Acting my age?

When I was little, I knew exactly what a grown up was. 

Grown-ups:
-are not scared of the dark, spiders, or asking questions to intimidating teachers.

-have money to pay for stuff (trampolines, houses, plumbers, dish soap)

-can talk to other important grown-ups.

-know how to do tricky things (put gas in a car, untangle necklace chains, start campfires, get gum out of hair, write checks.)

-hold the phone with their shoulder with out it fall down their back.

-can tie balloons without letting all the air out.

-talk on the phone for a long time about boring things.

-chew with their mouth closed, don't lean back in chairs, never "let one fly" in public, make their beds, eat their vegetables, wear deodorant, and wipe their feet.

-get married and have babies.

-cook real food with sharp knives instead of pretending.

-go to work. 

Well some of this was right and some was wrong.

 

 

"we never really grow up, we just add things to our 'don't do that again' list."

-Tori

 

 

I didn't magically reach a point on my 18th birthday, when life got easier and I didn't have to learn anything new.  Good thing too, that sounds pretty boring.

The trick is that anything I'm am good at, came from trying and failing and trying again.  I never would have been any good at undoing knotted necklaces if it weren't for the hours on road trips dedicated to reviving my sadly tangled chains. 

I can remember sitting on the rug in my bedroom with a little bottle of red nail polish.  The task required all of my focus.  The dripping red brush moved closer and closer to my tiny fingernail.  Brow furrowed, lips pursed, I was going to paint the prettiest manicure ever. 

Three splotched figernails later, with no Tori, earthquake, or sneeze to blame, my desire for pretty nails won over my independence and I watched in awe as mom slide the brush gracefully over each of my nails perfectly "in the lines."

guess what,  I didn't really practice this one, and now I'm a grown up and still get frusterated by the third nail and the rest are all sloppy. 

Being a grown up just means I've had more time to practice... life. 

...and guess what else.  Sometimes grown up stuff sounds a lot cooler than it is.  Case in point:

Tikla V Fife: Entrepreneur, Chief Executive Officer and Owner of My English Education Tutor (MEET) currently in it's pilot/fledgling stages;
married to incredibly handsome Senior Vice President of Sales at Linx Communications Austin Tyler Fife.

The first part of that sentence sounds way cooler than it really is, and the second part is way cooler than it sounds. :)

I can put on a business suit, heals, and stick a bluetooth in my ear,
I know what the words plethora, extemporaneous, retrospect mean,
I fixed the plumbing in our kitchen sink,

BUT

My professional outfits are usually marred by an oversized bow or flower in my hair,
I had to use spell checker to figure out how to spell extemporaneous,
and the rotten beans that were plugging our kitchen pipes made me want to go to timeout and punch a pillow.

SO

I guess being grown up is still being Tikla,  it just sounds cooler. :)

(Stills from my "coming soon" ESL video tutorial)

According to Austin, I'm "pretty gangster."

Absence makes the heart grow...

...impatient. 

I sat in my car, at the Bajios parking lot, crying all my mascara off, after Austin left for the airport again today.  The grandma in the car next to me was this close to knocking on the Trooper window to offer me her hankie.

What is wrong with me!!  He'll be back on SUNDAY!!!

Sunday people.  That is not very long.  But I'm telling you, when your husband is as good a kisser, suggler, protector, pizza baker, foot rubber, and movie quoter as mine is, yeesh it get's kinda lonesome without him. 

I'd go on, but you'd probably leave to surf a less depressing blog; and besides, it's 8 minutes past my bedtime.  So, I'll leave it at that and go get in my jammies. 

P.S. Blowing a christmas gift card at Michael's did wonders to improve my mood.  :)  Night all! 

Things...

...I don't like, lucky for me:

bacon

tootsie rolls

oreos

Things I don't like, but wish I did:

naps

kale

turnips

..........................................

In other thoughts, this month I'm thinking of retitling my blog to "Missing Husband: million dollar reward."  Pretty sure he's got two week long business trips for January.  Yuck.  The two day retreat, that left me to fight the alligators under the bed by myself last night, was bad enough.  Am I the only one who still does the turn off the light and quickly jump into the covers before the bad guys get you routine? 

...........................................

Something to dream about:

+

=

Our future kids.  :)

Christmas travels

It wasn't until we left Washington that I realized this was the only picture I have from the trip.  Sad face!

It's pretty stinkin' cute though.   

These girls were so fun!  Samantha was ever the gracious host; their home is so comfy. 

All too soon it was time to go. 

We hopped on a plane to OK and got to hang out with these little dudes. 

There is nothing that makes me more baby hungry than watching Austin play with his nieces and nephews.  Here's a little preview of Daddy Austin.

this one is a winner!

Poor Dustin was sick again, but other than that, the trip was very enjoyable.  Amber was generous, welcoming, and full of good advice. 

So, I took a few more photos in Oklahoma than Washington, but still not enough to capture the range of cuteness we experienced for both "Christmas's"

Lucky for me, mom got a new camera for Christmas.  So we have a whole slew of paparazzi pictures from our visit to Cedar City. 

