My kitchen is ...almost done!!!

After a lot of stress, 3 fired tile setters, a temporary backsplash that I hated, and a lot of money, we finally found a tile guy who KNOWS what he is doing. And the result:a cool looking backsplash.


So now I feel good about my kitchen and the kitchenete downstairs. I'm so excited that my visions are finally coming to life. Next and last priority will be some funky brightly colored kitchenaid appliances for some positive space.

Last but no least I need someone to fix my dining pendants. They are all different sizes thanks to my compromising on length with Mike. He should've just left the decision for the designer...

My Mother, The Idiot...by Isaac Vernon.

Isaac here. My turn to write on this blog. My mother, bless her heart is starting to become more like my father, a bit of a space cadet. Especially when she is pregnant, she seems to really do stupid things. Take yesterday for example, she decided that she would buy more grout for the tile guy on Saturday morning, instead of taking me Friday afternoon to Contempo to get the extra grout. Consequently we were rushing out the door early in the morning as she hurried to get some food for myself and for her since she needs to eat to avoid being sick. So she puts me on the countertop and leaves me with a screwdriver, ten inches away from the unprotected outlet, wires hanging out.

I wanted to try out my skills as an electrician since I've been in homes under construction my entire life thus far. So I stuck the screwdriver into all the outlet wires which in turn made a blowing up noise and let out a little puff of smoke. I managed to this in about 1.2 seconds while she turned around to get some juice from the fridge. I knew what I was doing, I just thought I would try to give her a heart attack.

That was fun, but then I felt bad for her, cause she kept calling herself "idiot" and "stupid". So throughout the day, I kept thinking of something I could do to make her feel better. So last night while she was talking to my aunt Rachel, I decided to go potty all by myself. Mommy has kind of half heartedly tried teaching me to go #2 on my potty once or twice. But I thought,"Hey, how hard can this be? Why don't I just surprise my mom and do something she hasn't even really trained me to do yet?" So I did, she was so excited she got hysterical. At first I thought she was really mad at me then she kissed me and clapped and I realized she was happy. She couldn't figure out how the heck I did that by myself. Duh!!! I took my diaper off and went into my bathroom and used my potty.

I don't know why it is that mothers tend to underestimate our attention span and willingness to try something new. I taught my mom a great lesson, both with a screw driver and with my self potty training. Yeah!!!

I love photography.

So since I can remember I have had a love for photo. I wish I had taken more classes in college but the stupid Visual Arts dept. at the Cougar was very mean and didn't let anyone take any classes that were not part of your major. So needless to say I'm sure some of those photogs wanted to take a design class or two and were frustrated just like me. At least we shared the same building and I actually got to pose for a couple of shoots.

Anyway, but the thing about photography that I love is that it compensates for my desire of being artistic again. I really wanted to get my masters in Architeture, but I'm finally over it, I think. Kind of the same feeling I had before I had a kid, when I really wanted a puppy. Now I've got a child, I don't need any more puppies.

I just love being creative, and making something original. That's my favorite part. Photo for the sake of art really intrigues me, sure I love taking cute pics of my Isey. I'll cherish them forever. But when I can find a blank canvas then add a tad of ISO, a spoonful of aperture, and some shutter speed, it really makes me feel good. Who knows maybe one day I'll get to work with Brian Niven, that would be awesome.

**Photo feature taken at the airport waiting for Mike, and showing Isaac airplanes landing, by yours truly.**

4 posts in less than 24 hours!

I'm reading the 4 hour Work Week, and I'm trying to get everything done in less than 4 hours. Just to say I beat the author and have become successful at it, thus making it my turn to write a Best Seller.

But really this one post is going to be 2 in 1. First of all not only was Sunday Mother's Day, but as of a few hours ago it is also my mother's Birthday. The big 51! They just keep getting bigger don't they? Anyway, I don't know what else I could say to her than what I already have for Mother's Day. So I guess Happy Birthday Mom is good enough.

So since you are not here and you keep bugging me to write down everything that Isaac does, so I have it for reminiscing one day here it goes as your present:

1. We really chose Isaac's name well. It means: He laugheth. Isaac is constantly making sounds with his mouth, and for the most part he's laughing. Especially, when you hold him, he loves laughing. He also makes some very cute faces, he likes to wrinkle his nose and bite his tongue while sticking out sidways(I'll have to find a picture, I know I have one somewhere).

