i am an ungrateful jerk.

this morning i woke up and thought "how is it even possible for both of them to be so bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7:00 every morning?!"

then i thought more things throughout the day:
i have to feed them breakfast.
i have to change his diaper.
gosh! why does he have to be such a butt cheese right now?!
i have to get ready.
i have to go spend hours waiting around at the filth covered social security office.
ugh! it smells awful in here.
i could be on the beach with my family right now.
i really think i was just crop dusted.
oh no, its just the old man behind me that clicks and keeps rippin 'em.
finally i get to go home.
BLAST! i need to go back, they effed this all up.
still smells, still taking forever.
im going to turn on a show for the kids and lay down on the couch to rest for only 15 min.
NOT! txt msg. guess im going to do that frikin grocery shopping a bit earlier than planned.
damned whole foods, 50 bucks for 3 bags once again.
here i come costco.
there is a bum, ill offer to buy him something to eat.
damned costco, 99 bucks for 1 box of stuff ... once again.
UGH, my blueberries are getting wrinkly. now i HAVE to make muffins with them.
UGH, i still have to clean the house and pack.

what the hell is wrong with me you ask?
i asked myself the same thing.
for a brief moment, after putting my muffins in the oven, i thought of that beautiful man. that beautiful bum of a dirty homeless man and the delight in his heart when he set his eyes upon that slice of pizza. costco pizza even.
i never give the needy money. but when i come across the less fortunate, i ALWAYS offer to buy them a meal. ALWAYS. i firmly believe that everyone is responsible for their own fate, luck, current situation, whatever you want to call it. there is surely some dumb reason they are living on the streets. some dumb reason they cant walk into 7-11 or mc donalds and find a job. but whatever. thats not my problem. my problem is the ache in my heart, knowing that they are a beautiful person, filled with a sweet soul and the fact that they are most likely starving. sure its probably cause they spend all those mega bucks they make panhandling on booze or smokes. oh well. they are still hungry. and althoug i have come across my share of non-thankfuls, i keep on.
the look in that sweet mans eyes and that smile on his face brought a pretty little song to my heart. SO, after those muffins went in the oven, for a brief moment my heart hummed the tune of the aforementioned pretty little song and i chuckled under my breath....
I AM A BUTT HOLE!!!!!

i need to try this again... how about:
how wonderful to wake each morning to the smiling faces of the small people that fill my heart to the brim with joy!
how wonderful to have food to give them and diapers for his bum.
how wonderful that i was able to get my "citizenship" confirmed even though i am definitely not an alien and was definitely born in la jolla california in a clean and safe hospital with a dr that knew what the heck he was doing.
how wonderful that i got to sit down for 30 seconds today.
how wonderful that i have lovely friends and could go say hello to one of them if only for a brief moment.
how wonderful that i can afford food for my family; that i can just run to whole foods and costco and get all the things we need... and want.

how wonderful that my kids always have mountains of produce and healthy food to chow down on.

how wonderful that i have a house to clean and a kitchen to make a mess of.

how wonderful does my kitchen smell cause i was able to whip up some muffins real quick.

my biggest "woe is me" moments are usually filled with complaint that i have to be so danged far away from my family.

how wonderful, that i am only a days drive from them?! that i can throw my littles in the car and if i leave early enough and drive fast enough, be there in time for dinner. 

how wonderful that my babes get to see my family every couple months.

how wonderful that they love and know so well, their grama kaki and grampa dunky and unco doug and ant alison.

i am so very blessed and for this i am so very thankful.

why short hair is better than long.

cause it is.
-i dont have to spend a million years in the bathroom blowing and straightening. it takes maybe 2.7 minutes to complete my "styling" if it can even be called that each day.
-i dont have to get my roots fixed every 6 weeks. if it gets dyed, it grows out and gets chopped off nice n fast.
-no more spendy brazillian blowouts. ill admit, they are a very nice thing to have around if you are a long haired frizz ball like i once was. WAS being the operative word. my hairs now are nicely healthy and smooth and lay flat.
-i dont have to worry about "OH EMMM GEEEE!!! my hair is going to get wet! OH NOOOOO! stay away, stay very far away you mean water!" not that i was like that before, but most females are. who has time to worry about what they look like when there is fun to be had?

