I think I have a problem...

In my attempt to decrease my candy/sugar intake, I've been trying to chew (sugar free) gum instead. Today, as I was digging through my purse for a piece of gum, I found 5 packages of gum!   And some mints!  And I know I threw away another package yesterday.  Every time I'm at the checkout line at the grocery store, I buy at least one pack of gum! Usually 2!   Thank goodness I never started smoking!

At last! A new post!

Maybe I've gotten some urging from several people to get it in gear and write another post.  I have excuses, though! I've been in a show and had rehearsal almost every night.  Then once the show opened, I went on a couple vacations.  

First of all:  my garden is doing quite well, thank you! Take a look!  Next project--prune back the stupid branches that keep half the garden shaded all day!

I went to Zion's ya'll! My uncle owns a cabin just inside Zion's.  This is one of the vacations I went on. You can see the cabin in the background.  Pretty place to vaycay, huh?

Family picture after hiking. In Zion's. National Park.

This beautiful canyon was only a few minutes hike away from the cabin.  Can't get much better than this!

Zacky and mom in front of a wagon full of bones.

My newest favorite show, you ask?  

Yay!!  

My Ultimate favorite show?

Vote for Thayne!!  

Birthday boy!

That's right everyone!  Zackary just turned one year old!  His birthday party was well documented, so--enjoy!

The traditional shots of baby eating his very own (cup)cake:

At first he was only eating the frosting off the top, then picking the frosting pieces off his fingers and eating it--

Eventually he got to the cake part.

One of the only pictures of Zacky smiling this day.  He wasn't cranky, but he sure wasn't being happy and social.

Showin' off his presents.

Zacky's present from mommy and daddy was this brand new car seat.  And he is now facing forward in the car, which he likes much better. And so do David and I, cause now we can see him when we're in the front. 

Matching hat boys.  

That's it for birthday pictures.  Here's what else we've been doing.

My new haircut!  An awesome friend of mine did this hairstyle and I absolutely love it!  Thanks Cami!  It's gotten lots of compliments.

For the first time in my life, I have my own yard and garden to work on.  For the past week or two, I've had my own little garden to work on.  So far in this little 10 x 10 garden I've-- removed approximately 4 million walnuts that our neighbor's walnut tree has so graciously dropped in our yard, dug up a ton of old and new weeds, had my dad till the dirt (which was packed rock-solid), raked the uneven post-tilled dirt so it was flat, and planted about 12 strawberry plants.  In the process of getting the garden ready, we found a number of treasures.  

1. A Well's Fargo bank frisbee

2. A Hacky sack

3. A Toy gun

4. Plastic handled net-thingys (probably to catch the hacky sack?)

5. A Green Winnie-the-Pooh ball

6. A red & white nerf football

7. An old newspaper 

The toys could have come from the people who lived here before us, or they could have come from the neighbor's kids.  Who knows?  At any rate, we just became owners of some old, dirty toys. 

 I don't have a before picture, but I wish I did! You can trust me--nobody had worked on this little teeny garden in a loooong time!  It was a lot more work than you'd think for such a little bit of...earth. This is the whole garden.  

A close up of the newly-planted strawberry plants.

See that green trash can?  That was filled at least 5 times with walnuts and weeds. That's a whole friggin' ton of old, rotten walnuts.  

The walnut tree. See the branches right above the garden? (P.S.  walnuts are gross.  Does anyone like them?)

Another project.  This one is in the front yard.  It's hard to tell but the flowers in there are completely overrun by a ton of weeds.  

So there you have it.  Proof that I'm not being a lazy, non exerciz-y person.  Productive things are happening at the Lowe house!

Why I love Utah...

...or not.  (Taken March 30 from my window.  March!!  30!!)

So, the other day I tried to make cornbread.  These pictures are the result.  Keep in mind, I'm holding the entire cornbread out of the pan.  On it's own.  Remember how cornbread is supposed to be light and crumbly and thick?  Yeah.

Anybody want a piece?   --didn't think so.

I probably shouldn't broadcast this one, but as I was taking Zackary out of his room, he leaned back and hit his head on the door.  He only cried for a few minutes, but there was a nice, red, bump on his head.  Look carefully on the top left part of his head.  (luckily this picture makes it look small...which it was...kinda)

Now everyone knows my poor baby is a victim of my uncoordination.  I hope he survives his childhood!  Or at least his mother, until he can walk on his own.

Laurel's life as a Soundtrack

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)

2. Put it on shuffle

3. Press play

4. For every question, type the song that's playing

5. When you go to a new question, press the "next" button

6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool!

(**Warning** I have a LOT of musicals on my iPod)

Opening credits:  "I Can Hear The Bells" -Hairspray  (See, I told you!)

Waking Up:  "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today" - Avenue Q (HA!!)

First Day At School:  "Long As I'm Here With You" - Throroughly Modern Millie

Falling In Love:  "You'll See" - Rent (Wow, solid musicals so far...I feel lame...)

Fight Song: "I Can Cook Too" - On The Town

Breaking Up: "Untitled 1" - Keane (Finally a non-musical song and it has no name...)

Prom: "We Can Work It Out" - The Beatles (This would have been perfect for the previous one)

Life's OK: "Loose Ends" - Imogen Heap

Mental Breakdown: "Kiss From A Rose" - Seal 

Driving: "Psychobabble" - Frou Frou 

Flashback: "The Sun" - Maroon 5

Getting Back Together: "Run" - Snow Patrol

Wedding: "We Will Rock You" - Queen (That's right...)

