Merry Christmas!

Rovalis

had us a good time this last week with our friend's natalie and marcus.  we went down to historic 25th (coupon in hand from indie ogden) and ate at Rovali's

prices were fair, food was delicious

topped with lavender lemonade (yes that's right, super good too)

along with a free cheesecake dessert (well the husband ate it)

we seriously debated about getting out to look at the lights in downtown ogden

it was like 28 degrees, then i remember my little sister hali...

she's in russia and it's -31 degrees

needless to say, we decided to get out and walk

christmas memories

thinking back to this post...

made me think that i should take some photos of some of my favorite ornaments.

just in case that day of smashing them comes sooner.

and because i feel that ornaments are blog worthy.

we have one from mount rushmore

aiko's first christmas ornament

(grandma says that his eyes remind her of my baby...she kind of does have beady little eyes)

i'm a sucker for the blown glass, so pretty!

(which is all that much easier to smash)

this one i got in columbus ohio with annie.

it's suppose to ward of witches

so

yeah

these have the high honor of being on the garland this year.

last year, they were under my bed.

these are just a few ornaments on my ugly christmas tree.

so excited to see what the next 10 years bring that are ornament worthy!

kolob canyon

(one of our favorite hikes)

nativity scene background brought to you by the husband

he's painted three paintings in his life.

this is one of them

and probably the last three he'll ever paint. 

other posts about kolob and hiking southern utah here and here.

historic 25th street, not the brothel it used to be

so, my lovely friend alicia, a barista, gave aiko and i a tour of historic 25th street

which...apparently was the brothel district back in the day.

but NO more!

(as far as i know anyway)

she took us to "a good life cafe"

where we dined on soup and a delish sandwich 

topped it off with a fruit smoothie.

i've had a lot of vegetarian sandwiches...and theirs was by far the best.

plus the soup of the day was a curry lentil soup.

YUM.

the shop below the cafe was super hip...and not badly priced

(husband note this.) 

blooming lotus imports

picture is kind of blurry

aiko was a good little raptor and slept most of time.  

she slept, whilst balancing on the pub chairs...

a few things i mentally noted for future reference...

i usually carry an extra outfit, but i didn't and needed

i did actually fill up on wipes right before. 

(10 points for me)

i learned to change her on a chair

she doesn't mind her milk cold

she doesn't mind eating while in her moby

she eats almost 10 ounces 

(which i'm still baffled that comes out of me)

i need business cards

(the husband is creating a website for me...soon to be released)

alicia loves to network

i'm very excited to spend more time on historic 25th street with this lovely lady!

No Espanol. Zilch, None, Nada part II

the other day i was standing in front of the spice rack debating if i really should buy that much curry, when a mexican grandpa came by.  i shifted to allow him space, since the spice rack is limited on space

he's mumbling in spanish

only i realize he isn't mumbling to himself, 

he is talking to ME.

when i don't respond or even look at him 

he finally speaks english to me.

"don't you speak spanish?" says mexican grandpa

"no, just a tiny bit" says i

"it's good to know two languages." 

"yeah, i bet it is."

"are you mexican?"

"no." a little to loudly i felt

"what are you then?"

"japanese."  

i do enjoy seeing people's faces, it's a look of shock and confusion.  i patiently await the default phrase i know is coming.

"but your eyes are so big." thanks gramps.  i get this ALL the time, Merry Christmas to you too.

"do you speak japanese?"

"no" i say.  "do you?"

"no" he says, then walks away.

that's it. 

sheesh

see previous post 

such a happy boy

i basically traded my soul...

but it's worth it to see him smile like this. 

crafty auntie hannah

so we've seen them on pinterest

those super cute onesies

well, auntie hannah made a bunch for aiko

(so weird to put her name there instead of baby! we're making progress)

below we have a line up for you

obviously, she doesn't feel that she "nailed it."

she was probably quite hungry.

if you'll recall, we called her "fetus" for the whole pregnancy.

but no more.

this one was an ode to the kona.

someday, when she can at least hold her own head up,

we'll try riding the kona.

this one is a favorite.

auntie hannah spent quite the time on these.

hand cutting each saying with an exacto knife

then painstakingly painting each letter.

well done auntie

well done.

