Thanks Grandma Toly!

For Grace's birthday my mom made an outfit for her Bitty Baby and one for Hanna's American Girl doll Kirsten . They loved them and I once again wondered why I hadn't inherited some of my mom's sewing talent.

What Not to Wear

There was a question on my February board asking what your worst fashion mistake was. It got me thinking about mistakes I've made in my life fashion wise. I do think I have a really bad one but it wasn't documented on film. I cut off a pair of white Levi 501s that had been dyed pink. Then I paired that with a black mock turtleneck and a pair of my dad's black dress socks. The socks came up past my knees. I thought this was beyond cool and wore it often. What makes it worse than anything else I've done is that I had three friends that would wear almost the same thing. One day my mom drove us in to Raymond where my boyfriend lived and when we went to pick up said friends, they all had "the outfit" on and so did I. I remember feeling so stupid that we were wearing matching outfits. I doubt I ever wore it again. To this day I really have an aversion to matching clothes. I'm going to post some pictures of bad fashion I sported in my teenage years. The one above is about 1991. I was coming out of the "I wear black out the outside because black is how I feel on the inside mock turtleneck phase". Those jeans are $60 Guess jeans that I spent my hard earned money on. The sweater I bought on a band trip to Pocatello, ID. I wonder if my glasses could be any bigger? The peace sign I'm flashing brings the outfit together.



I found a picture of the pink cut off shorts but not paired with the black socks and mockneck. I remember I bought that shirt at Benneton in Calgary and thought it was fabulous. I wore it a lot. Yes we are wearing shorts in the snow. It could have been the middle of July in Waterton. I just noticed that my legs are the same color as my shorts.


This is what I thought was "cool" circa 1990. Note the horrible haircut, oversized blazer, very pegged jeans, black mock turtleneck and black clunky shoes.


Yes this outfit was a frequent one. I bought this sweater at Value Village (thrift store) in Lethbride and thought it was rad. The hat I wore a lot also and still have. I must have really liked the cut off 501 since I'm sporting it here also. Question is: Where was this photo taken? I expect all Southern Albertans to know this one.


I've already posted this picture but I wanted to show the horrible choices in it. Matching outfits is the first, all denim is the second and the headband is the third.


Moving into my hooker phase. Just kidding! This was my outfit for 80's disco skating night at Classic Skating in Orem. It was Noelle's surprise birthday party in January 1993. That's a pretty cool outfit to find at Savers don't you think? The coat was real suede.

Here's a Tip

I don't claim to know a lot of things but one thing I think I know a bit about is pregnancy loss. I've been through my share of miscarriages (4) and one loss of a child. I've also been around when quite a few friends or family members have lost pregnancies or children. Today I had an experience with a neighbor that made me want to write this post. I found out from a friend that a woman who I go to church with and I would consider a friend had a miscarriage at 10 weeks. I know from personal experience how devastating this can be but I also know that you don't really want people calling you up and asking questions. So I sent this person a note in the mail telling them I was sorry and that I know it is hard. She called me today and thanked me. She said she was really grateful and it was needed. That made me feel good. I guess when something like this happens I can think that maybe I have learned something from my losses. Not saying I'm glad I had them or that it was worth it to learn this but just that I'm glad I learned something good. She told me that she felt bad for how she acted when I had my losses, that you can't really understand until it happens to you. I think this is true. You may feel sad for the person going through it and have compassion but until you lose a pregnancy yourself you don't know how horrible it is. So my tip is that the perfect thing to do is to send a note telling the person you're sorry and offering your support. If they want to call and talk to you they can. Obviously if you're close to the person then you might feel a phone call is okay. I also think another really great thing to do when someone has a miscarriage is to bring them dinner. I just remember not wanting to deal with feeding my family when I was feeling so physically and emotionally drained. It was such a relief to have that taken care of. Only do this if it is common knowledge that the person has had a miscarriage or if you have talked to them personally. I know that I wanted to keep things somewhat private just so I didn't get a million questions or have to talk to a bunch of people. The neighbor confirmed to me that she felt the same way. I remember after Evie was born getting cards in the mail from people I didn't expect would send them and it really meant a lot to me. So next time you feel like you don't know what to do when someone suffers a loss, send a card. It's cheap, easy and will be appreciated.

I wanted to add that if you're good friends with a person who suffers a loss then you will know what to do for them. This is more for someone who you are not super close to.

Happy Birthday Gracie!

Grace's first day home.



Smiley Grace


Naked Grace


My favorite baby picture of Grace.

Grace's Birthday

Grace had her birthday party today at our house. It went relatively well but I think I should have cut the time by 1/2 hour. We took the easy route with pizza, pinata, cupcakes and presents. We blew the dust of the old Sony and took some video of it. Grace is like a deer in headlights when the camera is on her. It's funny. I did the entire party downstairs which is unfinished so remember that when you're watching the video. I want to add that it isn't garbage in the gargbage bags but clothing we are giving to charity. We just had a huge clean-up of the basement and we're waiting to take it either to the dump or DI. Also the quality of the video isn't great. Ryan told me that when you compress it the quality goes down or something like that. Enjoy.