dont get me wrong, i do love pretty things and cute clothes and of course i LOVE my lipstick. but there is a time and a place for those things. and there are times and places when one should think "who the heck cares?! wait.. what? lipstick schmipstick... its SUMMA TYYYYME!"

anyway, you get it. you catch my drift. you smell what im steppin in.

i thought of this today while at the splash pad yes again, we go all the time with my littles. lots of moms were done up all nicely, looking so very pretty they really were very pretty. im not just being a sarcastic butt hole as per usual, yelling and shouting to their kids from the sidelines. booooring. they probably thought i was a maniac which most people do. but man, it was hot and the water was cold. and it. felt. good. so i ran around with them and got soaked. fun fun johnny biscuit voice.

p: look mom! we both have on purple water shoes! we match, take a picture.

im a greek food snob.

this afternoon/ evening i had the pleasure of taking teddy out on a date.

i live near this place. i have a love for greek food. each time i drive by i think "i should try it one day..."only i havent cause having worked at petes for 5 years turned me into a greek food snob. it has been 6 years since my last shift and i have yet to find something that compares. 

oh AND it really bothers me that every single greek restaurant iv been to refers to their sandwiches as a gyro. a gyro is not a type of sandwich. gyro is the meat. there is no such thing as a chicken gyro or a pork gyro. how can you call yourself a real greek restaurant....?  vent sesh done. 

anyway,  a friend said it was delish so this is where we came for dinner. and i ordered a "gyro." haha. it makes me laugh to say that. i had a sandwich. a pita wrapped around some gyro. it was good, but i am still looking forward to my next denver trip so i can U.P.C.  it up and get me a grecian for my gut. 

greek food snob.

funny faces.

he REALLY liked the tzatziki. so much so, that he decided he needed some in his hair and on his neck.

and to eat only that... with his fingers. 

the smart little fella... "hooray! its o-gurt dip!"

then we went to the park.

and after that, to red mango for some ice cream.

firestar and a new camera

we dont have cable.

polly and teddy have fallen in love with the old, from the 70's "spiderman and his amazing friends" series that has been on netflix recently. 

pollys favorite is firestar. spidermans girl friend. as in, friend that is a girl.

her preschool had a super hero party. she of course wanted to be firestar. where in the world was i supposed to find one of these costumes? i didnt even try. instead i got her some red and yellow layers, made a mask out of an old piece of red foam and elastic, and used old left over hair spray paint from last halloween. 

she was firestar.

she was happy.

i was kinda proud of myself.

the other day while trying to kill some time, i went to the di. i found an awesome working flash for only 5 bucks and this sweet little gem of an old 80's camera for only one dolla make you holla! i snatched it up for the polster. she LOVES it.

teaching me how to use her camera.

when teddy freaks out and starts whining and crying, i do the same back to him. not only does he stop, he starts laughing. and its funny.

and he is certainly my favorite boy in all of existence. 

so handsome i can not stand it.

he was apparently sick of waiting around for me to finally do some laundry so he tossed his socks in the sink and asked me to wash them.

we like to do crafts each day.

on this day, while i had the joy of being home alone w my girl, we painted.

she made a beautiful picture of fireworks, lollipops and an octopus.

she suggested i paint a picture of an octopus holding lollipops in the rain.

int he mornings, since i am certainly not a morning person, we do lazy things like watch music videos on the comp.

polly of course chooses tay tay. while picking her nose. two birds, one stone.

a date.

my shweeet ashlee and i have been in dire need of a picture of both of our faces. together. for the great site. which i have been promising will be up and running "very soon" for months now, but iv been too busy being lazy and what not so its only creeping along.... but hey! now i am one step closer!

yestereve, wow, is that really a word? no dotty red line underneath, i finally went to her house, finally brought the camera as if i ever leave it anywhere, and finally made mr mike follow us to the wall next door. 

needless to say, it was impossible to be serious. and these are the "good ones" if you will. the best of the bunch. 

o. dear.

sept fer except for my friend is a true beaut.

tried to stand on a mini ledge. it less worked. gave up. chose an even better pose.

tried to do the "im sexy and i know it" hot mama model pose. awkward. so i laughed.

i almost contracted aids from this filthy piece of dirt covered bum glass. good thing im immune to everything.

and THIS happened. quite possibly, the best photo ever created in all of existence. iv decided to start doing this with all of my pics. 