"ugly" christmas tree

i was just reading my friend erin's post about her "crappy christmas decorations"

she has four kids and is in despair about her christmas tree. 

she let her kids decorate it

usually, i would just laugh about these kind of things

(no offense erin)

but life has changed (obviously)

i had no idea how drastically though. 

i believe there are two kinds of trees in the world...well maybe three.

1 - pretty trees - you know, the trees that look like they were purchased right from the fancy stores or found on pinterest

2 - charlie brown trees. if you don't know what this is. . . 

shame on you.

3 - ugly trees.  yes, my kind of tree. i have a short poem i wrote last year about it.  i'm not normally the poetic type, but this is the real deal.  plus i made a treasury on etsy about it as well. 

i have what some might call an ugly Christmas tree.

my tree has hundreds of memories.

each ornament has a story you see.

so come, join the challenge of the 

ugly Christmas tree.

the other day i went to my first "play date"

one of the mom's was lamenting about all her smashed ornaments.

(gasp)

smashed ornaments?!?!

apparently, i didn't realize how passionate i was about my ornaments. i don't really care about the placement or anything on the actual tree

but smashing them!?!

if you had read my poem (and deeply contemplated the meaning) you'll understand that each ornament contains a memory.  instead of buying souvenirs, i purchase an ornament on every trip.

i actually stopped and just stared at this mom.

i had never considered that my little raptor would become a godzilla a destroy my memories.

goodness, now i feel the need to run upstairs and take photos of all my favorite ornaments!  now i'm going to have to post about it too.  luckily, i still have one more year before she unleashes terror on my ugly christmas tree.

indie ogden

i've been going to ogden my entire life

but "going to ogden" included gram's house and the mall.

that's it.

since moving here, i decided it was time to change

come to find out, there is tons to see and do!

one of our first ventures was last friday to the Indie Ogden Awards

so all the local companies brought out their goods to the union station

there were cupcakes, climbers, hawks, artists, sushi...

all sorts of fun things to see.

then there was an awards ceremony thanking all the businesses

come to find out... one of the booths contained a local cedarite.

chris bodily went to college with the husband.

so, i bought this cute print for the babe's room

now just to find a frame!

there was lots of delicious foods (plus coupons!)

cute husband. 

who else wants to join us?

the objective:

support the locals and eat good food!

obi-wan kenobi

just imagine the force taking control of you while Aiko's cuteness melts your heart into a puddle

we really did like the name "skye"

but really, she would be named skye walker

not cool people

well, kind of cool.

i still exist

it kind of stinks being replaced by that baby

but this is what happens when she coos at me.

i like her too.

just don't tell anyone

aiko here

just letting you know that mama keeps me well fed

these cheeks are just crazy

its kind of a gross picture

this was within the first week we brought her home

notice how she still has arms and a single chin

but after eating, she became a bobble head and then slapped her arm across my belly.

completely drunk with mama's milk

i just couldn't help it.

aiko's first road trip

montana...we went

this is Bozeman Montana

obviously, she loved it

she slept most of the time anyway

we did almost die while sliding down a snowy road near Yellowstone

luckily, we did not

the song "Jesus, take the wheel" 

has a complete new meaning for me.

best thing about being a mom?

people send you presents for you baby!

like these cute miniature books.

auntie mem sent these books, because they were a family favorite

glad i can continue the tradition!

something you may not know about me

i am weird

i'll admit it

i just spent the entire last week in Montana

graduating to become a Certified Footzoner

maybe you have heard of it?

no?  

well, let's just say, without footzoning, essential oils, and pretty much vegan meals,

i'm pretty sure my sweet little baby would never existed.

so, you'll probably be hearing about this a lot from me,

you may think it's weird

but you'll get over it. 

what is footzoning?

you have energy signals in your feet for your entire body

and through footzoning, we help balance those signals

so you become who God meant you to be

while helping the body to heal itself

crazy right?

(i know, i am commonly called the witchdoctor, but my name is Harmony.  hippiness here we come!)

so i've been working on graduating for a while

and now it is done!

here are a couple pictures of where you graduate

only seems fitting

being in the middle of nowhere

with the teepees (which had it been summer, i totally would have slept in these)

see the river?  

that's where my teachers would go and move the rocks back and forth, 

just to get some sunshine and exercise 

it's a lovely place

it was very calming (well after passing my tests)

oh, this cat?

well during class he sat down right in front of me and started. . .

uh-hem, cleaning himself

it made things a little awkward.