Ready or not, here I come....found you!

I feel like I've been playing "hide-and-seek" with blogging for a while now. It's been...phew, too long! I kept thinking that if I wrote on my blog that'd mean that I would have to read up on all the blogs I follow, and that would be THOUSANDS of new posts. Not gonna happen. I think I'll just go see what a few people have been up to and keep it simple. K, blogger, you found me, and I'm back ;)

SO, what have we been up to for the last month or two? Well the big news is that we now have a 1 year old child in the house. Yep, Rowan had a birthday! First here's some of her one-year pictures we had taken by our friend Leigh Root. If you need a good photographer give her a call, she's amazing and affordable too :)

And here's some of her birthday pictures. We didn't really take any good pictures, sorry. We were just too busy enjoying the moment. AND we forgot to take pictures of Dad, Mom and Tiffani. They were so incredibly awesome to come out and celebrate with us. Love you!

Rowan's first birthday cake! I'm pretty proud of how it turned out :)

I made her 'smash' cake too. Perfect size for her.

 At first she just took a crumb at a time (such a lady ;) 

Later she started taking chunks.

That's my happy birthday girl!

On the left she's getting washed off after all the cake. 

On the right is the next day (her actual birthday) unwrapping presents! She was good at it.

Other than that, there's not much happening with us. Ben started school, and is working. I'm a stay-at-home Mama that's just wondering why no one warned me about the Terrible One's? Or maybe Rowan's one of those kids that likes to act older than her age and we just shot straight to the Terrible Two's? Who knows. But she's still a lot of fun.

Just so that I can remember these things later I'm gonna list some of her traits and skills she has right now:

• Rowan talks A LOT! But we have no idea what she's saying. She talks with all sorts of intonations, and sometimes I think she believes that she's really talking with me, but I usually just say "Yeah, really?"
• On her actual birthday (Sept. 5) Rowan stood up and stayed standing on her own for the first time without anything to balance her.
• Maybe a week or two before her birthday she started walking/running/leaping from Ben to me and back.
• Just today she started to walk across the room with no viewable objective in sight, just walking to walk. She went pretty far, steadied herself, then walked a little more and fell over. (she might've just sat down on purpose)
• She does the sign language sign for "more," and she shakes her head for "no."
• She also understands sign language for "changing diaper" and the international sign for "no" wagging my finger ;)
• She understands quite a bit of Spanish too. Words like, 'quieres', 'mas', 'besito', 'vente'.
• She crawls on anything she can.
• She will thoroughly examine something new by flipping it over and over, and checking it all out before it goes in her mouth. 
• She currently has a taste for wood and cardboard. Which we're trying to discourage.
• She's not very picky. She'll taste anything and usually eat it. Especially if we're eating it then she really wants some. 
• She loves the water.
• She loves dirt. Water is much better after the dirt ;)
• When music plays on some of her toys she'll try to hum with it. So cute!
• She likes to get into trouble too.
• She's very sociable. She LOVES playing with other children. The other day she was playing with the neighbor boy (that's her age) and he was walk/running around our apartment and she was chasing him while 'monkey crawling'. They were both laughing a lot, it was so precious. :)
• She's a Daddy's girl. She gets so excited and squeals when Daddy comes home, and always wants him to hold her and feed her. :)

Love that girl!

Was I in the Twilight Zone?

I just have to tell somebody about what happened today, it was so weird. K, not that weird, but it was weird enough that I have to tell someone, or think that I've gone crazy!

I was driving home from taking Ben to work. I got to an intersection where I have to turn left. There's almost a full "non-lane" between me and the cars about to go straight so I don't really know if there's any there. I'm not really looking. And I'm waiting 'cause it's red.

Then the light turns green and there's no cars in the intersection. So, naturally I pull forward a bit into the middle of the intersection waiting for the cars coming towards me to go ahead, then I'll turn left after they all go. 'Cause as we all know, if my light is green so is their's. That's how it usually works in this intersection that I drive through about 10 times a week. Then after the light turns back to red I have a green arrow. BUT....

there I am, the ONLY CAR in the intersection. No cars are moving, going. I look to my right and notice one car that would be turning left and cutting right in front of me, but they're not really in the intersection, just kind of. So I start to back up a little 'cause I'm freaked out that no cars are going. I double check the light....yeah it's green! So why is no one moving?!?! So, after a few seconds I decided that the cars THAT SHOULD be coming towards me have seen me and will probably not try to run into me if I take my chance and make my turn. So I did. There.... all was well again. But what the heck happened???