that was a joke. 

but apparently some people really like when things like this are done with their photos. 

im just glad it provided us with a night filled to the brim with gut busting laughter. 

over. and. over. again.

every time i looked at it, i started rolling. again.

with no exaggeration, i sat on my couch, staring and laughing for a good 10-15 min straight. then came back for more multiple times.

my eyes were filled with tears and my belly was filled with aches.

my husband surely thinks i am a complete maniac. i know this to be a fact. while sitting on the counch across from me, he stared for a bit, then realized my obnoxious cackle was not going to let up anytime soon, so he shoved his ear phones in and with the roll of his eyes, he was back to doing whatever it was he was doing. 

and i was still there... sitting, witnessing, laughing. 

after the photo shesh, we went to get some din, indian food magic. then went shopping.

it was grand.

this is where we chose to park. is there a person who can guess why this one? 

cant be too hard. we think like small children.

you could be a nerd if....

the things that make you cry are:
1. great music
2. amazing photography
3. phenomenal videography
really. it sounds pathetic, i know. but these three things have a way of touching my soul.

rarely does a day go by that i dont listen to, very loudly cant begin to count the number of speakers iv blown out in my lifetime (including another in my car last night) and scream at the top of my lungs, with no care who is around, my favorite songs of the moment. i get chills and my little hairs stand up while having water droplets form in my eye balls.

photos and videography also do this to me.

i spend much of my minimal amounts of "free time" watching videos of people i dont know and stalking other photographers photos.

there are some truly talented people that have a beautiful ability to create magic. i aspire to be like them. besides the musicians of course, anyone that knows anything about me is aware that i could not carry a tune in a bucket.

i am thankful for them.  for sharing their works in all of their splendor. for bringing a smile to my heart. for the inspiration.

if you are a normal person, you are probably thinking "that christine, she is somethin else..."
if you are not, and are a nerd like me, my most recent love can be found here, in the middle of the page... so keep scrollin. it was introduced to me by mrs dehaas. thanks to her.

and my next, that i just can not seem to get enough of is here. iv been oogling over this one for quite some time. months actually. my favorite is the end.

i know right?

also, if you are still reading, my favorite songs that i cant seem to get enough of are:
ryan adams kindness
fun. carry on and some nights
and miss adele's rendition of make you feel my love

grab a tissue and enjoy.

spidermom

a few days back we were lucky enough to spend an entire day with our sweet friends, celebrating the blessed occasion of their marriage. they did the temple thing in the morn and the reception was in the eve.

being that all of this took place in american fork and we live up in salt lake, we needed to fill the mid section of our day with some sort of activity to avoid driving back and forth 58 times.

we spent a few hours at the mall. while passing finish line, the high top spiderman reeboks caught my daughters eye... and stole her heart. she HAD to have them. and when a 4 year old princess, in a pretty skirt begs for a shoe filled with awesomeness of this magnitude, you HAVE to buy them for her.

naturally, ted was extremely jealous. they didnt make such a small size of these, so we headed to journeys kids in hopes of finding him a "pidaman shoe"

red hightop converse did the trick. he is as in love with them as sister is with hers.

yes, she belongs to me. i am proud.

another day, after pink had spent many a minute in her room arranging a marriage of her own, i was invited in to be the "pintographer."

all of the boys.

all of the girls.

she must have been paying close attention at the temple.

green has taken a liking to helping me make dinner.

and eating raw onions.

also, i have greasy unwashed hair. i did zero getting ready this day other than putting clean clothes on.

cereal is my weakness.

i dont feel so bad about eating such unhealthy things like frosted flakes, cookies and chocolate cakes for breakfast cause if i have raw milk to go along with it, all of the healthfulness in the milk cancels out the badness in my treats.... right? 

if im wrong, dont tell me.

we like to dress up and play super heroes.

she is being "light wave" while ted thinks he is "pidaman" in my blue workout shirt that has never been used for working out mind you. and red leg warmers.

and i am "spidermom." yes, that is a pair of my big butted granny panties on my head. i tried to get away with out wearing a mask but the kids were NOT having it. spider mom MUST wear a mask. this was all i could think of. so, i put underwear on my head.... and face.... they were clean.

super heroes make dinner.

and after a long hard day of making dinners, playing, running around with children and saving the world, super heroes rest.