie, apple cider, costumes, and carmel apples. Most wonderful time of the year.

SO there ya are. Enjoy life and make it great.

The Booth at the End

I recently watched a short series on Hulu called, The Booth at the End. You can find it here. I really enjoyed it and if I were teaching a theatre, acting ,or writing class I would show this series to my students. The premise is basic, a guy in a cafe, people go to him and ask for something. He gives them a task to complete and in return they get what they want. Here are some reasons why I think you should watch it.
#1 It all takes place in this cafe so it is up to the actors to describe what is going on and help advance the story. It is well written and well acted.
#2 The situations people are in and the choices they make just get to me in a mind stirring way. In one of my earlier blogs I spoke about how I love to find out what makes people tick. This satisfies that for me.
#3 You really have to ask yourself in certain situations "how far will you go to get what you want?" Do you go to extremes to get it or do you just wait it out and see what happens. The choices people make in this series and the outcome to some of them really got to me and made me think deeply about the meaning the writer or director were trying to make.

In fact after we watched it, only took maybe 2 hours to get through the 6-7 episodes, it sat with me for a few days and I had a lot of conversations with Lars about it. Basically it is a series that you can interpret based off your own morals and beliefs and I found it interesting and enjoyable to exercise my mind in that way. Hope that makes sense, sometimes I have trouble explaining stuff like that.

Anyway. I recommend checking it out. It is a basic story but I love how it is told and how they get your mind rolling on things. Reminds me of the days I studied Theatre.

Stuffed Toy Savior

When I was a little girl I had a huge and I mean HUGE stuffed toy collection. I had a paper route and most of my earnings went into what I now call the "Save Every Toy on the Planet" project. I had this theory as a child, and little now too, that toys were alive and needed to be loved. I felt bad for the stuffed toys donated to Goodwill or Desert Industries. SO I bought as many of them as I could. Mostly animals and anything to do with Rainbow Bright. I have a lot of memories playing imagination with my stuffed toys, they got me, and it was fun. Just before I got married my collection was over 100 stuffed animals. I knew I couldn't keep them all. So I narrowed the pickings down to the ones that needed to stay in the family or ones with the highest sentimental value. Keep in mind the toys I had ranged from small to very large the size of a toddler toys. When I let some of them go I didn't just give them to anyone. I was very selective at the adoption process and tried to give them to kids or friends that would love and appreciate them like I had through the years. I even cried a few times. When I recently watched Toy Story 3 I bawled my eyes out at the end. I am such a sap...I am getting teared up RIGHT NOW just typing this. UGH! It was hard to let go, but I did and I slimmed the count down even more years later. When we started getting the babies room ready they were the first thing I pulled out.

So allow me to introduce you to the surviving members of the

"Save Every Toy on the Planet" association.

Here they are together

These ones were hand made by my Grandmother Bertha Stark, who passed away when I was 8 years old. There is an Ewok, E.T., Care Bears, and a little guy. The Car Bears and little guy belonged to me as a child and the E.T. was my sisters (the boys had a blue one) and the Ewok was one of my brothers. They tried to give them away and I saved them. If anyone else in the family tries to give away something Grandma Stark made I will be happy to rescue it.

These had high sentimental value.

The butterfly on the right and the doll on the left were the first toys I could ever remember having as a baby. The puppies were a gift from my Grandma and Grandpa Nelson while they were on a mission in New Jersey. The Teddy Bear was hand made by my next door neighbor. She named her dog Teddy and we helped her take care of him when she was out of town. She made all sorts of Teddy Bears and sold them. I can't remember her name, but she was nice and lives in New York now. The doll and the unicorn belonged to my sister. I would steal them from her and play with them. She would get mad and take them back. Eventually I just kept them probably because she got tired of fighting me. ;)

These are some fun toys that I kept cause they were gifts. The green ball, I called it Spud, was the reason for a lot of laughs at girls camp. The bunny is actually a puppet and has come in handy when I substitute as the Primary Chorister. The penguin, blue bear and frog were from my days at Fashion Bug. The monkey and cat were the only beanie baby like toys I had, besides a Huskie (he didn't make the picture because he is in the guests children toy box down stairs along with a smiley face doll that couldn't make the photo shoot.) The buffalo was a gift from my best friend Amy when she lived at Yellowstone. That gift was recent. I still love getting toys.

