Stuff to do...

Tonight is book club night. I just finished reading this month's book called 2001 Things to Do Before You Die. The host for this evening also told us to bring a list of 5-10 things that we want to do with our lives.

I enjoyed this book for some reasons, but the person who wrote it had a distinctly different world view from me. I therefore felt that some of the things on his list I would rather die than do. But reading this book did get me thinking about my mental list of things I want to do before I die. Some of them I've accomplished, some of them I am working on, some of them are distant goals, and yet others are near impossibilities. Here is a sample:

• Become a published author
• Make my own pasta from scratch
• Live on the East Coast long enough to receive mail there
• See Michelangelo's Pieta
• Live outside of the U.S.
• Work in a press office
• Design and sew a wedding dress that someone wears in an actual wedding
• Visit the Taj Mahal
• Raise kind children
• Learn to make the perfect soufflé
• Learn how to install a toilet, a ceiling fan, and hardwood floors
• Reupholster a chair
• Live in a house with secret passageways and a hidden room
• Enjoy opera
• Get a pilot's license
• Finally become conversant in Spanish
• Get a Master's Degree...in anything
• Go on a cruise
• Own a Dyson vacuum
• Build a tree-house
• Grow a lush garden
• Become a certified rock climber

What's on your list?

Check that attitude!

I was taking pictures of Griffin yesterday and this is what he gave me:

Talk about attitude. This little guy's personality is coming in full force. He's often sticking out his tongue to be silly or laughing at himself for no apparent reason. Truthfully, I suppose this should not come as a great surprise to me. Griffin comes from a long line of easily-amused and self-entertaining progenitors. It's nice though for Landon and I that we have a built-in source of amusement with Griffin around.

On Wednesday this week the weather was gorgeous (for the first time in what feels like ages). So Griffin and I decided that we'd have a little picnic in our backyard. We spread out a blanket on our dead grass and ate popcorn for a while.

Then we put on our shoes and tromped around in the crunchy leaves and dead grass. Griffin loved munching popcorn and crunching leaves. The only problem was that when he fell, he wouldn't get back up because he didn't want to touch the pokey grass. So he just sat in the grass until I got up to save him. This happened several times over.

And speaking of personality, I really don't know where Griffin gets it:

I've mentioned before that I work in the children's organization at church. Well, this last weekend we had a church "So You Think You Can Dance" Party. This is the Primary Presidency all decked out for the kids' dance number (I'm the one with the tuft of orange hair coming out of the back of my head). The kids all dressed up like rockstars too. And you know that we took first place, with costumes like that how could we not? Actually, I think the parents' votes really pulled through for us. So far I've dressed up as both a pirate and a rockstar to fulfill my church calling...I wonder what's next?

Movin' and Groovin'

This one is especially for Grandma Huber. Enjoy!

Lemonade at the Griffin's

This week and next week Landon is traveling for work, bummer. But making lemonade out of the lemons in this scenario, Griffin and I decided to take a two week trip to Arizona to visit my family. We arrived yesterday and we are already having a great time. It's great to be here in Arizona's 70 degree weather while Colorado is hovering around 30-ish.

We wish that Landon didn't have to leave town, but since he has to go, we might as well make the most of it. My family is way cool and Griffin loves getting all of this attention from his aunts and uncle. Yesterday, Spencer took some great pictures of Griffin learning about the piano.

Isn't he a virtuoso?

In other news, my sister got a huge lemon as a gift from a friend. This thing is enormous! It's almost as big as a football. She's still trying to think of ideas for what to do with it. Lemon meringue pie? Lemon cookies? Lemonade? Whatever she ends up doing with it, she has a whole bunch of lemon to deal with.

Now who sounds stupid?

This week has left me feeling utterly idiotic. First and foremost, Griffin and I have both had a bout of the stomach flu. I'll spare the gory details and simply say that I never imagined that there could be anything more miserable than being sick with the stomach flu. However, being sick with stomach flu at the same time as your infant really tops the misery charts. Landon has been making chicken noodle soup and folding laundry and generally being Superman, which of course leaves me feeling grateful and useless.

Also, earlier this week I had a telephone conversation that went something like this:

ME: (Dialing my sister's phone number, and waiting for her to answer)

NOEL: (in a voice that sounds like she's got her nose plugged) Hello?

ME: (amused by Noel's silliness) Hi there. How are ya?

NOEL: (still with the weird voice) Um, good. And you?

ME: Good, what's up?

NOEL: (in the increasingly obnoxious voice) Not much, I suppose.