The least fun part of sledding is always the part where you grab your heavy coaster, clean the snow out of your ears, and hike the long trek back up the mountain.  Well guess what folks!  We went to Brianhead, and they do the climbing for you.

This is the totally awesome cable that pulls you and your tube up the hill. 

on your mark, get set, GO!

Yup that's me getting left in the dust, literally.

let's go get back in line.

We noticed mom's camera pointed our way. 

In my mind I thought: here's a cute photo op!

Austin thought: hehe won't this be funny later.

If you try to steal a kiss and fail, is it called "attempted robbery?"  because Austin is guilty.  That's what you get for ruining our cute photo op. 

note: I <3 Reece's Buzz Lightgear eyebrows.



David Archuleta

Perhaps you remember this post, when I alluded to the fact that Tori is a pretty die hard Archie fan?  Well what I failed to mention, I was there biting my nails and crossing my fingers right along with her during the final moments of the only American idol series I ever followed completely.

So when this talented guy came to Cedar and the concert happened to coincide with Starr and Sterling's birthday,  we bought tickets.  Under the guise that it was for Starr of course ...lies, we wanted to go more than she did.

 Much to my dismay, when we got home I realized my camera had the audio disabled the whole show.  darn!  At least you get to see his cute performing skills from the SECOND ROW!

 I have a whole bunch of short clips, and then he starts coming really close to our seats and I think to myself, Why am I recording this!?!?  I could be watching the real thing! then the clip ends.  :)  Did I mention we were on the second row?

He bore testimony during the second set of the Savior's birth through his music.   I cried. 

Antoroth, mom, food, and garage...if you think of a witty blogpost title that includes those things, let me know.

 This may very well be my favorite picture from the whole trip.  Imagine thought bubbles...

A: I'm so happy!  This is Jay my best buddy, and we are playing Risk! skipadeedoo!
J: Don't touch me weirdo. 

This is Sterling's classic "why is this camera in my face" face.  Some how he is still stinkin' adorable. 

Now I need you all to summon your inner nerd for a moment.  Here we have Reece.  Captain of his football team, star actor, and all around stud muffin; creating a clay model of his self imagined world "Antoroth."  May I add, he whipped up that batch of play dough himself, dyed it different colors, drew the country lines with a complicated grid system to perfectly mimic his original artwork, and modeled the whole thing.  If it wasn't so intensely creative, I would have been making fun of him the whole trip. 

Now, the reason we came in the first place:

Thanksgiving!

blew my mind.

This is the new house!  (totally cozy, spiffed up little place)

Starr made everyone little name tags. I think this one was my favorite.

 The fam bam.  Though I mostly posted this one for Tori's face.  I <3 her face.

Speaking of faces I love.  Isn't she lovely!  Pretty sure she is supposed to be hitting an awkward phase right now...nope I don't see it.  Anyone? 

I was burnt out on "Nerts" so Austin taught everyone a new one, "13."  Big hit. For more information on how to play contact Austin Tyler Fife, current champion and forever ruler of my heart.

Presenting....

The Birthday Girl!

Beauty Mommy!

Austin and I couldn't stay for her birthday, so we celebrated early.  Our first gift was to turn this:

 Into this:

Moving is still hard even after 20 practice houses.  I think they just might be here to stay.

(knock on wood quick!)

The next part of the gift was the "mom spa."  This package includes:

Foot massage

Hair played with

hand rub

roses presented by Sterling

two Brown kids original song arrangements sung while you are being pampered. 

private candle lit bath

...she cried.  I'm guessing she liked it?

You are loved mom, even if we don't show it this well very often. 

I adore the feeling in this picture from the boys particularly.  they look so completely involved in making mom feel happy. 

So long famaree!  See you again soon!

Mystery

Oh the intrigue, the suspense, The AWESOMENESS! 

So remember this little baby?

It pretty much rocked!  Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Valerie Eisenhoover First Lady of the United States of America. 

Here's the murder scene...

This was my first time acting in an audience-interactive show and I loved it!  The most interesting thing was watching people's reaction to acting up close. 

My character was a tad emotional most of the show, so getting teary and running off to the bathroom may have happened a couple times.  Usually, when you cry in front of someone, they are super uncomfy or try to console you. 

In this sitch they looked up at me with entertained, impressed, having a good time faces.  That was new.  :)

My favorite memories from the show:

-Dad laughing before during and after all the jokes in Erma Chelse's speech

-The one horned cow stalking the Spring Haven grounds, and "the president"s attempt to shoo it

-away with a folding chair. 

-The love square

-Murder in the dark until 3 in the morning.

-The bell

-Secretary of Defense Irving giving Erma mouth to mouth for real

-the excuse to wear false eyelashes

-The Germans

-Knowing the death scene was coming and being so distracted I didn't let Reece lead the dance in the ballroom.

-My FAMILY CAME!

-Grandpa loudly accusing me of being the murder during the final interrogation scene.

-Austin gushing about how hot the President's wife is. 

Is it weird that I get such a kick out of performing?

When Austin called last night after the cast party I said,

K, so, love?  I may or may not have just tried out for something else...

(he is still laughing...at me or with me I still don't know...)