One reason this doll was so cool because it was 2 in 1

A day time doll..

and a night time doll.

So there ya have it. One of my obsessions is stuffed toys and rescuing them.

Top Ten....

I found this link from my cousin's blog. I thought it was cute, clever, and true.

Just thought I would share.

Muppet Monday makes me Happy!

It has been an eventful Monday. I got a lot done at work, but had a few curve balls thrown at me, one of them being my first experience of having to refuse service from a messenger trying to serve a subpoena on one of my attorney's. Needless to say I followed a long procedure and could not accept the subpoena and then spent sometime listening to the messengers choice words and attempt to belittle me. Thankfully our toughest looking attorney walked into the reception area at the right time and scared the guy away. Security was called and blah blah a process was started at investigating the messenger. Let's just say that the messenger service got an even nastier email from a big wig attorney with a few of his own choice words. An apology is on its way and I did my job. No physical harm was done so honestly I am all good. I cried for a minute cause it just wasn't nice of the guy to be SO MEAN! It was just annoying because I was trying to do my job and help the guy out, but my hands were tied. I am blonde and beautiful, but am not stupid and will not be intimidated into giving people what they want when they are childish and yell at me. I have grown some thick skin over the years and know how to use it. I am glad I know who I am so stuff like this doesn't get me down.


Anyway, So I had planned to share my letter to the Muppet Movie makers about why I should be invited to their movie premiere in November but ran out of time for the day. SO instead I will share this video that makes me happy because despite the crazy any events of Mondays or any day the Muppets make me happy and life is still pretty darn good.

Click here for the video since computers are against me today. LOL

One Ring to Rule them ALL-Winner!!!

I have a collection of rings. I will tell you where they all came from.

You voted and now I will reveal which one was which.

The wedding ring that rules them all is.....

Ring B

Lars proposed with the diamond of this ring on a hill in Bountiful. The diamond was his Mother's. Together we picked out this set from Shane company before we got married. I love it because the two rings look intertwined as one, which is what I wanted in my ring because I think it represents my marriage. Two become one.

Second trimester ring is Ring C

This ring was given to me by my singles ward roommate. She had a fake ring to wear to the gym and when she got engaged to passed it onto me for protection from creepy guys. It was a princess cut, her favorite, that she had gotten from Walmart. :) I kept it in my jewelry box and knew it would come in handy during my pregnancy when my fingers swelled. They have swelled some, my real wedding ring fits, but is very snug and hard to get off. I don't want to risk having to fuse it off so for now it is put away in a safe place. However, vendors are always hitting on me at work, so I still need a ring for protection. Thank you Melanie for the protection.

Third trimester ring is Ring A

This ring is much larger in size. I am not sure if I will need to graduate to it, but just in case here it is. My best friend since childhood, Karin, and I would hang out in Provo monthly. She went to BYU and I went to SLCC. One night we thought it would be funny if we got fake rings together. We went to Walmart and got the largest and cheapest matching rings we could find. We purposely got them a few sizes to large so we could wrap string on them to wear them, like a boyfriends High School class ring. LOL. We wore them around for a bit and secretly giggled and shared the funny comments people made to us. Oddly I think within a year of buying those rings both of us got engaged and trading in these rings for pretty smaller ones. But it was sure fun and worth spending $8.88 at Walmart.

But there can only be one ring. Thank you Marly and Shawna for being the only ones to vote. The prize is pride and fun. Hope you enjoyed it.

Recent Quilt Project

I have kept all my old shirts from girls camp, EFY, High School sports, and theatre in a box in my closet for many many, 10 years to be exact, years. In hopes that one day the crafty bug will tickle me and I will somehow make them all into a quilt. Two weeks ago that bug caught on in I discovered what fine work I can do when I am disciplined enough to start and finishing a crafty project. In a few hours I cut and sewed the top part of the quilt.