2. Isaac loves to dance. I think he'll be a new version of Justin Timberlake or the next Dancing With The Stars Champ. The kid just loves moving, he'll constantly do a version of samba/merengue on his tippy toes that makes any ballroom dancer look bad.

3. Isaac loves to jump: he calls it "dump", but he actually mostly uses the Portuguese translation "pula". He'll do it on our bed while we're watching tv, he'll jump from one stair to the next. He jumps from everywhere he can.

4. Isaac's favorite movie is Cars. Although he was crazy about Lightning Mcqueen, he's now taking more interest in Mater, which he calls Mey-low. And consequentely, every time we go somewhere now he wants to drive. He's not even two yet, we already have to deal with this.

5. He's learning to count to 10 in English and Portuguese, and he loves getting to 10 so we can all say "Yay" and clap. A couple of days ago we had done this a couple of times and Dad was paying more attention to his laptop than Isaac. So Isaac kept saying: "Yay, papai, Yay." Until Mike said it, Isaac wouldn't let up.

6. He loves his "ban-banho" (bath) and he'll sing in the bath tub and fight with Nemo and everything. Then when he's done, he's learned to get out, go to the door and peak at us seating at our desks. As soon as we see him, he runs to the toy room butt naked and all wet. Happens every time.

7. Isaac's counting skills are getting better and better, and Daddy couldn't be more proud. While in Nashville Mike and Jeff were trying to both teach their kids about money. So they know that a green dollar bill is 'money.' Isaac now counts as follows: 1,2,3, Money!

8. Mike and I a couple of months ago taught Isaac to say "Wake up", and "sleep". Actually pretty much every word in Portuguese we teach him, is more like half the word. So for "dormir"(sleep) he says "mimir". So now when he feels like it he pushes our heads down and tells us to go "mimir". Then a few seconds later he says "Wake up! Papai, wake up Mamãe" He loves playing the sleeping game, and does it often in the car with us. He'll pretend to go to sleep so we can tell him to wake up.

9. He still loves doggies. And we bought him a dog that is about is big as he is at Ikea. I hope he never realizes that dog is not alive. In any case, he named it Lah-yla, after Tia Aninha's dog Aayla.

10. Isaac is crazy about airplanes. Our house is situated in the same path that most planes take when coming from California or Arizona and Isaac sees them all the time. He knows when daddy goes on the plane every week. He loves to see the moon, and the stars which he knows only in Portuguese. He's also learning about horses and cows when we take the back way road from Saratoga to Provo. Last week we actually stopped and he saw a horse up close for the first time. When it came time to go, he called it a vacavalo (cowhorse).

11. Isaac loves to tell people he loves them. He constantly tells mom and dad he loves us. And his aunts and uncles, and even grandma and grandpa on the web cam. Ever since our trip to Brazil last fall, Isaac tickles grandpa's head on the computer. He loves playing with grandpa. He is a kisser too, always giving out kisses and hugs, especially to mom and dad.

Ok, I think that's enough for today. I'm going to try and get some sleep before Isey wakes up in an hour.

Feliz Niver Maezona!

Yet another event has passed without much blogging...

Mike's 38th birthday was last Wednesday! Can you believe Mike is 38??? I can because he doesn't jump as well as he did 10 years ago. I've only seen pictures of his jumps, so I never experienced the crazy basketball games he used to play in while at BYU etc.

But anyway, Mike is, as he put it, one iota closer to his celestial rest. I couldn't believe he said that on the phone to one of his "eye" buddies. Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot of celebration that day because we were in Gallup. Actually that morning we left Gallup(much to my happiness) to hit a couple of Walmarts in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. It turns out, as a gift straight from Heaven, that there are two practices immediately available for contract signing, and Jarvis the man in charge, is hoping Mike will take one of those asap. This comes with one caveat: Mike still has to be in Gallup once a week. Wow, I'll take it!!!!