It was like the Twilight Zone. I seriously thought for a moment everyone had frozen in time but me! Or, what else? I do not know. Weird, weird voodoo I'm sure.

That's my story.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

-William Ernest Henley


I need to remember this.

I don't wanna grow up...

Let me guess what just came in your head... "I'm a Toys R Us kid!" 

Am I right?

Well, guess what? I'm still a Toys R Us kid!

I think I've gotten a little lost in this grown-up world. Trying to figure out who I'm supposed to be.

I'm supposed to like certain kinds of elegant decor. 

I'm supposed to act like a very grown-up, put-together Mother.

I'm supposed to put away my funky, fun clothes and buy cardigans and slacks.

No one really says these things, but they're implied. In blogs, magazines, shows, even church and grocery stores sometimes. I'm not saying cardigans and slacks are a bad thing, I like them too. 

But when is it that we put away our childish ruffles, and colorful pictures?

Why can't we dance all day if we want to? Sing and climb trees? 

Of course we can! And I'm going to!

If you've known me for quite a while, you know that I used to be crazy and spontaneous.
 I've been a little less lately...but no longer. I'm getting my "Muchness" back. (see the new Alice in Wonderland for reference)

"Never lose your childish innocence. It's the most important thing. "

-Under the Tuscan Sun (great movie!)

This was always one of my favorite quotes to live by.

I realized that I'd lost my childish enthusiasm/innocence at some point in the last few years. 

This wonderful, colorful blog helped inspire me to get it back!

Colormekatie.blogspot.com

Katie is a freelance photographer in Brooklyn. And she is insanely creative!

Check out her pictures in her blog. Everything is so colorful.

I've been in this rut about our apartment we live in 'cause I don't know how I want to decorate it. It doesn't really feel like a complete home. It's more like storage with a few pictures up. I've been stuck on mostly black/brown furniture 'cause it goes with a lot...well, that was my theory. And it's grow-up colors. But I think it gets boring in our home. 

Then I found Katie's blog, and looking at her apartment it's so full of life and color! If you've taken a look... can you just imagine growing up in a place like that? How magical it would be??

When I saw it, I immediately thought "That's exactly what I want to do!"

And maybe some of you reading this are thinking I'm crazy for loving it, but that's ok. I'm just so glad that I found it!

And next time you come to my apartment it will be lit up with color!

(don't worry, I'll be posting pictures)

 And I've been inspired to take more pictures too. And wear more color ;)

For a long time I thought that I shouldn't want to be in lots of pictures, or ask people to take them of me, 'cause they'd think I was being vain or something. But Katie takes a lot of pictures of herself for fun, and it's not vain at ALL! So, I figure it's okay if I take them of myself to :)

And I like her concept of using pictures to portray how she feels.

So, from one kid to another...don't grow up. Not all the way. ;)

And thanks Katie! You've been an incredible creative inspiration, more than you could know.

***

Also, if you wanna know more about the green shrug I'm wearing in that picture above. Just go to Crafty-Mamacita.

So, the other day Ben asked me...

"Did you blog about California yet?" I guess he's getting in on the bloggness (new word, try it ;)

So obviously I need to blog about California! I totally forgot. I forget a lot of things these days...more than you could know.

The Friday before Memorial Day we drove to California and spent time with Ben's family. Can you believe they put up with us for a whole week?! I know. They're awesome. We had so much fun.

Some of our adventures included a girl's night to go and see "Letters to Juliet". It was really cute. Yeah, kinda cheesy, but still pretty cute. Then Rebecca (Ben's younger sister), Dione (niece ((and I hope I spelled that right))), and I went thrift shopping. It was a first time for the girls, and they loved it! I couldn't believe they'd never been before! We found all sorts of treasures, and had a blast trying on cute clothes and some really silly outfits. Hahaha.

One day we drove up to Atwater, which is about 3 hours north of Rosamond, to see Ben's Grandma.