VIOLIA !

Now all I have to do is add a border to the edges, batting, a back, tie it together, then sew up the edges. I am hoping it is easier than it sounds. I am motivated to finish the project by Halloween. Maybe sooner if I take it with me on our vacation to see family in Utah in a few weeks. Either way when it gets done I will be sure to post a final picture of the quilt in all of its glory. At least now a I have a free space inside my closet that is the size of a box. :)

Shirts from the sporting years, softball, volleyball, and powder puff. If you can't tell #7 is my favorite and lucky number. Shrits from TheatreShirts from EFY and Girls camp

A shirt from U-Hall on the BYU Campus. I really loved this quote and have tried to live by it.

20 Weeks

WAHOOO! I am 20 weeks!

Half way there. Time is a flying and I am loving it.

Please enjoy my 20 week photo shoot as a prego super model!

Muppet Monday brought to you by the number 20

In honor of me being 20 Weeks please enjoy this Muppet video titled:

At The Dance (Episode 20)

One Ring to Rule Them ALL-Vote

I have a collection of rings. I will tell you where they all came from, but first,

please vote one which ring rules them all.

One of these rings is my:

1-wedding ring,

2-Second trimester ring, and

3-Third trimester ring

But which is which?

Ring A

Ring BRing C

Leave a comment with your vote and I will reveal the answers next Friday!!!

Movie Island

Ever ask yourself...If you had to be stranded on an island for all eternity what top 5 movies would you take? Only 5. For me that is hard to decide because I love movies and watch at least on average 3 a week. (don't judge, I don't have cable, I have netflicks and I love my life). If I had to chose between everything I have seen to date then these would be my top 5.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast

This was my childhood favorite movie. I love the story, the music, the fact that Belle had a beautiful yellow gown and some brains. When I was 19 and living on my own I had a choice to either pay a bill or buy this DVD before it went into the "Disney vault". I paid the bill because I was responsible, but longed for it to come out of the vault so I could have it as my very own. 10 years later it came out of the vault and Lars bought for me on a dual DVD/Bluray set. We watched it that same day. He fell asleep and I sang along with the movie.

Fired Up

This movie is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I have seriously watched it at least 12 times in the last 2 years and I never tire of it. True it is your typically stock story about two guys joining cheer camp for the girls but in the end learn a lesson and fall in love. Though in this story there is a comical make fun of said stock type stories twist and the jokes are so funny and quotable. But what makes this movie great are the two leading guys. I truly believe that they could be best friends. The way they banter back and forth without missing a beat. Their chemistry is amazing and for that I love this movie.

While You Were Sleeping

My favorite movie as a teenage. We owned the VHS and I would seriously watch it every weekend. I watched it so much in 3 years that eventually the VHS broke. I couldn't live without it so we quickly bought it again from Walmart but this time on DVD. I love the story about love, family, and not wanting to be alone but to live life to the fullest. The acting is good and the characters are awesome. And it takes place in Chicago which is near Grand Rapids, Michigan where I grew up.

The Lord of the Ring Trilogy (Extended Version)

This trilogy is just EPIC and I cannot deny it entrance to the Island. I love love love the music for the move and my yearly tradition of watching this trilogy in one weekend must continue.

Zombieland

I love Zombies, especially comedies. This one is one of the best comedies/zombie/scary/awesome movies ever. Like most of the above movies I have watched it many many times and have yet to tire of it. Love the character, the actors, the story, and the message at the end.

GASP A STOWAWAY

Stargate: Continuum

If I could have one stowaway on the island, or honorable mention if you will. This movie would be it! I love scifi and remember seeing the Original Stargate movie with my Dad back when I was a kid. I thought it was so cool and after I married my geeky husband we bought and watched all 10 seasons of Stargate SG1, most of Stargate: Atlantis (meh), and all of Stargate: Universe. We also own all the Stargate movies, the above and The Ark of Truth. But this movie, besides the first, is a stand alone movie from the series and one of my favorite movies that I don't mind watching over and over. Love the character and the humor.

SO what movies are on your island?