ME: Noel, you sound stupid. Cut it out.

NOEL: (persisting with the annoying voice) I sound what?!

ME: I said, You sound stupid.

NOEL: (still with the voice) Who is this?

ME: Wait, is this Noel?

NOEL: No.

ME: Really?

NOEL: This is NOT Noel. Who is this?

ME: Uh, this is Noel's sister...Are you sure you're not Noel?

NOEL: This is NOT Noel.

ME: Oh, ummmmm. Okay. I'm so sorry. (awkward pause) Well, bye.

In my defense, what are the odds of me accidentally calling a woman whose voice sounds exactly like my sister with a plugged nose. Furthermore, my sisters are often trying to make me believe I have dialed a wrong number when, in fact, I haven't. And lastly, I've just switched phone plans and I'm using Landon's old phone while we wait for mine to arrive, so I'm now dialing all of the phone numbers I normally have on speed-dial.

None of this changes the fact that I told a random stranger that her voice sounds stupid. Sorry, lady. But truthfully, you did have kind of a stupid voice.

Play it again, Griffin!

Griffin celebrated his 1st birthday with a flight to Utah. That's 15 flights for one baby in one year. This kid is a trooper. Mere hours after landing in Salt Lake City, Griffin was ready to party. And party we did. The first night we were there, we attended two parties, one for Griffin's birthday, and another for Christmas. The Huber family knows how to party and I think we had some sort of gathering, pow-wow, hoopla, brouhaha, or get-together every single night that we were in Utah. We loved getting to see all of Landon's family, and Griffin loved all of the attention. Here are some of the favorite moments from the trip:

At first, Griffin was really more excited about the flame than the cake

But pretty soon he got the idea. Who needs a fork? Or hands, for that matter?

He was even gracious enough to share with his dad, who apparently

likes squished birthday cake.

Griffin's cousin, Ben, teaches him about static

Christmas morning at the Huber's

After a little practice, Griffin figures out that it is fun to tear wrapping paper.

After a week in Utah, we flew down to Arizona on the day after Christmas...that's flight #16, for those of you who are counting. I don't know who started all of this business about dreaming of a white Christmas (I think perhaps Bing Crosby had a hand in it), but I'll take a sunny 65-degree Christmas when given the chance, and Arizona provided exactly the chance I was looking for. We spent a week in Mesa with my family and it was spectacular. My family isn't nearly as good about taking pictures as Landon's family, so you'll have to settle for these pictures:

Griffin and his Grandpa reading a story.

For those of you with a good eye: yes, that is a Care Bear

book that I've had since circa 1985

Noel got some foam swords for her birthday, and Griffin was a natural.

We're considering signing him up for baby fencing.

Griffin's first desert hike

Not pictured: Mom challenged Landon to a Roller Coaster Tycoon build-off. This rivalry ended in a draw after approximately 5+ hours of cut throat competition, at which I could only sigh and roll my eyes.

And to all of you who gave Griffin birthday or Christmas gifts: Thank you so much! He loves them all, especially the ones that make noises. There is one in particular that sings a song about a puppy in a red truck; I don't think he's stopped playing with it since we got home. I may have to find the off switch on these toys eventually. But for now, I'm willing to listen to that song all day long if it buys me enough time to get the dishes done.

finding my voice

I've lost my voice today. And truthfully I didn't really realize what a chatterbox I can be until I am robbed of my ability to talk. So instead of talking I'm posting a quick update to the blog.

In the last half of November, we surprised my family by showing up unexpectedly for Thanksgiving (big thanks to Rachael for facilitating that one). My dad's birthday was also that weekend so it was a double celebration. Griffin had a fantastic time hanging out with his grandpa... with everyone else too, but especially Grandpa. I think that was mostly because my dad gave Griffin everything he wanted. Cookies at bedtime? sure, why not?

a quick swim in November? You bet!

Man, Grandpa is a push-over.

So far in December we've been fighting a really awful cold that just won't seem to let go. And now at the very end when I'm finally feeling mostly better, the virus makes one last desperate attempt at spite and steals my voice.

And have I mentioned before that I love working in the Primary children's organization at church? This week I had a little kid tell me that I was "huuuuuge." But I suppose that before I start getting a weight-complex I should remember that earlier in the conversaion he told me that his mom's "really fast van" could drive from Colorado to Canada in twenty minutes. Hopefully, his perception of time and size are equally distorted.

And last but not least, this Christmas we had the 2nd Annual Huber Christmas Cookie-thon. Here are the results: