10 years!!!

Little known tid-bit of John-and-Toria-trivia.

John and I just celebrated 10 years since the day we met!!!

1999- UT mutual friend Anne-Marie (the one who just came to visit) hosted a pre-Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving dinner at her parents house in Utah.  Both John and I were in attendance (along with a couple dozen others).  Neither of us remember meeting. However, I remember who I was sitting across from, and next to.

AND

He remembers who he was sitting next to, and across from.

AND

they are the SAME people (in reverse if you followed that?).  So that means we were sitting diagonally from each other!?!

Who would have thought?

2000- CA  "Dear John: Thank you for being such a good friend. Have fun in Oregon with your family, while I'm in AZ with mine.  Thank you for helping me get settled in this new city.  It's fun that we share common friends from college. I can tell we're going to be great friends here in Palo Alto."

(not really what I wrote- but I did leave a note in his car and I'm sure it was much cuter and much more confusing and misleading in real life)

2001- CA Again, we both went to our respective parents homes in AZ and OR.  This time with a kiss good-bye and possibly a note thanking him for the concert and football game he just took me to and looking forward to the holiday festivities and more dating when we returned.

2002- CA John took me, his girlfriend, home to his parents house in Oregon.  We were getting engaged(!) and what a way to celebrate the engagement(!) then having me come and officially be welcomed into the family? 

except

the engagement ring was forthcoming, and neither of us wanted to talk marriage until we could officially (ie permission from Dad, down on knee, ring on finger) talk marriage.

Everything became "official" just 2 weeks later on Friday Dec 13th in New York City-sigh!

2003- CA Newlyweds of 8 months. Headed home to OR in style- a private jet (thanks to our friend Dusty the pilot)! 

Made an offer on our first house and it was accepted!

2004- CA  We enjoyed our first "on our own" Thanksgiving with 5 other couples at Jessica's parents house in Danville.  It was a new experience to be the ones cooking the turkey and making the pies and not enjoying our respective parents' cooking and traditions.  We were well on our way to becoming full-fledged parents ourselves.  Asher was born just 4 weeks later.

2005- CA We hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner at our house with family and friends.  We roasted one turkey and John BBQ'd the other. We ate outside on our back patio. More friends joined later for Thanksgiving desserts and we played pictionary on our soon-to-be-torn-down living room walls.  

2006- MA to NY  Just found out that we'd be welcoming a daughter into our home in a few months. Drove to NY to be with family at my brother's house.  Explored church history, learned the ins and outs of normal rolls in my brother's newly opened bakery, and enjoyed one of the greatest BYU/ UTAH rivalry games EVER!

2007- OR We were homeless, jobless, living with two kids at the in-laws! (I wrote that in an attempt to be funny haha). We attempted to show our love and appreciation by tearing down a few walls, ripping out carpet, expanding the living room and laying down beautiful wood floors. Thanksgiving was prepared in a construction zone and enjoyed in the refuge next door which was Alan and Michelle's empty (for Thanksgiving) home.

2008- UAE Marriott hotel's Thanksgiving buffet dinner.  Thanksgiving was a regular work/ school day, but we gathered with a HUGE group of friends and enjoyed not lifting a finger to cook or clean up. Being pregnant, I uncharacteristically woke up dreaming about food, wishing I ate more turkey, sad that we didn't have any left-overs, and looking forward to an American Christmas.

2009- UAE.  I just made the pie crusts (click here if you need a quick, easy recipe, it works).  I have a few other recipes I'm be working on tomorrow.

and

since this Thursday just happens to be Arafat day we'll spend the holiday enjoying traditional home cooked Thanksgiving meal with our friends.

Happy Anniversary of the day/we met and didn't know it! 

someday I'll tell the story of how we really met or why we remember the people we were sitting next to and across from and not each other.  

same but different-treats

Trick-or-Treating:

We hosted a bunch of friends at our house on Halloween for pre-trick-or-treating dinner and socializing.

Then we headed out in the neighborhood.

Some houses had their halloween decor, bowl full of treats and porch light on.

others

had their porch light on, and scrambled to find whatever goodies were in their cupboard because they really wanted to participate (jelly do-nut? fruit? handful of mini marshmallows?)

However, many in our neighborhood had candy, went all out on decor, and were prepared.

it was a lot of fun

and the candy bags were full

but

the pickings were slim for us parents

not a lot of the chocolate stuff

and absolutely none of the chocolate peanut, as in Reese's, mini-snickers, good stuff.

dang.

same but different- pumpkin patch

Trip to the pumpkin patch:

Ivy. Fall 2007 Ashland. cute little chunk-aroo

No pumpkin patches in this dust bowl/desert/ beach front city.

next best thing: getting Dad home from work early to drive to the Dubai wholesale fruit and vegetable market about 30-40 minutes away.  

Kind of like hay market. 

Kind of not.

Lots of fruit and veggies and non-English speaking men offering to fill our cart, touch my kids and give us samples.  

We found the guy in the back who would sell them to us for 1 dirham/ kilo (all the others wanted more, but our friend went earlier in the week and did the dirty work for us).  Pretty sweet deal if I do say so myself.  We bought over a dozen.

above photo is some of our pumpkins, not the best picture, but you get the idea.

never mind that the pumpkins were dirty

and still looked dirty even when they were clean

and they were more of a salmony, rustic, peachy color

than brilliant orange.

but we like them.

the bright side:

they were easier to clean out before carving

less juicy gunk (probably due to being grown in a desert!)

(image found via gulf news)

(wasn't comfortable pulling out the big fancy camera that night- wish I would have though- next time)

same, but different- apples.

Sometimes things here in Dubai are the same,

but different.

for example:

Apple picking:

Asher.  fall 2006 -Massachusetts - isn't he so cute?

We stocked up on apples though.

When Anne Marie came to visit, she brough a suitcase full of Halloween goodies from my mom, and some treats from her as well- candy corns, red vines and fresh home grown apples.

the rest of our harvest consisted of finding jars of organic applesauce on clearance at our neighborhood market and buying the whole shelf (4dhs/ can= less than $1/ jar)!

When I see a deal, I stock up.

Groceries are expensive and rarely go on sale.  Plus, no coupons to clip.  

However, our store has clearance goods!  These past few months I've been finding some sweet deals (cereal, chips, cake mixes, canned goods, frozen goods, cheese, yogurt, granola bars).  

I think some of my American Dubai friends are jealous.

Never mind that the reason they go on clearance is their expiration date is nearing. 

Say or think what you will, I say: 

whatever.

act now...

act now...

my baby, real dirty dishes, not the puj tub

as in today.  Right now

cuz tomorrow is the deadline.

Nov. 11th 

for what?

a chance to bathe your baby a whole new way.

for free!!!

Puj baby has developed a revolutionary way to bathe infants.

and they are giving away 100 tubs to bloggers with babies who are willing to use, abuse and review their product.

I know lots of you are pregnant or just had a baby (or 2) and you blog (and I assume you're reading my blog)

check out puj baby to read/ see what I'm talking about.

puj tub, not my baby, no dirty dishes either. really cool.

My friend Katie and her husband Ben are what I like to call creative genius-us (because I'm not genius enough to know how to pluralize genius) and I really think this tub is simply amazing and amazingly simple.

so

for the love of good design, clean babies, less clutter, small living spaces, talented friends, homegrown businesses, blogs and giveaways.

get on over there and enter.

good luck! (let me know if you want me to put in a good word for you).  

ok, so I can't really promise that my good word means anything, but I can try.

Katie and Ben's wedding. Aug 2002

and I just threw this last picture in for fun because I think old school pictures on blogs are fun and I never really post any because I didn't move any to Dubai with me.

This was the first one I came to in a file of scanned photos I have from my pre-married days.

and I think it's funny that we all have matching curly hair (well except Britt, and Tim in the background).

and we all learned our curly hair recipe from Katie (when I wore/wear my hair curly I was/am often asked for the "recipe")

creative genius I tell you.  creative genius.

it's all about the wings.

Here's how it went down.

Ivy decides to be a butterfly, and I suggest turning Canyon into a caterpillar.

we present the idea to Asher

his response: "Oh Yes!  I want to be a butterfly too!"

me: "what about a spider?"

Asher: "no, I want to fly.  I'll be a butterfly with Ivy."

me:  "but spiders have lots of legs. Or what about a fly or a bee?"

Asher: "no, I'll be a butterfly, and then we can be spiders next year, I don't like bees or flies".

***flash of inspiration***

me: "How about a bat!?!?"

Asher "Oh ya!  I'll be a bat!  You wanna be a bat Ivy?"

Ivy : "Oh ya, I wanna be a bat!"

me: "No, Asher, you're a bat and Ivy, you're a butterfly"

Asher: "how about this Halloween we can be bats, and next Halloween we can be butterflies?"

