I had to post a picture from last weekend, since, well, nothing's happened this week.

Greta's been sick since Monday, which is a sad thing. She's definitely getting better, but we also definitely haven't accomplished much this week (unless you count the number of times we watched Pocahontas or Pocahontas II or the discovery of the new hits Pet Party and Puppy Party).

I did, however, manage to get good and hit on by a black man at least 40 years my senior the other day. The conversation went something like this:

"So.... are you married? A girl like you's gotta be married."

"Yes, actually, I am married!"

five minutes later

"So.... are you married for real?"

"Uh, yep. We've been married just about 4 years!" I scramble to look busy with Greta, try not to make eye contact, try to ignore him as much as possible.
"Well, do you love your husband?"
I decided it was a good idea to answer this question. "I do love my husband. We're really happy."

"But does he give you everything you want AND what you need?"

"You know what, he does. I'm really happy with him."

By this point, I'm blushing pretty badly, which never helps anything.

He turns in again, "Do you want to know a secret of mine?"
"This really isn't a good place for secrets."
I then really hustled to ignore him and play with my baby. I'm not sure what exactly he was saying, and I also know I tried very hard not to know what he was saying.

Luckily, another man interrupted and let him know it was his turn at the next window.

So. There you have it. I've clearly still got game.

And though we canceled our Galveston beach plans for the weekend since Greta's still a little too under the weather, we're going to try and get our act together for something this weekend.

Have a good one yourself!

prayer roll

...meanwhile, we're having to institute some pretty heavy prayer restrictions at our house.

Greta's recently learned how to fold her arms and is pretty jazzed about participating in family prayer at mealtimes and bedtime. But, we're clearly not meeting her prayer needs--nor her zeal.

Inevitably, during dinner, she'll fold her arms, nod, and look between Jason and I until we do the same. Not wanting to discourage prayer, we went along with it for awhile. Three dinner prayers. Two lunch prayers. Several bedtime prayers.

Then, as she got more demanding, we decided we had to rein it in. "Sorry Greta, we only pray once at dinner." "No, we're not going to fold our arms right now."

Sometimes I cave. After she kept requesting prayers last night and I was refusing, she let out a pitiful "please?" Seriously? How can I resist that one year old 'please?' (Especially since it sounds like ''eeeeeesh'' and she says it in the back of her throat.)

The other night as we put her to bed, she was exceptionally hysterical. In an effort to thwart her screams, I started praying. It worked. Jason and I took turns, back and forth, back and forth. She folded her arms and would calm momentarily until the "amen." After 6 or 7 prayers and a remaining hysterical child, I just went with it. I started praying and you can bet I kept praying aloud until that child was good and asleep.

Which is also to say, we're praying for a lot of things these days and a lot of people by name (good thing this girl has lots of family!) If anyone else would like in on the prayer roll, we're happy to throw you on board.

We have realized today we may have done her a bit of a disservice. We tried to teach her that after we say "Amen," we don't need to fold our arms any more. So today at church after the "Amen" she knew the cue and would throw her hands up into the air. A-men!

We made it to Texas!

Can I tell you about the drive? Here's our state by state report, with some phone pictures thrown in.

Utah: beautiful canyons and fall colors.

Wyoming: Nothing. Sweet, desolate nothing. WIND. Cold. The baby puked in the middle of nowhere, which is always a delight. We drove through a rainbow!! That was a first. We also drove through a SNOWSTORM, which was pretty unbelievable for September 11th.

Independently drawing in the back seat. Clearly, she has all the room in the world.

Cleaning barf out of car seats on the side of the road.

Wyoming/Colorado: More people wearing camouflage than I've ever seen in my life. And all the gas stations were selling guns and ammo by the front door. We're pretty sure it's hunting season. We're also pretty sure we were the only ones not wearing camo.

Colorado: Beautiful. A lovely state to drive through. So frigid. We were not expecting 30-degree weather.
Our Colorado motel was the worst we've ever stayed in (even worse than our $30 Manti motel that we thought we were going to get murdered in). It was so bad. Our opinion was further swayed when the baby fell off the bed and town sirens went off in the morning. Continental breakfast was rotten milk and green bananas and that's about it.

Cold and miserable.

Same caption could apply here.

Kansas: Nothing but cornfields, Christian rock radio, and anti-abortion or "Trust in Jesus" billboards. Which was more than Wyoming, so at least it's got that.