We had a really good time chatting and catching up. It was the first time she met Rowan, and she said that Rowan had "the most perfectly shaped head". We think so too. We also saw Ben's uncle Aaron while we were up there, and he took Rebecca on her first ride on a motorcycle. I think she may be hooked now.
Oh, and something really funny...well, we didn't bring anything for Rowan to take a nap in while we were there (like a pac n'play). And we couldn't put her on the bed, 'cause she'd crawl off. So, we made a little fort of pillows with no roof, in the study. It was next to the corner of a sectional couch, so two sides were couch, and two were layered pillows, then one little pillow in a corner to secure it. Well, she cried for a little while after we put her down in her "fort". Then she was quiet. We went in the kitchen to eat lunch, then suddenly the door to the study starts opening. Rowan, on hands and knees, peeks out all timid, like she's trying to be sneaky and got caught. Lol! We looked at the little fort, and she had kicked out that little corner pillow and snuck through the crack. Silly girl.

Most of the time we were there Ben and his brother Joe worked on making a recut trailer for IT the movie. Wow, we got so sick of hearing the theme music they were using, over and over and over...and over again. But it really turned out great! If you've ever seen the movie IT, you'll think it's funny. If you haven't seen the movie, watch the trailer anyway, it may just make you wanna watch the movie. WARNING: Don't. It's scary.

Here's the trailer they made:



Gotta love clowns.

Also, while we were in California we also got to see Bremen and Andrea, and their kids! They've been living near the East coast for years now, and the last time we saw them was at our wedding. So, they met Rowan for the first time, and we got to meet Van for the first time. Van is their baby that is a few weeks younger than Rowan. We sure had a good time. And we're SO glad they've moved back to California!
What else happened out there? Oh yes, Joe took us down "The musical road", it felt like we were in the Wizard of Oz or something. Check it out:



We also had a nice talent show on Sunday night. With skits, songs, dancing, etc. Here's a few videos for you to enjoy, we sure did!

"What's More American?" song:



Tongue Tied kids:



Joe's own composition, played with just two pencils! Sorry it's not the whole song, and in two parts, but my camera was dying...then died.








Obviously we had a great time.
Rebecca and I also spent time refashioning some clothes that she had. And who didn't take any pictures? Me. Yup. Oops, sorry. Still, we had a good time.

We had such a blast. Well, sorry for the novel. Hopefully the awesome videos made up for the increased length. ;)

"Useless Cares"

I was reading a Conference talk the other day, when something in it really hit me. I'd heard it before, but I'd never seen it like this before. I wanted to share it.

The talk was The Rock of Our Redeemer by Elder Andersen. He was talking about the Mormon pioneers being forced from their homes yet again, and having to cross this river in the middle of winter. At that time some of them wrote in in their journals about how it would seem that they should be sad and depressed, but that they were full of faith and rejoiced to the Lord. Later in his talk he says:

"When we strive to keep the commandments of god, repenting of our sins and promising our best effors to follow the Savior, we begin to grow in confidence that through the Atonement everything will be all right. Those feelings are confiremed by the Holy Ghost, who drives from us what our pioneer mother and fathers called "our useless cares." In spite of our trials, we are filled with a sense of well-being and feel to sing with them that indeed "all is well."

If you don't know the song Come Come Ye Saints, in the song it says:

"Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive
Do this and joy, your hearts will swell
All is well! All is well!"

As I read his talk, I thought about what the pioneers could have thought were useless cares. As they sat in the freezing winter with no place to go. What are my useless cares? A nice clean home. Or even just a home at all. Would it really matter if I had no building to call my home, and had to live in a tent or even a lean-to? Would I rejoice in the Lord with faith, the way the pioneers did if I was called to their situation? Would I be like Job's wife and complain? I'd like to think that I could make light of any situation I was placed in. And that I'd just comment "Hey, I've been wanting to go camping for a while now." Of course, more importantly, even if I had completely nothing, would I still give thanks because of the Atonement of Christ and rejoice in the knowledge that I can be with my Father in Heaven again? I hope so. 

Here's some "useless cares" that I want to work on "driving" away:

• Wanting nicer clothes
• Trying to come up with more creative ideas than the last craft blog I read
• Always wanting Rowan to nap a little longer so I can read longer
• Having/getting a house
• Constantly worrying about food storage
• Wishing that I could do more theater/acting
• Wanting to sing better

There's plenty more, I'm sure. But I guess overall, I just need to stop with worrying about things that really just don't matter in the long run and have faith in the Lord that he will bless me for my good decisions. There's my thought for the day.