The conversation went on like this as I carefully guided their costume decision making.  Of course, I loved that Asher wanted to dress up with his sister AND I loved that he didn't think anything of a butterfly being "girly" (the hungry caterpillar turns into a butterfly and we all know it stayed the same gender)

maybe I should have just let him be a butterfly.

but I didn't. (I think they are "girly" even though I didn't use that as my reason for encouraging a bat)

He was equally excited about being a bat (once guided and prodded)

a skeleton bat.

because I needed a black hooded sweatshirt and the only one we have has a glow in the dark skeleton on the front.

PERFECT!

and there you have it.

a hungry caterpillar, beautiful butterfly, and a skeleton bat (who got that one single picture taken before the camera battery died.)

inspiration for this costume: our sea kayaking/ cave adventure in Thailand last month.  We could smell and hear the bats above us, but only saw the few from the light of a flashlight or the quick flash of the camera.  Just looking at these pictures and seeing how many were really there,makes me fidgety.

just out of curiosity: Would you dress your son as a butterfly? 

what's a hungry caterpillar without...

a beautiful butterfly!

She couldn't have been more excited to get in costume.  

and to wear it multiple times since Halloween.

unfortunately- the homemade wings could use some help- they are falling apart, and they pretty much started out that way.

fortunately- Ivy didn't seem to notice or care she just loved wearing them.

unfortunately- they tend to get in the way after a while, so she asks me to take them off.

fortunately- she looks cute, and loves that she looks like the butterfly in her book.

and 

hopefully we will be fortunate enough to find a nice sturdy pair of butterfly wings at a store sometime soon that we can paint all colorful and bright and be able to wear with ease whenever her little heart desires.  

and for the record.

I love finding tutorials for things on the internet.  (What did we ever do without it?)

Blogs for recipes, gift ideas, costumes, home decor, you name it.

but I'm wising up when it comes to Martha.

sometimes she is 

so. 

not. 

practical. (which can be so. very. frustrating)

as for her butterfly wing instructions:

I UN-recommend them (or DIS-recommend them?)

I followed Tim Gunn's advice and "{made} it work."

but next time

I'll look for a tutorial from a more trusted source

like a blog.

costume inspiration: a favorite book (and puzzle) in our home.  click here

in the light of the moon....

...came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.

this little bug is 9 months old (as of Nov.1st).

couldn't think of a more fitting Halloween character for the little guy.

He's crawling (like a caterpillar/inchworm/soldier not on all 4's yet)

He's sitting

and kneeling to play.

he pulls himself up on things.

naps 2 times/ day (sometimes with an evening cat nap)

loves to be outside

and around his siblings

and 

he 

is 

still

hungry.

still eating and seemingly enjoying everything we feed to him.

(and everything we don't feed to him that he finds on the floor- choking hazards beware)

costume inspiration: a favorite book (and puzzle) in our home.  click here

pit stop

One of my best friends from college days, (as well as the original link between me and the man I married), just stopped in for a 3 day pit stop

In her race around the world. (did you just hear that sentence with Phil's voice like I hoped you would?)

Well, not really a race, but I just finished watching this and had to include a little shout out to one of my favorite tv shows, The Amazing Race.  Did you see it?  In Sunday night's episode they came to Dubai- too bad I didn't know when they were filming it.

Anne-Marie won that race around the world a long time ago.  Her travels have taken her to more exotic locals than the Amazing Race ever would. 

Seriously.  

She lives the Amazing race!  Her pit stop here was on the way back from a 2 week humanitarian project in Afghanistan.  Yep, Af-freakin'-ghanistan, and it wasn't even her first time there.  She used to work for George W., Laura, Dick and Lynne, so she's pretty much traveled the world with them.  How cool is that? Very cool.  

We had a great time!  It was so much fun to see her, show her the sights, let my kids fall in love with her, and just catch up and laugh with one of my kindred spirits.

detours, roadblocks and fast forwards:

(aka the stuff we did, I'm listing it out to remind myself to document it in the days to come:)

Abu Dhabi Mosque, the beach, Eat and Drink Restaurant, Palm monorail, Atlantis hotel/ aquarium, shopping, ski Dubai, neighborhood walk, swimming, bakeries (trendy and authentic), sand dunes, henna, buffet dinner and race to the airport (only to have her flight cancelled. True to form she maneuvered her way into the first class lounge to eat and rest, and onto Emirates airlines which is WAY better than United, no extra cost.  Did I tell you she's a pro or what? 

More details of her trip 

and her 

to come.

Thanks for visiting AMG!  

Who's coming to see us next?  We promise to show you a good time (although I recommend coming between now and April- Phil was right when he said "Dubai's endless summer..."- but we're just getting into the good part of summer)

sixty. a list.