Birth of Child: "Hold On" - Sarah McLachlan (Hold On. Bear Down. Same thing, right?)

Final Battle: "Let Me Love You Down" - INOJ

Death Scene: "When It Hurts So Bad" - Lauryn Hill (Appropriate, no?)

Funeral Song: "Love To Me" - Light In The Piazza

End Credits: "I'm Into Something Good" - Herman's Hermits

I Tag: Cami Johnson, Matt Armstrong, and Triana Ord

This was kind of fun. Ok, the answers didn't make a ton of sense, but still. Fun.

You'll never guess...

...More pictures of my baby. Are you noticing a trend yet? I guess when your entire day is consumed by one person, there's not much else to talk about.  Let's be honest,  this might as well be Zackary's blog.  Oh, well.  

We experienced our first Easter with Zack this year.  David's mom had an Easter egg hunt and Zack "found" four eggs.  It mainly consisted of mommy or daddy putting him right in front of a "hidden" egg and pointing to it.  He did get the part about putting the egg in the basket, though.  Mostly, he just wanted to eat the plastic easter basket grass (surprise, surprise.  See previous post).  

Check out that dimple! I produced a child with a dimple!  Who knew it was possible?

WOW, I'm obsessed with my baby!  I'm not sure if anybody else thinks my baby is as cute as I do, but I really don't take pictures of much else, so Zack it is!

After the Easter egg hunt, we got pizza from Two Jacks, and what can I say?  I took these pictures at the right time, no?

Today, for the first time, Zacky used a spoon by himself.  He kept trying to pick up the yogurt with his hands and put it on the spoon.  I think more ended up ON him than IN him.

Ok, I've got to start branching out.  Maybe I'll start taking pictures of the dinners I've been making and post those... 

Once I figure out how to get my stupid scanner to work, there'll be more variety!

It's about time...

It's been a while since I posted.  Here's what's happened since then.

--We finally got our own washer!  It was a hand-me-down from David's parents.  And we still don't have a dryer, so I hang dry all our clothes.  It's not ideal.  Still, it's much better than dragging our laundry with us to do at other people's houses

--We got a new car.  Well, it was used, but it's nice! (Pictures to come later)  This is a big deal because now I have a car, too!  YAY!  No more being cooped up all day with no way out!!

--Zackary had ear infections in both ears.  NOT fun!  For about a week I had an angry, whiny,  clingy, crying, unhappy, miserable, dehydrated, not sleeping, fever-y baby (Are you getting the feeling this week SUCKED?...cause it did...a LOT!)  Poor Zacky!!  I couldn't get him to drink ANYthing for a week.  No matter what it was!  Not even popsicles worked.  

--Zack is still not crawling yet, at least not forward.  I'm not worried.  He's just taking his time, and in the meantime, my life is easier.  He continues to push himself backwards into corners and under chairs and between furniture like so:

Also, somehow he manages to eat any little piece of paper/wrapper/napkin/reciept/leaf/baby wipe/sticker/piece of wicker basket/feather/piece of plastic/fingernail or toenail on the floor, no matter where/what it is.(Note:  All of these things I have found either in his mouth or just about to go in). Even if I inspected the floor carefully before I put him down, even if I just barely vacuumed, he'll find something bad to put in his mouth.   He tried to eat a bug once, but he couldn't pick it up because it kept moving.  I expect this to get worse before it gets better.  Thank goodness we don't have pets!!  

--I got a job!!  A few hours a week, I go to various Elementary schools and teach/direct a children's show.  It's a great way to get out of the house and do something I enjoy.  Plus I'm earning a little money.  No downside so far!

--For the first time in my marriage, I've been making dinner consistently.  This is a big deal!  I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've been a terrible homemaker!  On average, David and I ate out 4-5 times a week.  A WEEK!  Needless to say, we were spending way too much money eating out. Plus, when I went grocery shopping I didn't buy ingredients.  So although we had just spent a bunch of money on food, we still didn't really have anything to eat. If I did make dinner it was almost always Spaghetti, Pasta Roni, Hamburger Helper (If we were lucky!), Grilled Cheese, Nachos or Quesadillas.  I finally realized it's not that hard to buy ingredients from the store and make recipies.  So, I am now on the lookout for simple and delicious recipies.  Maybe one day I'll make more complicated things, but one step at a time...  So far I've successfully made:  Springtime Noodles, Beef Stew, Chicken and Broccoli Casserole, Poppyseed Chicken, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Asian Beef and Noodle, Garlic Chicken Marinade and Breakfast Sandwiches.    And I've discovered something amazing--leftovers!!  Now, I don't have to make myself lunch (which used to be- Ramen, Hot Pockets, Grilled cheese...you get the idea).  Now I just warm up some leftovers and I've got a healthy, easy meal.  You'd think this would be common sense, but apparently it's not.  I'm just glad I figured it out!  Now, in the last 2 or 3 weeks we've only eaten out twice!  That is a major record!!  (Is my life boring or WHAT?  If this is the most exciting news I've got... :) )

Some semi-exciting news!! 

 Zack's head has gone from looking like this:

To looking like this:

Granted, it's not a HUGE difference, but at least you can SEE hair now!!  We're looking forward to the day when it covers his entire head, not just the back.

Here are some cute pictures I came across of Zackary happily unloading the wipes container. (All the white things are wipes)