Fiona, Kaisa & Nathan Judd

One of the many little funny conversations we have at the dinner table.

I pour the rest of the water from the pitcher into my glass.

Kaisa: All gah! (all gone)

Me: Thanks.  It’s nice to have someone to tell me when things are all gone.

Nathan: Yeah, you’re our little barometer of emptiness!

Kaisa: Yeah!

Shortly after this hilarious moment, we decided to count how many words Kaisa knows. Here’s what we came up with:

Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Hi, Bye-Bye, Yeah, No, More, Please, Thank You, Happy, Pretty, Baby, Puppy, Blankie, Zebra, Bath, Water (Wa-Wa), Kitty, Hair, Eyes, Ears, Nose, Mouth, Eat, Outside, Up, Down, Ashes (sounds like something else!), Let Go, Look, Knock, Sticky, Stuck, Body, Melodie, All Done, All Gone, Go, Stop It, Hot, Push, Shoes, Book, Diaper, O.K., Mine, Shirt, Kaisa, Snack, Beep, Milk, Drink, Juice, Stairs, Yogurt, Cheese, Swimming (Wooshee)

59 words! There are probably more I can’t think of.  Keep in mind these are only words that she says voluntarily.  She understands and will say a lot more if asked.  That also doesn’t include animal sounds.  Isn’t she a smartie pants?

Here are some recent pics of our little toddler.  Since most of them involve Cheerios, I’ve titled this post accordingly.  Enjoy!

One morning daddy dressed Kaisa up in his Utah Blaze jersey for breakfast.  She had fun playing dress up and eating her Cheerios!

Before we could stop her, Kaisa had dumped her entire box of Fruity Cheerios all over the floor one morning.  Don’t worry…we made her help us pick them up. :)

I took this picture this morning.  This is what Kaisa’s hair looks like the morning after pigtails.  Hillarious!  Isn’t she so cute?

I have worked my butt off the past couple of days getting our house ready to list with our Realtor, Trevor.  Since Nathan has a hard time verbally expressing his appreciation for me sometimes, I’m going to do it for him.  Because I know this is what he would say if he could. :)

My wife is so amazing!  On Wednesday, she decided it was finally time to thin out our house and make it look more presentable to potential buyers.  She must have filled 20 boxes of our unused junk, pretty much by herself!  In fact, I think I’ve only done about 3.  She cleaned out things from our closet, Kaisa’s closet, the bathrooms, the kitchen, & even family photos and extra knick-knacks lying around.

As if that wasn’t enough, my amazing wife (keep in mind she’s three months pregnant) arranged to take all of this stuff over to our friend’s the Hollingshead’s, to store in their basement.  She lifted and loaded all of the boxes (some of which were very heavy) into the back of a truck! (Ok, she did have some help from the Dutson’s.)  But she did this in the hottest part of the day!  Man, she must have been pooped!  I didn’t have to lift a finger!

Then, my amazing pregnant wife spent all day Thursday cleaning the walls, doors, windows, baseboards, bathrooms, & more of our home.  She lugged a bucket full of dirty, gross water & smelly cleaner around the house and wiped everything down, from her tiptoes to her hands & knees.  By the end of this ordeal her fingers were raw & looked like little prunes!  She went through three rags!  Then she proceeded to thoroughly clean the bathrooms & vacuum the carpet, all while trying to keep a messy 15-month-old from tearing up the house.  She’s incredible.

Thanks, Fiona, for making our house look amazing. I love you!

While mapping a route to our camping destination I found this easter egg.

There are lots of reasons that I really like Google.  I have my job indirectly from them, they have a plethora of useful products and services, and the positive and creative impact they have on society.  But few come close to my love for their child-like observance of every holiday, even the very obscure ones.  And they do it in a myriad of different ways, not just the logo changing (remember April 1st’s Google paper?  or Virgle?).  Here’s Uncle Sam facing the direction on the street map view while I’m trying to map out directions to our camping spot.  Very Clever!  So along with Google and thousands of kindergarteners in papier-mâché something-er-others, Happy Independence Day!  Be safe and have fun!

Yes, it’s true. The unthinkable has indeed happened. On April 20th, 2008 at approximately 10:00 pm, I, Fiona Judd, beat …no… creamed my husband in a video game. Then, at approximately 10:30, I did it again!

The few who were there to witness the event can attest to its verity. Ask Mark or Shannah Hobson if you don’t believe me. At approximately 9:30, after a less-than-exciting game of Scene It Battle-of-the-Sexes, we pulled out Guitar Hero III for Wii in the Hobson’s basement and started to jam. I had never played before and surprised myself by hitting most of the notes the first time on Easy, and after one more Easy round I upped myself to medium and wouldn’t give up the guitar the rest of the night. I had found my video game. Nathan knew it was in there somewhere, waiting to come out. It was only a matter of time.

After beating Jessica and losing to Mark (he’s a bit above me, simply due to the fact that he has waaaaay more experience) I decided to be brave and take on my husband. We jammed it battle-style, fighting to get the notes while throwing various attacks at each other. When all was said and done, I saw the screen flash to Player 1, “YOU ROCK!” Wait a minute…Player 1…THAT’S ME!

20 minutes later, in a frenzy to restore his Male Pride, Nathan agreed to play me again. I quickly chose Medium and Nathan hesitated. He wants to choose Easy…but no, Mark convinces him that if he beats his wife when he’s on Easy and she’s on Medium, it means nothing. Once again, a Medium face-off. We frantically press the keys and strum, throwing things at each other and struggling to get the notes. Alas, we are neck and neck when the song ends and it is down to Sudden Death. Nathan has the advantage as he starts with a weapon. He immediately throws it at me when the song begins, but I am too good. What he doesn’t realize is that I have the upper hand because I am a more accurate player. In the end, he loses Sudden Death to a woman with faster fingers and a more accurate strum. It is finished! I rejoice in my victory and smile the whole way home.

Where is the Yellow Sea? What is it made of? The answer may be surprising.

We were talking to Frank about some goals he had, including swim in the 7 seas. We weren’t sure if the Yellow Sea was included. According to Wikipedia, and the first line is the most important here: “The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean because it is made of pee.”

And as we all know about Wikipedia…