My dad turned the 60 last week- but looks like 50 or a very mature 40.  Seriously.

at least I think so.

anyway.  I'm late in writing his birthday post

if you haven't noticed- I'm late in posting/ writing lots of things.  

my brother wrote a great list of 60 things about my dad on his private blog.

I would copy it here and maybe I will...later.

but for now

since this is MY blog and more about my kids than ME.

I'll attempt to come up with a list about ME and my Dad.  Because we're so much alike? or are we?

People often comment on our similarities?  Criticism or compliment.  You tell me

So- here it is.  a list about.....US

1. Brownies: corners and edges!  love them.
2. Ice cream: slightly melted but not drinkable.  Just soft.
3. Salt- most things always need just a little bit more.
4. Many people say I inherited his smile.  I'm not really sure how genetically linked it is since mine is the product of 2 years of  braces- his is not. 
5. He's a dentist and I'm not, but I do brush my kids teeth every night and he taught me that the best approach is to stand behind them and have them look up and open wide (as opposed to going at them with a toothbrush straight on).  It works great and I'm not sure if most moms just know to approach toothbrushing this way or if you'll thank me (my dad) later.
6. we tend to laugh at the same jokes
7. sunday afternoons are for napping
8. and baking
9. Don't like to rush a meal.  Eat, enjoy, talk, chew (well, I don't chew as long as he does, but I still get antsy, panicked or annoyed when people wolf down food).
10. love a bargain (may or may not buy something just because it's a good deal)
11. both moved to the Middle East with young children for a better job.
12. and an adventure.
13. and because we like to travel.
14. We both learned Spanish a little in high school
15. and a lot by living in South/Central America (He in Guatemala for 2 years, me in Ecuador for 2 months)  
16. love a good Mango (although he still insists on pronouncing it Mahn- go)
17. BYU cougars (although we will cheer for Utah if they're not playing against us)
18. left brained
19. math and numbers (remember telephone numbers, combinations, security codes by making up stories or relating them to each other in a mathematical sequence- and I love figuring out what that might be)
20. science (my Dad, he's good at it.  Me, I thought I should be good at it since we're "so much alike" but it didn't come as easy for me as it did for him.  Most things don't.  He's just really smart I think.)
21. spelling (I used to love sitting up front on road trips and having my dad quiz me on how to spell different words while other family members were asleep in the back)
22. analytically minded (to a fault- I could go on about this- save it for another day)
23. always try to figure out a way to do it ourselves for less money
24. spent lots of time remodeling/ working on our san jose house
25. 1st baby- a boy!  
26. 2nd baby- a girl (and a gorgeous, sassy, hilarious one at that wink wink)
27. 3rd baby- another boy (with red-hair)
28. stretchy skin- ask me (or him) sometime and I'll demonstrate.
29. politically conservative (was very disinterested in politics growing up and in college, but then I lived at home for a few months during the 200 campaign/ election and I got sucked in, now I read, listen and discuss more)
30. pet peeve: dishes in the sink (especially when the dishwasher is empty and ready to be filled)
    
31. another pet peeve: indirect, long or wordy answers to direct questions.
32. or wasting things (food, money, time.  I once couldn't concentrate on my roommate's sob story because she was using a ridiculous {to me} amount of tissues and tossing them one after another.  Dab a tear, toss the whole tissue.  I bit my tongue and listened as best I could.  I'm working on it and still feel bad about that one.)
33. Compassion.  There's room for improvement (see above).
34. thai curry- could/ would/ have lick{ed} the bowl clean
35. los compadres- machaca beef or green chili beef- yum!
36. think of the same thing when we here: {ring, ring} "hellooooo BA- by..." and we could both sing along "...chantilly lace and a pretty face, pony-tail, hanging down. A wiggle in her walk and a giigle in her talk makes the world go round. Oh there ain't nothin' in this world like a {brown} eyed girl make me act so funny, make me spend my money, make me feel real loose like a long neck goose. oh baby that's a what I like"
37. still have a full head of hair (ok, I realize this is pretty standard for a woman my age, but since he's got more than my husband or brothers thought it was worth mentioning)
38. don't look our age.
39. rarely get sick
40. 
    

but I'm feeling kinda sick now.  And my kids are sick (which is one of the reasons this post is late)- and I'm tired and tempted NOT to post this because I ended at 39 and that number has little significance.

maybe tomorrow I can post some more.

or if you can help me out, post it in the comments.

maybe I'll post a few more pictures tomorrow too.

good night

P.S.- Happy {belated] Birthday dad!

picture is here in Dubai in February when my Dad and Mom flew out to meet little Canyon (and see the rest of us)