I Love Rainy Days

Yay! I'm so excited about my new blog layout!
I had been thinking for a while now that I needed a new layout, but it takes so much time to put one together...figure out all the little details (font colors, sidebar text, etc)...and make a new header in photoshop. Anyway, they have a new "design" feature on blogger where you can take designs they've already created and use them as they are, or alter them. I grabbed this "rainy day" looking one, and was planning on changing a few things, but then I just loved it the way it was. So, I all I did was make a new header in photoshop. Which I might change later, who knows. But I'm pretty pleased with it.

I just love looking at it because of that rainy day background. I have such fond memories of rainy days, and it makes me feel good to see an overcast sky anywhere.
I remember so many times as a kid my friends and I would take three blankets and lay one on the grass, one over the top of us, and one was in the middle to keep us warm. And we'd eat crazy snacks like craisins and vanilla wafers, and just let the rain fall on top of our blanket huddle while we chatted in the pretense of solitude, while actually being in the openess (new word I just made) of my large front lawn, in front of the whole neighborhood. They probably thought we were crazy, looking out their kitchen windows at us sitting on the grass getting wet, but as kids you just don't care what people think.

There was another rainy day activity that happened several times. When there was a lightning storm Andrea and I would sit at the bay window, in her room at her house, with the lights off and watch for lightning. One time lightning struck fairly close and all the sudden a mechanical toy monkey she had in her room went off clapping its cymbals or something. It really freaked us out! I think we screamed or something 'cause her Mom came in. We figured that since the monkey had been sitting on a cable there must've been an electrical surge that set it off. But I guess we'll never really know for sure. Don't you think it's more likely that monkey came to life just at that moment? ;)

I love living in Arizona, but the sad thing is that there just aren't that many rainy days. It's okay though, 'cause when it rains, it pours! And that's the best. But I could really see myself buying a nice little house in Forks and moving the fam there, if you know what I mean. Hahaha.

Here's wishing you a rainy day, from sunny Arizona. Well, maybe not if you're in Utah or Colorado. I've heard they've had their fair share.

Keep'n up with the...Schultz

I was writing to our Taylor family newsletter, and thought "Hey, I'll just put this in the blog!" Maybe I'll add a photo or two. We'll see.

Dear Family friends,
We hope you are all doing fantastic!
We just returned from a week long stay in California with Ben's family. We had a blast! We didn't do any of those "California-things-to-do", like six flags or disneyland, but had a blast just being with family! It's funny how that connection can mean the world, and create such a fun atmosphere. While we were there Ben's Mom and I were talking about talent shows, and I said that when our family gets together we almost always end up doing a spontaneous talent show, and it's so fun! She said that her family did that when she was growing up too. So we organized one for us to do that weekend. It was so much fun! There were songs sung, piano played, skits and dances performed, and Rowan crawled for everyone as her talent. ;)
Speaking of Rowan, she is incredibly fast now! She's been crawling for a while, and has now developed speed. She also likes to try and climb up things, or at least climb 'till she's in a standing position. She's so very active, and I love it! Our little angel is also very interactive. She talks and sings all the time, and nice and loud. I think people in the grocery store must think I'm crazy 'cause sometimes she'll hold out a long note and I'll start holding out one too with her but at a crazy pitch so we just sound so funny. She seems to like it though, so the cashiers can laugh at me if they want to. She's now eating more solid like foods, like those baby puffs/cracker things. And she loves trying to get us to let her eat off our plates, in which she always succeeds. If we sit on the couch with a plate of food, she'll crawl over, sit up, then open and close her mouth, while giving us big puppy eyes. It's hilarious, I wish you could see it. She loves veggies, and bread especially, but will pretty much eat anything.
Anyway, enough about that. Ben starts a new job on Monday with a debt consolidating company. We hope that will be a good job for him for the summer, and possibly through the fall. Other than that, we're just busy doing the "life" thing. Which we love entirely. We have been incredibly blessed, and we are so grateful.
We are also grateful for all of you, you are blessings to us, and we pray for your well being. Love you so much,

~Ben, Crystal and Rowan Schultz

I am also grateful for all of you! It's so nice to know that there are actually REAL people out there that take a look into our crazy little corner of cyber-space. Thank you, you're awesome! Now for some pictures.

Rowan the DJ

Okay, we don't normally abuse her like that. She usually likes it. But it was past bedtime, and Ben was just trying to keep her happy while I changed her diaper. Lol, is it bad that I think that video is hilarious?



I didn't know the video in the background was so loud. Oops. Well, let's see who can finish the song off in a comment without cheating? Hmm?

It's a new me! Well, it will be.