Once a week in Gallup means, we don't have to move there. But we would have to move to either ABQ or Santa Fe. Mike is seriously considering Santa Fe because the doctor there has done fairly well, for being retired and slow. Jarvis wants some fresh blood there to decrease the exam time so they don't lose walk ins. This has been a concern for a while now. And walk in patients means more money in our pockets so we couldn't be happier.

So that's what we did for Mike's birthday, we drove all over NM that day and started to make our way home that night. Which was kind of interesting because we overlooked a turn and started heading east into Colorado. It was such a beautiful road we didn't realize until an hour later we were going to the wrong way. Oh well... We did celebrate a couple of days later, with lunch at Tucanos. You can never go wrong with Tucanos can you? Which brings me to a quick gem that I learned after a decade of eating there. "Lunch is a lot cheaper and you get the same amount of meat, so always plan to go for lunch not dinner." :)

And a few weeks later...

So there have been some recent activities that I have not yet written about. Mainly because they all happened one right after the other, and also because we needed a few days of nothing.

I'll post pictures in a few hours when I really wake up. Don't know why but all of a sudden I can't sleep and it's 4am.

Mike was invited by Walmart to go to the National Vision Conference which happened to be in Nashville at the end of April. We didn't hesitate at all at the offer, because our best friends Jeff and Michelle live there. We hadn't seen these cats for a long time. In fact for me it had been pretty much 3 years, I think.

To give you an idea last time I was in Nashville, Jeff and Michelle were engaged, and Michelle was about to sign a lease on the space which would become her designer optical and optometry practice. I vividly remember eating sushi and discussing what she should name it and how much she should charge for eye exams. Now Optique is in business and growing more and more. And most importantly, we've both had babies, and she's about to have the second in June.

Needless to say it was great to see them again, they are currently living in a huge house by a lake, and they have their own dock, which to me is awesome! Unfortunately it was too cold to play in the lake, but we did go on a couple of boat rides. I wish we could have gone sailing, but the motor boat was the best option since the weather wasn't pleasant enough..

Happy Mother's Day!

Mãezona, obrigada por ser minha mãe!

Uma mãe faz sua parte quando educa e ensina seus filhos princípios bons e honestos. Ela faz sua parte quando é um exemplo fiel de como uma mulher deve ser: amarosa, caridosa, simpática, generosa, educada, refinada, respeitada por si mesma, e admirada pelos outros.

Uma mãe procura sempre mostrar amor incondicional, mas ao mesmo tempo não se cansa, e as vezes até perde a paciência em tentar mostrar o caminho certo ao seus filhos. Uma mãe não deixa de ser mãe quando os filhos saem de casa, e apesar de as vezes os filhos não gostarem, ela continua tentando ensinar eles a serem pessoas melhores e a andar a segunda milha para obter suas metas.

Minha mãe sempre chorou comigo quando eu fiz algo errado, e sempre ficou feliz em me ver fazendo algo certo. Ela estava lá quando eu fiz meu primeiro de dia de natação, de ballet e logo me mudou pro Jazz, assistiu meu primeiro treino de vôlei, meu primeiro desfile, meu primeiro campeonato de bodyboard.

Brigou comigo pq eu queria namorar com 11 anos e tinha que esperar até os 16. Fez a maior festa no meu batismo, assistiu meus jogos, me deu apoio prar tentar jogar na seleção de vôlei mesmo quando ainda era mais nova do que as outras meninas. Me levou pra curso de Inglês, me levava e buscava de festas.

Brigou comigo mil vezes por querer ir pra carnaval, chorou e se magoou comigo quando eu dizia que ela não era minha amiga. Orou e ainda ora sem parar pela filha "ovelha negra" que hoje mais madura tem orgulho de dizer que o que não tinha quando era menor.

Mãe te amo demais, obrigada pelos cascudos e puxões de orelha. Por causa de vc, sou igual a vc. Filha de peixe, pexinho é. Sou muito orgulhosa de ser quem sou, e ser tua cópia. Vou ter o maior prazer de dar cascudos nos meus filhos, pq sei que um dia eles me agradecerão por ser uma mãe ativa em educá-los e ajudá-los a voltar ao nosso Pai Celestial.

Uma mordida,
Tatinha.