Here are a couple of still photos. Grace's friend Korbyn gave her a Tamagotchi which at first I thought might be too old for her but she is having a great time with it. In fact I let Hanna use her allowance money to buy one today because she was feeling left out. They're kind of addicting and I admit I don't mind "helping" them take care of it. I'm not going to be looking after it while their in school though. I think she did well present wise, maybe too many little pieces and My Little Pony for my taste. She was happy though and the kids she invited seemed to have a good time. On Monday, her actual birthday, I think we'll just go out to dinner. I can't believe my baby is six. It is true that they grow up too fast.

Hanna Skiing

Ryan's Aunt Charlotte took him skiing for the first time when he was a little boy so it only seemed right that she be the first one to take Hanna. She lives in Wyoming but was coming to visit Nancy (aka Nana) and asked if she could take Hanna skiing while she was here. When I heard about it I wanted to go also. I love skiing but due to it being super expensive I haven't gone since high school. So this was a great opportunity to have someone to go with and since I have a little money from subbing I could pay for it. We went to Sundance which is probably the worst ski resort in Utah snow wise but it close and cheaper. Hanna took the morning ski class while Char and I skied. I forgot how much fun it was and luckily I was able to remember how to do it. We would see Hanna now and then on the hills and she looked like she was catching on quickly. We picked her up at noon and skied together the rest of the day. I can't believe how quickly she picked it up and how well she did. She was fearless and there were times when I couldn't catch up to her. She loved it and now we're working on Ryan trying to get him excited to go. I thought snowboarding looked doable and maybe I'll try that next time. *Tip* If you click on the pictures you can view them full-screen.

Hanna and Steve the instructor

Here she comes!


Hanna with Aunt Charlotte

Heading up to the top

I'm terrified that Hanna will fall off thanks to a story Char told me.

Hanna must have fallen asleep.

Body Fuzion

I think this is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. I'm going to start using pencils in my weight lifting.

Happy Birthday Dad!

My dad turns 60 something today and we wanted to wish him a happy birthday. Here's a picture of him pulling the grandaughters around in his lawn tractor. We love you Grandpa Toly! We hope you partied it up today.

Me lose brain? Uh, oh! Ha ha ha! Why I laugh?

I've been busy lately trying to update my resume and get my placement file ready to submit to the district. I'm toying with the idea of applying for teaching jobs but I'm getting discouraged. My resume is a joke that might as well say: 33 YEAR OLD WOMAN WHO HAS NEVER HAD A REAL JOB. I worked for the Town of Magrath three summers in high school and university, Wendy's while Ryan finished school and that is pretty much it. How do you make that look good? I have my student teaching and some volunteer work but it's pretty depressing. Then to top it off I called BYU today and while I have six evaluations, I have no letters of recommendation in my file. I have no idea why I didn't ask anyone for those and now I obviously regret it. I know the main reason why I wasn't that concerned is that I was pregnant with Hanna when I graduated and didn't think I'd be going back to work anytime soon. Way to think ahead Shea! Not having any sort of real job in the last 7 years has not helped in the recommendation area either. So now I'm racking my brain trying to think of anyone who I worked with in even a remotely professional situation that could write me a letter. I don't even know if I want a job. What I want is to be independently wealthy and travel the world. Why didn't I major in that?

Take the Skinheads Bowling at BYU

It's hard to come up with family activities that I'd actually like to do. Selfish I know but there should be something we all find fun. Ryan came up with the bowling idea today and I thought that sounded doable. I was suprised he was up for it since he'd been called out the night before to a marijuana bust in Park City and didn't get home until 5:30am. Maybe 3 hours of sleep is what it takes for him to want to bowl. We always go to BYU because it's cheap and it's where Ryan and I met. The air hockey table where I was sitting when I first saw Ryan is still there. I can picture him walking in looking all un-BYU like and artsy. It was interest at first sight. Today I told the kids "that's where daddy and I met. Isn't that cool?" They looked at me like I was an idiot. Apparently they are not as sentimental about the place. Ryan and I both got an A in that class (surprise!) but our bowling has declined over the years of neglect. I once bowled a 198, Ryan a 245 but today it was 119 and 145. I think Hanna almost beat me. It was a lot of fun and the kids were especially cute today. We always go eat at the Cougar Eats after a good bowl. It's the only time Hanna and Ryan can get Taco Bell since I find it disgusting but since it's a cafeteria I don't have to eat there. All in all it was a good Van Fleet outing. Also I wanted to add that we cut Hanna's hair last week into a bob. I think it really suits her and she likes it a lot.