So, Last week I made two goals. Wow, "goals" that sounds way too committed for me, let's just say I started a couple things. ;)

1) First, I realized that I wear more makeup than necessary. And I was listening to this sweet country song (sorry if you don't like country, but I love it!). There was one part where the guy sang something about his wife looking the best to him when she was just in the kitchen with no makeup on. So, I thought to myself "I can look good without makeup on, right?" Well, sadly it's kind of an addiction for me. It's just so fun to doll up and get creative with it! But, I don't wanna be dependent on it. What if there was some kind of disaster like an earthquake or tornado; I couldn't just run to the local mall and get more concealer, haha. So, I decided to change. Here's my plan:

In 14 days I'm going to gradually wear less makeup everyday 'till the last day I'll hardly wear any at all. I was gonna go for none, but Ben does like a little eye makeup on me so just a little, itsy, bitsy, bit. I started last Thursday, so I'll be finishing in another week, the 27th.

2) Ben and I started on a diet together. It's 11 days long. We're on day #4 today. So, by next Thursday I shall also be slimmer, and will hopefully fit into my old jeans! Of course I'm not JUST dieting, I'm walking some mornings with friends of mine too. Can't just do one, darn it. :(

So, I wanna document how it goes here on my blog. I'll take some pictures and all that good stuff and share with you the experience of those "things I started" not "goals" ;)

Later!

Where were you 2 years ago? I was...

...at the highlight of my life. Ben and I were married May 10, 2008.
*sigh*
Two years, already? Yep. Two very wonderful years!

Here's our love story:
Ben and I met in August 2007, right after I moved to Arizona. He was friends with Adriana, who was then my new roommate, and several other friends that I made.
The second person I met in Arizona was Kilee. So that I could get to know people here she kindly took me to a birthday dinner that was going on for one of the girls in our ward. We went to Texas Roadhouse and that's where the magic all started.
I was sitting on a bench with some of the girls waiting for our table, and whoever was sitting next to me moved to talk to someone, and after Ben came in he came and sat by me. We chatted, and I remember thinking "Wow, he's really handsome. He must be the cool, good looking guy of the group." After we got to our table we chatted some more, and I asked him where he was from. He told me "Rosamond, California. You wouldn't know it."
I said "Yes, I know where that is."
"No you don't." He said dismissively.
"Joshua trees!" I said really snotty back to him. Hahaha!
Turned out that we had a mutual friend of sorts. Ben's older brother, Paul, married the sister of my old boyfriend. That boyfriend and his family used to live in Rosamond, and he would always talk about the Joshua trees there, so that's how I knew.
"Small world." Ben said.
"Small Mormon world." I said back. 'Cause it seems that all Mormons know someone another Mormon knows, haha.

And after that we were friends. We got to know each other better and better as time went on, and I became one of the group. Actually it was a group of guys. Ben, John, and James. We all hung out most nights together. Probably because they asked me to be in an 80's music video remake they were going to do.

Photo from the time of the "Saigon Kick Movie"

Yep, if you never saw the movie. Sad day, you're missing out. And youtube took it down because the song was copyw.....I don't know why exactly, they're just mean. Just kidding.

So after a while Ben finally asked me out and we had a great time together. Then two weeks of agony pass (while we're seeing each other almost everyday), and he finally asks me out again. That night we started dating. After three months:

Sorry I didn't photoshop our eyes first. It's Sunday, and I'm feeling lazy.

We were engaged. Ben and I went out to our star-gazing spot we have in the desert and after our Valentine's dinner Ben popped the question. It was perfect. Under the stars in the wilderness, on a beautiful clear night. So great!
Three months later:

We were married!

What a good day! But as I tell Ben all the time; it wasn't the best day of my life, but every day afterwards has been.
For our Honeymoon we went to Cancun and had a blast at the beach, and touring the ruins.

It's hard to believe that so much time has gone by when it feels like we just got married yesterday. In my opinion we still act like newlyweds. Like going crazy happy when he gets come from work. Playing and laughing all the time. We've hardly had a real fight, in fact I don't think we've ever really "fought" with each other. We disagree on stuff, but we never yell or get really angry. We're just too crazy in love! ;)

Ben, it's been an amazing ride so far, and I can't wait for the rest of it! Be patient with me. I know I'm kinda crazy, kind of a nerd, and loosing my memory more every day, but I love you and I'm looking forward to forever with you!
Happy Anniversary!