Oklahoma: Surprisingly lush and green! A fair amount of nothing. Tulsa was surprisingly delightful--a good, big city and we had a blast visiting Jordan. We may have locked our keys in the car and had some unexpected time waiting for a locksmith, but at least we were with good company. We gorged ourselves on a good BBQ dinner and Braum's ice cream to really get the full Oklahoma experience.

Visiting uncle Jordan's school. 

Pretty pleased to take uncle Jordan around. Or as she affectionately started calling him, "Grandpa."

Our third morning on the road, and feeling pretty homeless at this point. Notice the two plastic jelly shoes on top of the car near Jason's shoulder? Unfortunately, due to bad communication on the part of Greta's parents, neither parent removed these shoes before we started driving. Sadly, this is the last sighting.

Texas: Not as pretty, but considerably more inhabited with more signs of life along the interstate. We reached Dallas pretty quickly. So far, I'm pretty freaked out by the bugs and the birds, not going to lie. That constant rattle of the cicadas kinda gives me the creeps.

I think this was actually just over the border in Oklahoma. It was one of my favorite establishments we saw. 

Sleep on, sweet sticker baby. You're almost there. I also highly recommend stickers to anyone else trying to pass time with a one year old.

Arrived in Dallas.

We are thrilled to be off the road and that everything went relatively smoothly. We are also pretty impressed that our 16-month old has now set foot in 16 of the United States -- North, South, East, and West included. I'm sure she'll remember her well-traveled childhood (wink).

More from Texas soon!

celebrations + plans

He did it! He graduated! He's done!

We were all pretty pleased to celebrate Jason's graduation from BYU's Public Relations program two weeks ago. 

So. What's next?

Jason got an internship with The Richards Group and we're headed off to Dallas for the fall! In just two weeks we'll be on the road.

It's been a bit of a nerve-wracking week as we've searched for housing and tried to figure out how little square footage and furniture we can get away with for the duration. At this point in 2014, we've lived in transition/temporary housing for as long as we lived in our own apartment--and we have stuff stored in 3 different places that we need to sort through to get on the road.

But we finally have an apartment lined up -- and we're coping with the fact that I think we'll be sleeping on an air mattress for 3 months. The unfurnished life will be our most homeless experience so far this year, but somehow seems fitting.

The other trick with temporary moves is that we have to schedule everything for the next two weeks that we might schedule over the rest of the year. So Greta has pediatrician appts and allergist appts, Jason has dentist and eye doctor appts, everyone has hair cuts, we need to get a car tune-ups, etc... It's a busy time.

The Richards Group is going to be great for Jason. They're a slick, creative bunch (they're the ad experts behind the Chik-Fil-A cows and the "God Made a Farmer" commercials) and we're really excited about this opportunity. I'm pretty nervous about Dallas, surprisingly more than NYC, but I'm already planning our trips to Galveston and to the state fair. People assure me that people love Dallas and I'll have to take their word on that.

Over and out!

arts & crafts at the Browns

ours:
A couple weeks ago, we finally had the right excuse to make our mosaic. You see, one of our wedding presents was a beautiful red ceramic bowl--that arrived cracked. We thought making a mosaic with it would be pretty great, so we held onto it.
3.5 years later, Jason's Humanities class required that he make one, so we seized the opportunity:

I know. A beet?!
There's a really good story behind this one. And it is meaningful. And if you ask, I'll probably tell you. But it's a little cheesy and we all know how I get scared of that.

hers:
This summer, I've been practicing photography by doing some black and white children's portraits. Some more natural, some more posed. All of these taken in my old bedroom at my mom's.

 Here's a scary thing to say, but I'll say it: I'd like to practice doing more! Let me know if you'd be interested in a free sort of thing like this.

his:
Jason does love design. His most recent project was his graduation invitation.

the baby's:

(she doesn't care about arts and crafts NEAR as much as she cares about birds right now, but you gotta do something to get through church.)

weekend

This weekend we did pretty well in our attempt to cross a few things off that list.

Friday: 800 S and State St Taco date
followed by magic in Liberty Park

Saturday morning: cruising the downtown SLC Farmer's Market

Beignets!! (she even gave us extras.)

Saturday evening: Albion Basin/Cecret Lake hike
Seriously though, those wildflowers. Get up there soon for their August splendor.
Also, mosquitos kept going after baby girl's scalp, so her rockin' bandana came in handy.

august dreams

Salt Lake living is good. And I feel pretty strongly about how awesome August is. But I still have a lot I want to fit in to the Utah part of summer.

Any other suggestions?
And want to join in any of the fun?